If you’ve played Terraria’s recent update, Journey’s End, then you know that you’ll have a lot of fun playing it with your friends. Recent additions like 1000+ new items, better graphics, and bosses make for an exciting multiplayer game, and the best way to play with your group of friends is via a dedicated server.
If you’re setting up a Terraria server for the first time, here are some top tips you should keep in mind. Keep in mind that setting up a server requires an understanding of basic networking concepts. If you find that too technical or too much of a hassle, you can trust Fatality Servers to host a game server for you.
6 Tips for Setting A Terraria Server
Now that you have decided to set up a Terraria server, let’s take a look at some of the things you should know.
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Have the right software
Terraria has a dedicated server setup wizard that makes the process very simple. But if you want others to be able to access your server from a different network, you will have to set up a static IP for the router and configure port forwarding. For this to properly work on your computer, you will have to install two additional software.
The first one you need is TShock which autosaves your server after every few minutes. The second one is NSSM and you need that to set up a daemon for your Terraria server to run on.
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Make the right network changes
Before you can go ahead and set up a server, you need to make some network changes, especially if you’re setting up a server in your home network.
The computer running the Terraria server must have a static IP. While this usually isn’t the case, if you don’t assign a static IP, then your router might reassign your computer’s IP address while the server is in use, interfering with your connection with it.
You can learn how to assign a static IP either by going through the router manual or by searching it up online keeping in mind your router’s model and make.
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Know about port forwarding
To make your PC accessible to other consoles and computers on the internet, you will need to enable port forwarding.
To do that, you first need to know your IP address. Open up the command prompt and enter in the command ipconfig. This will bring up all your network information. While there will be a whole bunch of fields, what’s important for you is your network adapter information, especially the default gateway IP and IPv4 address. Make sure you write those down.
Then, open up your browser and type in the default gateway IP on the search bar. Once you hit enter, you will see a login screen with fields for the username and password. In most cases, both the fields are admin by default, but if that doesn’t work, you can refer to the router’s user manual or search it up online.
Once you log in to your router interface, find options for port forwarding. Now, you need to make a new rule with the IPv4 address you previously noted down. In the port range, enter “7777 to 7777” and allow both UDP and TCP. If the settings allow you to do so, also name the rule and save the changes.
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Firewall configuration
Your computer might reject the forwarded connections from the router even after you set up port forwarding. This can be because of a firewall and you will need to change the network settings to add an exclusion to your firewall. Remember to do so for both incoming UDP and TCP connections for local ports/7777.
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Setting up more than one server
You can run multiple server instances on one system (just like you run a single instance) but there are a couple of things you should keep in mind.
It is essential for each process to have a different port. This doesn’t need to be too complex; you can just keep adding one to the port number of a subsequent server. So if you set your first server on port 7777 (which is also the default), your next one can be 7778, and so on. The best (and simplest) way to do this is by adding a servercinfig.txt file to each process.
You will also need to configure port forwarding for each server. The process will differ according to the router you have but you can easily find manufacturer guides on port forwarding online. It might even be mentioned in your router’s user manual.
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Keep in mind the RAM & CPU requirements
Terraria is very RAM and CPU intensive. To put things in perspective, a single server running just a small, basic map needs around 300MB of RAM. And if you plan on hosting a large map, you will need at least 650 MB of RAM. And these figures don’t include any connected players. As the number of connected players increases, so does the amount of RAM you will need.
And if you plan on using the same computer for a different purpose, you will need even more RAM.
One configuration that works for many is subtracting one gigabyte from the total physical RAM and just running one server per gigabyte of the remaining memory.
Similarly, as the server processes increase, so do the demands on the CPU. A suggested configuration for this is not to run one process for each CPU core.
Conclusion
Setting up a dedicated Terraria server can be quite intimidating and confusing, especially for those who are new to all this networking jargon as well as those who are technologically inept. But it’s not too difficult and the internet is full of resources you can use to know how to set it up. And if you just want to do away with the hassle, you can just turn to Fatality Servers to take care of things for you.
