Palworld: cannot connect to dedicated server

Most Palworld connect failures are wrong address format, a port-blocking ISP, or a hand-edited PublicIP in PalWorldSettings.ini. Walk through them in that order.

"Cannot connect to dedicated server", "Server is full", or a hang at "Joining" in Palworld almost always comes down to one of three things: the address is wrong, the AntiCheat is blocking the player, or the server settings file has the wrong public IP. None of these are interesting bugs; they are misconfigurations and easy to walk through.

Step 1: address format

Palworld dedicated servers want the full address:port in the connect box. The port is not optional. On Hostd, the address and port are both on the Connect tab of your server dashboard; the address takes the form:

yourname.hostd.it:8211

Without the port, the client tries 8211 by convention; if you have changed the listen port (some packs do), it will fail. Paste the full string including the colon and number.

Step 2: SteamRelay vs direct connect

Palworld supports two transports: Steam relayed (slower, more compatible) and direct UDP (faster, sometimes blocked). On Hostd we run direct UDP by default. If the player is on a network that blocks game ports (some mobile networks, some corporate networks), they will hang at "Joining" forever even though everyone else is in.

Workaround: ask them to join via the Community Servers browser instead of direct IP. The Steam relay path goes through Valve's network and gets around most port-blocking.

Step 3: PalWorldSettings.ini

If nobody can connect, the server may be advertising the wrong public IP. Open Files → /data/Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/PalWorldSettings.ini and check:

PublicIP="auto"
PublicPort=8211
ServerName="Your server name"
ServerPassword=""

PublicIP="auto" lets the server detect its own outbound IP and is the right value on Hostd. If someone has hand-set this to an IP that no longer matches your node, players will receive routing errors or stuck-on-joining hangs. Set it back to auto and restart.

Step 4: server is at the player cap

If the kick reads "Server is full" specifically, the player cap is reached. In the same INI, look for ServerPlayerMaxNum. The Palworld engine starts to struggle past 32 players regardless of plan; if you have set it higher, that is by design but expect TPS drops.

Where to go next

Palworld troubleshooting for the wider Palworld flow.
Palworld world config for the rest of PalWorldSettings.ini.

Last updated 2026-05-23. Notice a mistake? Tell us.