V Rising is a hit vampire-themed survival multiplayer game on PC. The game features a robust multiplayer mode with lots of options, such as PvE, PvP, Full Loot PvP, or Duo PvP. And for that reason, people are looking to create and manage their own private and dedicated server for their personal V Rising experience. If you’re one of them, here’s how you can set up and configure your own V Rising Dedicated Server.
Table of content:
- Private Game vs Hosting a Dedicated Server in V Rising
- How to Host a V Rising Dedicated Server
- Running the Dedicated Server
- Configuring the V Rising Dedicated Server
- ServerGameSettings.json Parameters Explanation
- Save Files Location and Making Backups
- Turn a Private Game into a Dedicated Server
Private Game vs. Hosting a Dedicated Server in V Rising
- ServerGameSettings.json Parameters Explanation
You can set up a personal room for playing multiplayer in V Rising using one of two methods, Private Game and Dedicated Server.
However, choose the Private Game option, and your room will not be a dedicated server because when you close the game, everyone else’s session will end as well. But if you and your friends don’t play that often, Private Games still allows you to modify tons of gameplay settings just like a dedicated server, including PvE or PvP mode, player and Clan size, password, and more. After making one, you can edit the Private Games settings again by opening the ServerGameSettings.json file in:
- Windows: Steam\steamapps\common\VRising\VRising_Server\VRisingServer_Data\StreamingAssets\Settings
- Linux: TBA
The official V Rising servers should always be available, although once in a while, the servers will be briefly unavailable for at least 30 minutes when Stunlock Studios is releasing updates, patches, and hotfixes. Players have also reported issues when continuing their Private Game sessions. That’s where the dedicated server comes in handy.
But while having your dedicated server running independently is convenient, keep in mind you will need dedicated hardware that can run 24/7 if you want people to be able to connect to your V Rising private server at all times. With that in mind, you could always try renting third-party server services than letting your PC run non-stop every day of the year.
How to Host a V Rising Dedicated Server
To start hosting a private server, look for the V Rising Dedicated Server Tool in your Steam library or follow the instructions when you open the Host Dedicated Server menu in-game. However, for now, Stunlock Studios is only providing the tool for Windows PC. Linux users will have to wait a little longer. You can also quickly rent a server from the game’s featured partner through the in-game menu.
Note: If you are using the SteamCMD command-line client, the Steam AppID for the V Rising Dedicated Server Tool is 1829350. This is used for downloading the server, but when running it, it will use the same Steam AppID as the client, which is defined in the steam_appid.txt file supplied with the download. For more details, head over to V Rising‘s official dedicated server instruction GitHub page.
Running the Dedicated Server
Simply execute VRisingServer.exe to start the server with all default settings. The tool also supplies an example batch script (start_server_example.bat) in the installation folder. If you do decide to modify it (or any configuration files), always make a copy of the file because it could be overwritten when the software is updated.
Configuring the V Rising Dedicated Server
There are two main settings files that the server is using:
- ServerHostSettings.json: settings for hosting.
- ServerGameSettings.json: settings for gameplay.
The default settings can be found in the “VRisingServer_Data/StreamingAssets/Settings/” folder.
After the server has loaded the default files, it looks for local overrides. The default location it looks for these files are:
- Windows: “%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Stunlock Studios\VRisingServer\Settings”
- Linux: TBA
You can put a full settings file in this local override location or populate it with just the settings/values that differ from the default file. This location can be customized with the -persistentDataPath parameter, which is recommended in general and a must if you want to run multiple servers on one host to keep the settings and saves separated.
The most important settings in the ServerHostSettings.json file are the following:
Some settings can be overwritten by command line parameters. Below is a list of some of the parameters that can be used.
Allow the program through the firewall and/or forward ports on your router if you want other players to connect to your server. Each router has its own settings, look which manufacturer and which model type you’re using on the internet.
If you want your server to show up on the server list you need to make sure that both the specified queryPort and gamePort are open in your firewall and forwarded on your router, otherwise just opening/forwarding the gamePort will be enough.
To become an administrator in the game you will need to:
Modify the adminlist.txt file in “VRisingServer_Data/StreamingAssets/Settings/” folder with your steamId (one steamId per line). This can be done without restarting your server.
Then enable the console in the Options menu, open it with the ~ key and authenticate using the adminauth console command.
The banned people list is saved in banlist.txt in “VRisingServer_Data/StreamingAssets/Settings/” folder, but you can also modify it manually (one steamId per line).
List of admin commands:
banuser
bancharacter
banned
unban
kick
Modify the adminlist.txt file in “VRisingServer_Data/StreamingAssets/Settings/” folder with your steamId (one steamId per line). This can be done without restarting your server.
Then enable the console in the Options menu, open it with the ~ key and authenticate using the adminauth console command.
The banned people list is saved in banlist.txt in “VRisingServer_Data/StreamingAssets/Settings/” folder, but you can also modify it manually (one steamId per line).
List of admin commands:
banuser
bancharacter
banned
unban
kick
banuser
bancharacter
banned
unban
kick
ServerGameSettings.json Parameters Explanation
Save Files Location and Making Backups
The default location for the save files is at:
- Windows: “%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Stunlock Studios\VRisingServer\Saves”
- Linux: TBA
However, just like with the settings, this can be overridden with the -persistentDataPath parameter.
The current autosave settings allow you to set save interval and save count. To put it into practice, with the same amount of disk space you either:
- Save often but have fewer save files.
- Save less often for longer rollback and have more save files.
- Or you can also do both and consume more disk space.
With that in mind, regularly backing up saves is highly recommended before patching or before starting the server after having patched in case your game state becomes corrupted.
Turn a Private Game into a Dedicated Server
According to Reddit user flappers87, there is a way to convert your Private Game into a Dedicated Server. In case more and more friends suddenly decided to join in on the fun. But you have to remember that from flappers87 experience’s their server did not appear in the server list and only direct IP worked. Here’s how to do it:
- Backup your local save files (AppData\LocalLow\Stunlock Studios\VRising\Saves\v1<random GUID>).
- Backing up is always essential in case anything goes wrong.
- Navigate to your install directly and run the vrisingserver.exe (\steamapps\common\vrising\vrising_server).
- Wait a few minutes for the server to fully spin up, and then launch the game from Steam.
- In the game, you’ll want to directly connect to your server.
- Open the server list, click Direct Connect, and type: 127.0.0.1:9876 (if you’re running the server on your machine) or
:9876. This will connect you to the server - If you are running the server externally, ensure firewalls allow connections.
- The server will be a brand new one using default settings. Don’t worry.
- Create a new character then quit the game to ensure certain directories and files are created.
- After quitting the game, quit the server as well (in the CMD window press CTRL+C to close the server properly).
- Navigate to: AppData\LocalLow\Stunlock Studios\VRisingServer\Saves\v1\world1
- Delete all the autosave folders, but leave the ‘sessionId.json’ file there.
- Go to the backup folder you made in Step 1.
- Copy over all the autosave folders into this directory — but leave the two json files.
- Navigate to AppData\LocalLow\Stunlock Studios\VRisingServer\ and create a new folder called “Settings” (if it doesn’t already exist)
- From your backup folder in Step 1, copy the ServerGameSettings.json and ServerHostSettings.json into this new settings folder.
- Now you can run the server from Step 2. You will need to directly connect to the IP though.
- If you’re running locally, connect via 127.0.0.1:9876.
- If you’re playing on LAN, connect using private IP like 192.168.1.x or 10.0.0.x, or whatever CIDR you’re using.
- Or simply connect using public IP of the server you are running.
- The default port is 9876.
- The server settings and save files will now be running from the Dedicated Server model, and you and your friends won’t have to start all over again.
The server doesn’t utilize any GPU and only around 2GB of RAM until more players connect to it, increasing CPU and RAM usage. An empty server should run smoothly.
Backing up is always essential in case anything goes wrong.
If you are running the server externally, ensure firewalls allow connections.
If you’re running locally, connect via 127.0.0.1:9876.
If you’re playing on LAN, connect using private IP like 192.168.1.x or 10.0.0.x, or whatever CIDR you’re using.
Or simply connect using public IP of the server you are running.
The default port is 9876.
V Rising is currently available as an Early Access game via Steam.
