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Palworld Server Settings Explained (PalWorldSettings.ini)

Applies to: Palworld server hosting

Every gameplay knob on a Palworld dedicated server — XP rates, catch rates, death penalties, day length — lives in one file: PalWorldSettings.ini. It is also one of the most confusing config files in game hosting, because there are two copies of it, one is usually empty, and every setting sits on a single enormous line. Here is how it actually works.

01Find PalWorldSettings.ini

The server ships two similarly named files:

  • DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini in the install root — a read-only template listing every option. Editing it does nothing.
  • Pal/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/PalWorldSettings.ini (Windows) or Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/PalWorldSettings.ini (Linux) — the live config the server reads at boot.

Most “my settings do nothing” complaints trace back to editing the Default file, or to editing WindowsServer on a Linux box.

02Copy the defaults in if the file is empty

On a fresh install the live file often contains only the section header. Open DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini, copy the entire OptionSettings=(...) line, and paste it into the live file so it looks like:

[/Script/Pal.PalGameWorldSettings]
OptionSettings=(Difficulty=None,DayTimeSpeedRate=1.000000,NightTimeSpeedRate=1.000000,ExpRate=1.000000,PalCaptureRate=1.000000,PalSpawnNumRate=1.000000,PalDamageRateAttack=1.000000,PalDamageRateDefense=1.000000,PlayerDamageRateAttack=1.000000,PlayerDamageRateDefense=1.000000,PlayerStomachDecreaceRate=1.000000,PlayerStaminaDecreaceRate=1.000000,DeathPenalty=All,bEnablePlayerToPlayerDamage=False,bEnableInvaderEnemy=True,ServerPlayerMaxNum=32,ServerName="Default Palworld Server",ServerDescription="",AdminPassword="",ServerPassword="",PublicPort=8211,RCONEnabled=False,RCONPort=25575)

(Trimmed here — the real line has many more keys; copy all of them.) Everything must stay on one line inside the brackets, comma-separated. A stray line break is enough to make the server fall back to defaults.

03Stop the server before editing

The config is read once at startup. Edit while the server is running and your changes are ignored until the next restart at best. Always: stop, edit, save, start.

04Tune the headline rate settings

Rates are multipliers where 1.000000 means default (1x). The ones people actually change:

  • ExpRate=1.000000 — XP multiplier for players and Pals. 2.0 doubles levelling speed.
  • PalCaptureRate=1.000000 — Pal Sphere catch-chance multiplier. 2.0 makes captures roughly twice as likely.
  • PalSpawnNumRate=1.000000 — how many Pals spawn in the world. Raising it increases server load noticeably.
  • DayTimeSpeedRate / NightTimeSpeedRate — speed of the day/night cycle; values above 1 make that phase pass faster (a common trick is speeding up night only).
  • PalDamageRateAttack / PalDamageRateDefense and PlayerDamageRateAttack / PlayerDamageRateDefense — damage dealt/taken multipliers for Pals and players respectively.
  • PlayerStomachDecreaceRate / PlayerStaminaDecreaceRate — hunger and stamina drain (yes, “Decreace” is the game's own spelling — keep it, or the key is ignored). Lower is more forgiving.
  • bEnableInvaderEnemy=True — set False to stop raids on your base.

05Set the death penalty and server identity

DeathPenalty takes exactly four values: None (drop nothing), Item (drop items but keep equipment), ItemAndEquipment (drop everything carried), and All — the default — which also drops the Pals in your party. Most casual servers switch this to Item or None.

While you are there, set ServerName, ServerDescription, ServerPassword (join password), AdminPassword (for in-game admin commands), and ServerPlayerMaxNum (default 32). Keep quotes around the string values.

06Restart and verify in game

Start the server, join, and sanity-check one obvious setting — a doubled ExpRate shows on your first kill, a PalCaptureRate of 10 is unmistakable. If nothing changed, re-read steps 1–3: wrong file, wrong platform folder, or a malformed line are the only common causes.

Run it on HostPanel: our Palworld server hosting plans expose all of these settings as a form in the panel, validate the values, and restart the server for you.

Troubleshooting

Edits have no effect in game

The classic trio: you edited DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini instead of the live file, you edited the WindowsServer folder on a Linux server (or vice versa), or the server was running while you saved. Fix the right file with the server stopped.

All settings reverted to defaults after a restart

The OptionSettings line is malformed — usually a line break inside the brackets, a missing comma, or lost quotes around a string. The server silently discards the whole line when it cannot parse it. Re-copy the line from the Default file and re-apply your changes carefully.

You changed a rate but only new activity is affected

Some values are baked into existing world state — already-spawned Pals, in-progress eggs and timers keep their old values until they cycle. Give it an in-game day or two before concluding the setting is broken.