Vanilla Terraria Server Setup Guide

Getting started with your new Terraria server is very simple. This guide will cover all the bases of your setup and configuration options for a vanilla game server. This guide will not cover modding platforms such of TShock or tModLoader, please see our other guides for further help with either of these.

Uploading An Existing World

You may want to upload an existing world from either a local game, or even from a different host. This can be done very easily in your Gameserverkings Manager Panel. Select your Terraria game service, and then click the "File Manager" button.

Now you can navigate into the saves folder. Click the Upload button towards the top left. Select your world (.wld) file and upload it to this folder.

From here, you will want to delete (or rename) the current World.wld file that you have in this folder. Next, rename the world file that you uploaded to World.wld. Delete any backup files labeled World.wld.bak as well. The game will always load the save titled World.wld.

Back out to your main game service page and use the Restart button to reboot the server with your newly uploaded world.

Basic Server Settings

Before going any further, make sure that your server is turned off! You can do this by clicking the Stop button.

All of your basic server settings will be handled in the same file. Click the Configuration Files button in your Terraria game service, and then click the Text Editor button for the config.file file.

After changing anything in this file, make sure to click the Save button, and then Restart your server to apply the changes.

Changing Map Size

Terraria offers three world sizes:

• Small (1)
• Medium (2)
• Large (3)

You will want to add the approrpiate number onto the end of the autocreate line in this file. For example...

autocreate=1

autocreate=2

autocreate=3

Make your way to your File Manager and into your saves folder. Delete your current World.wld file and restart your server to generate a new one. It will be generated with the size that you have chosen.

Setting A Password

Your server will be installed without a password set. You can add one in this file to the password line. Do not use a space between the = sign and your password. For example...

password=MySuperSecurePassword

Changing MOTD

You can edit the message that appears when players join your server by changing the MOTD. Simply add your desired message after the motd line. For example...

motd=Terraria hosted by GameServerKings.com

Changing Game Difficulty

Currently, there is a bug with the default terraria install where if you set the difficulty above 0 (normal) it crashes the client repeatedly. Be wary of this!

There are four difficulty options for Terraria after the 1.4 update:

• Normal (0)
• Expert (1)
• Master (2)
• Journey (3)

You will want to add the approrpiate number onto the end of the difficulty line in this file. For example...

difficulty=0

difficulty=1

difficulty=2

difficulty=3

Removing Anticheat

Terraria ships with anticheat software installed automatically. You can disable this by changing the secure line. Anticheat is enabled with 1, and disabled with 0. For example...

secure=1

secure=0