Palworld dedicated server mods: install and fix

What Pocketpair supports, and what it warns about#

Three sentences on Pocketpair's Installing Mods on a Server page decide most of what follows:

• Windows only, for now. "At this time, server-side mods work only on the dedicated server with Windows edition." A server started from PalServer.sh on Linux does not load them, however the files are laid out.
• Server-built mods only. "Only mods that are built to run on servers will work on the server." A mod made for the game client alone will not start on a server, even on Windows.
• At your own risk. "Use mods at your own risk. They may cause save-data corruption or crashes." Copy the server's save folder before the first start with a new mod, and keep world backups on. The setting for those is bIsUseBackupSaveData, which Pocketpair says creates a backup directory in the save data directory, and the default settings file that ships with the current server build sets it to True.

Server-side mods are a separate question from players who run mods in their own game. That is one setting, covered further down.

Step 1: put the Workshop items where the server looks#

Pocketpair points out that "unlike the game client, the dedicated server must be made aware of Workshop items". There are two ways to do it.

The default folder. The server reads Mods\Workshop in the same directory as PalServer.exe. Copy each Workshop item into its own folder there. The folder name can be anything, but Info.json has to sit directly inside it, not one level further down:

.\PalServer.exe
.\Mods\PalModSettings.ini
.\Mods\Workshop\[any folder name]\Info.json

An existing Workshop folder. You can instead point the server at a Workshop directory, and every compatible mod found under it is loaded. Use either of these, with an absolute path:

• a WorkshopRootDir=<absolute path> line under [PalModSettings] in Mods\PalModSettings.ini;
• the launch option -workshopdir="<absolute path>".

On a PC that also has the game, Steam keeps subscribed Palworld Workshop items in the client's default Workshop folder, which Pocketpair gives as:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\1623730

Step 2: switch them on in PalModSettings.ini#

The file is Mods\PalModSettings.ini, and the server creates it the first time you launch it, so start the server once and stop it before editing. Two settings matter:

• bGlobalEnableMod=true is the global switch. With it off, nothing loads.
• One ActiveModList= line per mod. The value is the mod's PackageName from its Info.json, and Pocketpair stresses that "it is not the folder name". Add more lines to enable more mods.

Pocketpair's example, with the optional Workshop path left commented out:

[PalModSettings]
bGlobalEnableMod=true
ActiveModList=GamingCattiva
ActiveModList=FarmingQuivern
# WorkshopRootDir=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\1623730

One launch argument overrides all of this: -NoMods "forcibly disables all mods". That makes it the quickest test when a modded server starts crashing. Start it once with -NoMods, and if the crashes stop, the cause is one of the mods.

Step 3: restart, then check what was deployed#

Mods are applied by restarting the dedicated server. On that restart the server creates Mods\ManagedMods\<PackageName>\InstallManifest.json for each mod and deploys its files according to the InstallRules in its Info.json. Pocketpair lists where each kind of file goes:

If the manifest is there and the files sit where the table says, the mod was deployed. If either is missing, the server never picked the mod up, and the checks below say why.

Updating or removing a mod#

• Updating: when the Version in a mod's Info.json changes, the next restart uninstalls the old version and deploys the new one.
• Removing: take its PackageName out of ActiveModList. If you want the files gone too, delete Mods\Workshop\<WorkshopId>\. Then restart the server.

When a mod will not load#

Work down the list. The first three are Pocketpair's own troubleshooting questions, and the rest follow from the steps above.

1. Is the mod built for servers? Open its Info.json. If the InstallRule section does not include "IsServer": true, Pocketpair says "the mod is not designed to run on servers".
2. Are its prerequisites installed? "Some mods require other mods as dependencies." Install each one the same way as the mod itself.
3. Was it deployed? Look for Mods\ManagedMods\<PackageName>\InstallManifest.json and for the files in the folders in the table above.
4. Is the server the Windows edition? On the Linux build, server-side mods do not load at all.
5. Is the switch on? bGlobalEnableMod has to be true.
6. Is the name right? ActiveModList takes the PackageName from Info.json. The folder name, or the name shown on the Workshop page, does nothing if it differs.
7. Is Info.json one level deep? It must be directly inside its folder under Mods\Workshop. An extra folder from unpacking an archive hides it.
8. Is -NoMods still in the launch options? It overrides everything else, so remove it after a test.
9. Did the server restart after the change? Edits to the file or the Workshop folder only take effect on a restart.

Players who run mods of their own#

Whether players with mods enabled in their own game may join is a different switch, in the server's game settings rather than in the mod file. Pocketpair's configuration page describes bAllowClientMod as "Allow players with mods enabled to join the server", and the default settings file that ships with the current server build sets it to True. Set it to False to turn modded players away.

Change it in PalWorldSettings.ini under Pal\Saved\Config\WindowsServer (or LinuxServer), not in DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini, because Pocketpair notes that "editing DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini will not affect the changes". Stop the server before you edit it and start it again afterwards: in our test of the Linux server, a stop wrote the file back as the server had read it at start, so an edit made while it ran was lost. The Palworld dedicated server setup guide covers that file, and the Palworld server settings reference lists every setting in it.

Where ForgeWorld Gaming fits#

ForgeWorld Gaming's Palworld servers run the Linux edition of the dedicated server, so by Pocketpair's own rule they do not load server-side mods today, and the server folder has no Mods directory. If a server-side mod is the reason you want a server, the Windows edition on a machine you control is the route Pocketpair documents. If your group only wants mods in their own games, they can join as they are, because the server keeps Pocketpair's shipped default of bAllowClientMod=True. Last checked 2026-10-18, against Pocketpair's v1.0.4 documentation.

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