PalWorldSettings.ini: The Settings That Actually Matter
The configuration file of a Palworld server is called PalWorldSettings.ini and lives, on a Linux server, in Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/. It holds roughly 119 settings, of which about ten make a noticeable difference to how your server plays. Always stop the server before you edit the file: do it while the server is running and the restart will overwrite your changes without warning.
Where is PalWorldSettings.ini and how do you create your own?
A fresh dedicated server does not have a usable PalWorldSettings.ini yet. What it does have is DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini: the reference file with every default value in it. You do not edit that one. You make a copy, and the server reads the copy.
- Stop the server completely and confirm the process really is gone.
- Find
DefaultPalWorldSettings.iniin the server's installation folder. - Copy that file to
Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/. - Rename the copy to
PalWorldSettings.ini. - Open the copy and change only the values you actually need.
- Save, and only then start the server again.
Mind the formatting. Every setting sits behind OptionSettings=( on one long line, separated by commas, with a closing bracket at the end. Lose a comma or that bracket by accident and the server ignores the entire line and carries on with default values, with no error message. If you are starting from scratch, first read how to host your own Palworld server.
Why do my changes keep getting overwritten?
This is by far the most common mistake. While the server is running it keeps its configuration in memory and writes it back to the file on shutdown. Edit PalWorldSettings.ini with the server up and that write-back throws your line out, leaving you with the old values.
So the order is always: stop, edit, save, start. If you want to be certain, stop the server once more and reopen the file: if your values are still there, they have been accepted.
Which of the 119 settings actually do something?
Most lines you will never touch. This is the short list that comes up on virtually every private server, with a value that works out well in practice.
| Setting | What it does | Sensible value |
|---|---|---|
ExpRate | Multiplier on all experience points, for players and Pals alike | 2 to 3 |
PalEggDefaultHatchingTime | Number of hours an egg needs to hatch | 5 to 10 (default 72) |
DeathPenalty | What you lose when you die | None |
WorkSpeedRate | Working speed of Pals at your base | 1.5 |
bEnableInvaderEnemy | Hostile invaders that attack your base | Off if memory is a problem |
ServerPlayerMaxNum | Maximum number of simultaneous players | 8 to 16, 32 at most |
bIsPvP + bEnablePlayerToPlayerDamage + bEnableDefenseOtherGuildPlayer | PvP; only works as a set | All three on, or all three off |
That 72-hour hatching time is the setting most groups trip over. It is deliberately harsh, aimed at people who are online all day; play a couple of hours an evening and every single egg leaves you waiting well over three days. At 5 to 10 hours an egg hatches between two play sessions. WorkSpeedRate helps indirectly: Pals at the breeding farm work faster, so the whole breeding chain moves along.
Do go easy on stacking these, though: pick two or three dials rather than everything at once, or there will be very little left to do after a handful of evenings.
How do you enable PvP on a Palworld server?
With three switches at once, otherwise nothing happens at all. bIsPvP turns the mode on, bEnablePlayerToPlayerDamage makes players able to actually hurt each other, and bEnableDefenseOtherGuildPlayer decides whether a base's defences attack players from another guild. Flip only one of them and you will see nothing in game and go hunting for a fault that does not exist.
For a regular group of friends building together, off is usually the right answer. PvP is great fun when everyone has agreed to it beforehand, and a headache when one of the four never really wanted it.
What did Sakurajima and Tower of Mercy add?
The file has grown over the years. Sakurajima, the mid-2025 update, brought settings tied to the Sakurajima island. Tower of Mercy from early 2026 added options on top of those that let you scale raid difficulty.
The practical consequence: a file you created a year ago is missing the lines added since. Those fall back to their default value, so your server runs perfectly well, but you cannot use the new dials. After a big update, then, put your own file side by side with a fresh DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini and copy the new lines across.
Which setting is tied to the memory leak?
bEnableInvaderEnemy, the switch for hostile invaders. The Palworld server process climbs in memory use the longer it runs, and the more that happens in the world, the faster that goes.
No setting solves it. Turning invaders off slows the growth, but does not stop it. What does work is a scheduled automatic restart, usually every 6 to 12 hours, which clears the memory. The numbers, the symptoms and a workable restart schedule are in our article on the Palworld memory leak.
If you are seeing stutters, it helps to know exactly what TPS, MSPT, FPS and ping mean. Bear in mind too that a dedicated server supports 32 players at most and that above roughly 24 players you will stutter occasionally whatever you do. That is a game engine limit, not a hardware one, and no setting will cure it.
How much RAM suits your group?
Pocketpair officially recommends 16 GB for a dedicated server. It will start on 8 GB as well, but Pocketpair flags that configuration as crash-prone itself. The full breakdown per group size is in how much RAM your Palworld server needs.
| Plan | RAM | Storage | Price per month | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jolthog | 4 GB | 5 GB NVMe | EUR 6.00 | Test world or two players |
| Gumoss | 8 GB | 10 GB NVMe | EUR 12.00 | 4 to 6 players, no headroom |
| Vixy | 12 GB | 15 GB NVMe | EUR 18.00 | Middle step when 8 GB gets tight |
| Depresso | 16 GB | 20 GB NVMe | EUR 24.00 | 4 to 16 players, the safe pick |
| Mau | 32 GB | 40 GB NVMe | EUR 48.00 | Large or modded servers |
A regular group of friends does not need 32 GB: Gumoss handles it fine, and Depresso gives you the headroom that the climbing memory use asks for. Pricing at Palworld hosting from MC-Node is a flat EUR 1.50 per GB of RAM on every plan, so a step up costs exactly what you gain.
Two things that come as standard matter more for Palworld than they sound. The Pterodactyl panel gives you scheduled tasks, which is how you set that restart every 6 to 12 hours in about a minute without scripting anything yourself. And the automatic backups are your safety net for the save file. On top of that there is DDoS protection, everything runs on NVMe, and you pick from four locations: our own hardware in the Previder PDC2 data centre in Hengelo, plus Frankfurt, Warsaw and North America.
Example configuration for a group of friends
Here is a set of values for four to six players building together, without PvP: kind to people with jobs, without leaving nothing to do.
ExpRateat 2: noticeably faster, but the first weekend is still the first weekend.PalEggDefaultHatchingTimeat 8: an egg you put down in the evening has hatched by the next.DeathPenaltyatNone: no evening lost to sprinting back for your gear.WorkSpeedRateat 1.5: the base keeps ticking over instead of you waiting on it.ServerPlayerMaxNumat 8: plenty for the group plus the odd visitor.bIsPvP,bEnablePlayerToPlayerDamageandbEnableDefenseOtherGuildPlayerall three off.bEnableInvaderEnemyon, and off as soon as the server climbs too far between two restarts.
Pair that with a scheduled restart, nightly or every 12 hours, and otherwise leave the file alone. Changing more mostly increases the odds that in a month you will no longer remember why something is set the way it is. For the rest of the performance picture: our broader hosting tips for Palworld servers.
Frequently asked questions
Where is PalWorldSettings.ini on a Linux server? In Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/. The file is not there by default: you copy DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini into that folder, rename the copy to PalWorldSettings.ini and edit the copy. In total there are roughly 119 settings.
Why does my PvP setting do nothing? Because PvP only works once you enable three switches together: bIsPvP, bEnablePlayerToPlayerDamage and bEnableDefenseOtherGuildPlayer. Turning on just one has no visible effect in game whatsoever.
How short can I set the egg hatching time? By default PalEggDefaultHatchingTime sits at 72 hours, which is harsh if you play a couple of hours a day. On private servers 5 to 10 hours is the usual choice. Set WorkSpeedRate to 1.5 as well and the Pals at the breeding farm work faster too.
What did the Sakurajima and Tower of Mercy updates add to the file? Sakurajima, the mid-2025 update, brought settings tied to the Sakurajima island. Tower of Mercy from early 2026 added options that let you scale raid difficulty. A file you created before those updates is missing those lines; after a big update, put it side by side with a fresh DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini and copy the new lines across.
Do I have to stop the server before editing PalWorldSettings.ini? Yes, always. While the server runs it keeps its configuration in memory and writes it back to the file on shutdown, so anything you change while it is up gets overwritten on restart. The order is stop, edit, save, start. The 32-player maximum is set in the same session through ServerPlayerMaxNum.