What do all the settings in PalWorldSettings.ini do?
In this article
Every Palworld server reads all of its rules from a single file at startup: PalWorldSettings.ini. It controls how fast players level up, how harsh the death penalty is, how many players can be online at once and whether a server password is required. Below you will find every relevant setting with its default value and an explanation, two ready-made profiles (casual and hardcore) and the pitfalls you want to avoid.
Where is PalWorldSettings.ini located?
On a Linux game server the file lives at Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/PalWorldSettings.ini (on a Windows installation the last folder is called WindowsServer). The root folder of your server also contains DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini: that file is only a reference listing all default values. The server never reads it, so changes made there have no effect. Note that all settings sit together on one long line starting with OptionSettings=(, separated by commas. If your PalWorldSettings.ini is still almost empty, first copy that complete line over from the Default file and then adjust the values.
All settings at a glance
The most important fields, each with its default value:
| Setting | Default | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
Difficulty | None | Difficulty preset; almost always None on dedicated servers — the individual values below are what counts. |
ExpRate | 1.000000 | XP multiplier for players and Pals; 2.000000 means levelling twice as fast. |
PalCaptureRate | 1.000000 | Catch chance of Pal Spheres; higher makes capturing easier. |
PalSpawnNumRate | 1.000000 | How many Pals spawn in the world; very high values cost performance. |
PalEggDefaultHatchingTime | 72.000000 | Incubation time in hours for the largest eggs (smaller ones scale along); the go-to knob for faster breeding. |
WorkSpeedRate | 1.000000 | Work speed of Pals in your base. |
DayTimeSpeedRate | 1.000000 | Speed of the day; higher means shorter days. |
NightTimeSpeedRate | 1.000000 | Speed of the night; 2.000000 cuts night length in half. |
DeathPenalty | All | What you lose on death: None (nothing), Item (items), ItemAndEquipment (items and gear) or All (everything, including the Pals in your team). |
ServerPlayerMaxNum | 32 | Maximum number of concurrent players. |
ServerName | "Default Palworld Server" | Name of your server in the server browser. |
ServerPassword | "" | Password players must enter; empty means anyone can join. |
AdminPassword | "" | Password that unlocks in-game admin commands. |
bEnablePlayerToPlayerDamage | False | Whether players can damage each other (PvP). |
CollectionDropRate | 1.000000 | Yield of wood, stone, ore and other resources. |
EnemyDropItemRate | 1.000000 | Amount of loot dropped by defeated enemies. |
GuildPlayerMaxNum | 20 | Maximum number of players per guild. |
RCONEnabled / RCONPort | False / 25575 | Remote administration via RCON; only needed for external management tools. |
Numbers are multipliers with six decimals (1.000000 = 100%), toggles are written as True or False, and text such as passwords goes between double quotes.
Changing settings through the panel
- Create a backup first via the Backups tab, just to be safe.
- Stop your server via the Console tab and wait until it is fully offline. The file is only read at startup; editing while the server is running can make your changes disappear.
- Open the Files tab and browse to
Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/. - Click
PalWorldSettings.ini: in the MC-Node panel the file opens directly in an editor in your browser, without the download-and-reupload routine that manual FTP work requires. - Adjust the values you want inside the existing
OptionSettingsline and save the file. - Start your server again via Console and verify in-game that the changes are active.
Recommended profile: casual (playing with friends)
Faster progression, milder penalties and a shorter night — ideal for a private server where not everyone is online every evening:
ExpRate=2.000000
PalCaptureRate=1.500000
PalSpawnNumRate=1.200000
PalEggDefaultHatchingTime=2.000000
WorkSpeedRate=1.500000
NightTimeSpeedRate=2.000000
CollectionDropRate=1.500000
EnemyDropItemRate=1.500000
DeathPenalty=Item
ServerPassword="PickYourOwnPassword"Leave all other values at their defaults. Note: each setting is shown on its own line above for readability, but in the file itself you only replace these values inside the single OptionSettings line.
Recommended profile: hardcore
Palworld is already strict by default (DeathPenalty=All). This profile keeps that line and turns the pressure up a little further:
ExpRate=1.000000
PalCaptureRate=0.800000
PalEggDefaultHatchingTime=72.000000
DeathPenalty=All
PlayerDamageRateDefense=1.200000
NightTimeSpeedRate=1.000000
bEnablePlayerToPlayerDamage=TruePlayerDamageRateDefense (default 1.000000) controls how much damage players take; 1.200000 makes every fight 20% more painful. Only set bEnablePlayerToPlayerDamage to True if you actually want PvP.
Common problems
- Changes do nothing — You probably edited
DefaultPalWorldSettings.iniinstead of the file inPal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/. Only the latter counts. - Everything suddenly reverted to default — The syntax of the
OptionSettingsline is broken, for example by a missing comma or quote. The server then ignores the entire line and falls back to the default values. Compare your line withDefaultPalWorldSettings.inior restore a backup. - A setting does not seem active — You forgot to restart: the file is read exclusively at startup.
- Your changes vanished — You edited while the server was still running. Always stop the server first.
- The server password does not work — Check that the value sits between double quotes and avoid exotic characters.
Further reading
With the table and the two profiles above you can tune any Palworld server to your liking. If your server is still on an older version, first read how to update your Palworld server to 1.0. If you would rather start over with a fresh world after changing the rates, see how to reset your server. Stuck? Open a ticket via our support page.
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