Valheim Crossplay Guide: Run a Shared World for Up to 10 Players

TLDR

Valheim's 1.0 release arrived on September 9, 2026, with the new Deep North biome, alongside new PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2 versions and crossplay between all platforms. A world still holds 1 to 10 players. For a big group, a dedicated server started with -crossplay keeps the world open to everyone, while hosting from the menu suits a smaller group that plays together. The rest is people management: split the work, agree on house rules, and keep a bench.

Which platforms can share a world

Iron Gate's 1.0 FAQ says crossplay covers every version of the game. That means Steam on Windows, Linux, and Mac, the Mac App Store, the Humble store, the Microsoft Store, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and Switch 2. Each platform still has its own rules:

Two more things to settle first:

• Characters stay on their platform. The FAQ says saves don't sync across platforms, except that Xbox players can reach theirs from a PC through the Microsoft Store. A character made on PS5 won't sync to a Steam copy.
• Plan on an unmodded world. Per the same FAQ, Valheim has no official mod support, none on consoles, and no Steam Workshop. If anyone joins from a console, build around the base game.

The cross-platform squads guide covers mixed-platform groups in general.

Host from the menu or run a dedicated server

• Hosting from the game. Start the world as a server from the menu, and a join code appears in the pause menu. Copy it for your friends, who open Join Game, press Add server, and paste it (Crossplay FAQ). The world is only online while the host plays, so this fits a group on one schedule.
• A dedicated server. Iron Gate's server guide calls one "a great way to provide a persistent world in which you and your friends can play anytime." Setup takes "some cursory scripting knowledge," the guide adds. Steam lists the Valheim Dedicated Server program under Tools in your Library, and Microsoft Store installs include a Server folder.
• Add -crossplay, or only Steam players get in. Without the flag, the server uses the Steam backend, so "only Steam users can see and join" it. With the flag, traffic runs through a PlayFab relay with no port forwarding, and players connect by public IP and port, join code, or server list. Local and loopback addresses don't work, so players on the server's home network need the code or the public address.
• Steam-only groups can connect directly. If everyone is on Steam, leave the flag off and forward ports 2456–2457 instead. The community wiki warns that the relay's extra hop makes lag, timeouts, and disconnects more likely.
• Repost the code after restarts. A dedicated server gets a new join code on every restart, per the crossplay patch notes, so repost it or share the IP and port.

Set up the server for a full crew

• Edit a copy of the start script. The guide suggests putting your settings in a copy of start_headless_server.bat (Linux: start_server.sh), since Steam resets the original when it updates.
• Lock the door. Set a password with -password, then list admins, bans, and allowed players in adminlist.txt, bannedlist.txt, and permittedlist.txt, one platform user ID per line. Adding anyone to the permitted list bans everyone else, so add the whole crew at once.
• Stop it with Ctrl+C. Closing the window with the X may leave the server running in the background, the guide warns.
• Tune saves and backups. -saveinterval sets how often the world saves, and -backups sets how many automatic backups it keeps.
• Match raids to uneven progress. Set world modifiers at launch with -preset, -modifier, and -setkey. The wiki says player-based raids (-setkey playerevents) tie raids to each player's own progress instead of the server's boss kills. Menu-hosted worlds get the same options from the World Modifiers button on the start screen (patch 0.217.14).
• Start fresh if you can. Iron Gate recommends a new world for 1.0. Old worlds get the new content, but biome generation only works properly in unexplored areas. If you keep an old world, hold on to the backup made when it first loads in the new save format. The 1.0.15 notes name that backup as the workaround for items on stands that lost their upgrade levels.

Split the jobs

Ten Vikings in one base trip over each other unless everyone has a lane. The 1.0 patch notes give every lane something new:

1. Builders. Own the main hall, portal hub, and storage. Deep North snow must be cleared before you build, so carry the new Snow Shovel. Turn on the build piece author window in settings to see who placed each piece.
2. Explorers. Scout, map, and set portals ahead of the group. The grappling hook helps with heights, and the world's outer edges can hold alternate versions of earlier biomes.
3. Farmers and cooks. Keep ten stomachs full with the new crops (kale, oats, and poteitr), the cauldron's new Smoker extension, and more than 20 new foods.
4. Boss prep. Track gear and food before each boss fight, including the new one, Kall Fimbulbringer. Keep an eye out for the Jotun invasion, too.

Put two people in each lane, let the rest float, and rotate after each boss so nobody farms for a month straight. Keep the main base lean, since the 1.0 FAQ says the update's optimizations won't help large builds much. Players on weaker hardware can also shorten the new Draw Distance setting to improve performance.

Keep ten Vikings in one world

• Put boss nights on the calendar. Nobody wants to miss a boss, so pick a standing night and agree that nobody starts one early.
• Agree on dev commands. The 1.0 FAQ says most dev commands lock both the character and the world save out of achievements. Picking up a spawned item also puts a player in a temporary cheat state. A later hotfix added a way to opt back in, but settle the rule before an admin spawns anything.
• After a patch, compare versions. Iron Gate's standing advice is to run the same patch version as your friends. Patches can reach platforms days apart, though Iron Gate said crossplay would keep working during the 1.0.14 rollout. Its September 11 hotfix notes apologize for a delayed Switch 2 patch and say all platforms "should be compatible for crossplay again." They also note that Xbox's 1.0.11 was identical to 1.0.10, so matching builds can show different version numbers.
• Keep a bench. Ten slots rarely fill every night, and a deep bench outlasts four regulars. To fill gaps in the roster, Player 2 finds players who own the game and are online when your world is. The Minecraft SMP guide covers the same habits for another long-running world.

Before the first night

Choose the host, add -crossplay if anyone plays off Steam, write down the house rules, and hand out the lanes. A shared world lasts as long as its roster, so pick the setup that lets the tenth Viking join on a Tuesday without a tech support call.