How to Create a Hytale Server on a Windows VPS

Hytale is a sandbox RPG where players can explore dungeons and biomes on procedurally generated worlds, fight monsters thanks to its dynamic combat, talk with NPCs, or even mold the world to their liking, thanks to the vanilla content or the integrated mod support. With Hytale, the choices are limitless. Hytale was originally announced in December 2018 and will eventually include minigames and an adventure mode in future releases.

As of January 2026, the long-awaited Hytale early access has been released, and with this, the multiplayer support, meaning you can enjoy this journey with your friends. In this guide, we'll be covering the setup process of a Hytale Server on a Windows VPS.

Before Starting

You need a valid Hytale account to authenticate the server and proceed with the setup process, so if you haven't done it yet, purchase the game through the official website here.

In addition to this, you'll need a VPS plan with enough resources to handle the server and any other background task you may need. Fortunately, Iceline Hosting offers a variety of Game VPS plans with powerful specs to support any game server of your choice, along with multiple locations around the globe so you can enjoy low latency. To get started, just follow these steps:

Purchasing a VPS on Iceline Hosting:

• Go to our Game VPS page.

• Select a plan suited to your needs. We recommend selecting the Community plan for small servers, or a higher plan like the Gaming Network if you want to host a server for modded/large communities.

• Select the location that suits your player base the most; you can also see an estimated ping to help you decide.

• Select the OS you want to use, for example, Windows Server 2022.

• Confirm the details of your order and click on Launch My Server when you're ready to proceed. We also highly recommend upgrading the CPU Cores to 4, as Hytale is highly dependent on CPU performance.

• You'll be redirected to the shopping cart, select a payment method to pay your invoice and the order will be processed automatically in a few minutes!

Purchasing a VPS will also grant you access to the VPS Panel, where you can manage certain aspects of your VPS and access it through VNC if needed. Your login credentials will also be emailed to you, so you can access the VPS through RDP as well. You can access the VPS Panel through this URL.

Servers are automatically deployed after a few minutes. If you are experiencing any issues or have any questions, feel free to contact our team.

Setting up a Hytale Server on a Windows VPS

As mentioned before, make sure your VPS meets the minimum requirements for your server:

Requirements:

• Java 21+ or 25 runtime (OpenJDK recommended).
• High CPU/RAM (Based on the official recommended specs, you should get at least 8-16GB RAM for small servers, and at least 4 CPU Cores to handle heavy stuff like world generation).
• 50 GB of Storage, enough for the installation and future data.
• 64-bit OS (Windows/Linux supported).

Keep in mind that Windows VPS OS uses ~20 GB on average, so make sure to get a VPS with enough specs, or you may risk running out of storage and the server being corrupted. You can upgrade your server specs in the billing area anytime.

Installing Java 25 on your VPS

By default, the VPS doesn't come with Java installed, but you can use Adoptium to set it up easily. Just follow these steps:

• Connect to your VPS through RDP with your credentials.
• On your VPS, go to the Adoptium page.
• Select the JDK 25 - LTS version.
• Locate the Windows version and download the .msi file, then execute it.
• Follow the steps and wait for the install to finish.

That's it! Now you're ready to proceed with the Hytale server setup process.

Setting up the Hytale Server:

• Connect to your VPS through RDP with your credentials.
• On your VPS, download the official dedicated server installer from the official website.

• Create a new folder and extract the files to it.
• Run the Hytale downloader exe file and follow the steps to authenticate the server and download the server files.

• Wait for the server download to finish.

• Extract the newly downloaded files to your main folder.
• Open Notepad and paste the following line:

java -jar HytaleServer.jar --assets PathToAssets.zip

• Replace the "PathToAssets" with the Windows path to your Assets.zip file. Make sure to use " if any of the folders contain spaces. See the example below:

• Save the file as run_server.bat inside the same folder as your HytaleServer.jar file.

• Navigate to the /Server/ folder and execute the run_server.bat file to start your server. This will also generate the remaining server files.

• In your server console, run the command /auth login device (to authenticate the server and allow for player connections).
• Follow the steps to authorize the device and then run /auth persistence Encrypted to avoid having to reauthenticate the next time you start the server.

• When done, stop the server (/stop in the console) and then open the configuration files (config.json) to edit the properties as needed (name, MOTD, max players...).
• Start the server again by executing the run_server.bat file.

With these simple steps, the basic setup is done, and the files are prepared to be used. Now, you only need to allow the ports/server file through the firewall.

Opening ports for your Hytale Game Server through the Windows Firewall

• In your VPS, open the Windows Firewall app.
• Click on "Advanced Settings".

• Click on "Inbound Rules" and then "New Rule".
• Select "Port" as the type of rule you want to create, and click on Next.

• Select UDP and "Specific Local Ports", then type 5520 (the default hytale port), then click on Next until you reach the "Name" step.

• Name this new rule "Hytale Server" and click on Finish.

That's it, with this, the server will allow connections from other players.

How to Connect to your Hytale Server

Now that you've set up the server and made rules for your Hytale Server through the Windows firewall, everything is ready for you to connect to your server and start your journey! To do this, just follow these steps:

1. Launch Hytale.
2. Click on Servers to open the server browser.
3. Click on Add Server, and a new window will pop up.
4. Paste your server IP (the one you used for RDP access, which can be found under the VPS panel) and server port (5520) and type a name/identifier for your server, then click on Add Server.
5. Click on your server twice to connect.

How to Set up FTP Access on your VPS

With an FTP account, you will be able to upload/edit your server files through an FTP application like FileZilla. Fortunately, our Game VPS plans come with XAMPP and Filezilla Server included by default. If you want to learn how to create a FTP account to access your files, you can do so through this URL.

And with this, you've reached the end of this guide. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions, and check our knowledge base for additional Hytale content.

While running the server on a Game VPS allows you to have full control over the resources and configuration, most of the configuration will need to be done manually, like SFTP Setup, file backups, and future server updates. Read more about the differences between our VPS and game hosting plans here!