Hytale is a lot of fun when in singleplayer, but it’s even more enjoyable with a friend or two. The best way to do this is for someone to run and host their own server so players can join the same world.

Although similar to Minecraft, Hytale currently offers limited ways to run a server, and it requires a bit of coding. No matter, though, if you’re itching to make a server for your friends on Hytale, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do so.

Table of Contents

• How to set up a Hytale server
  • Install Java 25
  • Obtain server files
  • Run the Hytale server
  • Port forward
  • Firewall rules
  • Server files

How to set up a Hytale server

Before you get ahead of yourself, you should know some of the basic requirements your PC needs to run a Hytale server. You can run the server on a device with at least 4GB of memory, either through Windows or Linux, as Hytale supports both x64 and arm64 architectures.

Install Java 25

You will also need the Java 25 program. Hypixel Studios recommends installing Java 25 using Adoptium, but it’s up to you how you install it.

Confirm you’ve installed Java by running the following:

java --version

You should expect this output:

openjdk 25.0.1 2025-10-21 LTS
OpenJDK Runtime Environment Temurin-25.0.1+8 (build 25.0.1+8-LTS)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Temurin-25.0.1+8 (build 25.0.1+8-LTS, mixed mode, sharing)

Obtain server files

You will start off by obtaining server files in either of these two ways:

1. Manually copy server files from the Launcher installation
2. Use Hytale Downloader CLI

Manual copy

This method is great for quick testing, but it’s annoying to keep updating. Start by finding the files in your launcher installation folder. The location depends on your OS:

• Windows: %appdata%\Hytale\install\release\package\game\latest
• Linux: $XDG_DATA_HOME/Hytale/install/release/package/game/latest
• MacOS: ~/Application Support/Hytale/install/release/package/game/latest

Inside this folder, you should see a Client and Server folder, as well as Assets.zip. Copy the Server folder and Assets.zip to your destination server folder.

Hytale Downloader CLI

This method is easier to keep updated and is better for production servers. It will download Hytale server and asset files using OAth2 authentication.

Download it here for Windows and Linux. See QUICKSTART.md inside the archive. Here are some of the commands:

Run the Hytale server

First, start up the server with this:

java -XX:AOTCache=HytaleServer.aot -jar HytaleServer.jar --assets Assets.zip

You’ll need to authenticate your server after your initial launch.

/auth login device

It will then give you instructions for authorization, involving a URL to visit alongside a special code to use. Once complete, players will be able to start connecting to your server.

Port forward

By default, the port will be 5520. You can change it by using the –bind argument with whatever new port number you want:

java -jar HytaleServer.jar --assets Assets.zip --bind 1234

Hytale also uses QUIC over UDP, and not TCP. If you’re hosting behind a router, you can forward UDP port 5520 (or whatever your port is) to your server machine. Note that TCP forwarding isn’t required.

Firewall rules

Windows Defender Firewall:

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Hytale Server" -Direction Inbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 5520 -Action Allow

Linux (iptables):

sudo iptables -A INPUT -p udp --dport 5520 -j ACCEPT

Linux (ufw):

sudo ufw allow 5520/udp

QUIC should typically handle NAT traversal well. If some players have issues connecting, try these steps:

• Make sure the port forward is for UDP, not TCP.
• Consider a VPS or dedicated server, as symmetric NAT configurations may cause problems.

Server files

Here are some files for your Hytale server that’ll show up after running it, and what they do:

• .cache/ – Cache for optimized files
• logs/ – Server log files
• mods/ – Installed mods
• universe/ – World/player save data
• bans.json – Banned players
• config.json – Server configuration
• permissions.json – Permission configuration
• whitelist.json – Whitelisted players

Another important directory is universe/worlds/, which contains all your server’s playable worlds. Each world has its own config.json file.