Valheim server not showing in the community list: fixes

A Valheim server that runs but does not appear in the community list is almost never broken. In order of likelihood: the list simply has not caught up yet (give it ten to fifteen minutes after a start), the server was launched with -public 0, the query port - the game port plus one, 2457 by default - is not reachable over UDP, or you are searching a list of thousands with a filter that matches half of them. Before you change anything, try joining by IP. If that works, the server is fine and only the listing is missing, which matters for strangers finding you and not at all for a group of friends who already know the address.

This post is about that listing: how a Valheim server gets into the community list, what keeps it out, and how to prove which step failed. If the server cannot be joined at all, by any method, you have a connection problem rather than a listing problem, and Valheim failed to connect errors is the better starting point.

Test the server before you test the list#

The community list and the server itself are two separate things. The server accepts players on its game port. The list is a directory kept by someone else - Steam's master server, or PlayFab for crossplay servers - which your server registers with and which players' games then query. A server can be perfectly healthy and absent from the directory, and occasionally the directory shows a server that has already stopped.

So separate the two first:

1. Open Valheim on a Steam copy, choose Join Game, then Add Server.
2. Enter the address and game port, for example 203.0.113.10:2456.
3. Connect and enter the password.

If you get the password prompt, the server is running, the game port is open and the version matches. Whatever is wrong is the listing. If you do not get as far as the password prompt, stop reading here and fix the connection first - no amount of -public tinkering will make an unreachable server show up usefully.

On a crossplay server, the six-digit join code is the equivalent test. It is printed in the log on every start, on a line like this:

Session "Longship Crew" with join code 483920 and IP 203.0.113.10:2456 is active with 0 player(s)

That line is also a useful sign in its own right: it means the server finished starting and registered a session. If it never appears, the server is still loading, or it failed - and a server that failed to start will not be listed anywhere. Valheim server crashes on start covers that case.

How a Valheim server gets listed#

On a Steam-only server (no -crossplay), the process is the classic Steam one:

• The server starts and logs in to Steam anonymously as a game server.
• If -public 1 is set, it tells Steam's master server that it exists, with its name, map, player count, version and ports.
• Players' games ask the master server for the list of Valheim servers, get back addresses, and then query each server directly on its query port to fill in the details.

That last step is the one people miss. The master server only holds a pointer. The name, player count and ping that you see in the list come from your server answering a query on UDP 2457. If that port is closed, the server may be registered and still never displayed, because the game discards entries it cannot query. Query ports and A2S explains the protocol behind this and why so many games behave the same way.

With -crossplay, the listing goes through Microsoft's PlayFab service instead. The server registers a session with PlayFab, and the community list in every edition of the game - Steam, Microsoft Store, Xbox - reads from it. The query port matters less here, and the delay before a new server appears is different from Steam's. Valheim crossplay and Xbox players describes the relay side of crossplay; for listing purposes, all you need to know is that a crossplay server and a Steam-only server are listed by two different systems, so advice for one does not always apply to the other.

The -public flag and the settings that hide a server#

The first thing to check is the launch line, or the Startup tab on a hosted panel. These are the arguments that decide whether a server is listed at all:

A typical Linux start line for a listed server looks like this:

$ ./valheim_server.x86_64 -nographics -batchmode \    -name "Longship Crew" -port 2456 -world "Midgard" \    -password "herring-barrel-42" -public 1

Things that catch people:

• The value, not just the flag. -public takes a number. A script edited by hand that leaves -public with nothing after it, or with 0 copied from somebody's private-server example, keeps the server out of the list.
• Edited the wrong script. On Linux the stock files are start_server.sh and, with mods, start_server_bepinex.sh. On Windows it is start_headless_server.bat. Changing the one you do not run changes nothing. If BepInEx is installed, the BepInEx script is the live one.
• A panel variable overrides your edit. On a hosted server the start line is built from the Startup tab. Editing a script in the file manager does not change it.
• Private by design. Many groups set -public 0 deliberately, to stay out of a list full of strangers trying passwords. That is a reasonable choice; just remember you made it.

The full argument set, with defaults and the password rule that stops a server from starting at all, is in Valheim launch arguments reference.

The master server delay#

A Steam-listed server does not appear the moment it starts. Expect a few minutes at best and ten to fifteen minutes routinely. Every restart starts the clock again, so a server on a crash loop or an hourly restart schedule can spend a surprising share of its life invisible.

The general reasons are on Steam's side rather than Valheim's: the master server aggregates registrations, players' clients cache the list, and the in-game browser fetches it when you open the tab rather than continuously. Server browser visibility and the Steam master server goes into the mechanics across games.

Practical consequences for Valheim:

• Do not change settings every two minutes. Each change means a restart, and each restart resets the wait. Make one change, wait fifteen minutes, then judge.
• Refresh the list. The community tab does not update itself while open. Close Join Game and reopen it, or use the refresh button.
• Check from a second machine. Your own client may be holding an old copy of the list. A friend's fresh look is a better test.
• Busy evenings are slower. Steam's listing is under the most load when everybody plays. A server started at 20:00 on a Friday can take longer to appear than the same server at 10:00 on a Tuesday.

You can check whether Steam knows about your server at all, without the game, using Steam's public web API. It needs no key:

$ curl "https://api.steampowered.com/ISteamApps/GetServersAtAddress/v1/?addr=203.0.113.10"

The response lists every server Steam has registered at that IP, with its ports and app ID. If your server is in that response, registration worked and the remaining problem is the query port or the in-game filter. If the response is empty after fifteen minutes, the server is not registering: check -public 1, check that the process has outbound internet access, and read the start of the log for Steam login errors. This check is only meaningful for Steam-only servers; a crossplay server is listed through PlayFab and may not appear there.

The query port and firewalls#

If Steam knows about the server but the game does not show it, the query port is the prime suspect. The game port and query port form a pair:

Both must be open, and both are UDP. Common ways to get this wrong:

• A TCP rule. Router forwarding pages often default to TCP. Valheim uses none.
• Only the game port. Joining by IP works, so the forward looks correct, but the list never fills in the server's details.
• Moved the game port and not the query port. Running a second server on -port 2466 means forwarding 2466 and 2467, not 2457.
• Host firewall. On your own Linux box, ufw or nftables rules must allow both. On Windows, the first-start firewall prompt must be accepted for the network type you are actually on.

You can query the server from outside the way a game client does. With Python and the python-a2s package:

# pip install python-a2simport a2sinfo = a2s.info(("203.0.113.10", 2457), timeout=5)print(info.server_name, info.player_count, info.max_players)

An answer means the query port works from wherever you ran it. A timeout from outside your network, when the same query works from inside, means the forward or the firewall is wrong. Run it from a machine that is not on the server's network - a phone hotspot is enough - because a query from inside the same LAN proves nothing about the forward. Valheim ports 2456-2458 explained covers the port range in more depth, including several servers on one address.

Hosting at home behind CGNAT

If the server runs on a home connection, check whether you even have a public IPv4 address. Compare the WAN address in your router with what a "what is my IP" site reports. If they differ, or the router's address starts with 100.64 to 100.127, you are behind carrier-grade NAT. Port forwarding cannot work there, the query never reaches you, and the server will not appear in the Steam list no matter what you change. Crossplay with join codes is one workaround, since PlayFab relays the traffic; a hosted server is the other. NAT and CGNAT for game hosts explains how to tell and what your options are.

Searching the community list properly#

Sometimes the server is listed and nobody can find it. The Valheim community list is long - thousands of entries at busy times - and its search box is a plain text match on the name.

• Search for an unusual word. "Viking", "Valhalla" and "Midgard" match hundreds of servers. "Herringbone" matches yours.
• Check the Community tab, not Friends or Favourites. The tabs are separate lists.
• Mind your own filters. If the list shows only some entries, look for filter options in the browser and clear them before deciding the server is missing.
• Avoid odd characters in the name. Emoji and unusual symbols are a gamble in someone else's search box. Keep the searchable part of the name to plain letters and digits.
• The name is not the world. -name is what the list shows; -world is the save file. People search for the world name and find nothing.

The list also tells you whether a server needs a password. Nearly every Valheim dedicated server does, so that is not a useful way to narrow a search; it does mean nobody can tell from the list alone which locked server is yours.

Version mismatch

A server one patch behind the clients may still be in the list, but nobody on the current version can join it, and in practice it gets ignored or looks broken. After every Valheim patch the server needs updating before anyone can connect. If the server went missing on the same day as a game update, check the version first - Valheim updates and version mismatch explains how to update and how to time it for a group.

Joining without the list#

For a private group, the list is a convenience at best. Four ways in that do not depend on it:

1. Add Server by address. Join Game, Add Server, 203.0.113.10:2456. It is saved in the in-game favourites, so you type it once.
2. Join code on crossplay servers. Works on every platform, including Xbox where typing an IP is not possible. It changes on every restart, so share it fresh or tell people where to look for it.
3. A domain name. An A record such as valheim.example.com pointing at the server's IP means the address survives a move. Connecting a domain to a game server covers the record; players still type the port.
4. Steam's own server browser. In the Steam client, View, then Game Servers, then Favourites, and add the address. Steam queries the server on its query port, so this is also a quick way to see whether the query port answers.

Steam connect links and direct connect covers the general mechanics of direct joins across Steam games.

On a hosted panel#

On RE:NODE, a Valheim server is created with both UDP ports allocated and crossplay already on, so the listing goes through PlayFab and the join code is printed in the live console after every start. -public and the server name are fields on the Startup tab; change them there, restart, and wait the fifteen minutes before judging. The Network tab shows which ports the server holds, so you can confirm the query port is the game port plus one rather than guessing. If you want a Steam-only server listed through Steam's master server, turn crossplay off on the Startup tab - the trade-offs are in the crossplay post linked above.

What a host cannot do is make the list faster. The delay belongs to Steam or PlayFab, and it is the same everywhere.

Troubleshooting checklist#

Work through these in order. Each one rules out a whole class of cause.

1. Join by IP or join code. Works: listing problem only. Fails: connection problem, see the connection errors post.
2. Read the log. Is there a session line with a join code, or a Steam game server login? If the server never finished starting, it cannot be listed.
3. Check `-public 1` in the command that actually runs.
4. Wait fifteen minutes without restarting, then reopen Join Game.
5. Ask Steam. GetServersAtAddress with your IP, for a Steam-only server.
6. Query the server on the query port from outside your network.
7. Search for a unique word in the name, on the Community tab, from a second machine.
8. Compare versions if the problem started on a patch day.

If all eight pass and the server still does not show, it is listed and the person looking cannot see it - which is usually their filter, their cached list, or their own network blocking outgoing UDP.

FAQ#

How long does a new Valheim server take to show in the community list?

Usually a few minutes, often ten to fifteen, occasionally longer at busy times. Every restart starts the wait again. If it is still missing after twenty minutes with no restarts, something is wrong and the checklist above will find it.

Can I play on a Valheim server that is not in the list?

Yes. A server with -public 0 or one the list has not picked up yet is fully playable. Steam players join by address with Add Server, and on a crossplay server everyone can use the join code.

Does the query port need to be open if we only join by IP?

Not strictly - joining by IP uses the game port. But the list, Steam's server browser and most monitoring tools use the query port, so leave it open unless you have a reason not to.

Why do I see my server in the list but my friend does not?

Your client may be showing a cached list, or your friend's search or filters differ. Have them reopen Join Game, search for a unique word in the name, and if it still does not appear, join by address and save it.

Should a private group's server be public at all?

Rarely. A public listing invites strangers to try passwords and adds nothing for people who already know the address. Set -public 0, share the address or join code, and keep a strong password.