How to create a Hytale server

Owning your own Hytale server allows you to:

• Create a persistent world accessible to your friends.
• Customize rules, mods and permissions.
• Host a player community with full control.
• Explore various formats (survival, creative, events, mini-games).

Hytale emphasizes creativity, customization and modularity, making it an excellent choice for community servers.

Before anything else, make sure your server environment meets the minimum requirements:

• ✔ RAM : 4 GB minimum (8 GB+ recommended for large communities)
• ✔ Java 25 : Compatible LTS version required for Hytale
• ✔ System : 64-bit (x64 or ARM64 supported)
• ✔ Connection : Stable internet with good UDP bandwidth
• ✔ Hosting : VPS, dedicated PC or local machine capable of running 24/7

You have two options to get the files:

Copy from the launcher (quick method)

Open the Hytale installation folder based on your operating system:

Windows :

%appdata%\Hytale\install\release\package\game\latest

Linux :

~/.local/share/hytale/install/release/package/game/latest

macOS :

~/Library/Application Support/Hytale/install/release/package/game/latest

Once in this folder, copy the following items:

• Copy the Server folder
• Copy the Assets.zip file
• Paste them into a clean folder for your server

Use the Hytale Downloader CLI tool (recommended)

This method is ideal for production servers and regular updates.

• Download the hytale-downloader.zip file
• Run the tool to get the latest files
• Place the files in your server folder

Hytale requires Java 25 (LTS version) to work properly.

Recommended installation

1. Download Java 25 from Adoptium / Temurin
2. Standard installation according to your system (Windows / Linux / Mac)

Verify installation

java --version

You should get an output similar to:

openjdk 25.0.1 2025-10-21 LTS

Once the files are in place, open a terminal or command prompt in your server folder and run:

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

Replace PathToAssets.zip with the actual path to the Assets.zip file.

Tip for faster startup (AOT cache)

This command uses the Ahead-Of-Time cache to reduce startup time.

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

After the first launch, your server must be authorized with Hytale:

/auth login device

Hytale communicates via UDP (QUIC protocol), not TCP. Here's how to configure your network.

Ports to open

• UDP 5520 (default)
• Or your custom port if modified

Firewall rule examples

Windows Defender:

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

Linux UFW:

sudo ufw allow 5520/udp

Linux iptables:

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

Once your server is running, you can customize it through various files and folders:

• mods/ - Add official or community extensions
• config.json - General server configuration
• permissions.json - Player permissions management
• whitelist.json - Whitelist of authorized players
• universe/ - Stores the world and player data

• ✔ Allocate more RAM for large servers:

  Terminal

  java -Xms4G -Xmx8G -jar HytaleServer.jar --assets Assets.zip

• ✔ Limit view distance to reduce memory load
• ✔ Enable automatic backups at regular intervals
• ✔ Monitor CPU and RAM to adjust settings based on player count

To encourage your players to vote for your server on ranking sites like Top-Games, you can install the SimpleVotifier plugin. This plugin allows you to automatically reward each vote.

What is SimpleVotifier?

SimpleVotifier is a Hytale-compatible plugin that receives vote notifications from Top-Games and automatically triggers a reward for the voting player.

Types of rewards

Once configured, you can reward voters with:

• In-game items or kits
• Points or virtual currency
• Temporary permissions (VIP, etc.)

How to install

The full installation and configuration guide is available in our dedicated documentation: