Free Terraria server hosting

Terraria is easy on a server. The dedicated server loads the whole world into memory when it starts and only touches the disk to save, so it runs on our HDD node with no difference in game.

Pick a server type

You choose one of three when you create the server:

• Terraria is the official dedicated server, downloaded from terraria.org in its latest version. Pick it to play with friends exactly as in singleplayer.
• Terraria (TShock) adds what a public server needs: player accounts, groups and permissions, protected regions, bans, and plugins, which go in the ServerPlugins folder as .dll files.
• Terraria (tModLoader) runs mods. Everyone who joins needs tModLoader too, which is free on Steam for anyone who owns Terraria.

Not sure? Start with vanilla: the world is a single .wld file and can move to TShock or tModLoader later.

Plans

Both are free. Vanilla or TShock for a group of friends is comfortable on Lite. Pick Turbo for many players, or for tModLoader with big content mods such as Calamity, which use far more memory than the base game. The renewal guide explains the Renew timer.

Before you start

• Terraria on PC for every player, on the same version as the server. The server installs the newest release, so ask your friends to update.
• For tModLoader: tModLoader for every player, with the same mods as the server.
• Optional, your own world. On Windows, worlds live in Documents\My Games\Terraria\Worlds, and tModLoader worlds in Documents\My Games\Terraria\tModLoader\Worlds.

No key or extra account is needed, so Terraria servers are created without a Setup step.

How to start

1. On Create your server, choose a plan, then the Terraria type.
2. Confirm your email with the code we send. The server is built, starts by itself and generates a world.
3. Log in at game.torchlite.host with the same email and password. The console tells you to type help once the server is ready.
4. In Terraria, choose Multiplayer, then Join via IP, and enter the address and the port from the panel.

On vanilla and tModLoader, the Startup page holds World Name, World Size (1 small, 2 medium, 3 large), Difficulty, the password and the message of the day. Size and difficulty only apply when a new world is generated, so change them together with World Name and restart. TShock only lets you change World Name there; the TShock guide covers the rest, starting with the setup code TShock prints on its first start.

Bring your own world

On vanilla and tModLoader:

1. Stop the server.
2. Upload the .wld file to saves/Worlds with the Files page or over SFTP. For tModLoader, also upload the .twld file with the same name, which holds the modded data.
3. On Startup, set World Name to the file name without .wld. The field takes 20 characters at most.
4. Start the server.

For tModLoader mods, upload the .tmod files to the mods folder, list them in mods/enabled.json and restart.

Common problems

Characters cannot enter the world. Vanilla's default Difficulty is 3, Journey mode, and Journey worlds only accept Journey characters. Set Difficulty to 0 (Classic), 1 (Expert) or 2 (Master), rename the world and restart.

Version mismatch after a Terraria update. Take a backup, then press Reinstall Server under Settings to fetch the latest version; your world files are kept. TShock has to release its own update for each new Terraria version first.

tModLoader stops while loading mods. An out-of-memory error in the console means the mods need more RAM than your plan has. Drop a big mod, or run them on Turbo.

It stopped on its own. The renewal timer ran out. Press Start and the world loads again.