Hytale VPS Hosting

Hytale server hosting runs Hypixel's official Java server, HytaleServer.jar, on a GreenGeeks VPS instead of your PC. Hytale isn't on Steam, so the server doesn't come through SteamCMD. You get the files with the Hytale Downloader or from the launcher install. Hypixel's support pages suggest a dedicated server for a world that stays online or for more than a few players. Players buy the game at store.hytale.com and play through the Hytale launcher. Only PC players on Windows, macOS and Linux can join, since there's no console version.

A Hytale server needs at least 4 GB of RAM and Java 25. Adoptium Temurin is the recommended Java build, and on GreenGeeks VPS, which runs AlmaLinux 9, it installs from Adoptium's RPM repo with dnf. The server ships as HytaleServer.jar plus an Assets.zip of about 3.3 GB, so leave room for worlds and backups. It listens on UDP port 5520 using QUIC, and no TCP port is needed. Fast cores help, because each world runs on its own main thread. Set the memory limit with -Xmx in jvm.options, and leave 1 to 2 GB for the operating system.

Most groups pick the 8 GB plan at $19.99 a month, renewing at $39.99, which covers about 4 to 8 players at a 12-chunk view distance. A small private world fits the 4 GB plan, and 10 to 20 players or a modded world call for 16 GB. The server also has to sign in to a Hytale account. The base edition costs about $20, and one license covers up to 500 servers, so a single copy of the game is enough for the server side.

Stop the server and copy the world into its universe/worlds/ folder, and it loads from there. On Windows, single-player saves are usually in %appdata%\Hytale\UserData\Saves\, one folder per world, though some guides give %appdata%\Hytale\saves\, so check which exists on your PC. Each save has a universe folder inside. Copy the world from there into universe/worlds/, or replace the server's whole universe/ folder, and keep any Asset Editor packs in mods/. Player inventories travel with universe/. Back up both sides first, because a world opened on a newer build can't go back.

It stops at the hardware and network. A self-managed VPS gives you full root access, so the operating system, the Hytale sign-in, patch-day updates and world backups are up to you. Security on the game side mostly comes down to operator rights. One guide warns that the --allow-op flag lets any player make themselves an admin, so leave it off and grant op from the console. Plugins like PrometheusExporter can track how the server's Java process is running. If the server drops its sign-in after a restart, check that /auth persistence Encrypted is set.

Players and the server must run the exact same protocol version, so after a patch, players on the new build can't join until your server updates too. Seven numbered updates shipped between January and October 2026. The built-in updater checks every hour, and /update apply --confirm installs an update once it's downloaded. Setting AutoApplyMode to WhenEmpty applies it once nobody is online. Updates can also break plugins, as Update 7 did. Chapter I, the October 2026 content update, upgrades worlds the first time they load, and older servers can't read them afterward. Take a manual backup before every major update.

There's no fixed player cap, so RAM, CPU and view distance set a Hytale server's real limit. RAM follows how much of the world is loaded, which grows with view distance and with players exploring apart. Community advice is about 2 GB per player at the default view distance. Cap view distance near Hypixel's recommended 12 chunks, and small groups fit in less. As a guide, 4 GB covers 1 to 3 players, 8 GB about 4 to 8, and 16 GB about 10 to 20. Larger communities can outgrow the 16 GB plan.

Download a mod from CurseForge as a .zip or .jar file, put it in the server's mods/ folder, and restart the server. Hytale mods run on the server as Java plugins and asset packs, so joining players usually don't install anything themselves. CurseForge is Hypixel's modding partner, and by March 2026 players had made over 5,000 mods. Update 6 added an in-game Mod Browser tied to CurseForge. Plugins can break when Hypixel changes its API, as Update 7 showed, so test each mod on a copy of your world after every update before players log in.

Hytale backs itself up when the server starts with --backup, and the official start.sh turns that on by default, saving a snapshot to backups/ every 30 minutes. To undo a bad session, stop the server and put universe/ back from a snapshot. A failed update leaves the old build in updater/backup/. Those copies stay on the VPS, and GreenGeeks leaves backups on a self-managed VPS to you, so send a nightly archive of universe/, the four JSON config files and mods/ to Amazon S3, and don't archive the world while it's running.

PvP, Hardcore and the whitelist each live in a different file, and the server should be stopped before you edit any of them, because it rewrites its config files while running. PvP is a per-world setting, and it's off by default. Turn it on with IsPvpEnabled in the config.json in that world's folder under universe/worlds/. Fall damage is set in the same file. Hardcore arrived in Update 6 with Permadeath, Three Strikes, Nine Lives and Soulbound modes, and the server's Defaults.HardcoreMode takes None, PerPlayer or Global. The whitelist is whitelist.json, next to permissions.json and bans.json.