Palworld Server Toolkit

A comprehensive suite of PowerShell scripts, a web-based admin dashboard, a GUI monitor, and a UE4SS Lua mod for managing a Palworld Dedicated Server on Windows.

Features

• GUI Monitor — Dark-theme WinForms dashboard showing server status, watchdog state, mod status, backup info, and live log tailing
• Live Editor — Web-based admin dashboard for giving items, spawning pals, managing players, with a searchable pal database and RCON console
• Watchdog — Crash detection with auto-restart, mod crash auto-disable (disables UE4SS after consecutive fast crashes)
• Auto-Updates — Server updates via SteamCMD, UE4SS mod updates via GitHub API, with pause flag support
• Multi-Layer Backup — Git commits, robocopy snapshots, VSS shadow copies, and manual safety backups
• RCON Client — Pure PowerShell implementation of the Source RCON protocol, no external dependencies
• LiveEditor Mod — UE4SS Lua mod providing file-based IPC for admin commands (give items, spawn pals)

Requirements

• Windows 10/11 or Windows Server 2019+
• PowerShell 5.1+ (included with Windows)
• Git for Windows
• Palworld Dedicated Server (installed via SteamCMD)
• UE4SS Palworld Fork (for LiveEditor mod and admin commands)
• AdminCommands Mod (for give/spawn functionality)

Quick Start

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/palworld-server-toolkit.git
   cd palworld-server-toolkit
   

2. Install the Palworld server:

   steamcmd\steamcmd.exe +force_install_dir "FULL_PATH_TO\server" +login anonymous +app_update 2394010 validate +quit
   

3. Configure:

   copy config.example.json config.json
   

   Edit config.json with your server name, admin password, and player UID.

4. Run setup (as Administrator):

   powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\setup.ps1
   

   This creates config.json (if missing), initialises the backup git repo, installs the LiveEditor mod, and registers Task Scheduler tasks.

5. Start the server:

   Start-ScheduledTask -TaskName '\Palworld\Startup'
   

   Or launch Monitor.bat for the GUI dashboard.

Directory Structure

palworld-server-toolkit/
├── config.example.json      # Configuration template
├── config.json              # Your config (git-ignored, contains passwords)
├── Monitor.bat              # Launch GUI monitor
├── LiveEditor.bat           # Launch web admin dashboard
├── CLAUDE.md                # AI assistant instructions
├── scripts/
│   ├── setup.ps1            # One-time setup (run as admin)
│   ├── startup.ps1          # Boot watchdog: update + start + crash loop
│   ├── daily-update.ps1     # Daily 04:00: stop + update + restart
│   ├── backup.ps1           # Hourly git commit of SaveGames
│   ├── backup-robocopy.ps1  # Hourly robocopy snapshot (immune to git)
│   ├── safe-backup.ps1      # Manual pre-operation safety backup
│   ├── update-mods.ps1      # Auto-update UE4SS from GitHub
│   ├── monitor.ps1          # WinForms GUI dashboard
│   ├── rcon-client.ps1      # Pure PowerShell RCON client
│   ├── live-editor-server.ps1  # HTTP server for Live Editor
│   ├── config-loader.ps1    # Shared config.json loader
│   ├── health-check.ps1     # Server health and folder analysis
│   ├── enable-vss.ps1       # Enable Volume Shadow Copy
│   └── live-editor/
│       └── www/             # Live Editor web frontend
│           ├── index.html
│           ├── style.css
│           └── app.js
├── mods/
│   └── LiveEditor/          # UE4SS Lua mod (installed by setup.ps1)
│       ├── enabled.txt
│       └── Scripts/
│           ├── main.lua     # IPC command handler
│           └── Json.lua     # JSON library (dkjson)
├── server/                  # Palworld server files (git-ignored)
├── steamcmd/                # SteamCMD (git-ignored)
├── backups/                 # Backup storage (git-ignored)
└── logs/                    # Log files (git-ignored)

Configuration

Edit config.json (copied from config.example.json during setup):

Field	Description	Default
server_name	Display name shown in Live Editor	My Palworld Server
admin_password	AdminPassword for RCON/REST API auth	CHANGE_ME
admin_uid	Your player UID (hex) for admin commands	YOUR_PLAYER_UID_HERE
rcon_port	RCON port	25575
rest_api_port	REST API port	8212
live_editor_port	Live Editor web server port	8213
server_port	Game server port (UDP)	8211
public_ip	Public IP or domain (for server config)	(empty)
server_dir	Relative path to server directory	server

Scripts Reference

Script	Purpose
setup.ps1	One-time setup: creates config, git repo, Task Scheduler tasks, installs mod
startup.ps1	Boot watchdog: SteamCMD update, mod update, start server, crash detection loop
daily-update.ps1	Daily maintenance: graceful shutdown, update, restart
backup.ps1	Git commit SaveGames directory (hourly via Task Scheduler)
backup-robocopy.ps1	Robocopy snapshot to backups/hourly/ (48h rolling window)
safe-backup.ps1	Manual safety backup before any save file operation
update-mods.ps1	Check GitHub API for UE4SS updates, install if newer
monitor.ps1	WinForms GUI: server status, watchdog, mod toggle, backup info, log tail
rcon-client.ps1	Source RCON protocol client (interactive or single-command mode)
live-editor-server.ps1	HTTP server for the web-based Live Editor dashboard
health-check.ps1	Console health check: process, tasks, backups, folder sizes
enable-vss.ps1	Enable Windows Volume Shadow Copy on the drive
config-loader.ps1	Shared helper: loads config.json for other scripts

Network Ports

Port	Protocol	Service
8211	UDP	Palworld game server
25575	TCP	RCON (remote console)
8212	TCP	REST API
8213	TCP	Live Editor web dashboard (localhost only)

Backup System

Four independent layers provide redundant save protection:

Layer	Method	Schedule	Location	Resilience
Git	backup.ps1	Hourly	SaveGames/.git	Full history, can be affected by git operations
Robocopy	backup-robocopy.ps1	Hourly	backups/hourly/	Immune to git operations, 48h rolling window
Safety	safe-backup.ps1	Manual	backups/safe-backup/	Run before any save file operation
VSS	Windows Shadow Copy	Daily	System shadow storage	OS-level, browse via Explorer > Previous Versions

Recovery priority: backups/safe-backup/ > backups/hourly/ > git log > Palworld internal backups > VSS

Troubleshooting

Server won't start:

• Check logs/ for error output
• Verify the server executable exists: server\Pal\Binaries\Win64\PalServer-Win64-Shipping-Cmd.exe
• Run SteamCMD update with +force_install_dir pointing to the server directory

Mod crashes the server:

• The watchdog auto-disables mods after 2 consecutive fast crashes (within 8 minutes)
• Manually disable: rename server\Pal\Binaries\Win64\dwmapi.dll to dwmapi.dll.disabled
• UE4SS may need updating after Palworld patches

Live Editor not responding:

• Ensure the server is running with UE4SS and LiveEditor mod enabled
• Check that config.json has the correct admin_uid
• The IPC timeout is 5 seconds — commands fail if the server doesn't respond

RCON connection refused:

• Verify RCON is enabled in PalWorldSettings.ini (RCONEnabled=True)
• Check the port matches config.json
• The server must be fully started before RCON accepts connections

Licence

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0.