How to Host a V Rising Server on LoafHosts

To host a V Rising dedicated server on LoafHosts, deploy a server, set your server name, password, and player cap on the Startup tab, pick a game-mode preset before your first boot, then start the server and connect. A dedicated server runs the V Rising server process on its own hardware around the clock, so your castle, your world, and your clan’s progress stay up whether or not anyone is home to host from their own PC. This guide walks the whole path from an empty plan to a joinable server: deploying, understanding the startup variables the egg exposes, what the Config Editor does and does not cover, where your save actually lives on disk, and which LoafHosts panel tools (backups, schedules, auto-restart, Change Game) work with a V Rising server today.

What V Rising Is

V Rising is Stunlock Studios’ vampire survival game: you wake as a weakened vampire, raise a castle, hunt blood from nearby settlements, and manage sun exposure while building up your power against other vampires and the world’s bosses. A dedicated server lets a group play together on a persistent world with a fixed set of rules (PvP or PvE, difficulty, siege windows, resource rates) instead of one player hosting from their own game client.

Note: V Rising’s dedicated server binary is Windows-only. There is no native Linux build, so it runs under Wine on the host. LoafHosts handles this for you automatically at deploy time; you never touch Wine directly.

What You Need Before You Start

You need a hosting plan sized for V Rising, a decision on PvP vs PvE (and how hardcore you want combat and sieges), and a sense of whether you are starting a brand-new world or importing an existing single-player save. You do not need to install SteamCMD, Wine, or the server binary yourself; the plan handles that on deploy.

• V Rising’s dedicated server recommends at least 4 GB of RAM at minimum and performs comfortably with 8 GB for a small-to-mid community, plus a few gigabytes of disk for the install and saves.
• Because the server runs a Windows binary under Wine, it leans more on CPU than a native Linux server of similar scope. A larger Custom build with more CPU headroom is the safer pick if you expect a full clan roster online at once or plan to run heavy PvP siege windows.
• Decide your preset (PvP or PvE, and a difficulty) before the very first boot. Presets only take effect when the world save is first created; changing them afterward does nothing until you start a brand-new save.

Tip: If you are not sure yet, StandardPvE with Normal difficulty is a forgiving default you can retune later through the Config Editor’s individual fields

Tip: Give your Custom server more CPU headroom if your group runs full PvP siege nights with everyone online at once

Step 1: Deploy the Server

Deploying a V Rising server on LoafHosts is a checkout-and-wait process, same as any other game on the platform.

1. Go to loafhosts.com and configure your Custom server, sliding RAM and storage to fit your world and picking a protection tier
2. Pick the region closest to your players
3. Complete checkout
4. Open LoafHub at hub.loafhosts.com and select your new server
5. Wait for the panel to show the server deployed and ready, then open the Console tab to watch the first boot

The install step pulls the V Rising dedicated server through SteamCMD (anonymous login, Windows branch, roughly 2 GB) and can take a few minutes on first install. A clean first boot ends with the console printing a line similar to [Server] Startup Completed; that is your signal the server is actually up and listening, not just the container running.

Tip: SteamCMD installs can be slow or occasionally flaky on the first run, like any Steam-based game install; give it a few minutes before assuming something is wrong

Note: The container image runs the server under Wine specifically to support this Windows-only binary; this is normal for V Rising and not specific to LoafHosts

Step 2: Set the Startup Essentials

Before you start the server the first time, open your server’s Startup tab (Server Settings) and set the fields that decide your world’s identity and rules. These are environment variables the egg exposes; the ones below matter most for a first launch.

The game port, the query port, and RCON are handled slightly differently: the game (connect) port comes from your server’s allocation and is managed by the panel, not typed in here. The query port (a separate UDP port used only for the Steam server-list) and the RCON port are also allocation-managed by default; if you need either exposed to a custom range, that is a hosting-level allocation request rather than a Startup field.

Warning: Game Settings Preset and Game Difficulty Preset only take effect when the world save is first generated. If a save already exists under your Save Name, changing these fields does nothing until you set a new, unused Save Name and let the server create a fresh world.

Tip: Change the default RCON password before you ever enable RCON publicly; the stock default is a well-known placeholder value, not a real secret

Step 3: Turn On RCON (Optional)

V Rising supports Source-style RCON over TCP, off by default. If you want to run commands remotely through a third-party RCON client, enable it and set a real password on the Startup tab:

1. Set RCON Enabled to true
2. Replace the default RCON password with a strong, unique one
3. Restart the server so it picks up the change
4. Connect with any Source RCON-compatible client using your server’s RCON port and the password you set

Warning: Never leave RCON enabled with the default password. It is a plaintext placeholder, not a generated secret, and an exposed RCON port with a known password is a full remote-admin door into your server.

Note: LoafHosts does not currently ship an in-panel RCON console specifically for V Rising the way it does for some other titles, so RCON access today is through an external Source RCON client pointed at your server’s RCON port.

Step 4: Tune the Server with the Config Editor

Past the startup variables, V Rising’s deeper rules live in two JSON files the server generates on first boot: ServerHostSettings.json (name, ports, player caps, password, RCON) and ServerGameSettings.json (game mode, difficulty, resource and drop rate multipliers, castle siege and damage rules). LoafHosts’ Config Editor (currently in beta for this game) gives you a form over both files instead of hand-editing raw JSON over SFTP. See the companion guide, “V Rising Config Editor,” for the full field-by-field breakdown, what is locked, and when a change needs a restart versus a brand-new world.

Tip: Start the server once before opening the Config Editor. The settings files do not exist until V Rising generates them on first boot, so the editor has nothing to show you until then.

Where Your Save and Config Actually Live

Everything V Rising writes for your world lives under save-data/ in your server’s file space:

• save-data/Settings/ServerHostSettings.json, the host/network/RCON settings file
• save-data/Settings/ServerGameSettings.json, the gameplay ruleset generated from your chosen preset
• save-data/<Save Name>/, the actual world save (your castle, players, world state), named after whatever you set as Save Name

If you want to move an existing single-player or another host’s save onto your LoafHosts server, you upload it into save-data/ under a matching save name through the File Manager, then point the Save Name Startup variable at it before starting the server.

Note: Because Game Settings Preset and Game Difficulty Preset only apply at world creation, importing an existing save carries its own ServerGameSettings.json with it; the preset fields on the Startup tab are ignored for a save that already exists.

Step 5: Connect and Test

Once the console shows a clean startup, grab your connection details from the panel and join.

1. Copy the server IP and game port from the panel
2. In V Rising, find your server in the in-game server list, or connect directly with the IP and port
3. Join and confirm your name, description, and ruleset match what you configured
4. Share the IP, port, and any server password with your community

Tip: If your server does not appear in the in-game browser right away, a direct connect with IP and port always works while Steam’s list catches up

LoafHosts Features That Work With V Rising

• Change Game lets you redeploy the same server slot onto a different game if your group’s plans change, without buying a new plan from scratch.
• Config Editor (beta) gives you a form-based editor for ServerHostSettings.json and ServerGameSettings.json, described in full in the companion Config Editor guide.
• Backups let you snapshot the whole server, including save-data/, before you touch presets, import a save, or make a risky gameplay-rate change. Take one before any world-affecting edit.
• Schedules can run recurring tasks like a nightly restart to keep memory clean, or a periodic backup, without you being online to trigger them.
• Auto-Restart watches for a crashed or hung process and brings the server back automatically, which matters more than usual here because the Windows-under-Wine server has a different failure profile than a native Linux binary.
• RCON is supported by the game itself (Source-style protocol) and can be enabled from the Startup tab; there is currently no dedicated in-panel RCON console for V Rising, so use an external RCON client once you have turned it on and set a real password.

Note: V Rising has no official Steam Workshop or mod.io integration. Any mods (commonly BepInEx-based) are unofficial, unsupported by Stunlock Studios, and installed by manually uploading files through the File Manager, not through a managed mod browser.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a V Rising dedicated server?

A dedicated server runs the V Rising server process independently of any player’s game client, on its own hardware, with a fixed IP and port. It stays online whether or not the person who “owns” the world is currently playing, and it gives you full control over the host settings and gameplay ruleset through ServerHostSettings.json and ServerGameSettings.json.

Do I need to install anything myself?

No. LoafHosts installs the V Rising dedicated server for you at deploy time, including the Wine layer the Windows-only binary needs to run on Linux hardware. You go straight to setting your Startup variables and pressing Start.

Why is the server running under Wine?

Stunlock Studios only publishes a Windows build of the V Rising dedicated server; there is no native Linux binary. LoafHosts runs it under Wine so it works on Linux hosting hardware. This adds some CPU overhead compared to a native Linux game server, which is why a larger Custom build with more CPU headroom is the safer choice for a busy, full-roster server.

How do I change my PvP/PvE ruleset or difficulty?

Set Game Settings Preset and Game Difficulty Preset on the Startup tab before your very first boot; they only apply when the world save is created. If your world already exists, those fields do nothing, and you need to either edit the individual fields in ServerGameSettings.json through the Config Editor, or start a brand-new save under a new Save Name to apply a different preset from scratch.

How many players can a V Rising server hold?

The server binary technically supports up to 128 concurrent players; the default cap is 40. Raise Max Connected Users on the Startup tab up to 128 if your community needs more room, keeping in mind that a higher cap and heavy siege activity both push CPU harder under Wine.

Can I use mods?

Unofficially, yes, most commonly BepInEx-based mods, but there is no Steam Workshop or mod.io integration for V Rising and Stunlock Studios does not support modding officially. Mods are installed by manually uploading the files to the correct folder through the File Manager; LoafHosts does not offer a managed mod browser for this game.

How do I enable RCON?

Set RCON Enabled to true on the Startup tab, replace the default RCON password with a strong one, and restart. V Rising uses a Source-style RCON protocol, so any compatible third-party RCON client can then connect using your server’s RCON port and password.

Where is my world save?

Under save-data/<Save Name>/ in your server’s files, alongside save-data/Settings/ServerHostSettings.json and save-data/Settings/ServerGameSettings.json. Take a backup before importing a save, changing presets, or making any change you might want to undo.