How to Set Up a RuneScape: Dragonwilds Dedicated Server

RuneScape: Dragonwilds — Jagex's open-world survival spin-off set in Gielinor — picked up official dedicated server support in its March 2026 "Dowdun Reach" update, after previously being host-and-play only. That matters if you play with a group: a dedicated server keeps the world running whether or not the host is online, and at full 1.0 launch on September 15, 2026 the same dedicated server will host PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox players together in one crossplay world. Dragonwilds has already passed a million copies sold in Early Access, so this isn't a niche title — it's just a very new one to self-host.

What you'll need

• A Linux VPS running Docker (Ubuntu 24.04 or Debian 12 both work fine).
• At least 4 GB RAM for a small group — Dragonwilds' own sizing guidance is roughly 2 GB base plus 1 GB per player, and the server is currently hard-capped at 6 concurrent players.
• Your Steam64 ID if you want in-game admin/owner powers on your own server.

Step 1: Install Docker

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
mkdir -p /opt/dragonwilds

Step 2: Run the server container

Dragonwilds ships a native Linux dedicated server binary, so no Wine layer is needed here (unlike several other titles in this wave). A minimal launch command looks like:

docker run -d --name dragonwilds --restart unless-stopped --stop-timeout 30 \
  -p 7777:7777/udp \
  -e OWNER_ID='YOUR_STEAM64_ID' \
  -e ADMIN_PASSWORD='changeme12' \
  -e SERVER_NAME='My Dragonwilds Server' \
  -e DEFAULT_PORT='7777' \
  -e MAX_PLAYERS='6' \
  -v /opt/dragonwilds:/home/steam/server-files \
  indifferentbroccoli/runescape-dragonwilds-server-docker:latest

Step 3: Set OWNER_ID (don't skip this)

OWNER_ID is your own Steam64 ID and is the single most important setting: it's what grants you admin commands in your own world. The server boots fine without it, but you'll be a regular player on your own server until you set it — find your Steam64 ID from your Steam profile URL or a converter site, then redeploy the container with it filled in.

Step 4: Open the port

Dragonwilds' dedicated server listens on UDP 7777 by default:

sudo ufw allow 7777/udp

Share your VPS's IP and port with your group and the world is joinable.

Sizing your server correctly

Because Dragonwilds is capped at 6 players, you don't need to guess at scale the way you would with an open-ended survival game:

• 4 GB RAM / 3 players — a small co-op group exploring together.
• 6 GB RAM / 5 players — the sweet spot for most friend groups (our most-picked tier).
• 8 GB RAM / 6 players — the full player cap with headroom for base-building and boss encounters.

Because Dragonwilds is still Early Access-adjacent software with frequent content patches, keep a couple hundred MB of free RAM above whatever tier you pick — new updates sometimes raise memory use before they're optimized down.

What full 1.0 (September 15) changes for your server

The current dedicated server is PC-only. From the 1.0 launch, the same server will accept PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S players in the same crossplay world — no reconfiguration needed on your end, just an update to the server binary when Jagex ships it.

Backing up your world

Dragonwilds saves to the mounted /opt/dragonwilds directory on the host. Snapshot that directory on a schedule (a simple cron job running tar is enough) before any major update, since a bad patch on a brand-new dedicated server feature is exactly the kind of thing worth having a rollback for.

Keeping it online 24/7

The --restart unless-stopped flag in the launch command means Docker automatically brings the container back up if it crashes or the host reboots — you don't need a separate systemd unit or a screen session the way you would for a bare-metal server process. To check on it at any point:

docker logs -f dragonwilds
docker stats dragonwilds

The first tails the server's live console output (useful right after a restart to confirm it came up clean); the second shows real-time RAM and CPU use, which is the quickest way to tell if you've under-provisioned your tier.

Troubleshooting common issues

• Container exits right after starting: run docker logs dragonwilds — this is almost always a bad or missing OWNER_ID/ADMIN_PASSWORD value, or the image still finishing its first-boot SteamCMD download.
• "Address already in use" on port 7777: something else on the host is bound to that UDP port. Either stop the conflicting service or remap the container's port (e.g. -p 7778:7777/udp) and share the new port with your group.
• Can't find your Steam64 ID: open your Steam profile, and if it shows a vanity URL rather than numbers, use any reputable SteamID converter site — you want the 17-digit "SteamID64" format specifically, not the shorter SteamID2/3 formats.
• World resets after a redeploy: confirm the -v /opt/dragonwilds:/home/steam/server-files volume mount is present in your docker run command — without it, save data lives inside the container and disappears the moment it's recreated.

Ready to run one yourself? Nxeon's RuneScape: Dragonwilds server hosting ships this exact Docker setup pre-configured on NVMe VPS instances, so you can go from order to a joinable world in a few minutes instead of hand-rolling the container yourself.