How to Change the Difficulty of Your Palworld Server

Unlike a single-player world, a dedicated Palworld server has no difficulty slider inside the game: everything is decided by the server configuration. The good news: your VibeGAMES panel has a built-in Game Settings editor for it, so you can pick a difficulty preset or fine-tune every rate without touching a single file.

1Open Game Settings

• Log in to your game panel and click your Palworld server.
• Click Game Settings in the left menu under GAME SERVER.
• You see all world settings grouped into sections like General, Difficulty & Death, Rates & Multipliers, Pals and Players & PvP. Use the search box at the top to jump to any setting by name.

2Pick a Difficulty Preset

• In the Difficulty & Death section, open the Difficulty Preset dropdown and choose Normal or Difficult. None means no preset: the server just uses the individual values below.
• The same section holds the biggest game-changers:
  • Death Penalty: what players drop when they die. None (nothing), Item (items only), ItemAndEquipment, or All (items, equipment and the Pals in your party).
  • Hardcore Mode: characters are permanently lost on death.
  • Permanent Pal Loss: Pals that die are gone forever.

3Fine-Tune Individual Settings

Any rate you change overrides the preset, so you can mix and match:

• Easier server: raise EXP Rate and Capture Rate, set Death Penalty to None, lower Pal Attack Damage or Player Damage Taken.
• Harder server: choose the Difficult preset, set Death Penalty to All, raise Player Damage Taken and Pal Attack Damage, and enable Hardcore Mode if your players are brave.
• Toggles switch instantly, text and number fields save as you type, and a select saves when you pick an option. A blue dot next to a setting means it differs from the default; the small reset arrow puts it back.

4Restart to Apply

• Whenever you change something, an amber banner appears: Settings saved. Restart the server to apply your changes.
• Go to the Console page and press Restart. Your new difficulty is live once the server is back up.

Good to Know

• Make a backup first. Before big changes (especially Hardcore or Death Penalty), create a manual backup so you can always roll back.
• Leave the files alone. The panel writes your settings into PalWorldSettings.ini automatically when the server starts. Editing that file by hand is not needed, and panel-managed values would overwrite your manual edits on the next boot anyway.
• Technical variables live elsewhere. The Startup page only keeps a few infrastructure settings (auto update, RCON port and similar). All gameplay settings are on the Game Settings tab.

Finished

Your Palworld server now plays exactly the way you want. Combine it with automatic backups, and if you want to manage players in game, set up admin access next.