Chapter 11 · Build

Host your own realm

Run a realm for friends with Open Vanilla Server: what you need, the first ten minutes, GM accounts, letting friends in, and Server Studio. The Host Guidebook has every detail.

This chapter is the overview. The Host Guidebook is the full reference, and each section here links to its chapter.

On this pageWhat you need Your first realm Accounts, GMs and rules Letting friends in How many players can you host?Growing your realm Server Studio Backups and moving to Linux List your realm

What you need #

Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, about 15 GB free (an SSD helps), and Python 3 on your PATH.
The SPP Classics server (the launcher's Solo setup installs it, or get it by hand).
Your own Vanilla Client v1.3 files.

Guidebook: Before you start, Install.

Your first realm #

Install SPP: set up Play Solo once, or by hand (Server_Update.bat, then Launcher.bat: type 1, then 0).
Download Open Vanilla Server from the host page, unzip it, and run Start Open Vanilla Server.bat.
Press START / RESTART ALL SERVICES. It starts the database (port 3310), login (3724), world (8085) and the realm's website (18090, at http://127.0.0.1:18090/).
Make yourself a GM account: Player & GM Admin Manager, or in the server console account create NAME PASSWORD then account set gmlevel NAME 3.
In the launcher, Realms → Add a server with 127.0.0.1, and play.

Guidebook: Your first realm in ten minutes, The server window, part by part.

Accounts, GMs and rules #

Account levels: 0 Player, 1 Moderator, 2 Game Master, 3 Administrator. Accounts and roles.
In the browser client a GM opens the GM panel with the GM button or Ctrl+Shift+G: toggles, kits, item and NPC browsers and the full command catalogue. Game Master tools.
Rates and rules live in mangosd.conf; the Live Config Editor edits them. Rates and rules. The Vanilla Remastered switches (auto-learn, free respec, dual spec, AoE loot, instant mail) are covered in Edit your own game.

Letting friends in #

Same network: friends add your LAN IP.
Over the internet: forward TCP 3724 and 8085 to your PC.
A public website with HTTPS (needed for Discord sign-in and browser play): Get Caddy → Public HTTPS address → Allow web ports.

Never: Never expose port 3310 (the database) or 18090 (the local admin site) to the internet.

Guidebook: Name and address, Letting friends in, Keeping it safe.

How many players can you host? #

The world runs on your PC, so your PC sets the limit. Upload is rarely the problem (about 5 KB/s per player, double in cities); processor time for playerbots and memory for the database are. Rough guides until we publish measured ones:

Host	Real players	Notes
4 cores, 8 GB, SSD	20–40	Keep bots few
8 cores, 16 GB, SSD	50–100	A modest bot population
Rented server with dedicated cores	100–300+	Moving to a Linux server: Guidebook

Bots cost the most: if the realm lags, lower the random bot count first. The server's own advice for busy realms is one map-update thread per spare core (MapUpdate.Threads in mangosd.conf).

Growing your realm #

Community: list it in the realm directory (when it opens); it shows greyed, "play at your own risk", until it has a track record.
Verified: steady uptime and a staff-approved owner get it the gold badge, and an optional Armory listing.
Adopted: when a realm outgrows your PC, export it with the backup tools and move it to a datacenter server, still run by you and your community.

Your players connect through Open Vanilla's relay or volunteer nodes, so they never see your home address and you don't need to open router ports. See How the player network works.

Server Studio #

Server Studio is a local admin web app for your realm: dashboard, players, messages, backups, realm settings, logs and a history with undo. Sign in with a GM level 3 account; it only answers on the host PC (use an SSH tunnel for a VPS). Guidebook: Server Studio.

Backups and moving to Linux #

World Database Backups & Toolset in the server window, or Host → Backup in the launcher. Backups and restore.
Outgrowing your PC? A small Linux VPS runs the same realm with two scripts. Moving to a Linux server.

List your realm #

Community realms can be listed in the realm directory and, if you choose, in the Armory ("Show this realm in the Open Vanilla armory"). Ask in the Discord's help forum, or see Projects for listing a whole project.