Palworld Community Server

help
1

I’m running a dedicated Palworld server and have run into a connection issue that I can reliably reproduce across three platforms.

Setup:

  • Dedicated server on Windows, UDP game port + query port

  • Server shows up correctly in the Community Servers browser

  • Port forwarding confirmed correct on my router , pointing to the server’s local IP

  • Windows Firewall rules confirmed open for both TCP and UDP on both ports

  • PalWorldSettings.ini PublicIP and PublicPort match the actual listening port and forwarded port exactly

The problem:
The server is visible in the Community Servers browser, but joining through it always times out. This happens the same way on PC, Xbox, and PS5 — so it’s not platform-specific.

What does work: connecting via a tunnel (custom URL/port) works fine on PC — direct connect through that address gets in with no issues. So the server itself is reachable and functioning. It’s specifically the community server listing/direct public IP connection that fails, not the server itself.

What I found with Wireshark:
When connecting from a PC via the Playit , I capture outbound UDP packets going out to my server’s public IP on the game port — the client is clearly trying — but I never see a single response come back from the server on either port. Same result on the query port: no response at all, from any client.

What I’ve already ruled out:

  • Firewall rules (confirmed present, correct protocol, correct scope)

  • Port forward configuration (ports match on both ends, local IP is correct)

  • Server config mismatch (PublicPort in the ini matches the listening/forwarded port exactly)

  • Non-standard ports — switched to the default 8211 (game) / 27015 (query) and had the same result

  • The server/network stack in general — since playit.gg proves the server is reachable and joinable end-to-end

Question for the community: since a tunnel (playit.gg) connects fine community listing doesn’t, is there something specific about how the game validates or routes community server connections that could behave differently from a direct-connect tunnel? Trying to figure out if this is a known issue with the query/community protocol specifically, or something in my router/ISP path that only affects that route.

2

Have you made sure your “Public IP” in the ini matches your playit tunnel IP? That was my problem I just solved last night

3

yep I have tried both public ips from the main panel I then rebooted the server gave five minutes and still no response

4

Issue was 2 fold in using palworld server manager don’t change the query port to be more then 1 port away from game. Also antiviral was blocking windows firewall manager

5

Don’t use windows.
I have problems with the windows firewall too,
you make a rule that should allow traffic to a specific port and it’s still not allowed …

For the community server you have to set it to use the tunnel ip address and port
check the palworld server documentation