V Rising Multiplayer Guide: 5 Modes, 3 Settings Presets, and the One Toggle That Changes Everything

Verified on V Rising Oakveil patch (version 1.1.x), May 2026. Setting names and values may change with future balance patches.

Quick Start: Play V Rising Co-op in Under 10 Minutes

If you want to jump straight into co-op, here are the seven steps that work for most friend groups:

1. One player opens the main menu → Play → Private Game
2. Set the game mode to PvE — switch to PvP later once your group knows the systems
3. Disable Teleport Bound Items — the single most impactful co-op quality-of-life change (explained below)
4. Set Castle Blood Essence Drain Modifier to 0.25 so your castle survives weekend-only sessions
5. Launch the server and invite friends via the Steam overlay (Shift+Tab → Friends → Invite to Game)
6. In-game: one player creates a clan, everyone else joins via clan invite — this unlocks shared castle access automatically
7. Build one shared castle, not separate castles — the reason matters more than you’d expect, and it’s covered in full below

If your group has more than four players or members with mismatched schedules, skip ahead to Dedicated Server Setup first.

Which V Rising Multiplayer Mode Is Right for You?

Pick your mode before touching any settings. The correct choice depends on group size, session frequency, and whether you want PvP.

The 5 V Rising Multiplayer Modes Explained

Solo Private Game enables the “Only Solo Play” toggle in the private game setup. No other players can connect. This is not a restricted demo mode — it is the complete V Rising experience, every boss and every biome, played alone. Choose this only if co-op is genuinely not wanted; the clan mechanics add meaningful logistics value even in casual two-player runs.

Friends Only PvE is a private game hosted on the host player’s PC. The server runs only while the host is online — the world pauses completely when they log off, including castle decay timers. For groups of two to four who coordinate session times, this is the zero-cost co-op option. The key limitation: friends cannot play while the host is unavailable. If members want to log in independently, upgrade to a dedicated server.

Private Dedicated Server runs 24/7 regardless of who is online. It supports the same PvE or PvP configurations as a private game but stays active around the clock. This is the correct mode for groups of four or more, or any group with mismatched schedules. Rental cost starts around $4 per month for small servers on community hosts; the dedicated server client itself is free on Steam. Full setup steps are in the dedicated server section below.

Official PvE servers are hosted by Stunlock Studios — public, pre-configured, and joinable immediately. Zero setup required. Difficulty, clan size, and resource rates are locked at Stunlock’s defaults. These servers work for players who want to explore the game alongside others without building a private community, or for testing how the intended balance feels before configuring a private server. Looking for other games in this genre? Our Best Co-op Survival Games guide covers the top alternatives to V Rising for group play.

Official PvP servers use the same Stunlock infrastructure, with full player-versus-player combat and castle raiding enabled. The default raid window is “Always” — attacks are permitted at any hour. For experienced competitive players, this is the intended PvP environment. For a friend group testing PvP for the first time, a private dedicated server with configured raid windows is a far better starting point — established clans on Official PvP servers are hostile to new arrivals, and the 24/7 raid window leaves new players with no recovery time.

The One Setting That Changes Everything

V Rising has dozens of configurable parameters. One decision has more impact on group enjoyment than all the others combined — and it differs by mode.

For PvE co-op groups: disable Teleport Bound Items (TeleportBoundItems: false)

By default, V Rising prevents players from using waygate fast travel while carrying raw resources — ore, hide, plant fibre, stone. This forces overland travel or multiple separate trips. In solo play, the mechanic creates meaningful route-planning decisions. In co-op with two players operating on opposite ends of the map, it creates a coordination bottleneck: one player waits while the other hauls materials on foot. Disabling this restriction has zero effect on combat difficulty, boss challenge, or crafting progression. It removes only the transport tax on split-group play. In practice, this is the change that most consistently improves Friends Only PvE sessions from frustrating to smooth.

For PvP friend groups: configure raid windows before the first session

The VSCastleWeekdayTime and VSCastleWeekendTime settings define when castle raids are permitted. The default is “Always” — raids are legal 24 hours a day. For competitive public servers, this is intentional. For a friend group playing three evenings a week, it means someone can grief your castle while you are at work. Configure a realistic window before session one — weekdays 6 PM–10 PM and weekends 2 PM–10 PM is a functional starting point. This is the single most common reason casual PvP friend servers collapse: a raided base during work hours causes someone to quit, and the server dies within a week.

The toggle that trivialises difficulty: CastleBloodEssenceDrainModifier

Castle Hearts require regular Blood Essence to operate. At the default drain rate, a castle left unfed for several days starts decaying. Setting this modifier to 0.1 means your castle lasts approximately ten times longer between feeding — effectively removing the “log in regularly or lose your base” survival pressure. Set it to 0.1 for groups who play once a week; 0.25 for two-to-three sessions per week; 1.0 if you want the full survival tension Stunlock designed. Reducing this modifier is the single adjustment that most dramatically trivialises the survival aspect of V Rising — more than difficulty presets, more than resource yield multipliers — because it eliminates consequence rather than just reducing friction.

Clan Mechanics: How Co-op Actually Works

V Rising’s co-op is built around the clan system, not a traditional party or session system. Four mechanics define how clans work in practice.

Clan size is controlled by the ClanSize parameter, which defaults to 4 and is configurable up to 50 in private servers. Duo PvP mode locks clan size at 2 regardless of this setting. For a friend group of five or six, raise ClanSize before any player creates the first clan — changing it after formation requires recreating the clan and losing the existing structure.

Castle access is automatic upon joining a clan. Every clan member gets full access to every castle belonging to any clan member — build, craft, store items, access all containers, feed the Castle Heart. No tiered permissions or co-owner setup is required. The access model is all-or-nothing by design: every clan member has full rights, or they have none. This is why the shared-castle decision covered below matters so much.

Blood Essence is shared. One player feeding the Castle Heart protects the base for all clan members. In a group of four, the maintenance burden distributes naturally — any player generating Blood Essence through normal gameplay can keep the shared heart fed. Solo players carry the entire maintenance burden alone; co-op groups split it without any explicit coordination required.

Progression is individual. Despite the shared castle, each player must defeat each V Blood boss independently to unlock the associated crafting recipe or ability. Clan members can assist in boss fights — community reports indicate that nearby clan members at the moment of a V Blood kill receive credit — but the unlock is per-player, not per-clan. Four players need to kill each boss four times to unlock it across the whole group. Plan boss hunts as group activities rather than sending one player ahead to “unlock everything.”

Shared Castle vs Split Castles: The Social Meta Most Guides Skip

The most consequential co-op decision in V Rising is not which difficulty preset to pick. It is whether your group builds one shared castle or separate castles.

The journal questline pushes every new player toward building their own Castle Heart and their own production stations. Groups following this instinct end up with two or three castles in proximity, competing for the same territory tiles, hitting the CastleLimit earlier than intended, and struggling to expand either base because adjacent claimed land blocks both. Adjacent castles from different clan members also consume both castle slots on a server with CastleLimit: 2, leaving no room for a strategic outpost later.

The correct approach for groups of two to four: One player claims a territory and places the Castle Heart. Other clan members join the clan and contribute by interacting with existing production structures — they only need to interact with the furnace, sawmill, or crafting station to complete their own journal quest requirements, not construct separate copies. One furnace built by one player satisfies the furnace quest for the entire clan through interaction alone. The result: one well-resourced shared base instead of two underpowered ones fighting for space and castle slots.

When split castles make strategic sense: Groups of five or more on servers with CastleLimit: 3 or higher can run a primary shared base plus forward outposts near late-game farming zones. A second castle near Gloomrot or the Silverlight Hills cuts travel time significantly for end-game resource runs. Treat outposts as logistics infrastructure positioned for access — not as a way to split the group’s production capacity across two locations.

V Rising Multiplayer Settings Presets

Three configurations covering the most common group setups. Apply these in ServerGameSettings.json for dedicated servers, or through the in-game server setup screen for private games.

Duo Casual (2 Players, PvE, Weekend Sessions)

Group of 4 Balanced (4 Players, PvE, Mixed Schedules)

Hardcore (4–6 Players, PvP, Scheduled Raids)

V Rising Dedicated Server Setup: Step by Step

A dedicated server is necessary for any group where members play at different times. A Friends Only private game pauses the entire world when the host logs off.

1. Install the server software. In Steam, go to Library → Software and Tools → search “V Rising Dedicated Server” → Install. Alternatively, use SteamCMD with app_update 1829350.
2. Run the start script once. Execute start_server_example.bat on Windows. This generates the default configuration files in the server directory.
3. Copy configs to a persistent folder. Create a folder at save-data\Settings\ inside your server directory. Copy both ServerHostSettings.json and ServerGameSettings.json there. This prevents game updates from overwriting your settings.
4. Edit ServerHostSettings.json. Set your server name, password (use a password for friend-only servers), description, and GameDifficultyPreset.
5. Edit ServerGameSettings.json. Apply the appropriate preset from the tables above. Clear both “Game Settings Preset” and “Game Difficulty Presets” in the server panel first — otherwise preset values override your custom JSON entries.
6. Open ports. Forward UDP ports 27015 and 27016 on your router and allow them through your firewall. Without this step, the server is unreachable from outside your local network.
7. Connect. Players join via Steam’s server browser (View → Servers → Favorites → Add a Server by IP) or via Online Play → Connect to IP in-game. Share IP and password privately for a friends-only setup.

Hardware by group size: 2–8 players run comfortably on a spare home PC with 8 GB RAM. 10–30 players need 16 GB RAM. 30+ players require bare metal hardware — cloud VPS instances struggle with V Rising’s load spikes during simultaneous raids. Server rental through community hosts starts around $4–10 per month for small groups.

Oakveil 1.1 Multiplayer Changes

The Invaders of Oakveil update (April 2025) added two multiplayer systems alongside the Cursed Forest biome and complete combat overhaul.

The Dueling Banner enables risk-free 1v1 duels anywhere in the world. Either player crafts and places a Dueling Banner; both players enter the zone voluntarily. No items drop; no consequences carry forward. This is the built-in system for clans that want to test builds, settle disputes, or simply compete without griefing each other’s gear. Critically, the Dueling Banner works in PvE mode — PvP does not need to be enabled server-wide to use it.

The Arena is built inside your castle and supports 1v1, 2v2, and 4v4 structured matches with configurable rulesets — permitted blood types, gear score equalisation, round count. For a clan of four players who have cleared the main boss progression, a round-robin Arena tournament is a structured late-game activity that extends the server’s useful lifespan significantly.

A note for server hosts planning long-term: Stunlock Studios confirmed in 2026 that no further major expansions are planned for V Rising. Future updates will be balance patches and bug fixes. The Oakveil 1.1 content — Cursed Forest biome, all 64 V Blood bosses, Arena, and Dueling Banners — is the complete feature set. Most groups clear the main boss progression in 60–100 hours; Arena and Cursed Forest late content extend the ceiling for competitive-minded groups beyond that.

Common Multiplayer Host Mistakes

These configuration errors end V Rising friend-group servers. All are avoidable before the first session.

Leaving the raid window at “Always” for a casual PvP group. The most common reason PvP friend servers collapse. Without configured time windows, raids are legal 24/7 by default. A raided base while someone was at work is almost always the inciting incident that kills the server. Configure VSCastleWeekdayTime and VSCastleWeekendTime before the first session, not after the first complaint.

Setting resource multipliers too high at launch. A 5x resource yield sounds generous. In practice it means players reach the gear ceiling in under 15 hours with nothing left to work toward. Start at 1.25–1.5x and raise only if your group genuinely plays infrequently. The vanilla 1.0x rate is calibrated for daily play — adjust proportionally to your session frequency, not to impatience with the early-game grind.

Building separate castles from the start. The journal questline misleads co-op groups into building independent Castle Hearts. One shared castle, everyone in the same clan. Only revisit additional castles as strategic outposts after the mid-game zones are cleared and a CastleLimit slot is available for the purpose.

Not backing up save data before updates. V Rising patches occasionally break world saves. Back up the save-data folder before applying any patch on a dedicated server. Two minutes of precaution prevents a full wipe of weeks of group progress.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many players can play V Rising co-op?

Private games support up to 4 players in the default ClanSize configuration. Private dedicated servers support up to 40 players comfortably, with higher counts technically possible at the cost of performance. Official Stunlock servers cap at 40. On private servers, raise ClanSize beyond the default 4 to accommodate larger friend groups — the default limit applies to clan membership, not server population.

Can friends play on a V Rising server while the host is offline?

Only on a dedicated server. Friends Only private games are fully host-dependent — the world pauses when the host logs off. If members want to play on independent schedules, a private dedicated server is required. Rental options start around $4 per month, and the dedicated server software is free on Steam.

Do all clan members need to defeat the same bosses?

Yes. V Blood boss kills are per-player. All clan members can participate in the same fight, and community reports consistently indicate that nearby clan members at the moment of a V Blood kill receive the unlock — but each player must be present. Sending one player ahead to kill bosses and expecting shared unlocks leaves the rest of the clan locked out of critical progression gates. Group boss hunts are more efficient than splitting up and are significantly more engaging at Brutal difficulty.

What is the best V Rising multiplayer setup for two friends?

Friends Only PvE (private game, PvE mode) with the Duo Casual preset from the settings tables above: disable TeleportBoundItems, set blood essence drain to 0.1, CraftRateModifier at 2.0, and build one shared castle from the start. Start on Difficulty_Normal — Relaxed removes too much combat tension, and Brutal is designed for experienced groups running a second playthrough. Upgrade to a private dedicated server only if one player wants to continue playing when the other is offline.

How do the Oakveil Arena and Dueling Banner work in PvE mode?

Both systems are available in PvE mode without enabling server-wide PvP. The Dueling Banner enables consensual 1v1 duels between clan members with no item drop and no persistent consequences. The Arena is built inside your castle and supports 1v1, 2v2, and 4v4 matches with configurable rulesets. Neither system triggers PvP protections or raid mechanics outside their designated zones — proximity to a Dueling Banner does not initiate combat.

How do I stop my castle from decaying when my group is offline?

On a Friends Only private game, the castle decay timer pauses automatically when the host logs off — no action needed. On a dedicated server, set CastleBloodEssenceDrainModifier to 0.1–0.25 and maintain a stockpile of Blood Essence in the Castle Heart. At 0.1x drain, a fully stocked Castle Heart lasts roughly ten times longer than the default, covering multiple weeks of inactivity for casual groups without requiring anyone to log in specifically to feed the base.

Sources

• V Rising Server Settings for PvP, PvE, and Solo Play — LOW.MS
• V Rising Server Configuration Guide — LOW.MS
• V Rising: What All Server Settings Mean — Raider King
• Server Type Differences In V Rising — The Gamer
• V Rising Invaders of Oakveil Update — PC Games N
• V Rising Dedicated Server Hosting Guide — RedSwitches
• How do you share a castle with a clan? — Steam Community Discussions
• 2 Player Co-op Tips and Settings Advice — Steam Community Discussions
• V Rising 1.1 FAQ — Keen Gamer

Michael R.

I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.