Server Requirements

Windrose Dedicated Server Requirements (CPU, RAM & Storage)

Planning to host Windrose? Here is what a stable dedicated server actually needs, and why the answer depends far more on how much your crew has built than on how many of them there are. Windrose is a co-op PvE pirate survival game for up to 8 players, and its ships, structures and loaded islands are persistent simulation the server holds in memory, which makes RAM the resource that runs out first.

What Windrose asks of a server

Windrose is a co-op PvE pirate survival game for up to 8 players, and the thing that makes it demanding is not the player count. It is that the world persists. Every ship your crew builds, every structure placed on an island and every island loaded around them is state the server holds and simulates, and none of it goes away when people log off. A server for four players in week one and a server for the same four in month six are different workloads.

That is why memory is the headline requirement and why sizing from crew size alone misleads people. Budget for the world you intend to have, not the one you are starting with.

Recommended specifications

Why RAM is the one that runs out

Most survival games get heavier as players build, and Windrose more than most, because ships are not scenery. A built ship is a structure with parts, cargo and physics, and it stays loaded and simulated as long as it exists in the world. A crew that has been sailing for a couple of months has a fleet, a base and a stretch of coastline that all have to be held somewhere.

The practical signs of running short are familiar and worth recognising early: the world takes longer to load on start, saves become noticeable pauses, and eventually the server is killed for running out of memory rather than crashing with a useful error. If your world was fine and is now not, and nothing else changed, look at memory before anything else.

CPU: clock speed over core count

Windrose is sensitive to single-thread performance, which means a fast modern core does more for a busy world than several slower ones. This matters when comparing hosts and when comparing plans: a specification sheet listing a high core count is not describing the number that governs how the world feels. Once memory is comfortable, clock speed is what keeps things smooth.

The two ports

Windrose is simple here compared with most survival games, and knowing which port does what saves an evening if something goes wrong:

• 7777 is game traffic. This is what your crew connects to, and a server with it closed is unreachable no matter how healthy it is.
• 8780 is the WindrosePlus admin dashboard. This one is for you, not for players, and it should never be exposed carelessly.

Self-hosting means forwarding both through your router and keeping the rules pointed at a machine whose local address does not change. On a managed deployment both are opened at deploy time and there is no router of yours in the path, which removes the entire class of problem rather than making it easier.

Requirements by crew size

These tiers are pre-sized against the requirements above, so nothing needs benchmarking:

Around 4 players is the count the developers recommend for the best late-game performance, which is worth knowing before you plan around a full crew. The 8-player cap is real and reachable; it simply asks more of the world than four do. Compare the tiers on the pricing page.

Storage and the backups nobody sizes for

The game files and a world save are modest. What people forget is backup history: a world you can only restore to yesterday is a world you can lose a week of. Between 30 and 40 GB covers the install, the save and a sensible number of restore points, and an SSD matters more here than the capacity does, because saves are written repeatedly while the server runs.

The requirements that are not hardware

Two of them shape the experience more than any figure above. The first is where the server sits. Latency is set by distance, so a machine near your crew beats a faster one on another continent for every single person aboard, and choosing a region costs nothing.

The second is uptime. A persistent world is only persistent if it is there, and a crew spread across time zones cannot wait for whoever owns the machine to be awake. That is the actual dividing line between self-hosting and renting, and it does not appear in any specification table. If you would rather not own it, renting a Windrose server covers what that trade looks like.

Requirements FAQ

How much RAM does a Windrose server need?

Around 16 GB for a mature world at the full co-op cap, and 8 GB is comfortable for a small crew on a young world. The figure is driven by how much has been built rather than by how many people are aboard, so a world grows heavier over months even if the crew does not.

How many players can a Windrose dedicated server support?

Up to 8 in co-op, with around 4 recommended by the developers for the smoothest late-game performance.

Is Windrose CPU or RAM bound?

RAM first, single-thread CPU speed second. Memory is what runs out as a world matures; clock speed is what keeps a busy world responsive when it has not.

What ports does a Windrose server use?

7777 for game traffic and 8780 for the WindrosePlus admin dashboard. Self-hosting means forwarding both; a managed deployment opens them for you.

Does a Windrose server run on Linux?

Yes. It is a Linux build that containerises cleanly with Docker, which is exactly how it is deployed on Flux.

Do I need an SSD?

Strongly recommended. Saves are written repeatedly while the server runs, and on a slow disk each one becomes a visible stutter for everyone aboard.

Next: how to set up a Windrose dedicated server.