Windrose Multiplayer & Server Guide — Co-op, Dedicated Server, Shared Progress, World Migration

Windrose hit Early Access on April 14, 2026 and within days had tens of thousands of players trying to figure out the same things: how does co-op actually work, how do you keep a world running when the host logs off, and what happens to your progress when you move between servers? This guide covers all of it — from the basics of joining a friend's session to setting up a dedicated server, migrating a singleplayer world, configuring shared progress, managing multiple worlds, backing up your data, and deciding how to handle automatic updates.

How co-op multiplayer works in Windrose — basics

Windrose only supports online co-op — there is no local split-screen option. Every player needs their own PC and an internet connection.

When you launch the game and hit Play, you get several options:

• Solo/Offline — creates a world only you can access
• Host a game — opens a session for others
• Connect to server — how friends join you, using an invite code
• Create dedicated server — links out to Nitrado's website

You don't need to start a new world just to play with friends. Any existing solo save can be opened as a co-op session without restarting or losing progress. Just choose Host a game, pick your save, and the game generates an invite code to share.

The game supports up to eight players per world, though the developers recommend capping at four, since performance can drop noticeably beyond that. Chest loot is separate for each player, so you won't race friends to containers. Resources like wood and stone are shared across the world, though — if your crewmate strips an island of ore, it's gone for everyone.

Your character progress — gear, levels, inventory, and talent tree — follows you between worlds. Joining a friend's server doesn't wipe what you've built. What is world-bound, however, is buildings, bell-ports, and faction reputation: those stay on the server where they were created and don't carry over if you switch.

One important note on hosting: when a player hosts through the standard Host a game option, the session ends the moment they disconnect. A dedicated server is the only way to keep the world online independently.

How to set up a Windrose dedicated server — step by step

A dedicated server keeps your world online around the clock. Your crew can join whenever they want — no need to wait for the host to be available. It also gives you more control over world settings than a standard hosted session.

There are two main paths to get one running.

Option 1: Official client (Windows)

Steam users install a separate free app called the Windrose Dedicated Server, available on Steam. EGS and Stove users already have the server files bundled inside the main game install, but need to copy them to a separate folder before running them — the server won't work from inside the main game directory.

Basic steps for Steam:

1. In your Steam Library, go to Tools and install Windrose Dedicated Server (App ID 4129620).
2. Launch the server. It will generate two config files on first start: ServerDescription.json in the root folder and WorldDescription.json inside the world directory.
3. After launch, an invite code will appear in the console. If you miss it, open R5/ServerDescription.json and find the InviteCode field.
4. Share that code with your crew. They enter it via Play → Connect to Server.

For headless setups (remote VPS, no Steam GUI), use SteamCMD:

force_install_dir "C:\Game_Servers\Windrose_Server"

login anonymous

app_update 4129620 validate

quit

To update the server later, rerun app_update 4129620 validate — it downloads only changed files. Always make sure your server version matches the game client, since version mismatches will prevent players from connecting.

Hardware minimums: if you're running the game client and server on the same machine, you need at least 24 GB of RAM total, with an SSD strongly recommended. For a server-only machine, 8 GB is the floor, but 32 GB is the practical target for smooth performance with four or more players.

Option 2: Docker (Linux)

Windrose's dedicated server binary is Windows-only. The community solution for Linux hosts is the indifferentbroccoli/windrose-server-docker image on GitHub, which runs the Windows binary inside a Docker container via Wine. It's unofficial and not endorsed by Kraken Express, but the maintainer has kept it current through multiple patches.

Basic Docker Compose setup:

services:

windrose:

image: indifferentbroccoli/windrose-server-docker

restart: unless-stopped

container_name: windrose

stop_grace_period: 30s

env_file:

-.env

volumes:

-./server-files:/home/steam/server-files

Copy.env.example to.env, fill in your values, then start. If you're on Unraid or behind a bridge network and players can't connect, add network_mode: host to your compose file.

Wine adds roughly 10-20% more CPU overhead compared to running on bare-metal Windows. RAM usage stays similar. For a full 10-player server, give the container at least 14 GB.

Free Windrose server — how to host without paying

There are a few genuine free options, but each has real limits worth knowing upfront.

Run it on your own PC

If your machine is always on and has the hardware, this costs nothing beyond electricity. The catch: the session ends when you close the game or shut down (unless you're running the dedicated server app separately), and your upload bandwidth becomes everyone's connection quality.

Oracle Cloud Free Tier

Oracle's free-tier ARM VMs offer up to 24 GB of RAM at no cost. You'd need to run the Windows server binary via Wine on Linux, using the Docker image described above. The setup takes some technical comfort, and ARM architecture can introduce additional compatibility quirks on top of Wine. Performance is workable for small groups but not guaranteed to be stable.

Trial periods from paid hosts

Some providers — including Game Host Bros — offer 2-day free trials. Good for testing, not for a persistent world.

The honest version: for a crew that plays casually every couple of weeks, hosting from your own PC is probably fine. For anything more regular — especially if different people want to play at different times — you'll eventually want a paid host. Plans start around $10-12/month. Trying to run a consistent server on genuinely free infrastructure requires more setup work than just paying for something.

How to migrate a singleplayer world to a server

This is one of the most common things people want to do — and the part most guides skip over the critical detail that breaks it.

Windrose stores singleplayer worlds locally at:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Windrose\Saved\SaveProfiles\Default\RocksDB\0.10.0\Worlds\

Each world is a folder with a 32-character hex name.

Step by step:

1. Stop your server before touching any files. Writing to the save directory while the server is running can corrupt data.
2. Navigate to that local path and find your world folder (the 32-character hex folder).
3. Compress the entire folder into a ZIP or tar.gz. Don't grab individual files from inside it.
4. In your server panel, go to Game Settings → Worlds tab → Create New World → Upload from Computer. Navigate to the correct game version folder, open the Worlds folder, and drag your compressed world file in.
5. After uploading, open R5/ServerDescription.json on the server.
6. Find the WorldIslandId field and replace its value with the exact 32-character hex name of the folder you just uploaded. The value is case-sensitive — copy it directly from the folder name rather than typing it.
7. Start the server and verify your world loads correctly.

Common mistake: People upload the world folder but forget to update WorldIslandId. The server then generates a fresh empty world and ignores the upload entirely. If you join and find an empty new world, that's what happened — go back to step 6.

Don't copy individual files out of the world folder and expect them to work as a backup. Always compress and transfer the entire folder as a unit, since Windrose uses RocksDB for world storage.

Shared progress — how to enable and what it changes

Windrose has a co-op quests system that's worth understanding before you start, because it changes how the group experiences the story.

When co-op quests are enabled, completing a quest that's marked as a co-op quest automatically completes it for all players who currently have it active in their journal. For example, if one player finishes the tutorial, it auto-completes for the whole group.

When the setting is off, every player tracks quests individually and has to complete objectives themselves to register progress.

How to change it on Nodecraft

1. Stop the server.
2. Go to Game Settings → Worlds tab → Edit this World.
3. Set the World Preset to Custom if it isn't already.
4. Toggle Co-op Quests to your preferred setting.
5. Save and start the server.

How to change it directly in the config file

On a self-hosted server, the setting lives in WorldDescription.json under WorldSettings → BoolParameters. Set WDS.Parameter.Coop.SharedQuests to true or false.

Known issue

Some players reported that setting this to false didn't stick, with the value resetting to true on server restart. If you're on a managed host, the panel may be overwriting the file on each start. Contact your host about that if it happens.

The trade-off in practice

Shared progress lets late joiners catch up fast, which is good for groups with different schedules. The downside is that one active player can unintentionally pull everyone through quest gates the others haven't touched yet. If your group wants to experience content at their own pace, disable it before anyone gets too far.

Griefing via shared quests is a real thing on open servers — someone joining and speedrunning the tutorial will complete it for every player who has it active. If you're running a public or semi-public server, either disable shared quests or password-protect it.

How to switch between worlds on your server

A Windrose dedicated server can hold multiple worlds, but only one is active at a time. Each world has its own save data, difficulty settings, and unique World ID.

Finding your worlds

In your server panel, use the List Worlds option to see all worlds with their names, presets, and IDs. The active world is marked with a arrow. If a world shows as unnamed, it was auto-generated by the server on first boot.

Source: gghost.games

Switching the active world

1. Stop the server.
2. Open R5/ServerDescription.json.
3. Find the WorldIslandId field and paste in the World ID of the world you want to load.
4. Save the file and start the server — it will load the selected world.

Practical use case: many server admins run a main campaign world and a second harder-difficulty world for more challenging sessions. You can switch between them by stopping the server, swapping the WorldIslandId, and restarting. Players keep their character progress regardless of which world is active.

One important warning: never rename world folders. The folder name is the world's ID, and the RocksDB database relies on it. Renaming breaks the server's ability to load that world. To switch worlds, always change WorldIslandId in the config — not the folder name.

How to back up your Windrose server

Losing a world to a crash, a botched config edit, or a bad game update hurts. Backups take three minutes to set up and save a lot of pain.

What to back up (always these two things together)

• Your world folder at R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB/0.10.0/Worlds/<your-island-id>/. This contains all terrain, structures, crafting stations, and player progress.
• R5/ServerDescription.json. This file holds the WorldIslandId field that tells the server which world to load. Restoring your world folder without also restoring this file means the server may load a different world or generate a new empty one.

How to take a manual backup

1. Stop the server.
2. In the file manager, navigate to your world folder, right-click, and choose Compress.
3. Download the resulting archive to a safe location along with ServerDescription.json.

Windrose also creates automatic backups every time the server starts or restarts, stored in R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default_Backups. You can restore these the same way you'd upload a world. Managed hosts like WinterNode additionally run their own automatic backups every 12 hours.

How to restore

Stop the server, upload the compressed world folder back to/Worlds/, decompress it, then verify that WorldIslandId in ServerDescription.json matches the restored folder's hex name. Start the server.

Automatic updates — how to enable and disable

Windrose is in Early Access and receives regular updates. Server and client versions must match — players on a newer client cannot connect to an older server. That creates a real tension: auto-updates keep everyone able to connect, but on modded servers, a game update can break mods before authors release fixes.

Enabling/ disabling auto-update on managed hosts

On Game Host Bros: stop the server, go to Server Options in the sidebar, find the Auto Update toggle, and enable or disable it. The server will then automatically restart and update when a new version is detected.

On Nodecraft: similar — the control panel exposes an auto-update setting under server options.

On SteamCMD-based self-hosted setups: updates don't happen automatically — you run app_update 4129620 validate manually.

The trade-off

Auto-updates on: players can always connect, no manual maintenance, but you have no control over timing. An update can drop at 2am and restart the server mid-session.

Auto-updates off: you control when updates happen, but if you're slow to update and your players have already updated their game client, nobody can join until you catch up. Before any update, take a recent backup just in case the patch introduces bugs that put your world data at risk.

For most servers without mods, keeping auto-update on is the better default. For heavily configured or modded setups, disable it and update manually after verifying compatibility — then update client and server at the same time to minimize the window where no one can connect.