Connecting to your server
Your server’s address is an address and a port, like us-east-vin-01.hostboi.com:25000. Both parts matter:
the address alone points at the machine, not at your server.
Where the address is
Section titled “Where the address is”Open your server in the panel. The address is shown on the server’s own page, next to the start/stop controls, and again under SFTP details only for file access — do not use the SFTP port as a game port.
Copy it exactly:
- all lowercase, no
http://, no trailing slash, no square brackets - include the colon and the port number
- if the game asks for “IP” and “port” as two fields, put the address in one and the number in the other
Pasting it into the game
Section titled “Pasting it into the game”Most games have a Direct Connect or Add server by IP box. A few use a join-code or favorites list instead. The per-game pages explain the join screen for that title, and list its RAM floor and mod support at the same time:
| Game | Join method | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Minecraft Java | Multiplayer → Direct Connection | hostboi.com/games/mc_java |
| Minecraft Bedrock | Play → Servers → Add Server (PC and mobile) | hostboi.com/games/mc_bedrock |
| Valheim | Join by IP, or a crossplay join code | hostboi.com/games/valheim |
| Rust | F1 console → client.connect host:port |
hostboi.com/games/rust |
| Palworld | Join by IP from the in-game server list | hostboi.com/games/palworld |
| Project Zomboid | Add server by IP in the server browser | hostboi.com/games/zomboid |
| BeamNG.drive (BeamMP) | BeamMP launcher → Direct Connect | hostboi.com/games/beammp |
| SCP: Secret Laboratory | Direct connect by IP (unverified servers are not publicly listed) | hostboi.com/games/scpsl |
| Killing Floor 2 | Client console → open host:port, or the in-game browser |
hostboi.com/games/kf2 |
| Abiotic Factor | In-game server browser by name, or direct connect by IP | hostboi.com/games/abiotic |
Games that use more than one port
Section titled “Games that use more than one port”Some titles listen on more than one port, and one of them is not the port players type in. We allocate the extra ports automatically when the server is created — there is nothing for you to open, and no firewall rule to add.
| Game | What the extra port is for |
|---|---|
| Valheim / Valheim (BepInEx) | Takes two consecutive ports. The second is used by the game’s query/status lookups. |
| Project Zomboid | Takes two consecutive ports; the second is the Steam port, stored in the STEAM_PORT startup variable. |
| Rust | Answers Steam queries on its query port, which is different from the port players connect to. |
| Sons of the Forest | Has a separate QUERY_PORT startup variable for Steam queries. |
| Killing Floor 2 | Takes three ports: the game port, a query port and a web-admin port. All three are assigned when the server is created. |
| Abiotic Factor | Takes two consecutive ports; the second is the query port. |
Valheim with crossplay on does not show up in Steam’s server info or third-party server-query sites, even when it is running fine. Join by IP or with the join code instead.
“I can’t connect”
Section titled ““I can’t connect””Work through these in order; they cover almost every report:
- Is the server running? The panel shows the state, and the console will have the game’s ready line.
- Is it the game port, not the query port? Check the table above and the address on the server page.
- Is the game version the same? A client on a newer or older build than the server usually fails at the handshake with no useful message. Let the server update, or update the client.
- Password or whitelist? Check Startup for the join password, and whether the game has a whitelist enabled.
- Sons of the Forest caps a server at eight players; a ninth connection is refused by the game, not the host.
- Everything else failing? Check
#statuson Discord for a node-wide incident, then open a ticket with the exact error text.
If a ticket is needed, include your server name, the address you used, and the console output from the moment you tried to connect. That is usually enough for us to tell a client-side problem from a server-side one in one reply.