Terraria TShock: connect to and set up your server

How to connect to your Terraria TShock server, make yourself administrator and set up permissions and plugins.

Connect

1. Open the server page in the client area and click Start.
2. Wait until the status shows "running". You can follow the progress in the Console tab.
3. Copy the address (IP:port) at the top of the server page.
4. In Terraria choose Multiplayer → Join → Join via IP, pick your character and enter IP and port.

TShock servers run with the normal Terraria version, your players do not need a mod or extra program.

Make yourself administrator

On first start TShock writes a one-time setup code to the Console (line containing /setup). The same code is in tshock/setup-code.txt in the Files tab.

1. Join the server.
2. Type /setup CODE in chat (replace CODE with your code).
3. Create your own account as owner: /user add NAME PASSWORD owner
4. Log in: /login PASSWORD
5. Finish the setup with /setup. The code is invalid afterwards.

Players and permissions

• Players create their own account: /register PASSWORD, then /login PASSWORD.
• Assign groups with /user group NAME GROUP, for example admin or vip.
• Use /region to protect buildings, /ban and /kick to keep troublemakers out.
• /help lists all commands.

Install plugins

1. Download the plugin as a .dll file. It must match your TShock version.
2. Upload it in the Files tab to the ServerPlugins folder.
3. Restart the server. The console shows whether the plugin was loaded.

Important settings

In the Startup variables tab:

• World name (WORLD_NAME) – name of the world file, letters, digits, - and _ only.
• World size (WORLD_SIZE) – 1 (small), 2 (medium), 3 (large), only for a new world.
• Max players (MAX_PLAYERS)
• TShock version (TSHOCK_VERSION) – latest installs the newest stable version.

Further settings such as a server password or anti-cheat rules are in tshock/config.json. Changes take effect after a restart.

Good to know

• You can upload an existing world (.wld) to the worlds folder in the Files tab and enter the matching world name.
• Make a Backup in the tab of the same name before larger changes.