Dragonwilds server won't start? Fix it

If your RuneScape: Dragonwilds server stops straight after you press Start, the Console tells you why. Nearly always it's a new server that hasn't been given its owner's Player ID yet. This guide shows the line to look for, the fix, and what a healthy start looks like so you can tell the two apart.

Check the Console first

Open your server in the dashboard, go to the Console and press Start. Then look for this line:

[PYW] This server needs your Player ID before its first start. In the game, open Settings and copy My Player ID (bottom left, with a copy button), paste it into Owner ID in the Startup tab, then press Start.

If you see it, the next section is your fix. If you don't, skip to What a healthy start looks like.

What the Console shows without a Player ID

Dragonwilds makes one player the owner of each server. A new server holds a placeholder where the owner's ID goes, and it refuses to start on that placeholder. The check runs before the game launches.

After the panel's three preparing lines, the console prints this:

Starting server...
[PYW] This server needs your Player ID before its first start. In the game, open Settings and copy My Player ID (bottom left, with a copy button), paste it into Owner ID in the Startup tab, then press Start.
[PlayYourWay/ERROR]: Your server crashed with exit code 1 - restarting automatically…

The [PlayYourWay/ERROR] line is red and has a time in front. The panel then tries one more start by itself, which prints the same lines again, and gives up with an amber line:

[PlayYourWay/WARNING]: It crashed again within a minute, so it won't restart by itself. Fix the cause above, then press Start.

The server is then offline. In our test on a real server that was about 27 seconds after pressing Start.

The console calls it a crash, but nothing has crashed and nothing is lost: the server stopped itself before the game ran, so your files are untouched. In the same test the server started normally as soon as a real Player ID was saved.

Fix: add your Player ID

1. In the game, open Settings and copy My Player ID from the bottom left of the screen. The copy button beside it takes all 32 letters and numbers.
2. In the dashboard, open the Startup tab and find Owner ID.
3. Replace everything in the box with your Player ID and click Save.
4. Go back to the Console and press Start. The panel has stopped retrying by then, so the server stays offline until you do.

The Add your Player ID before the first start banner at the top of your server's page says the same thing, with an Add Player ID button that takes you straight to the field. It goes away once your Player ID is saved.

Startup won't save the Owner ID

The field accepts exactly 32 letters and numbers. A save is refused, with an error under the field, when the value:

• has a space in the middle of it
• has a dash or any other symbol
• is shorter or longer than 32 characters, which usually means part of the ID was missed

Copy the whole ID from the game again and paste it over the old value.

What a healthy start looks like

Dragonwilds' own log runs to thousands of technical lines, so the console hides it and shows a short list instead. A normal start reads like this, top to bottom:

You'll see one of the two update lines, not both. The game lines carry a time and an [Server thread/INFO]: tag in front.

In our tests on a real server, the online line arrived 11 to 16 seconds after pressing Start when no update was needed. A start that has to download a new build takes longer. That's the update running, not a fault, so let it finish.

It stopped for another reason

Read the last few lines of the Console:

• Server stopped. - a normal stop. The server was told to stop, for example by someone pressing Stop or Restart. The Audit Logs tab lists power actions taken from the dashboard, with who and when. Press Start to bring it back.
• Exiting abnormally (error code: ...) in red - the game shut itself down with an error. Copy that line and anything red above it.
• Other red lines - the console only shows the game's serious errors, so a red line is worth keeping. Copy it exactly.
• It never reaches World loaded. - check whether the Steam update is still running, and let it finish before you press anything.

If the server starts and loads a world you don't recognize, it isn't a failed start. World Name has changed, and RuneScape: Dragonwilds worlds and saves shows how to get the old world back.

What to send support

If the server still won't stay up, open a support ticket with:

1. The lines from the Console, copied exactly, from Start to where it stopped. How to use your server console explains the console itself.
2. What you changed just before it began, such as a setting in Startup or a file in the File Manager.
3. Whether the server has ever started successfully.

Don't paste your join or admin password into the ticket. We don't need either to look at your server.

Once the server is running, RuneScape: Dragonwilds server settings explains the rest of the Startup tab.