Update Your TShock or tModLoader Server

Your Terraria server doesn't update on its own. TShock and tModLoader each release on their own schedule, and your server stays on the version it was installed with until you pick a new one. The Server software card on the Startup tab does the update, and it takes a backup first.

Checked against TShock 6.2.1 for Terraria 1.4.5.8 and tModLoader v2026.08.3.0 (stable, built on Terraria 1.4.4), October 2026.

Check what you run

Open your server's Startup tab and find the Server software card. It names the software, TShock or tModLoader, and the version if one is pinned. If it says (latest at install), the server runs whatever was newest when it was last installed.

Players need the matching game. TShock players use vanilla Terraria, and TShock's release names say which version it is built for: TShock 6.2.1 is for Terraria 1.4.5.8. tModLoader players use the free tModLoader app on Steam.

Update the server

1. The card takes a full backup before it changes anything, so you don't need to make one. If you want one of your own as well, How to create and restore backups shows how.
2. On the Server software card, leave Software as it is and open Version.
3. Choose the newest release. Latest shows the newest one in brackets, such as Latest (now v6.2.1). If Version already says Latest, the button stays grayed out until you pick a release from the list, so pick the one at the top.
4. Press Reinstall on this version.
5. Read the box and press Back up and reinstall.
6. Watch the Console. The panel backs up, stops the server and installs the software. Start the server when the install finishes.

While the install runs the card shows Reinstall in progress. Wait for it before you change anything else.

What stays and what changes

• Your worlds stay where they are. A reinstall on the same software doesn't move or delete them.
• Your own files stay. The installer unpacks the new version over the old one and removes none of your files, including your TShock accounts and settings in the tshock folder and any plugins in ServerPlugins. TShock's own documentation says its tshock folder holds your data and upgrades are applied over it.
• Workshop mods are fetched again on tModLoader. Every reinstall downloads each Workshop mod on your list once more, so they update with the server. Mods you uploaded by hand stay as they are. If one no longer suits the new tModLoader, tModLoader starts without it and the Console says which.

Go back to an older version

Pick an older release in Version and press Reinstall on this version. This is the way to match players who haven't updated their game. A TShock release for an older Terraria version only lets players on that version join.

If something goes wrong, restore the backup the card took from the Backups tab.

If the update didn't go as planned

• Players get a version error. The game and the server don't match. Pick the TShock release for the Terraria version they run, or ask them to update.
• The button is grayed out. Version shows what is already installed. Pick a different release, or a different Software.
• A mod stopped loading. Open the Mods tab on tModLoader and check the Console. Add tModLoader mods to your Terraria server has the steps.
• Plugins stopped working on TShock. A new TShock release can outrun a plugin. Check the plugin's page for a version that supports it, or go back to the earlier TShock release.

To move between TShock and tModLoader rather than update, see Terraria server getting started.