pfeiffermax/windrose-dedicated-server repository overview

⁠Windrose Dedicated Server - Docker Image and Helm Chart

This Docker image provides a Windrose⁠ dedicated game server. You will find here also a Helm Chart⁠ for running a Windrose dedicated server on Kubernetes container orchestration system⁠. This Windrose dedicated server is run with Linux native binaries on Debian Trixie.

My automation checks the Windrose official Image build⁠ every night. If a new Image was published by Kraken Express, a new Docker image will be built with this new version. Just use the latest tag and you will always have an up-to-date Docker image. No need to manually run any server updates and mess around with your Docker image. It's that simple. :smiley:

Have a look at the docker compose example⁠ and its documentation⁠. There you can see how a server update can be automated with a simple script. Also check out my guide for setting up a Windrose dedicated server with Docker and Docker Compose⁠. I also did an in-depth analysis of the official Windrose Docker image⁠.

Please keep in mind that the Windrose server is currently still in development as the game is in early access state. During the last weeks I already encountered some breaking changes for instance the directory of the world saves changed. So expect further breaking changes. I also have to say that the Windrose server is a weird thing to operate in a container. It was just not made for doing this. I had to implement quite some tricks to get it going. And I hope Kraken Express will improve the server so it can be run in a container in a good way.

Docker Hub: https://hub.docker.com/r/pfeiffermax/windrose-dedicated-server⁠

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/max-pfeiffer/windrose-dedicated-server-docker-helm⁠

⁠IMPORTANT CHANGE SINCE V2.0.0 (5.7.2026, Image Tag 0.10.0.7.33-372c3516)

Kraken Express published an official Docker Image with Linux binaries⁠ just recently. So my image is using these Linux binaries from now on. Let's hope Kraken Express updates this image when they publish a new Game client via Steam. I declared that as a breaking change as this might break something depending on your setup.

⁠Usage

⁠Configuration

You can configure the Windrose server with the following environment variables:

• INVITE_CODE - invite code to find your server. 0-9, a-z and A-Z symbols are allowed. Should contain at least 6 symbols. Case sensitive.
• PASSWORD - this is the password.
• SERVER_NAME - name of your server. Helpful if invite codes look similar
• MAX_PLAYER_COUNT - maximum number of simultaneous players on your server.
• USER_SELECTED_REGION - specifies the region for the Connection Service. Supported options: SEA, CIS, EU (EU covers both EU & NA). If left empty, the server will automatically detect and select the optimal region based on latency. If desired region is specified (for example, EU), the server will use that region exclusively.
• P2P_PROXY_ADDRESS - IP Address for listening sockets.
• USE_DIRECT_CONNECTION - if true, the server will create sockets for direct connection with clients. If false, the server will use ICE protocol to establish P2P connection.
• DIRECT_CONNECTION_SERVER_ADDRESS - address for direct connection. For future purposes. Not used now.
• DIRECT_CONNECTION_SERVER_PORT - port for direct connection. Should be available for TCP and UDP connection if UseDirectConnection is true.
• DIRECT_CONNECTION_PROXY_ADDRESS - can be used to choose specified network on computer where server with direct connection is running. 0.0.0.0 should be used by default.
• AUTO_LOAD_LATEST_BACKUP_IF_HAS_BROKEN - if true, the server automatically loads the latest backup if the world save is broken.
• WORLD_ISLAND_ID - ID of the world the server should load. Only needed if you want to switch to another world, see Importing a save game⁠.

Use --env to set these variables in the Docker image.

As the Windrose server is running in the Docker container as a stateless application, you want to have all stateful server data (config, saves, etc.) stored in a Docker volume⁠ which is persisted outside the container. By default, the Windrose server stores that data in /srv/windrose/R5/Saved. You need to make sure that this directory is mounted on a Docker Volume⁠.

The server needs a unique and stable PersistentServerId so that invite codes keep resolving to your server. On the first start a new id is generated automatically and persisted to /srv/windrose/R5/Saved/persistent_server_id so it survives container restarts. As long as you mount /srv/windrose/R5/Saved on a Docker Volume, you do not need to do anything. If you want to store this id somewhere else, you can override its location with the optional PERSISTENT_SERVER_ID_FILE environment variable.

⁠Docker Run

For testing purposes, you can fire up a Docker container like this:

docker run -it --publish 28050:28050/tcp --publish 28050:28050/udp --env SERVER_NAME=MyServer --env MAX_PLAYER_COUNT=5 pfeiffermax/windrose-dedicated-server:latest

⁠Docker Compose

Please have a look at the docker compose example⁠. The docker compose example contains a Web based file manager⁠ for managing your save games in a very convenient way. There are very detailed instructions for transferring a local save game to the server in the instructions⁠.

⁠Helm chart

If you would like to run the Windrose server in your Kubernetes⁠ cluster, I provide a Helm chart⁠ you could use: https://max-pfeiffer.github.io/windrose-dedicated-server-docker-helm⁠

There is also documentation available⁠ for that Helm chart.

If you want to run your Windrose server on bare metal Kubernetes, check out my blog article⁠ on how to do that using Cilium⁠.

⁠Additional Information Sources

• SteamDB⁠
• Official Windrose Dedicated Server Guide⁠
• https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamCMD⁠

⁠Other Game Server Projects

• Rust dedicated server⁠
• Valheim dedicated server⁠