Palworld Server Memory Leak and High RAM Usage
The known engine memory leak, why more RAM doesn't fix it, and what settings to change instead.
The Memory Leak Problem
The Palworld dedicated server has a known memory leak in the Unreal Engine layer. Over time, the server process allocates memory without releasing it. RAM usage climbs steadily over hours until the server crashes or becomes unresponsive.
On a server with 16GB RAM, this typically takes 6-12 hours. On 32GB, it takes longer but the leak still happens - more RAM just delays the crash, it doesn't prevent it.
This is an engine-level issue that Pocketpair needs to fix. In the meantime, there are two effective mitigations: disabling invader spawns and scheduling regular restarts.
Fix 1: Disable Invader Spawns
Turn Invading Enemies (bEnableInvaderEnemy) off in Settings, under Gameplay, then restart. Invaders are NPCs that periodically attack player bases, and community reports consistently link them to memory growth on long-running dedicated servers - the setting's own description in the panel carries that warning.
This is the single most effective setting change for memory management. Most server admins disable invaders without noticing a significant gameplay difference - the core Palworld experience (catching, breeding, building) is unaffected.
If you want to keep invaders for gameplay reasons, you'll need more frequent restarts to compensate.
Fix 2: Scheduled Restarts
Restarting the server clears the leaked memory. Watch the Resource Usage card on the server Overview tab and pick an interval from what you actually see, rather than a number from a guide.
For a manual restart with warning, use /Shutdown [seconds] [message] in game - for example /Shutdown 300 Server restarting in 5 minutes.
For an automatic one, use the "Automatic Daily Restart" card on the Admin tab. It offers 6, 12 or 24 hours, and it only fires when NOBODY is connected - the agent checks every five minutes and waits if there are players. That keeps it from interrupting anyone, but it also means a permanently busy server may never restart on its own.
A graceful stop saves first, and Autosave Interval is 30 seconds by default, so a restart costs at most about half a minute of play.
Other Settings That Reduce Memory
Pal Spawn Rate (PalSpawnNumRate, default 1.0) - lower it to 0.5-0.8 to reduce the number of wild Pals. Each one costs memory for AI and entity data.
Workers per Base (BaseCampWorkerMaxNum, default 15) - lower it to 10 to reduce Pal AI at bases. If a change to this one will not stick, see the WorldOption.sav guide: it is the setting that file is known to shadow.
Base Camps per Guild (BaseCampMaxNumInGuild, default 4) - each additional base adds entity tracking. Note this is the PER-GUILD limit; Total Base Camp Maximum (default 128) is a different, world-wide setting.
Dropped-Item Maximum (DropItemMaxNum, default 3000) and Dropped-Item Lifetime (DropItemAliveMaxHours, default 1.0) - lower either to keep fewer tracked item entities in the world.
Maximum Players (ServerPlayerMaxNum, default 32) - 32 is both the default and the engine cap. Lowering it to what you actually need reduces the ceiling on load.
How to Tell If You Have a Memory Problem
Symptoms: server becomes increasingly laggy over several hours, then crashes or becomes unresponsive. Restarting fixes it temporarily, but the problem returns.
Watch it on the Resource Usage card on the server Overview tab, which shows live CPU and memory for the server process and marks the reading LAST KNOWN rather than LIVE if the host stops answering. The Metrics card on the Game Tools Dashboard tab adds the server's own frame rate, uptime and base-camp count.
If memory usage climbs steadily even with low player count, the leak is the cause. If memory is high immediately on startup, you may have too many settings consuming RAM - apply the settings above.