DEVKEY BLOG

Only while Palworld Dedicated Server was running on Windows 11, Deadlock would not advance past the loading screen after launch, and PUBG showed an “external provider authentication failed” error.

When I stopped Palworld, Deadlock launched. After that, I changed Palworld’s Query Port from UDP 27015 to 27100, and PUBG could launch while the Palworld server kept running.

The Palworld game connection was using UDP 8211, but checking the actual listening ports in PowerShell showed that PalServer-Win64-Shipping-Cmd.exe was also using UDP 27015.

Get-NetUDPEndpoint -LocalPort 27015 |
  Select-Object LocalAddress, LocalPort, OwningProcess,
    @{Name = "ProcessName"; Expression = {
      (Get-Process -Id $_.OwningProcess).ProcessName
    }}

There is also a user report on the official Deadlock forum where the infinite loading problem was caused by port 27015 already being in use. In my case, Deadlock progressed when Palworld was stopped and reproduced when Palworld was started, so it looked like the same port-conflict class of issue.

References: Get-NetUDPEndpoint / Deadlock official forum solved report

I added -queryport=27100 to Palworld’s launch arguments. Before changing it, I checked that 27100 was free, backed up the world, and restarted the server.

PalServer.exe -port=8211 -players=5 -logformat=text -queryport=27100

-port=8211 is the game connection port, and -queryport=27100 is the port used for Steam server queries. Steamworks also treats the Game Port and Query Port as separate values.

As of July 23, 2026, Palworld’s official launch-argument list does not mention -queryport. I tried a workaround used by the community and confirmed that, on this PC, Palworld listened on UDP 27100.

References: Palworld Server Guide launch arguments / SteamGameServer_Init / report of the same -queryport workaround

After the restart, the ports were assigned like this:

After moving Palworld’s Query Port to 27100, PUBG acquired the now-free UDP 27015 port and launched. The error message alone was not enough to identify the cause, but on this PC the Query Port change fixed it.

The Hamachi join address stayed the same as before: 25.x.x.x:8211. Participants did not need to change their settings.

This is a private server where people enter the IP address and UDP 8211 directly, so changing the Query Port does not change the join destination. If you publish the server to Steam’s community server list, check that the new Query Port is allowed through the firewall and router.

Related: Windows Firewall settings when Palworld Dedicated Server would not accept Hamachi connections

On Windows 11, I started Palworld Dedicated Server and tried to play with a remote friend through Hamachi. The client could not join, and nothing appeared in the server log.

Hamachi showed both peers online, and the server was listening on the default UDP 8211 port. The cause was a leftover Windows Firewall block rule named Pal.

Hamachi’s peer diagnosis said the tunnel and adapter were fine, but the traffic test showed inbound traffic being blocked.

With Windows’ built-in PktMon, I could see packets from the participant reaching UDP 8211 on the server PC, but the server sent 0 replies. The detailed trace also showed these drop reasons:

INET: receive inspection
INET: transport endpoint was not found
Inspection drop

“Hamachi is online” and “PalServer is listening on UDP 8211” do not prove that packets can pass through Windows internally.

References: Hamachi peer diagnostics / Diagnose packet loss with PktMon

In wf.msc → Inbound Rules, there were two enabled block rules for PalServer-Win64-Shipping-Cmd.exe.

• Name: Pal
• Action: Block the connection
• Protocol: one TCP rule and one UDP rule
• Local port: all ports
• Profiles: Private and Public

Windows Firewall prioritizes explicit block rules over conflicting allow rules. Microsoft explains that when the first-use app permission dialog is denied or closed, Windows usually creates both TCP and UDP block rules. These two rules had that shape.

Reference: Windows Firewall rules and precedence

After confirming that the executable was PalServer’s, I disabled only the two Pal block rules. Instead, I kept an inbound allow rule narrowed to these conditions:

• Program: the PalServer-Win64-Shipping-Cmd.exe in my install path
• Protocol and port: UDP 8211
• Profile: Public
• Interface: Hamachi
• Remote IP address: 25.0.0.0/8

After the change, the capture showed 1,766 server responses to 10 packets from the participant, and they could join normally.

You do not need to turn off the whole firewall or allow every port. If you changed Palworld’s port, replace UDP 8211 with the actual listening port.

Reference: Palworld Server Guide: Configure the server

Shape of Dreams’ Limbo 6 can be unlocked by editing the save JSON, not the game’s config file. In this example, I make Bismuth count as having cleared Limbo 5 so that depth 6 becomes selectable.

Base Limbo opens with four Evil Lucid Dreams, but starting depth 6 requires all six.

Close the game, then back up the whole QuickSave folder:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\LocalLow\Lizard Smoothie\Shape of Dreams\QuickSave

The two files to edit have the same ID:

r_profile<UUID>.json
r_stats<UUID>.json

In r_profile<UUID>.json, mark these six pairs as unlocked. If one is already unlocked, you do not need to change it.

The values I changed for each pair were:

Achievement data:
  isNew = true
  isCompleted = true
  currentProgress = maxProgress
  completeTimestamp = current Unix timestamp
  persistentVariables = null

Lucid Dream:
  status = 2
  didReadMemory = false
  isNewHeroOrHeroSkill = false
  isAvailableInGame = true

If you only change the Lucid Dream side, startup validation may revert it, so I changed the corresponding achievement data too.

In the same file, set .root.preferredGameSettings.limbo to select Bismuth and Limbo 6.

{
  "difficulty": "diffLimbo",
  "hero": "Hero_Bismuth",
  "lucidDreams": [
    "LucidDream_FishScales",
    "LucidDream_GrievousWounds",
    "LucidDream_MadLife",
    "LucidDream_MarshOfDestiny",
    "LucidDream_Overpopulation",
    "LucidDream_PrudentJellyfish"
  ],
  "allowDejavu": false,
  "customData": {
    "GameMod_Limbo::depth": "6"
  }
}

Keep existing fields that are not shown here, such as lobbyName and heroSelectedLoadoutIndex.

In r_stats<UUID>.json, set Bismuth’s cleared depth to 5. Limbo progress is per character, so if you want to open depth 6 for another character, replace the hero name.

.root.heroes.Hero_Bismuth.completedLimboDepth = 5
.root.total.completedLimboDepth = 5

After saving, run jq empty <filename> on both files to make sure they are still valid JSON before launching the game. If Steam Cloud reports a conflict, choose the edited local copy. Because this also changes achievement data, it may be reflected in Steam achievements.

Shape of Dreams’ Limbo can be unlocked by editing the save JSON under LocalLow so that only the unlock condition is satisfied.

The target is not the game’s config file. It is this profile save file:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\LocalLow\Lizard Smoothie\Shape of Dreams\QuickSave\r_profile*.json

From the game code I checked, the Limbo unlock condition was having at least four Evil Lucid Dream entries unlocked.

Before editing, check which Evil Lucid Dreams are already unlocked and add only the missing ones. In this example, I add MadLife and Overpopulation to reach four.

The Evil Lucid Dream and achievement pairs are:

• FishScales: ACH_BARE_SKIN_SUPREMACY
• GrievousWounds: ACH_VIVID_DREAM
• MadLife: ACH_MASTER_OF_EVASION
• MarshOfDestiny: ACH_EMPRESS_OF_PAIN
• Overpopulation: ACH_M_M_M_MONSTER_KILL
• PrudentJellyfish: ACH_WRIST_FRIENDLY_BUILD

The basic flow is:

1. Close the game
2. Back up r_profile...json
3. Mark the ACH_* entries for the Evil Lucid Dreams you want to add as completed
4. Set the target LucidDream_* entries to status: 2 / isAvailableInGame: true
5. Check that the JSON is still valid

If you only change the LucidDream side, the profile validation on startup may revert it. The point is to also mark the corresponding in-game achievement as completed.

This example adds MadLife and Overpopulation. After taking a backup, it uses PowerShell + jq to write to a temporary file, validate it, and then replace the save file. If you do not have jq, manually editing the same values is fine too.

$quickSave = "$env:USERPROFILE\AppData\LocalLow\Lizard Smoothie\Shape of Dreams\QuickSave"
$save = Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath $quickSave -Filter "r_profile*.json" |
  Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending |
  Select-Object -First 1 -ExpandProperty FullName
if (-not $save) { throw "r_profile*.json was not found" }

$backup = "$save.bak_$(Get-Date -Format yyyyMMdd_HHmmss)"
Copy-Item -LiteralPath $save -Destination $backup

$ts = [DateTimeOffset]::UtcNow.ToUnixTimeSeconds()
$tmp = "$save.tmp"

$filter = @'
.root.achievements.ACH_MASTER_OF_EVASION |= (.isNew=true | .isCompleted=true | .currentProgress=.maxProgress | .completeTimestamp=$ts | .persistentVariables=null)
| .root.achievements.ACH_M_M_M_MONSTER_KILL |= (.isNew=true | .isCompleted=true | .currentProgress=.maxProgress | .completeTimestamp=$ts | .persistentVariables=null)
| .root.lucidDreams.LucidDream_MadLife |= (.status=2 | .didReadMemory=false | .isNewHeroOrHeroSkill=false | .isAvailableInGame=true)
| .root.lucidDreams.LucidDream_Overpopulation |= (.status=2 | .didReadMemory=false | .isNewHeroOrHeroSkill=false | .isAvailableInGame=true)
'@

jq --argjson ts $ts $filter $save > $tmp
jq empty $tmp
Move-Item -LiteralPath $tmp -Destination $save -Force

After launching the game with this edit, Limbo was unlocked, and the Steam achievement was unlocked automatically too. If you do not want to touch Steam achievements, it is probably better not to use this method.