charts

Stardew Valley Dedicated Server Helm Chart

Official Helm chart for deploying a Stardew Valley multiplayer dedicated server on Kubernetes.

TL;DR

helm repo add cabrera-evil https://cabrera-evil.github.io/charts/
helm install my-stardew cabrera-evil/stardew-valley-server \
  --set gameServer.steamCredentials.username=YOUR_STEAM_USER \
  --set gameServer.steamCredentials.password=YOUR_STEAM_PASS \
  --set gameServer.vncPassword=YOUR_VNC_PASS

Introduction

This chart deploys a Stardew Valley dedicated game server using the SDVD server image.

Features

Prerequisites

Installing the Chart

Basic Installation

helm install my-stardew cabrera-evil/stardew-valley-server \
  --set gameServer.steamCredentials.username=mysteamuser \
  --set gameServer.steamCredentials.password=mysteampass \
  --set gameServer.vncPassword=myvncpass

Create my-values.yaml:

gameServer:
  steamCredentials:
    username: "mysteamuser"
    password: "mysteampass"
    guardCode: "AB123"  # If 2FA enabled
  vncPassword: "secure-password"

service:
  type: LoadBalancer

persistence:
  gameData:
    size: 20Gi  # Increase if using mods

Install:

helm install my-stardew cabrera-evil/stardew-valley-server -f my-values.yaml

Configuration

Required Parameters

Parameter Description Example
gameServer.steamCredentials.username Steam account username mysteamuser
gameServer.steamCredentials.password Steam account password mypassword

Game Server Configuration

Parameter Description Default
gameServer.steamCredentials.guardCode Steam Guard 2FA code ""
gameServer.vncPassword VNC access password ""
gameServer.disableRendering Disable graphics rendering "true"
gameServer.gamePort Game server port 24642

Image Configuration

Parameter Description Default
image.repository Container image repository sdvd/server
image.pullPolicy Image pull policy IfNotPresent
image.tag Image tag "" (uses appVersion)

Service Configuration

Parameter Description Default
service.type Kubernetes service type LoadBalancer
service.gamePort Service port 24642
service.protocol Service protocol UDP
service.nodePort NodePort if service type is NodePort "" (auto)
service.externalTrafficPolicy External traffic policy Local
service.annotations Service annotations {}

Persistence Configuration

Parameter Description Default
persistence.gameData.enabled Enable game data persistence true
persistence.gameData.size Size of game data PVC 10Gi
persistence.gameData.storageClass Storage class "" (default)
persistence.gameData.accessMode Access mode ReadWriteOnce
persistence.gameData.annotations PVC annotations {}
persistence.serverConfig.enabled Enable config persistence true
persistence.serverConfig.size Size of config PVC 1Gi
persistence.serverConfig.storageClass Storage class "" (default)
persistence.serverConfig.accessMode Access mode ReadWriteOnce
persistence.serverConfig.annotations PVC annotations {}

Resource Configuration

Parameter Description Default
resources.requests.memory Memory request 2Gi
resources.requests.cpu CPU request 1000m
resources.limits.memory Memory limit 4Gi
resources.limits.cpu CPU limit 2000m

Health Probe Configuration

Parameter Description Default
livenessProbe.enabled Enable liveness probe true
livenessProbe.initialDelaySeconds Initial delay 60
livenessProbe.periodSeconds Check period 30
readinessProbe.enabled Enable readiness probe true
readinessProbe.initialDelaySeconds Initial delay 30
startupProbe.enabled Enable startup probe true
startupProbe.failureThreshold Startup failures allowed 30

Security Configuration

Parameter Description Default
podSecurityContext.fsGroup Pod filesystem group 1000
securityContext.runAsUser Container user ID 1000
securityContext.runAsGroup Container group ID 1000
securityContext.runAsNonRoot Run as non-root true
securityContext.readOnlyRootFilesystem Read-only root filesystem false

Common Use Cases

Cloud Deployment (AWS/GCP/Azure)

service:
  type: LoadBalancer
  annotations:
    # AWS
    service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-type: "nlb"
    # Azure
    service.beta.kubernetes.io/azure-load-balancer-protocol: "UDP"
    # GCP automatically supports UDP

persistence:
  gameData:
    storageClass: "gp3"  # AWS gp3, or fast-ssd for GCP
    size: 20Gi
  serverConfig:
    storageClass: "gp3"

On-Premise/Bare Metal

service:
  type: NodePort
  nodePort: 30642  # Fixed port for firewall rules

persistence:
  gameData:
    storageClass: "local-path"  # or your local storage class
    size: 20Gi

High-Performance Setup

resources:
  requests:
    memory: "4Gi"
    cpu: "2000m"
  limits:
    memory: "8Gi"
    cpu: "4000m"

persistence:
  gameData:
    storageClass: "fast-ssd"
    size: 50Gi

nodeSelector:
  disktype: ssd

Multiple Game Servers

Deploy multiple independent servers:

helm install stardew-farm1 cabrera-evil/stardew-valley-server -f farm1-values.yaml
helm install stardew-farm2 cabrera-evil/stardew-valley-server -f farm2-values.yaml

Each server gets its own PVCs and service endpoint.

Upgrading

Upgrade Chart Version

helm repo update
helm upgrade my-stardew cabrera-evil/stardew-valley-server -f my-values.yaml

Update Game Server Image

helm upgrade my-stardew cabrera-evil/stardew-valley-server \
  --set image.tag=new-version \
  --reuse-values

Backup and Restore

Manual Backup

# Get pod name
POD_NAME=$(kubectl get pod -n default -l app.kubernetes.io/name=stardew-valley-server -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}')

# Backup game data
kubectl cp default/$POD_NAME:/data/Stardew ./backup-$(date +%Y%m%d)

# Backup server config
kubectl cp default/$POD_NAME:/config/xdg/config/StardewValley ./backup-config-$(date +%Y%m%d)

Restore from Backup

# Copy backup to pod
kubectl cp ./backup-20240101 default/$POD_NAME:/data/Stardew

# Restart server
kubectl rollout restart deployment/my-stardew

Using Velero for Automated Backups

Tag PVCs for automatic backup:

persistence:
  gameData:
    annotations:
      backup.velero.io/backup-volumes: game-data
  serverConfig:
    annotations:
      backup.velero.io/backup-volumes: server-config

Troubleshooting

Server Won’t Start

  1. Check Steam credentials: 
    kubectl logs deployment/my-stardew | grep -i steam

  2. Verify Steam Guard code (expires after ~30 seconds)

  3. Ensure Steam account owns Stardew Valley

  4. Check pod status: 
    kubectl describe pod -l app.kubernetes.io/name=stardew-valley-server

Can’t Connect to Server

  1. Verify service has external IP: 
    kubectl get svc my-stardew

  2. Check firewall allows UDP port 24642

  3. Verify client game version matches server

  4. Test connectivity: 
    nc -uz <SERVER_IP> 24642

Performance Issues

  1. Increase resources: 
    resources:
  limits:
    memory: "8Gi"
    cpu: "4000m"
  2. Ensure rendering is disabled: 
    gameServer:
  disableRendering: "true"
  3. Check node resources: 
    kubectl top nodes
kubectl top pods

Persistence Issues

  1. Check PVC status: 
    kubectl get pvc
  2. Verify storage class exists: 
    kubectl get storageclass
  3. Check PVC events: 
    kubectl describe pvc my-stardew-game-data

Uninstalling

helm uninstall my-stardew

WARNING: This does NOT delete PVCs by default. To completely remove all data:

# Delete PVCs
kubectl delete pvc -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=my-stardew

# Or delete specific PVCs
kubectl delete pvc my-stardew-game-data my-stardew-server-config

Security Considerations

Advanced Configuration

Using External Secrets

With External Secrets Operator:

# Don't set credentials in values
gameServer:
  steamCredentials:
    username: ""  # Will be injected by ExternalSecret
    password: ""

# Create ExternalSecret separately

Custom Init Containers

Add init containers for mod installation or world setup (modify deployment manually or use Helm post-renderer).

StatefulSet Alternative

For more advanced scenarios, consider converting to StatefulSet (requires manual customization).

License

This chart is licensed under the MIT License.

Maintainers

Sources

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or pull request at the GitHub repository.

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