SCUM Server Settings: How ServerSettings.ini Works

Every setting on a SCUM server lives in one file: SCUM/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/ServerSettings.ini. The server writes that file itself on first boot, splits it into six sections, and prefixes every single key with scum.. You do not create it, you edit it — and you restart afterwards, because the file is read at startup. Gamepires' own note on it: "It's possible to manually configure the settings without entering the game through this file."

Checked against SCUM 1.3.3.4.149664 (11 September 2026)

Gamepires ship a feature update roughly monthly and the settings list changes with them. The June 2026 update alone added settings for animals, fishing, radiation, flags and tombstones, deleted thirteen outright and folded seven more into other keys. Treat any published settings list — including this one — as a description of how the file works, not as an inventory of your build. Your own file is the inventory.

Where the file is and what else lives with it

Open the File Manager on your SCUM game server, or connect over SFTP, and go to SCUM/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/. A running SCUM server generates twelve files there, and a Loot folder appears once you start customising loot:

Gamepires describe two of them bluntly: GameUserSettings.ini and Input.ini "have no use for the server, so you can ignore them completely". WindowsServer is the correct folder even on a Linux host, because SCUM only ships a Windows dedicated-server binary.

The six sections

ServerSettings.ini is a standard INI file with six section headers, and Gamepires use the same names when they document a new setting in patch notes:

When the developers announce a setting they write it as a section plus an in-game category — [World] -> HUNTING, [Features] -> BASE BUILDING, [Respawn] -> RESPAWN. That second half is the path in SCUM's in-game server-settings panel, which is the same setting reached without opening the file.

How values are written

Four conventions cover almost everything in the file, and getting one wrong is the usual reason an edit appears to do nothing.

The -1 convention is the one worth internalising. Gamepires describe scum.FishingHighActivityZoneAmount=-1.000000 as "By default, 10% of fishing spots are always active" with a stated default of 10% — so -1 is not zero, it is "don't override this".

What the panel writes for you

This is the part that generates support tickets. On a GameServerKings SCUM server the panel rewrites six keys in ServerSettings.ini every time the server starts, from the Startup tab:

Edit those six on the Startup tab, not in the file

Change scum.ServerName in the File Manager and it will look correct until the next restart, at which point the panel puts the Startup value back. Every other key in the file is yours and is never touched.

Max Players is separate again: the panel passes it on the command line as -MaxPlayers=, so set it with the Max Players field on the Startup tab. Server Playstyle is a label — it is what shows in the browser and does not by itself switch PvP damage on or off.

Settings Gamepires added in 2026

These come straight from the patch notes, with the developers' own defaults and limits.

scum.NumberOfAllowedFlagsPerPlayer has a dependency the patch note calls out explicitly: "scum.AllowMultipleFlagsPerPlayer needs to be enabled for this setting to work." Nine animal prevalence multipliers exist — bear, boar, chicken, deer, donkey, goat, horse, rabbit and wolf — and they are relative weights within a biome, not absolute counts.

Settings that were deleted

The June 2026 update removed thirteen keys outright under the heading "SETTINGS NO LONGER AVAILABLE", most of them tied to the old hunting-encounter system that free-roaming wildlife replaced:

scum.MaxAllowedAnimals
scum.MaxAllowedHunts
scum.HuntFailureTime
scum.HuntFailureDistance
scum.AnimalWorldEncounterSpawnWeightMultiplier
scum.NPCWorldEncounterSpawnWeightMultiplier
scum.HuntTriggerChanceOverride_ContinentalForest
scum.HuntTriggerChanceOverride_ContinentalMeadow
scum.HuntTriggerChanceOverride_Mediterranean
scum.HuntTriggerChanceOverride_Mountain
scum.HuntTriggerChanceOverride_Urban
scum.HuntTriggerChanceOverride_Village
scum.MasterServerEndpoints

scum.PuppetLimpingEnabled and scum.ArmedNPCLimpingEnabled went at the same time, replaced by setting the matching limping health threshold to 0. Seven per-vehicle MaxFunctionalAmount keys were folded into the maximum-vehicle settings in the same update.

Most SCUM settings lists you will find are wrong

The widely copied reference tables use key names like MaxAllowedZombiesInWorld, MessageOfTheDayMinutes and TimeToRemainInGameAfterLeaveRequest. None of those exist in the file — the modern equivalents are scum.MaxAllowedPuppets, scum.MessageOfTheDayCooldown and scum.LogoutTimer. The page those tables are copied from opens with its own warning that it is a test page whose settings are "unclear/not true", and it has not tracked a release since before SCUM 1.0. Search your actual file for a key before you trust any guide about it.

Common Questions

Where is ServerSettings.ini on a SCUM server?

SCUM/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/ServerSettings.ini, from the File Manager or over SFTP. The folder is WindowsServer on every host because SCUM's dedicated server is a Windows binary.

Do I need to restart after editing ServerSettings.ini?

Yes. The file is read at startup. Use the panel's Restart button, or a scheduled task if you want the change to land at a quiet hour.

Why did my server name change back after a restart?

Because the panel rewrites six keys from the Startup tab on every boot — name, description, password, welcome message, message of the day and playstyle. Change those on the Startup tab and they will stick.

Can I copy someone else's ServerSettings.ini?

Only from the same game version. A file from before June 2026 carries thirteen keys the server no longer recognises and is missing everything added since. Keep your own generated file and change the keys you care about.

What does -1 mean in ServerSettings.ini?

"Use the game's default." It is not zero and it is not "disabled" — scum.MaxAllowedCharacters=-1 means SCUM decides, not that no characters spawn.

How do I reset ServerSettings.ini to defaults?

Take a backup first, then delete the file and restart. The server regenerates a stock ServerSettings.ini for whatever build is currently installed, which is also the cleanest way to see the current key list.

What to Read Next

• SCUM Loot Configuration: How to Change What Spawns — the Loot folder, the export commands and the spawner presets the [Features] multipliers scale.
• SCUM Trader Economy: EconomyOverride.json Explained — prices, restock timers, trader funds and the fame gate.
• SCUM Whitelist, Priority Slots and Bans — the list files that decide who can connect at all.
• SCUM Admin Commands and AdminUsers.ini Setup — the in-game # commands, and who is allowed to run them.
• How to upload files via SFTP — the quickest way to edit a 400-line ini off-server.
• How to create a backup — take one before any bulk settings change.

Made with 💜 by GameServerKings