Sons of the Forest Console Commands: Full List and Setup

Sons of the Forest has three separate command systems, and the command list you found somewhere else almost certainly describes only one of them. The cheatstick console you open with F1 is a client-side cheat menu running on your own machine. The stop, kick and ban commands are typed into your server's console, not into the game. And a third group — enemy difficulty, season length, whether cheats are permitted at all — are not commands: they are fields in dedicatedserver.cfg that only take effect at boot.

Nearly every "nothing happens when I type cheatstick" report comes down to running the right command in the wrong one of those three places.

This is Sons of the Forest, not The Forest

The 2018 original and its sequel have different command sets and different config files. developermodeon is the original's activation word and does nothing here — see The Forest console commands for that one.

Enabling the console

Type cheatstick. That is the whole activation step, and where you type it depends on where you are playing.

In singleplayer, type it straight into the game. It does not go into a text box, a prompt or the chat window — just type the word while the game is running and unpaused. Nothing appears on screen when it registers.

On a dedicated server, open the chat window with Enter first, type cheatstick, and press Enter to submit it. Here you do get feedback: a confirmation appears in green.

Either way, press F1 afterwards to open the console. You only need to do this once per session — after that, F1 toggles the box open and closed.

The console will not open on a non-US keyboard layout

cheatstick is read as raw key presses rather than typed characters, so any non-US layout registers the wrong ones and the console never opens. Add the US layout in Windows Settings > Time & language > Language > your language > Options > Add a keyboard, then switch to it before typing. You do not have to remove your usual layout. This is the single most common cause of "cheatstick isn't working" and it produces exactly the same silence as a typo.

If you are unsure whether it worked, run logging on and press F2. The log echoes command feedback and will tell you when you have a command's syntax wrong.

Which system does what

The consequence worth internalising: cheat commands are client-side. godmode on protects you and nobody else. There is no admin command that grants another player god mode, and no chat command that spawns items into someone else's inventory.

For kicking, banning and saving on a running server, see the console commands in Getting started with your Sons of the Forest server.

Cheats on a dedicated server

By default a dedicated server does not permit the cheat console at all. The gate is a game setup setting:

setgamesetupsetting GameSetting.Multiplayer.Cheats true

A command set this way lasts until the next restart. The setting also exists as a Cheats field in dedicatedserver.cfg, which is the version that persists — set it there for a server you intend to keep, and use the command only for testing. Which block it belongs in depends on your game mode, so edit the config file and look for the existing Cheats entry rather than adding a new one at the top level.

Cheats are all-or-nothing, and they are not logged

There is no per-player permission. Turning cheats on gives every connected player additem, godmode and killradius, and nothing records who used what. On a public server this is a griefing vector rather than a convenience — leave it off unless the server is friends-only.

Difficulty, season and enemy settings are also exposed as setgamesetupsetting commands, but on a dedicated server the config file is authoritative and re-reads at boot, so anything you set by command is reverted on the next restart. Use the Custom block in dedicatedserver.cfg for anything you want to persist.

On a hosted Sons of the Forest server that file sits at the server root and is edited from the panel, and the change only applies on the next restart. If you set something by command and it is gone after a restart, the config never had it — the command changed the running session only.

Player commands

Items

spawnitem will not produce most weapons, tools and outfits once you have already collected them. additem is the more reliable of the two for one-off items.

Items accept a numeric ID or an internal name. A few carry an ID but no usable name — the Survival Guide is 589, for instance, and does not respond to a name.

Time and season

timescale and setgametimespeed are not interchangeable. setgametimespeed moves the clock; timescale accelerates everything, which is what you want for watching logs settle or a structure finish, and what you do not want above about 10 unless you are relaxed about your CPU temperature. timescale 0 pauses outright.

Advancing days changes which enemies spawn, and can unlock achievements.

World and environment

Spawning characters

addcharacter <name> covers companions, cannibals, mutants, bosses and animals.

Animals — shark, killerwhale, turtle, rabbit, squirrel, seagull — spawn where you are standing rather than in water, so aquatic ones hang in the air.

AI debugging

Mostly useful when you are working out why companions behave oddly.

Commands people expect that do not exist

Lists for this game get copied between sites without testing, and a few common assumptions are simply wrong.

• There is no admin password and no / chat command set. Sons of the Forest has no in-game admin command system at all. Ownership is handled outside the game, and moderation happens from the server console.
• developermodeon is The Forest. It does nothing in the sequel.
• Kick and ban are not in-game commands. They run from the server console in your panel, against a player ID.
• Cheat commands cannot be applied to another player. They run on the client of whoever typed them.
• Config values are not commands. PvP, MaxPlayers and Password live in dedicatedserver.cfg and cannot be changed from the F1 console.
• Many entries circulating under "debugging" — audiodebug, footstepdebug, radiodebug and similar — are untested stubs that produce no visible result.

FAQ

Why does nothing happen when I type cheatstick?

In order of likelihood: your keyboard is not on a US layout, the game is paused, or you typed it into a text box in singleplayer when it needs to go straight into the game. On a dedicated server the opposite applies — there it must go into the chat window. Singleplayer gives no confirmation at all, so silence is not proof of failure. Press F1 and see whether the box appears.

Do console commands work in multiplayer?

Only if the server has cheats enabled via GameSetting.Multiplayer.Cheats. When it is off, the console still opens and commands simply do nothing. When it is on, every player has them, and effects are client-side.

How do I become an admin on a Sons of the Forest server?

There is no in-game admin role to be granted. Server ownership is configured on the server itself, and the moderation commands run from the panel console rather than in-game. See Getting started with your Sons of the Forest server.

Can I spawn items for another player?

No. additem and spawnitem act on whoever runs them. To equip someone else, enable cheats server-side and let them run the command themselves.

Will console commands disable achievements?

There is no deliberate achievement lock — players report earning them normally with the console in use — but glitched achievements and corrupted saves are a known risk, so back up your save first if you care about them. Note also that setcurrentday and jumptimeofday can unlock achievements unintentionally by skipping you past the day counts that trigger them.

Do these commands work on Xbox?

No. The cheatstick console is a PC feature. Console builds have the difficulty and game-mode options in the menus, but not the F1 command set.

How do I turn cheats back off?

Switch individual cheats off with their off argument — godmode off, speedyrun off — which works for nearly every toggle. F1 closes the console box. On a server, set Cheats back to false in the config and restart, which removes access for everyone.

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