---
title: "The Forest Dedicated Server Setup"
description: "Setting up a The Forest dedicated server: the config file's real location, the settings the panel owns, and first boot."
url: "https://www.gameserverkings.com/knowledge-base/the-forest/the-forest-dedicated-server-setup/"
category: "The Forest"
category_url: "https://www.gameserverkings.com/knowledge-base/the-forest/"
published: "2026-09-12T06:30:48.989Z"
updated: "2026-09-12T06:32:35.847Z"
source_format: "markdown"
site: "GameServerKings"
---

# The Forest Dedicated Server Setup

The Forest's dedicated server is a Windows application that Endnight shipped as a separate Steam tool, and it reads its behaviour from one plain-text config file. On a server from us that file is already generated and the server is already running — but half the settings in it are written by the panel on every boot and half are yours to edit. Knowing which half is which is the difference between a change that sticks and a change that vanishes at the next restart.

> [!NOTE] The short version
> The config file is at `TheForestDedicatedServer_Data/forest/config/config.cfg`. Eleven lines in it are rewritten from the **Startup** tab each boot; everything else persists. Set **Admin Password** and **Server Password**, add a **Steam Account Token** if you want the server to save player progress, and read your connection details off the **Network** tab.

## What You Are Actually Running

The Forest has no native Linux server build. Endnight published one application — `TheForestDedicatedServer.exe` — and a [hosted The Forest server](/games/the-forest/) runs it under a compatibility layer. The practical consequences:

- The server files use Windows-style layout under `TheForestDedicatedServer_Data/`.
- A graphics warning the server emits with no display attached (`RenderTexture.Create failed`) is stripped out of the console by the startup line itself. Its absence is deliberate, and other Wine-related noise on boot is normal.
- The server is up when the console prints **`Game autosave started`**. That line is the signal, not the first sign of activity.

The dedicated server is also a different Steam app from the game. Your panel installs app **556450** (The Forest Dedicated Server), while the game your players own is **242760** — a distinction that matters in exactly one place, covered below.

## The Startup Fields

Only some of these can be changed. Presenting the rest as editable is a common way to waste an evening.

| Field | Editable | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| **Server Name** | Yes | Name shown in the Steam server browser |
| **Server Password** | Yes | Join password. Blank means open |
| **Admin Password** | Yes | Grants the in-chat `/` admin commands |
| **Difficulty** | Yes | `Peaceful`, `Normal` or `Hard` |
| **Init Type** | Yes | `New` or `Continue` |
| **Steam Account Token** | Yes | Server identity token |
| **Enable VAC** | Yes | `on` or `off` |
| **Auto-Update** | Yes | `1` updates the server on boot, `0` does not |
| **Max Players** | No | Set for you |
| **Steam Port** | No | Read the real value on the **Network** tab |
| **[Connection Port] Query Port** | No | The port players connect through |

> [!IMPORTANT] Change the Admin Password before anyone joins
> The field ships with a placeholder default. Anyone who knows it gets `/kick`, `/ban`, `/shutdown` and `/save` on your world — and `/restart`, which deletes the save. Set it to something of your own before you hand the address out.

## The Config File

The rest of the server's behaviour lives in:

```text
TheForestDedicatedServer_Data/forest/config/config.cfg
```

It is a flat list of `key value` lines with `//` comments, generated at install from Endnight's own template. Endnight's official dedicated server guide documents the format and every key.

**Eleven of those lines are rewritten from the Startup tab on every boot.** Editing them in the file achieves nothing that survives a restart:

`serverIP` · `serverSteamPort` · `serverGamePort` · `serverQueryPort` · `serverName` · `serverPlayers` · `serverPassword` · `serverSteamAccount` · `enableVAC` · `initType` · `difficulty`

Everything else in the file is yours and persists.

## Settings You Edit in the File

| Setting | Default here | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| `serverAutoSaveInterval` | `15` | Minutes between autosaves. The official guide gives the default as 15; the wiki notes 15 is also the minimum |
| `slot` | `1` | Save slot, **"Must be set 1 2 3 4 or 5"** |
| `showLogs` | `off` | Event log. The wiki: **"It is highly recommended to leave this on, this will show if your server is working or not"** |
| `allowCheats` | `off` | **"Allow clients to use the built in development console"** |
| `veganMode` | `off` | **"No enemies"** |
| `vegetarianMode` | `off` | **"No enemies during day time"** |
| `treeRegrowMode` | `off` | **"Regrow 10% of cut down trees when sleeping"** |
| `resetHolesMode` | `off` | **"Reset all structure holes when loading a save"** |
| `allowBuildingDestruction` | `on` | **"Allow building destruction"** |
| `allowEnemiesCreativeMode` | `off` | **"Allow enemies in creative games"** |
| `serverContact` | placeholder | **"Contact email for server admin"** — not required |
| `targetFpsIdle` | `5` | **"Target FPS when no client is connected"** |
| `targetFpsActive` | `60` | **"Target FPS when there is at least one client connected"** |

Stop the server before editing, then start it again. `allowCheats` is the one most people are looking for: with it off, the F1 console opens for players but the commands do nothing. [The Forest console commands](/knowledge-base/the-forest/the-forest-console-commands/) covers what it unlocks.

> [!TIP] Turn `showLogs` on while you are setting up
> It costs nothing and it turns "the server isn't working" into a specific line you can act on. Turn it off later if the console noise bothers you.

## Difficulty: What the Panel Will Accept

The **Difficulty** field accepts `Peaceful`, `Normal` and `Hard` — the three values Endnight's official command-line documentation lists (`-difficulty <Peaceful|Normal|Hard>`).

The wiki additionally documents a fourth, `HardSurvival`. It is not available here: the Startup field rejects it, and because `difficulty` is one of the eleven panel-managed lines, writing it into the config file by hand is overwritten at the next boot. If you want Hard Survival, it is a single-player and client-hosted mode rather than something a dedicated server can be set to.

## The Steam Account Token

This is the one place the two app IDs matter. The server's identity token is generated against the **game's** app ID, not the dedicated server's.

Endnight's guide: **"You first need to create an ID for your server at this address Steam Community :: Steam Game Server Account Management. The appid for The Forest is 242760. As stated on that page, it is recommended to not share your server login token."**

Generate one at `steamcommunity.com/dev/managegameservers` using app ID **242760**, paste it into **Steam Account Token**, and restart. The wiki is emphatic about the handling: **"DO NOT SHARE THIS CODE!"**

Without a token the server still runs and players can still join. What it affects is persistence of player progress across sessions — covered in [The Forest Server Saves: Slots, Autosaves and Init Type](/knowledge-base/the-forest/the-forest-server-saves/).

## Ports

Endnight's stock values are `serverSteamPort 8766`, `serverGamePort 27015` and `serverQueryPort 27016`. Your server gets its own allocated set, and the **Network** tab is the authoritative list.

The one players need is the **query port**. That is what goes into Steam's server browser, and it is not the game port — a mismatch here is the single most common reason a working server appears to be invisible.

## Common Questions

### Where is Server.cfg?

Endnight's documentation calls the file `Server.cfg` and places it in a Windows user folder. On your server it is generated at `TheForestDedicatedServer_Data/forest/config/config.cfg` instead, pointed at by the `-configfilepath` launch parameter Endnight documents. Same format, same keys, different path.

### Why isn't `serverPasswordAdmin` in my config file?

Because the admin password is passed on the command line from the **Admin Password** field instead. Endnight's guide notes that **"Command line parameters overwrite matching entries defined in the config file"**, so the field always wins. Set it on the Startup tab.

### Can I raise the player limit?

Not from the Startup tab — **Max Players** is view-only, and `serverPlayers` is panel-managed, so the config file will not hold a change either.

### Should Auto-Update be on?

Yes, in general. The Forest has been stable for years, so it rarely does anything — but when Endnight does push a build, an out-of-date server locks out every player until it updates.

### My server runs but nobody can find it

Check the query port first, then the password. Servers are added through Steam rather than in-game, which surprises people — see [How to Play The Forest with Friends](/knowledge-base/the-forest/the-forest-play-with-friends/).

## What to Read Next

- [The Forest Server Saves: Slots, Autosaves and Init Type](/knowledge-base/the-forest/the-forest-server-saves/) — the setting that silently resets your world every boot
- [The Forest Console Commands: Full List and Setup](/knowledge-base/the-forest/the-forest-console-commands/) — admin commands and what `allowCheats` unlocks
- [Is The Forest Crossplay?](/knowledge-base/the-forest/the-forest-crossplay/) — why your PlayStation friends cannot join

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