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.

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 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.

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:

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

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 covers what it unlocks.

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.

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.

What to Read Next

• The Forest Server Saves: Slots, Autosaves and Init Type — the setting that silently resets your world every boot
• The Forest Console Commands: Full List and Setup — admin commands and what allowCheats unlocks
• Is The Forest Crossplay? — why your PlayStation friends cannot join

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