Unturned Workshop Mods and How to Change Maps

Unturned's Steam Workshop holds thousands of maps, item packs and total conversions, and a dedicated server can pull any of them down automatically. The mechanism is one small JSON file. This guide covers adding workshop content, switching your server to a custom map, the official File IDs for every curated map, and what to do when content refuses to load.

How workshop content actually works

The server downloads workshop content itself, at startup, from a list of File IDs you supply. Then — and this is the part most guides get wrong — players joining your server download that same content automatically. They do not need to subscribe to anything first.

Your players do not need to subscribe on Steam

Steam pushes the server's configured workshop items to each client as they connect. Subscribing manually is optional and only changes where the files are kept: auto-downloaded content lives in a Steam-managed cache that gets cleaned out periodically, while subscribed content stays put. Neither affects whether the player can join.

Dependencies come along too. If a map requires a separate asset pack, the server installs both, and clients receive both.

Adding workshop content

Workshop items are configured in WorkshopDownloadConfig.json, which sits in your server folder — not inside Server/ where Commands.dat lives.

1. Find the File ID. It is the number at the end of any Steam Workshop URL:

2. Add it to File_IDs. Open the file in your panel's File Manager and add the ID to the list:

3. Add more by separating with commas. Trailing commas are invalid JSON and will stop the file loading:

4. Restart. The server installs and updates everything in the list on each startup.

Validate the JSON before restarting

A single misplaced comma silently breaks the whole file, and the symptom is "my mods just did not install" rather than an obvious error. Paste the contents into any JSON validator first — it takes ten seconds and saves a confusing restart cycle.

Changing your server's map

Two independent things have to line up: the map's files must be on the server, and Commands.dat must name it.

Built-in maps

The maps shipped with the game need no workshop entry at all. Set the Map line and restart:

Built-in options are PEI, Washington, Yukon, Russia and Germany.

Workshop and curated maps

1. Add the map's File ID to WorkshopDownloadConfig.json as above.
2. Set Map to the map's name, not its File ID.
3. Restart.

Map takes the name, File_IDs takes the number

This is the single most common reason a custom map fails to load. Map 2136497468 does not work. The Map line wants the map's name as the mod defines it, which is usually — but not always — what the Workshop page calls it. If the server boots onto PEI instead of your map, the name is wrong; the console prints the maps it found while loading.

Curated map File IDs

Curated maps and the official arena maps are only distributed through the Workshop, so they need a File_IDs entry even though they feel official. These IDs come from Smartly Dressed Games' own documentation.

Note that Hawaii needs Hawaii Assets alongside it — a case where the map and its asset pack are published separately and you need both IDs.

Wiping a map or starting fresh

Changing the map does not delete the old one. Each map keeps its own save data, so switching from PEI to Elver and back returns you to PEI exactly as you left it.

To genuinely reset a map, stop the server and remove that map's folder under Servers/<YourServer>/Level/. The server rebuilds it clean on the next start.

Stop the server before touching the Level folder

Deleting save data underneath a running server corrupts what is left in memory and the server will write it back out on shutdown. Stop first, take a backup, then delete. See How to Create a Backup.

Removing workshop content

Delete the File ID from File_IDs and restart. The server stops downloading and loading it.

If you remove a map mod that your server is currently running, set Map back to a map you still have in the same edit — otherwise the server boots with nowhere to go and falls back to PEI, which is confusing if you did not expect it.

Removing an item pack that players have items from is messier: those items no longer resolve and will vanish from inventories. Announce it first.

Troubleshooting

Content did not download at all. Check the JSON is valid, then check the server console during startup — the download step prints what it fetched. A server with no internet egress obviously cannot reach Steam, but on a hosted server that is rarely the issue.

"Missing dependencies" on a curated map. The map needs a companion asset pack you have not added. Hawaii is the documented example. Check the Workshop page's required items and add every File ID.

A mod downloads on the server but not for players. Mod authors can set an Allowed IPs restriction when publishing, which limits which servers may auto-distribute the item. If a mod has that set and your server's IP is not on the list, the server may hold the files while clients cannot obtain them. This is rare, and the fix is to contact the mod author.

The map loads but items are missing. Item IDs are per-mod. A workshop map's custom items have their own IDs that do not overlap with the base game's, so generic ID lists will not help — use the map's own documentation. See Unturned Server Commands and Cheat Codes for how Give resolves names and IDs.

Everything worked yesterday and broke after a game update. Workshop content is not automatically compatible with every build. The server updates mods on each start, so a mod whose author has gone inactive can break when the game moves on. Check the mod's Workshop page for recent comments.

Content updates need a restart, not a reinstall

The server re-checks every File ID at startup, so the fix for stale workshop content is almost always a restart. Reinstalling the server from the Settings tab wipes your configuration and is very rarely the right answer.

Where the files live

For editing these over SFTP rather than in the browser, see How to Upload Files via SFTP. For what the rest of the panel does, see How to use your server panel.

FAQ

Do players need to subscribe to my server's mods?

No. Steam sends the server's configured workshop content to players as they connect. Subscribing only changes whether the files are kept permanently on their machine or in a cache Steam may clear later.

How do I change the map on my Unturned server?

Set the Map line in Servers/<YourServer>/Server/Commands.dat to the map's name and restart. For anything that is not PEI, Washington, Yukon, Russia or Germany, also add the map's File ID to File_IDs in WorkshopDownloadConfig.json.

Why does my server keep loading PEI instead of my workshop map?

Map is set to a name the server cannot find, so it falls back to the default. Either the workshop item did not download, or the name does not match what the mod actually calls the map.

Does changing the map delete my old world?

No. Save data is stored per map under Level/, so switching away and back preserves both.

Can I run more than one map at once?

Not on a single server — one server runs one map. Running Washington and Elver at the same time means two servers.

Where do I find a map's File ID?

At the end of its Steam Workshop URL, after ?id=. Curated and arena maps are listed with their IDs in the table above.

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