Unturned [2021] Dedicated Servers Guide

Introduction

 
This guide is made solely to help people with developing their own servers or giving them a little bit of a start with it. Remember that making mistakes and errors is fine, that’s how you’ll learn most of this anyways. 
 
I personally am not that experienced with writing guides, so please correct anything wrong you find here, it’d be very appreciated. 
 
 

Hosting a server

 
Whether you’re hosting on your own machine or paying a host, there are basics and things that you have to know while working with Unturned servers. 
 
Hosting on your own machine would normally be harder and a little bit tedious at times, it’s better to pay a hosting service than do it yourself, but if you don’t have the money and rather use your machine then here’s smartlydressedgames.github.io – https://smartlydressedgames.github.io/U3-Docs/ServerHosting.html 
 
It’s important to note that hosting services have features that’ll help you make things easier, always remember to ask for their support if you’re stuck, or you can always ask in the discord.gg – https://discord.gg/jtDrNpdfg7 
 
 

Starting off

 
I have to note that I’m not willing to explain how to install RocketMod or OpenMod on your server, you can find plenty of guides regarding that, and I’ll mainly be talking about servers running on RocketMod in this guide. 
 
Got your server ready and running? Well, time to start working on it! 
For your main and basic server configuration will be in a file called Commands.dat 
Servers >> Unturned (or Server) >> Server >> Commands.dat 
 
Here’s how to configure it, note that I’ll explain everything below: 
 

 
IMPORTANT: Dont add brackets like I did, the brackets are there just to show you that this part is customizable, but the three brackets on the PvE option show you that it’s optional to even put it there. 
 
The Name determines your server’s public name. 
 
The Map determines the map your server uses, workshop maps wont work if you only put the name in, i’ll explain that later on in the guide. 
 
The Mode determines the difficulty your server is on. 
 
The Perspective determines allowed perspectives in the server, First only allows first-person perspective, Third only allows third-person perspective, Vehicle means that you’ll only be allowed to use third-person while in vehicles, and Both will mean that you can use both of them. 
 
The Password is optional, only add it in when you need your server to have a password. 
 
The Timeout determines your player’s max ping before they get timed out, recommended is around 500 or 700, is optional. 
 
The Loadout section is also optional, only add it if you want people to have specific items when joining in (automatically assigned). 
 
The Maxplayers determines the max amount of players allowed in your server. 
 
The Welcome part is optional too, it sends a private welcome message to players when joining. 
 
The PvE part is optional, only add it if you want your server to be PvE (no PvP) 
 
EXAMPLE: 

 
I know that I did not mention the hide_admins part, it’s optional, add it if you want it to hide server admins (people with blue names) 
 
 

Configuring config.json

 
This file helps you configure your gameplay settings, from item spawns, player damage, and so on. 
 
Some people can find this part annoying to configure, as it has “too much code” for beginners. 
It really isn’t, it’s simple to configure with a few things that you have to keep in mind. 
 
Every setting is repeated 3 times, Why? That’s because there are different settings for all three difficulties. That also means that you’ll have to make sure you’re editing the right section for your server, make sure to edit the “Normal” difficulty section if your server is on Normal, or Easy if your server is on Easy, otherwise it wouldn’t work as intended. 
 
I’ll explain most settings you’ll find in there to help you understand it better: 
 
Items Section 
————————————— 
 
Setting Name – (Value Example) – Explanation 
 
Spawn_Chance (0.0-1.0) Item spawn chance, those are items that’ll spawn inside the map naturally, some maps don’t have item spawns set, so it’s good to check that first. 
 
Despawn_Dropped_Time (300.0) The time needed for items to despawn, specifically items dropped by players, the time has to be in seconds, don’t add any values like “days” or “seconds”, just write the number. 
 
Despawn_Natural_Time (300.0) The time needed for items to despawn, specifically naturally spawned items, again, use seconds when writing the time. 
 
Respawn_Time (300.0) The time needed for items to naturally respawn on the map. 
 
Quality_Full_Chance (0.1) Percentage chance for 100% quality on an item. 
 
Quality_Multiplier (1.0) Multiplier value boost for the amount of quality an item has. 
 
Gun_Bullets_Full_Chance (0.2) Percentage chance for a Ranged Weapon to spawn fully loaded. 
 
Gun_Bullets_Multiplier (1.0) Multiplier value boost for the amount of rounds that end up spawning in a Ranged Weapon. 
 
Magazine_Bullets_Full_Chance (0.4) Percentage chance for a magazine to spawn fully loaded. 
 
Magazine_Bullets_Multiplier (1.0) Multiplier value boost for the amount of rounds that end up spawning in a magazine. 
 
Crate_Bullets_Full_Chance (0.2) Percentage chance that a full ammo refill can spawn with. 
 
Crate_Bullets_Multiplier (1.0) Multiplier value boost for the amount of rounds that end up spawning in an ammo refill. 
 
Has_Durability (False/True) Toggle whether you want durability on or off. 
 
Vehicles Section 
————————————— 
 
Has_Battery_Chance (1.0) The chance for a vehicle to have a battery. 
 
Min_Battery_Charge (0.8) The minimum battery charge a vehicle would spawn with. 
 
Max_Battery_Charge (1.0) The max battery charge a vehicle would spawn with. 
 
Has_Tire_Chance (1.0) Chance of a vehicle spawning with tires. 
 
Respawn_Time (300.0) The time needed in order for a vehicle to respawn. 
 
Unlocked_After_Seconds_In_Safezone (3000.0) Time needed for a vehicle to be unlocked while it’s in a safezone. 
 
Armor_Multiplier (1.0) Vehicle armor multiplier. 
 
The rest should be pretty self-explanatory, so I won’t explain them… yet. 
 
Zombies Section 
————————————— 
 
Spawn_Chance (1.0) The chance for a map node to spawn a zombie. 
 
Loot_Chance (1.0) The chance for a zombie to drop loot. 
 
Crawler_Chance (0.4) The chance for a crawler zombie to spawn. 
 
Sprinter_Chance (0.7) The chance for a sprinter zombie to spawn. 
 
Flanker_Chance (0.5) The chance for a flanker zombie to spawn. 
 
Burner_Chance (0.2) The chance for a burner zombie to spawn. 
 
Acid_Chance (0.3) The chance for an acid zombie to spawn. 
 
Boss_Electric_Chance (0.1) The chance for an Electric boss to spawn. 
 
The rest here are pretty similar, most of them are chances of different zombies to spawn, so I wont list them here as it should be quite easy to understand, however, I’ll list the rest. 
 
Respawn_Day_Time (120.0) The time needed for a zombie to spawn in day. 
 
Respawn_Night_Time (80.0) The time needed for a zombie to spawn in night. 
 
Respawn_Beacon_Time (30.0) The time needed for a zombie to spawn while in a horde beacon. 
 
Damage_Multiplier (1.0) Multiplier for zombie damage. 
 
Full_Moon_Experience_Multiplier (0.75) Experience multiplier while killing zombies in a blood moon. 
 
Animals Section 
————————————— 
 
Respawn_Time (380.0) The time needed for animals to respawn. 
 
Damage_Multiplier (0.75) Damage multiplier for animals. 
 
Armor_Multiplier (1.25) Animal health multiplier. 
 
Barricades & Structures Section 
———————————————————— 
For the sake of time, I will not explain this as of now, as it should be pretty clear and similar to the ones above, you get the idea. 
 
Players Section 
————————————– 
 
Health_Regen_Min_Food (80) Food percentage needed for the player to start healing. 
 
Health_Regen_Min_Water (80) Water percentage needed for the player to start healing. 
 
Health_Regen_Ticks (60) Amount of ticks (time basically) needed for a player to start heal. 
 
Food_Use_Ticks (350) Amount of ticks needed for the player’s food percentage to go down. 
 
Food_Damage_Ticks (30) The amount of damage the player takes when food is at 0% 
 
Water_Use_Ticks (350) Amount of ticks needed for the player’s water percentage to go down. 
 
Water_Damage_Ticks (30) The amount of damage the player takes when water is at 0% 
 
Virus_Infect (60) The minimum amount to be infected. 
 
Virus_Use_Ticks (500) Amount of ticks needed for the player’s immunity to go down after being infected. 
 
Virus_Damage_Ticks (25) The amount of damage the player takes when immunity is at 0% 
 
Leg_Regen_Ticks (50) Time needed before a broken leg heals. 
 
Bleed_Damage_Ticks (10) Amount of ticks needed for health to lower because of bleeding. 
 
Bleed_Regen_Ticks (750) Amount of ticks needed for the bleeding to be healed. 
 
Armor_Multiplier (1.25) Armor multiplier to armor effectiveness on players. 
 
Experience_Multiplier (1.75) Experience multiplier to experience gained by player. 
 
Detect_Radius_Multiplier (0.6) Radius needed for animals and zombies to detect you. 
 
Lose_Skills_PvP (1.0) Multiplier value amount of skills lost after being killed by a player. 
 
Lose_Skills_PvE (1.0) Multiplier value amount of skills lost after being killed by environment. 
 
Lose_Items_PvP Determines if items are lost (dropped) after being killed by a player. 
 
Lose_Items_PvE Determines if items are lost (dropped) after being killed by environment. 
 
Lose_Clothes_PvP (False/True) Toggle losing clothes after dying to a player. 
 
Lose_Clothes_PvE (False/True) Toggle losing clothes after dying by environment. 
 
Lose_Weapons_PvP (False/True) Toggle losing equipped weapons after being killed by a player. 
 
Lose_Weapons_PvE (False/True) Toggle losing equipped weapons after being killed by a player. 
 
Can_Hurt_Legs (False/True) Toggle if the player takes fall damage. 
 
Can_Break_Legs (False/True) Toggle if the player can break their legs after falling. 
 
Can_Fix_Legs (False/True) Toggle if player’s broken legs automatically heal overtime. 
 
Can_Start_Bleeding (False/True) Toggle if player can start bleeding. 
 
Can_Stop_Bleeding Toggle if player stops bleeding automatically heal overtime. 
 
Spawn_With_Max_Skills (False/True) Toggle if the player spawns with max skills. 
 
Spawn_With_Stamina_Skills (False/True) Toggle if the player spawns with max stamina skills. 
 
Allow_Instakill_Headshots (False/True) Toggle instakill headshots (pretty self explanatory lol) 
 
 

Extras about config.json

 
To find a value that suits you the best, remember that these settings can be tweaked or toggled in Singleplayer. Just choose the Advanced Settings tab and have some fun messing around there until you find a value that suits you and your server the best. 
 
I did not explain every single setting in config.json as most of them should be pretty clear, if you still have questions regarding that then please head down to comments or contact me on discord. 
 
 

Adding workshop content & maps

 
Most server hosting services make it easier for you when it comes to downloading workshop content, for example, GTXHosting lets you download workshop content without all the extra effort. 
 
However, 
In order to add workshop content manually whether it being a mod or a map, follow these steps: 
 

1. Find the map or mod you want to add 
   Find the mod you want to add on your server, subscribe to it, and find it’s url by either opening the mod on a browser and copying the link, or copying the link that shows next to “Valve Corps” in the steam app. 
    
   The link should look something like this https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2169201146 
    
   Copy the ID at the end of the link, so for the example above, it would be 2169201146 
    
2. Locate your WorkshopDownloadConfig.json file 
   Normally, it would be in a path like this Servers >> Unturned >> WorkshopDownloadConfig.json 
    
3. Configuring WorkshopDownloadConfig.json 
   After opening the file, it should be something like this: 
    
   { “File_IDs”: [], “Ignore_Children_File_IDs”: [], “Query_Cache_Max_Age_Seconds”: 600, “Max_Query_Retries”: 2, “Use_Cached_Downloads”: true, “Should_Monitor_Updates”: true, “Shutdown_Update_Detected_Timer”: 600, “Shutdown_Update_Detected_Message”: “Workshop file update detected, shutdown in: {0}”, “Shutdown_Kick_Message”: “Shutdown for Workshop file update.” }

    
   Now, open the brackets and copy the ID inside of them. 
   So, something like this: 

   { “File_IDs”: [ 2169201146 ], “Ignore_Children_File_IDs”: [], “Query_Cache_Max_Age_Seconds”: 600, “Max_Query_Retries”: 2, “Use_Cached_Downloads”: true, “Should_Monitor_Updates”: true, “Shutdown_Update_Detected_Timer”: 600, “Shutdown_Update_Detected_Message”: “Workshop file update detected, shutdown in: {0}”, “Shutdown_Kick_Message”: “Shutdown for Workshop file update.” }

    

4. Adding Multiple Mods 
   You can add multiple mods by adding the IDs of the mods you want added 
   For example 
   { “File_IDs”: [ 784173059 2169201146 ], “Ignore_Children_File_IDs”: [], “Query_Cache_Max_Age_Seconds”: 600, “Max_Query_Retries”: 2, “Use_Cached_Downloads”: true, “Should_Monitor_Updates”: true, “Shutdown_Update_Detected_Timer”: 600, “Shutdown_Update_Detected_Message”: “Workshop file update detected, shutdown in: {0}”, “Shutdown_Kick_Message”: “Shutdown for Workshop file update.” }

    

5. Restart The Server 
   In order for the mods to download, make sure to restart the server if it’s on, or starting it up if it’s offline, after the server is fully up and working you can shut it down safely. 
    
   TIP: You can copy the examples above and just change the IDs of the mods 
    
   Sometimes the mods are outdated or are just poorly made, so it isn’t always your fault, make sure to check the dates on the mods before adding them! 
    
   To switch the map your server is running on, just change the map name after “Map” in the commands.dat file we explained earlier. Sometimes the map names can be tedious to find, that’s normal. Also! Make sure that the map is downloaded on the server.

Adding plugins & paid plugins

 
Adding plugins should be simple depending on how you get them. 
Paid plugins have a different way which will be annoying to explain, more on that later. 
 
The simple and known way of adding a plugin is: 

1. Find the plugin you want 
2. Download the .dll file 
   Make sure it’s the right .dll file, finding .dll files for some plugins that are primarily uploaded on github can be annoying but, you can always convert the source code to a .dll with some effort. 
3. Head to Servers >> Unturned >> Rocket >> Plugins 
4. Put the .dll file in the plugins folder and start/restart the server

 
When it comes to paid plugins, different services have different licensing servers and ways of maintaining their plugins, one of the more known ones is imperialplugins.com – https://imperialplugins.com/ 
 
Here are some discord servers that’ll hopefully help you with it: 
discord.gg – https://discord.gg/v5h8PC5S5T 
discord.gg – https://discord.gg/yxq86ej2DB 
 
 

Remember, this is still work in progress.

 
There are a lot of things that I still want to explain in this guide, it’ll eventually come, if you find any mistakes in the guide please write it down in the comments or contact me Senaxtayle#7505 
 
If it helped, a like or a favorite will be appreciated :D! 
 

Here we come to an end for Unturned [2021] Dedicated Servers Guide hope you enjoy it. If you think we forget something to include or we should make an update to the post let us know via comment, and we will fix it asap! Thanks and have a great day!