Question 1

How do I set up an Unturned server?

Accepted Answer

Your server installs and starts on its own after you order it, so there is nothing to run yourself. The first start takes a few minutes longer than later ones, because the server downloads the Unturned game files from Steam before it can load a map. Watch the Console page: the server is fully up when it prints Loading level: 100%. The settings you are most likely to change live on the Startup page, not in a config file. Server Name is what players see in the server browser and in the Connect Directly menu, and it is limited to 50 characters. Map chooses which official map loads, and defaults to PEI. Both take effect on the next restart. Auto Update is on by default and runs a Steam update check on every boot. That keeps you current with the game, which matters in Unturned because players on a newer client cannot join an older server. If you would rather your server booted faster and stayed on a pinned build, set it to 0. Additional Arguments passes extra launch flags through to the server exactly as you type them. Leave it blank for a working public server. The two flags most people want are -GSLT to appear in the Steam server list and -Password to make the server private. These are deliberately not separate fields: an empty value would be passed through as a bare flag, swallow the next argument, and crash the server on boot. Some settings are fixed and not editable, including the internal server folder name and the Steam App ID. That is on purpose; changing the folder name would start a brand new world and orphan your existing one.

Question 2

How do my friends join my Unturned server?

Accepted Answer

Unturned gives every server a numeric Server Code, and it is the easiest way to get people in. When your server starts, the Console prints a line reading Server Code: followed by a note that your friends can enter that code in the Connect Directly menu to join without port forwarding. Copy the digits and send them over. Your friends open Unturned, choose Play, then Connect Directly, and enter the code. There is no address to type, no port to explain, and nothing for them to forward. You can also join by address if you prefer. Your server address and port are on the Network page in the panel. Give players both, and they connect the way they would to any other dedicated server. By default your server will not appear in the public Steam server list. Appearing there needs a Game Server Login Token, which you add as -GSLT under Additional Arguments on the Startup page. You generate that token yourself from Steam's Game Server Account Management page using App ID 1110390. This is optional: players can always join by Server Code or by address without it. If you want the server private, add -Password to Additional Arguments and share the password alongside the code.

Question 3

How do I change the map on my Unturned server?

Accepted Answer

Map is a setting on the Startup page, not a config file you have to go and find. Pick the map you want, restart the server, and it loads on the next boot. The maps that ship with the game are PEI (the default), Washington, Yukon, Russia, Germany, Alpha Valley, Monolith, Destruction, Tutorial and Paintball_Arena_0. The important thing to understand is that changing the map starts a fresh world on that map. It does not carry your existing base and players across. Your old world is not deleted, though: it stays on disk under the server's Servers folder, so switching back to the previous map returns you to the world you left there. That makes it safe to try a map and go back, but it does mean each map keeps its own separate save. Because of that, take a backup before you switch if the current world matters to you. The Backups page captures the whole server including every map's saved world, so you have a copy you can restore from regardless of which map you end up on.

Question 4

How do I install Rocket plugins on my Unturned server?

Accepted Answer

Rocket is the plugin framework most of the Unturned community builds on, and it is already wired into your server rather than something you install first. When the server boots, the Console prints the Rocket version it loaded and registers its commands straight away, so admin tools such as /rkick, /rwho, /admins, /airdrop and /ban work from the console without any setup. To add a plugin, stop the server, upload the plugin's .dll into the Rocket/Plugins folder using the File Manager, and start the server again. Rocket picks up plugins on startup, so a restart is what makes a new plugin load. Watch the Console as it comes back up: Rocket names each plugin it loads, so if yours is not in that list it has not loaded, and that is the place to start looking. Most plugins generate their own configuration file inside Rocket/Plugins the first time they run. So the usual order is upload, restart once to let the plugin create its config, stop, edit the config, then start again. A plugin written for a different Rocket version, or for a much older build of Unturned, may fail to load or throw errors in the console. Check the plugin's own page for which version it targets. If a plugin breaks your server's startup, remove its .dll from Rocket/Plugins and restart to get back to a working server.

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