Abiotic Factor Dedicated Server Setup and Advanced SandboxSettings Tuning

Abiotic Factor is a multiplayer cooperative survival game set in an underground anomalous research facility. Major updates such as Cosmic Companions expand the Dedicated Server's support for customized laboratory sandbox rules and long-term unattended hosting. This article covers server setup, network port forwarding, and the main sandbox settings.

1. Server environment baseline

2. Install the dedicated server with SteamCMD

Download the dedicated server anonymously through SteamCMD (AppID 2857200):

steamcmd +login anonymous +app_update 2857200 validate +quit

After the download, the main executable is located at: AbioticFactor/Binaries/Win64/AbioticFactorServer-Win64-Shipping.exe

3. Network port planning

The dedicated server uses a standard Unreal Engine networking topology:

Example startup script (start_server.bat):

@echo off
set SERVER_DIR=C:\AbioticServer\AbioticFactor\Binaries\Win64
cd /d "%SERVER_DIR%"

start AbioticFactorServer-Win64-Shipping.exe -Port=7777 -QueryPort=27015 -MaxServerPlayers=6 -ServerPassword="your_pwd" -WorldSaveName="CascadeFacility" -SteamServerName="LanGame Abiotic Facility" -log

4. Customize sandbox gameplay with SandboxSettings.ini

After the dedicated server starts for the first time and reports success in the console, it creates the configuration file at: AbioticFactor/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/SandboxSettings.ini

Recommended sandbox settings:

[SandboxSettings]
; Enemy damage multiplier (1.0 is standard difficulty)
EnemyDamageMultiplier=1.000000

; Day and night cycle length (minutes)
DayNightCycleLengthMinutes=30.000000

; Base raid frequency multiplier (1.0 default; 0 disables nighttime raids)
FacilityRaidFrequencyMultiplier=1.000000

; Inventory drop rules on death (All drops everything / EquippedOnly drops backpack only / None drops nothing)
DeathPenalty=All

; Hunger and thirst rate multipliers
HungerSpeedMultiplier=0.800000
ThirstSpeedMultiplier=0.800000

; Anomalous creature respawn and resource refresh speed
ResourceRespawnMultiplier=1.200000

5. Choose an approach: manual configuration or LanGame Server Manager (LGSM)

Manual setup requires tracking game patches in SteamCMD, checking UDP ports, and interpreting sandbox settings.

To simplify routine hosting or provide instances for multiple groups, we recommend the official open-source dedicated server management platform:

• Tool overview and client: LanGame Server Manager (LGSM) product page
• Open-source repository: GitHub - SZSLGJCOM/LanGame-Server-Manager

LGSM supports these Abiotic Factor features:

1. Sandbox settings as forms: Presents complex SandboxSettings.ini settings as clear sliders and switches that take effect in real time.
2. Isolated saves: Create multiple facility survival saves (CascadeFacility) with one click and rotate them as needed.
3. Automatic SteamCMD hot patches: Detects version differences when the game releases updates and upgrades smoothly.
4. Health probes: Monitors UDP 7777 response latency in real time, alerts administrators on unexpected disconnection, and restarts the server automatically.

6. Common issues during long-term operations

1. Direct client connection reports "Connection Refused"

• Check that the router allows both UDP 7777 and UDP 27015.
• Confirm that the directory specified by -WorldSaveName has the correct permissions and is not locked by a read-only attribute.

2. Move a save from a locally hosted game to a dedicated server

Copy the entire world folder from the local client save path: %LOCALAPPDATA%\AbioticFactor\Saved\SaveGames\<SteamID>\Worlds\ to the server's: AbioticFactor/Saved/SaveGames/Worlds/ Then set the -WorldSaveName startup argument to the matching save folder name.