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Sons of the Forest server hosting12 min

Sons of the Forest Dedicated Server Setup and dedicatedserver.cfg Explained

Set up the official Sons of the Forest server: SteamCMD 2465200, UDP 8766/27016/9700 forwarding, dedicatedserver.cfg settings, LanOnly mode, and open-source LGSM management.

The official Sons of the Forest Dedicated Server independently hosts its remote island world. It maintains building physics and mutant AI without requiring one player's PC to remain on for multiplayer. This article covers standard deployment, port planning, and configuration fields.

1. Server hardware baseline

Specification 4~6-player survival group Full 8-player building server
CPU 4 cores / 3.0GHz+ 8 cores / 3.5GHz+
Memory (RAM) 8 GB physical RAM 16 GB physical RAM
Storage 25 GB SSD 50 GB SSD
Upload bandwidth 10 Mbps dedicated 25 Mbps dedicated

2. Install the dedicated server with SteamCMD

Download the dedicated server anonymously through SteamCMD (AppID 2465200):

Shell
steamcmd +login anonymous +app_update 2465200 validate +quit

After the download, the main executable is in the root directory: SonsOfTheForestDS.exe.

3. Plan the three network ports

The Sons of the Forest server coordinates 3 consecutive/independent UDP ports:

Default port Protocol Purpose Router forwarding
8766 UDP Main Steam connection and status communication Required
27016 UDP Steam queries and lobby listings (QueryPort) Required
9700 UDP Game physics entities and world synchronization (GamePort) Required

4. Core configuration files explained

Run SonsOfTheForestDS.exe once to generate the directory structure. Configuration files are stored under the user directory:

  • Windows: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Endnight\SonsOfTheForestDS\

1. dedicatedserver.cfg (main server settings)

JSON
{
  "IpAddress": "0.0.0.0",
  "GamePort": 9700,
  "QueryPort": 27016,
  "BlobSyncPort": 8766,
  "ServerName": "LanGame Sons of the Forest Server",
  "MaxPlayers": 8,
  "Password": "your_secure_password",
  "LanOnly": false,
  "SaveSlot": 1,
  "SaveMode": "Continue",
  "GameMode": "Normal",
  "IdleDayCycleSpeed": 0.0,
  "IdlePlayerTime": 0
}

Key fields:

  • LanOnly: true limits searching and joining to the LAN and does not register with the Steam Master Server.
  • SaveMode: Continue loads an existing save automatically; New forces a new world on every startup.
  • IdleDayCycleSpeed: Day and season progression speed when nobody is online. 0.0 completely freezes time to prevent mutants from continuously evolving while players are away.

2. ownersconfig.json (administrator assignments)

Enter the administrator's 64-bit SteamID in the array:

JSON
{
  "owners": [
    "76561198000000000"
  ]
}

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

Manual setup requires forwarding three UDP ports. Configuration is hidden under AppData\Local\Endnight, making multiple save slots easy to overwrite accidentally.

We recommend the official open-source dedicated server management platform to automate routine administration:

LGSM features:

  1. Coordinated three-port validation: Checks 8766, 27016, and 9700 occupancy before startup and tests connectivity in one click.
  2. Visual save slot management: Preview days and building counts for each SaveSlot and switch in one click.
  3. Quick SteamID administrator access: Grant the host administrator permissions with one click without manual number-base conversion.
  4. Automatic idle protection: Configures IdleDayCycleSpeed and process supervision intelligently to conserve host power and computation while preventing passive world deterioration.