Getting started with your Sons of the Forest server

This guide takes you from your order to your first connection: choosing a plan, getting around the Game Panel, joining from the game and making the first settings. The other pages of this section then cover configuration, administration and saves in detail.

With a dedicated server, your island stays online 24/7: your friends can play even when the usual host is away, and nobody needs to leave their PC running.

Choosing a plan

YorkHost offers Sons of the Forest server hosting on AMD Ryzen or Intel CPUs, NVMe storage and a 10 Gbps network, with Anti-DDoS protection and 7/7 support on Discord. Four plans are available:

Plan	vCores	RAM	Storage	Monthly price	Yearly price	Best for
Castaway	2	6 GB	25 GB NVMe	€6.99/month	€71.30/year	1-2 players recommended
Scavenger	3	8 GB	30 GB NVMe	€8.99/month	€91.70/year	3-4 players recommended
Hunter	4	12 GB	40 GB NVMe	€12.99/month	€132.50/year	5-8 players recommended, full server
Golden Armor	6	16 GB	50 GB NVMe	€17.99/month	€183.50/year	8 players and big bases

Up-to-date pricing

The reference prices and specifications are the ones shown on the Sons of the Forest page of the YorkHost website at the time of ordering.

How much RAM do you need?

The game caps a dedicated server at 8 simultaneous players, whatever the plan. The memory you need mostly depends on:

• the number of connected players: each survivor makes the server load and simulate their part of the island;
• the size of your buildings: a large base with many pieces weighs more on memory, and this adds up over a long-running game.

These are guidelines only: you can upgrade to a higher plan from your client area if your group grows.

A Windows server managed for you

The official Sons of the Forest dedicated server, released by Endnight, only runs on Windows. YorkHost prepares and maintains this Windows environment: no operating system to install, no license to provide and no ports to open on your router. You only have to set up your game.

Do not replace the server files

Do not delete or replace the server executables or libraries (.exe, .dll files): they are installed and prepared by YorkHost. Your settings go only in the configuration files described in this section.

Accessing the Game Panel

Your server is managed from the Game Panel (Wisp):

1. Log in to your Game Panel:
   • game.yorkhost.fr
2. Select your Sons of the Forest server
3. You land on the Console: this is where you start, stop and restart the server, and follow its startup in real time

The most useful tabs for Sons of the Forest:

Tab	Use
Console	Start / stop the server, read the startup logs and errors
Files	File manager: dedicatedserver.cfg, ownerswhitelist.txt, Saves folder
Startup	Startup parameters exposed by the panel
Backups	Server backups
Schedules	Scheduled tasks, for example an automatic restart

To upload a save from your PC, SFTP access is more convenient than the web file manager. The credentials are under Settings → SFTP Details: see SFTP extension for VSCode or use a client such as FileZilla or WinSCP.

Longer first startup

On the very first launch, the server prepares its environment, creates its configuration files and then generates the game. This can take several minutes. Let the console run without restarting until startup is complete.

Finding the server address

Your server address is shown in the Game Panel, on your server page, in the IP:PORT format.

By default, the Sons of the Forest dedicated server uses game port 8766, query port 27016 and port 9700 (BlobSync), over UDP. At YorkHost, ports are assigned by the panel within the range reserved for games, so they are different: always use the ones shown in the panel. Opening the required ports is handled on our side (see Are all ports open?).

Do not change the ports by hand

Do not edit IpAddress, GamePort, QueryPort or BlobSyncPort in dedicatedserver.cfg: the server must listen on the ports assigned by the panel, otherwise it will be unreachable.

Joining the server from the game

Every player needs to own Sons of the Forest on Steam. Once startup has finished in the panel console:

1. Launch Sons of the Forest
2. Open the Multiplayer menu, then Join
3. Show the list of dedicated servers
4. Search for the name set in the ServerName parameter of dedicatedserver.cfg
5. Join the server and enter the password if you set one (Password)

A name that is easy to find

Give your server a unique ServerName: the dedicated server list is long, and a distinctive name can be found in seconds with the search. See Configuring dedicatedserver.cfg.

If the server does not show up, wait until startup is fully complete, then check Troubleshooting.

The first three things to set up

1. Name, password and game mode: fill in ServerName, Password and GameMode in dedicatedserver.cfg, see Configuring dedicatedserver.cfg.
2. Your owner rights: add your SteamID64 to ownerswhitelist.txt, see Becoming an admin.
3. The game: decide whether you start a new island or continue an existing game, see Saves and new game and Importing a local save.

What about mods?

Sons of the Forest has no official mod support on the dedicated server side. Your server runs the official version. To customize your game (enemies, animals, seasons, day length…), use Custom mode: see Configuring dedicatedserver.cfg.

Going further

• Configuring dedicatedserver.cfg: name, password, players, game mode, autosave
• Becoming an admin: ownerswhitelist.txt and SteamID64
• Saves and new game: SaveSlot, SaveMode and the Backups tab
• Importing a local save
• Troubleshooting

Need help?

Our team is available 7/7 on Discord or through your client area.