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Playing with friends? Godlike.Host runs hosted The Forest servers from 10 data-center locations, with free DDoS protection.
To administer a The Forest dedicated server, join with the separate admin password, press Enter to open multiplayer chat, and enter commands with a leading slash. The normal server password only lets a player join; it does not grant administrative rights. Back up the dedicated save before using /save or any restart command, and treat the Server.cfg generated by your installed build as authoritative because many published defaults are old.
What admin access actually requires
The Forest uses two different passwords on a dedicated server:
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- Admin password: grants permission to run server commands after joining.
Entering the regular server password does not make you an administrator. The admin password is normally exposed as a separate field in a hosting control panel. On a self-hosted installation, it is configured in the server settings or launch configuration. Keep it private: anyone who joins with it can run administrative commands in the multiplayer chat.
Dedicated servers were introduced by Endnight Games in update v0.59. Command-line options named veganmode and treeregrowmode were added in v0.62. The commonly cited command history for the game wiki ends around v0.67, so behavior on a current installation should be checked against the files and interface shipped with that installation.
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How to become an admin
1. Set the admin password in the host panel
- Stop the dedicated server if it is running.
- Open the host’s configuration page and locate Admin Password. Do not use the field labelled Server Password; that is the join password.
- Enter a strong password and save the configuration.
- Start the server and wait until it is ready to accept players.
Panel labels differ between providers. If there is no separate admin-password field, ask the host whether its game-server template supports administrative access and where the value is written. A host that offers only a server-password field may not expose admin controls through its interface.
2. Join using the admin password
- Connect to the dedicated server from the game’s multiplayer menu.
- When prompted, enter the admin password, not merely the public server password.
- After you load into the game, press Enter to open chat.
- Type a command beginning with
/, then press Enter to submit it.
Administrative permission is associated with the player who supplied the admin password while joining. If a command is rejected, leave the server, reconnect, and make sure the admin credential was entered in the correct prompt.
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3. Confirm access with the help command
Enter /help. Community documentation describes it as the command list. If it does not respond, verify that you joined with the admin password, that chat is open, and that the server is actually a dedicated-server instance rather than a peer-hosted game.
Dedicated-server command reference
The following commands are reported by the game wiki and server-administration guides. They are typed in multiplayer chat and require admin-password access.
| Command | Syntax | Purpose | Important caution |
|---|---|---|---|
/help |
/help |
Displays the available server commands. | The list shown by your build is the best indication of what that build accepts. |
/save |
/save <slot> |
Saves the current game to the specified dedicated-server save slot. | The wiki warns that saving can overwrite another game in the dedicated save folder. Confirm the slot before submitting. |
/kick |
/kick <Steam ID> |
Removes a connected player identified by Steam ID. | Use the player’s exact Steam ID; a display name is not the documented argument. |
/ban |
/ban <Steam ID> |
Bans a player identified by Steam ID. | Check the identifier carefully before applying a permanent restriction. |
/shutdown |
/shutdown |
Stops the dedicated server. | Warn players first and allow an ordinary save to complete. |
Command handling can change between game builds. A command documented by a community guide may be absent or behave differently in another version; /help on the running server should take priority.
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Saving, restarting, and protecting your world
Why /save needs care
/save <slot> is not simply a harmless checkpoint button. The documented warning is that it can overwrite another game in the dedicated save directory if you select a slot already in use. Before saving:
- Tell players which slot you intend to use.
- Confirm the slot number in your server’s normal rotation.
- Make a backup of the dedicated save directory, preferably while the server is stopped.
- Run the command once and verify that the new timestamp or save entry appears as expected.
Do not use a slot belonging to a different world unless overwriting it is intentional.
Why routine reboots should use the control panel
The wiki cautions that the in-game /restart command resets the save. For a routine reboot, stop and start the server with the host control panel or the operating system’s service controls instead. This keeps the restart procedure separate from a command that may initialize or reset saved state.
Use /shutdown when you deliberately need to stop the process from chat. Announce the shutdown, let players leave safely, and start the service again through the panel or service manager. Always make a backup before experimenting with restart-related commands.
Finding and editing Server.cfg
When the file appears
The dedicated server generates Server.cfg on its first successful dedicated-server launch. If you cannot find it, start the server once, let initialization finish, then stop it cleanly and inspect the generated data directory.
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Windows location
One installation guide places the file under:
%USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalLowSKSTheForestDedicatedServerdsServer.cfg
That path is a Windows guide’s reported location, not a guarantee for every installation method. A different Windows account, service account, portable install, or host panel can use another data directory. Search for Server.cfg inside the server’s data directory if the path is absent.
Safe editing procedure
- Stop the dedicated server completely.
- Copy
Server.cfgand the dedicated save folder to a dated backup location. - Edit the configuration with a plain-text editor.
- Save without changing the filename or extension.
- Start the server and inspect the startup log for parsing errors.
- Confirm the setting in-game before making another change.
Do not edit while the server is running. The process can rewrite the file on shutdown or startup and erase your changes. If a setting appears to be ignored, check whether a launch parameter is overriding it; command-line parameters take precedence over matching configuration entries.
Admin-password key
Some guides identify serverPasswordAdmin as the configuration key for the admin password and state that a blank value means no admin password. Attribution for this key is low confidence, so verify the spelling and behavior in the Server.cfg generated by your installed build or in your host’s template before relying on it. Do not assume a key copied from another version will be honored.
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Reported defaults and network ports
Third-party guides report the following defaults. They can be stale; the file generated by your installed version is the authority.
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| Setting | Reported default | Use |
|---|---|---|
serverPlayers |
8 players | Maximum simultaneous players. |
| Game port | 27015 | Main game traffic. |
| Steam port | 8766 | Steam networking traffic. |
| Query port | 27016 | Server-list and query traffic. |
| Autosave interval | 15 minutes | Reported periodic-save interval. |
If the server is behind a router, forward every port required by the configuration, using the correct protocol and the server’s local address. A server that starts locally but cannot be found externally commonly has a port-forwarding, firewall, or address problem. Do not change ports in one place only: update the server configuration, firewall rule, router forwarding, and the address used by players.
Check the installed configuration first
Before publishing a port number or player limit to your community, open the generated Server.cfg and compare it with the values above. A host may also place the server behind a proxy or container, making the panel’s public port different from the process’s internal port. Treat the panel’s connection information and the file used by the running process as separate things to verify.
Launch options and precedence
A Steam community guide labelled for v1.07 lists launch controls for the server IP, game and query ports, server name, player cap, admin password, difficulty, save slot, -showlogs, and a cheat-mode switch. The guide is roughly ten years old, so its exact syntax should not be copied blindly into a current installation. Use the launch template supplied with your server build and change one argument at a time.
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Command-line values override matching entries in Server.cfg. This explains why an edit can appear to do nothing: the same setting may still be supplied by the service definition, startup script, SteamCMD wrapper, or hosting panel. Check the final launch command and the server log, not just the configuration file.
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Unverified cs: console claims
One community configuration page lists commands beginning with cs:, including cs:teleport, cs:dayLength, and cs:bansteamid. Those claims are not confirmed by the other administration references used for this guide. The same page also mixes in Sons of the Forest settings such as dedicatedserver.cfg, so it should not be treated as authoritative for The Forest.
Another server guide explicitly states that there is no administrative command to spawn items, grant god mode, or teleport. Because these accounts conflict, do not promise those abilities to players or install scripts that depend on them without testing on a disposable server and save. The reliable baseline is the slash-command set shown by /help on your own server.
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Troubleshooting common admin problems
“My password works, but commands do nothing”
- Confirm that you entered the admin password, not the server join password.
- Reconnect after changing the password; an existing session may retain its original permission state.
- Press Enter to open chat and include the leading slash.
- Run
/helpto test permission and command availability. - Check the panel’s admin-password field and the generated configuration for a mismatch.
“The admin password setting is ignored”
- Stop the server before editing.
- Check that you edited the
Server.cfgused by the running instance, not a backup or another installation. - Inspect the launch command for an overriding admin-password argument.
- Restart through the panel and read the startup log for configuration errors.
“Players cannot find the server”
- Compare the running ports with the generated configuration.
- Forward the game, Steam, and query ports through the router if applicable.
- Allow the server process through the operating-system firewall.
- Verify that players are using the public address supplied by the host rather than an internal LAN address.
“A save disappeared after a restart”
- Stop making changes immediately.
- Restore the most recent backup of the dedicated save directory to a separate test location.
- Do not run
/restartagain; the wiki warns that it resets the save. - Use the panel’s ordinary stop/start controls for future reboots.
Choosing a host for administrative control
If you are comparing hosting services, focus on operational access rather than marketing names. Ask these questions before paying:
- Does the panel expose a distinct Admin Password field?
- Can you access and back up the generated
Server.cfgand dedicated save directory? - Does the provider state which The Forest server build is installed?
- Can you view startup logs and the final launch command?
- Can you configure or forward the game, Steam, and query ports?
- Does the restart control perform a normal service restart rather than invoking an in-game reset?
A host that supplies only a server-password box, hides the configuration directory, or gives no version information makes it difficult to verify admin access and recover from a bad save operation.
Version and evidence limits
No official Endnight Games or Steam patch-note page confirming the current command set was identified in the available material. The command list, defaults, and configuration locations above therefore carry the limitations of community documentation. The practical rule is to trust the files generated by your installed build, the commands returned by /help, and a tested backup-and-restore procedure over an old guide that targets v1.07 or an earlier release.
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