Configure your V Rising server variables

From your dashboard, open the V Rising card. The Server Options panel sits below the live metrics and console, in the right column of the OVERVIEW tab. Every field maps directly to the ServerHostSettings.json and ServerGameSettings.json files V Rising reads at boot — you don't have to touch the JSON yourself.

The seven fields split into three groups: identity (name, description), access control (password, max players), and matchmaking (game preset, Steam/Epic listing).

Server name (required, max 80 chars) — SERVER_NAME. The display name in Steam's and Epic's server browser. Players use this to find your server, so include something searchable: PvP/PvE flag, region, group name. Stunlock allows Unicode characters — emoji and accented letters render fine.

Server description (optional, max 256 chars) — DESCRIPTION. A longer "message of the day"-style blurb shown in the listing detail. Use it for rules, Discord links, or wipe schedule. Stunlock's listing renders it on its own line below the name; leave blank if you don't need it.

Server password (optional, max 32 chars) — SERVER_PASSWORD. Leave blank for an open server. Set it to gate the server to friends. Note: the password takes effect on the next restart, not immediately — if you change it while the server is running, the current connections continue with the old value until the server cycles.

Max players (required, integer 1–40) — MAX_PLAYERS. Stunlock's hard cap is 40 and the dashboard enforces it. Anything above 40 is unsupported and causes documented sync issues in PvP — even on the Clan tier (12 GB RAM, 4 vCPU) the server-side simulation degrades past 40 concurrent. For Duo or Solo PvP, drop this to the actual table size (2, 4, 8) so a stray public visitor can't burn a connection slot.

Game settings preset (optional, takes effect on first world creation only) — GAME_SETTINGS_PRESET. This is the most important field on the panel and the one with a footgun. Picks a Stunlock-supplied preset for the world's difficulty and PvP variant. The full set:

• Custom / leave existing — what the server has now stays unchanged; pick this when you want to hand-edit ServerGameSettings.json via the file manager.
• Standard PvE, Standard PvE — Easy, Standard PvE — Hard — vanilla cooperative play, three difficulty levels.
• Standard PvP, Standard PvP — Easy, Standard PvP — Hard — vanilla open PvP, three difficulty levels.
• Solo PvP, Duo PvP — restricted-clan-size PvP (1 or 2 players per clan), the most popular comp formats.
• Level 30 PvE, Level 30 PvP, Level 50 PvE, Level 50 PvP, Level 70 PvE, Level 70 PvP — accelerated-progression presets that start players at the listed level cap, great for short events.
• Hardcore PvP — perma-death, character wipe on death. The most punishing mode Stunlock ships.

The footgun: this preset applies only on first world creation. Once your save exists on disk, the field is ignored on subsequent boots — Stunlock reads the world's existing settings, not the env var. To genuinely switch presets after the world is live, you have to wipe the save and let the server regenerate. If you just want to tweak one or two values (like respawn cost or resource yield), pick Custom / leave existing here and edit ServerGameSettings.json directly via the file manager.

List on Steam (required, Public/Private) — LIST_STEAM. Public shows your server in the Steam in-game browser; Private hides it. Use Private for friends-only servers — players still join via the direct-connect address Netlonics shows on the dashboard, but random Steam users can't browse to you.

List on Epic (required, Public/Private) — LIST_EOS. The Epic Online Services equivalent. If you're Steam-only (most operators), it doesn't matter what this is set to — Epic visibility only affects crossplay clients who launched V Rising from the Epic Games Store. Stunlock recommends leaving both Public unless you have a reason.

Click SAVE CHANGES and the dashboard confirms with the green "Saved. Changes take effect on the next restart." banner. The values are written to disk immediately; V Rising re-reads them on the next boot.

Trigger that boot from the OVERVIEW tab's RESTART button. V Rising's first boot after a config change takes ~45 seconds: the server reloads ServerHostSettings.json / ServerGameSettings.json, validates against the chosen preset, and comes back online. Players in the game when you restart get a "server is restarting" message and reconnect when the server's back.

Special case — preset change on an existing world. If you switched Game settings preset from one value to another and the world already exists, V Rising silently keeps the old settings on restart. The dashboard banner says "Saved", which it was — but the preset only applies on world creation. To force the new preset to take effect, you have to delete Saves/v3-server/* via the file manager before the next restart. This wipes the world. Take a backup first if you have anything you want to keep.