How to set up an Unturned server from scratch

What you need first

• An active Unturned plan on Fatality — see our Unturned hosting plans.
• Unturned installed locally on each player's PC (free on Steam).
• Decision on modded vs vanilla — vanilla is fine for small friend servers; for anything public or RP-style, install OpenMod now, not later.
• RAM: 2 GB for vanilla small-map servers, 4 GB for 24-slot Russia RP with OpenMod + 20 plugins, 6-8 GB for flagship RP networks.

Deploy the server (1-click)

Our Unturned template pulls the dedicated server from Steam (App ID 1110390), generates the server directory structure, and opens the default port range (27015-27017 UDP).

1. Pick the Unturned template at checkout

   On our Unturned hosting page, pick a plan sized for your slot count. Location matters — pick the datacenter closest to your playerbase since Unturned is latency-sensitive for gunplay.

2. Wait for SteamCMD to finish

   The panel runs SteamCMD to download ~1.5 GB of server files. First install takes 2-3 minutes. The console shows Loading level lines followed by the map being generated when ready.

3. Pick your server name and map before first boot

   Our config wizard asks for server name and starting map. You can change both later via Commands.dat.

Pick a map — PEI, Washington, Elver, and friends

Every Unturned server runs on a single map — you can switch, but the world resets when you do. Curated (official) maps ship with the base game. Workshop maps need an extra step (covered below).

Curated maps (shipped with the game)

• PEI — small, beginner-friendly, green countryside. Good for low-slot friend servers.
• Washington — medium map, varied biomes, strong RP community.
• Yukon — snow / cold theme, harsh survival.
• Russia — large, urban + rural mix. The RP map; most RP servers run Russia.
• Germany — Europe-themed, dense towns.
• France — vineyards and medieval towns. Underrated.
• Hawaii — tropical, less PvP-heavy.
• Greece — islands, Mediterranean.
• Carpat — Eastern European feel, dark atmosphere.
• Buak — post-apocalyptic.
• Arid — desert map, newer addition, smaller community.
• Ireland — rainy hills.
• Elver — the Arena map. Small, chaotic, fast respawns. Popular for battle-royale-style servers.
• Athens — newer curated map, Greek-themed.

Configure Commands.dat

Unturned's main config file is Commands.dat, located in:

Servers/<InstanceName>/Server/Commands.dat

Each line is a single command. The server runs them in order on startup.

Minimum viable Commands.dat

Name My Unturned RP Server
Password optional-private-password
Port 27015
MaxPlayers 24
Map Russia
Mode Normal
PvP
Welcome Welcome to <color=#f59e0b>My Server</color>!
Perspective Third
Cycle 3600
Owner 76561198000000000

What each line means:

• Name — shows in server browser
• Password — blank line or omit for public server
• Port — game port, default 27015 (our panel opens this for you; don't change)
• MaxPlayers — slot count, match your plan
• Map — which curated or Workshop map to load
• Mode — Easy, Normal, Hard, or Gold. Affects loot drops, zombie aggression, stamina rates. Normal is the community default.
• PvP / PvE — one of these; controls whether players can damage each other
• Welcome — MOTD message on join. Supports <color> tags.
• Perspective — First, Third, or Both
• Cycle — seconds per day/night cycle (3600 = 1 hour)
• Owner — your Steam64 ID (find via steamid.io). The owner gets automatic admin.

Other useful flags

Cheats                     # Enable cheat commands (for admins)
Queue_Size 20              # Let 20 extra players queue when full
Timeout 15                 # Kick inactive players after X seconds
Item_Spawns 2.0            # Loot multiplier
Zombie_Spawns 2.0          # Zombie density multiplier
Resource_Spawns 1.5        # Harvestable resource density
Vehicle_Spawns 1.0         # Vehicle density
Hideous_Skies              # Spooky sky override

OpenMod vs RocketMod

Vanilla Unturned has almost no admin tooling. Plugin frameworks fill the gap. Two options — pick one, they're mutually exclusive.

OpenMod (recommended)

Modern .NET-based plugin framework. Active development. Clean async API. Large and growing plugin library. Use this for any new server.

RocketMod (legacy)

The original Unturned plugin framework. Still has a large catalog of older plugins, but effectively in maintenance mode — no major features since 2022. Pick RocketMod only if you have an existing RocketMod-based server you're migrating, or a plugin you need that nobody has ported to OpenMod.

Install OpenMod and core plugins

1. Stop the server

   Panel → Stop. Never install mods while the server is running.

2. Download OpenMod

   Grab the latest release from github.com/openmod/OpenMod/releases — you want the OpenMod.Unturned module. Instructions on the OpenMod site walk through installing the .dll into Unturned's plugin directory.

3. Upload the module

   SFTP the OpenMod .dll files into:

   Servers/<InstanceName>/Rocket/Plugins/OpenMod.Unturned/

   (The Rocket/ directory is reused for OpenMod's bootstrap — naming inherited from RocketMod.)

4. Start the server — OpenMod auto-bootstraps

   On first boot with OpenMod present, it creates its own config directory at:

   Servers/<InstanceName>/Rocket/Plugins/OpenMod.Unturned/openmod/

   This is where you'll drop plugin NuGet packages and config files.

5. Install core plugins

   Three plugins that almost every OpenMod server runs:

   • Uconomy — currency / economy system. Basis for shop, jobs, reward plugins.
   • Kits — starter kits, VIP kits, role-based kits.
   • AviRent — vehicle rental system. Essential for RP.

   OpenMod installs plugins as NuGet packages. From the server console:

   openmod install OpenMod.Economy.Unturned
   openmod install OpenMod.Kits.Unturned
   openmod install OpenMod.AviRent.Unturned

   Then restart. Each plugin creates its config file in openmod/.

6. Configure plugins

   Each plugin's config is a YAML file under openmod/configs/<plugin-name>/. Edit via SFTP, save, and use /reload <plugin> in-game (or restart the server) to pick up changes.

Workshop content & curated maps

Unturned's Workshop has thousands of maps, skins, vehicles, and gameplay overhauls. Subscribing on the server is straightforward.

Add Workshop content to your server

1. Find the Workshop item's ID on Steam (the numeric bit at the end of the URL).
2. Open Servers/<InstanceName>/WorkshopDownloadConfig.json.
3. Add the ID(s) to the File_IDs array:

   {
     "File_IDs": [
       1558059175,
       1834323737,
       2089335386
     ]
   }

4. Restart the server. SteamCMD downloads the content; clients auto-download on connect.

Using a Workshop map

If one of the Workshop IDs is a map, set Map <map-name> in Commands.dat to use it (match the map's folder name in the Workshop download, not its display name).

Admin commands & permissions

Vanilla admin commands (work without any framework)

/admin <player>           — Grant admin (uses in-memory admin list)
/unadmin <player>         — Revoke admin
/kick <player> <reason>   — Boot
/ban <player> <duration> <reason>  — Ban (duration in seconds; 0 = permanent)
/give <player> <item> <amount>     — Spawn items for a player
/vehicle <player> <vehicle-id>     — Spawn vehicle
/teleport <player> <target>        — Teleport
/shutdown <delay>         — Graceful shutdown
/save                     — Force world save

OpenMod permissions

OpenMod uses a role-based permission system. Default roles: default (everyone), vip, moderator, admin. Customize in openmod/configs/OpenMod.Core/roles.yaml:

roles:
  - id: default
    display_name: Default
    priority: 0
    is_default: true
    permissions:
      - OpenMod.Core:help
      - Uconomy.Unturned:balance

  - id: vip
    display_name: VIP
    priority: 10
    permissions:
      - Kits.Unturned:kit.vip
      - Uconomy.Unturned:pay

  - id: admin
    display_name: Admin
    priority: 100
    permissions:
      - "*"

Assign a role via console: openmod permissions add User <SteamID> role.admin

Connect and test

1. Launch Unturned

   From the main menu: Play → Servers.

2. Add your server to favourites

   Click the Favorites tab → Add Server. Enter YOUR-IP:27015. Your server appears in the list; double-click to connect.

3. Alternatively, find it in the Community list

   The Community browser takes 2-5 minutes after first boot to pick up new servers. Direct-connect via Favorites is faster.

4. Verify admin

   Open chat with Y, run a safe admin command like /shutdown 600 (schedules shutdown in 10 min — you can cancel with another /shutdown 0 or ignore since it won't actually shut down for 10 minutes). If it works, you're admin. If "You do not have permission", check the Owner line in Commands.dat matches your Steam64 ID.

Common errors and fixes

Server not showing in browser

Steam master-list takes 2-5 minutes on first boot. Meanwhile, add by IP in Favorites. If still not showing after 30 minutes, check that UDP ports 27015-27017 are open — our panel handles this automatically.

"Failed to load level" / map missing

Check the Map line in Commands.dat matches the map folder name exactly (case-sensitive). For Workshop maps, make sure the Workshop ID is in WorkshopDownloadConfig.json and SteamCMD has successfully downloaded it.

OpenMod commands return "Unknown command"

OpenMod didn't load. Check the server log for OpenMod bootstrap errors — usually a missing .NET runtime dependency. Our panel ships .NET 7+ by default; if you're on a custom image, install the correct runtime.

Players disconnect immediately after joining

Three usual causes:

• BattlEye version mismatch — update the server's BattlEye or have players update Unturned
• Workshop content still downloading on their end — big maps can take 5+ minutes on slow connections
• Version mismatch — server is on a different Unturned build than the player

Plugin loaded but commands don't work

Permissions — OpenMod denies unpermitted commands silently. Grant the command's permission to the relevant role in roles.yaml, or add the user directly: openmod permissions add User <SteamID> <permission>.

"Server did not respond" in browser after a crash

Server crashed — check the panel console for a stack trace. Common culprits: out-of-memory (upgrade plan RAM), a plugin exception (check the log for which plugin throws before crash), or a corrupted save (rollback from the panel's Backups tab).

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Stuck on something specific? Email support with your server IP, framework (OpenMod / RocketMod / vanilla), and the last 50 lines of the console — we'll usually have an answer within the hour.