Every The Isle server feels different, and it's almost entirely down to a dozen values. I've played on servers where growing a Rex took a full weekend and every rustle in the ferns was a threat, and I've played on ones where you're adult in twenty minutes and the map is a deathmatch. Both are fun. Different people, though. Decide who you're aiming at before you touch anything.
Current as of Evrima 0.21.7xx, September 2026. Our servers run Evrima only (people type Evirma and Envirma too), so these presets are for that branch.
One thing first, because the search results blur it. If you got here looking for the best graphics settings for playing The Isle, the frame rate ones, this isn't that. This page is about the server side, the values an owner sets for everyone. Your own performance lives in the in-game settings menu and Steam's launch options for the game, and I'm not going to pretend I have a magic launch line, because I don't.
Where these values go
All of them are fields under Manage > Settings on your server in the LOW.MS panel, in the Gameplay group unless I say otherwise. There's no Game.ini to edit on our servers. The form writes it for you on every start, so what's in the form is what the server runs. The settings guide walks through every field; this article is about combinations.
Save applies at the next start, Save & Restart applies now. Take the delay it offers if anyone's playing.
Preset 1: Hardcore Realism
For the masochists, and I say that with affection. Slow growth, long days, AI you can't ignore, no global chat. Dying costs you something, and that's the point.
Best for roleplay communities, experienced players, anyone who thinks the default game is a bit soft. It's not for a first server.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Growth Multiplier | 0.5 |
| Day Length | 60 |
| Night Length | 30 |
| Spawn AI | on |
| AI Spawn Interval | 30 |
| Dynamic Weather | on |
| Global Chat | off |
| Playable Humans | off |
| Allow Server Migration | off |
| Playable Classes | leave empty (all 23) |
The short AI interval is doing the work the old AIDensity key used to do. There's no density setting on our servers; more frequent waves is how you make the world feel populated. And migration off is deliberate: a hardcore server where someone can arrive with an adult they grew on a 10x server somewhere else isn't hardcore any more.
I'd pair this with strict community rules. No kill-on-sight without a roleplay reason, no mixpacking, maybe a cooldown before you replay the species you just died as. The settings set the mood. The rules keep it. Neither works alone.
Preset 2: Balanced Community
Honestly, this is where most servers should start. It respects people's evenings without making the game trivial, and it's the one I'd pick if I didn't know my community yet.
Best for general public servers, mixed skill levels, owners who want broad appeal.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Growth Multiplier | 2 |
| Day Length | 45 |
| Night Length | 15 |
| Spawn AI | on |
| AI Spawn Interval | 40 |
| Dynamic Weather | on |
| Global Chat | on |
| Playable Humans | off |
| Allow Server Migration | on |
| Playable Classes | leave empty (all 23) |
Growth at 2 means a death stings but doesn't end the night, which is about the balance a public server wants, because the player who lost an adult at 11pm on a work night is deciding right then whether to come back tomorrow. The AI interval is the game's own default. Migration stays on because a public server benefits from players who drift in from elsewhere, and Max Migration Time can stay at its default of 5400 seconds. Global chat on, because new players need somewhere to ask "how do I drink".
Leave Enabled Mutations empty too. Every mutation on is the vanilla experience, and long-term players like having something to chase.
Preset 3: Casual
For servers where people want to log in, grow up and mess about. Not everyone has four hours a night, and there's no shame in a server that knows it.
Best for friend groups, newcomers, anyone testing the game before committing.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Growth Multiplier | 5 |
| Day Length | 45 |
| Night Length | 8 |
| Spawn AI | on |
| AI Spawn Interval | 60 |
| Dynamic Weather | on |
| Global Chat | on |
| Playable Humans | off |
| Allow Server Migration | on |
| Playable Classes | leave empty, or drop the apexes |
Short nights. That's the kindest thing you can do for a new player. Eight minutes of dark is enough to notice and not enough to make anyone log off. The longer AI interval keeps encounters rarer while people learn the map. If your group keeps getting eaten by a Rex they can't see coming, untick nothing and instead tick everything except Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus in Playable Classes. Remember the rule: an empty field means all 23, and the moment you tick anything, only the ticked species are playable.
The old guides list PlantSpawnMultiplier here so herbivores never go hungry. That key isn't a setting on our servers, and neither is bSpawnPlants, so plant spawns run at the game's default whatever preset you're on.
Preset 4: PvP
Strip the survival loop down and get to the fighting. Fast growth, thin AI, nights so short they're a dimming. Clear skies so nobody loses a fight to fog.
Best for competitive communities, tournaments, servers that wipe often.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Growth Multiplier | 8 |
| Day Length | 45 |
| Night Length | 5 |
| Spawn AI | on |
| AI Spawn Interval | 120 |
| Dynamic Weather | off |
| Global Chat | on |
| Playable Humans | off |
| Allow Server Migration | off |
| Playable Classes | a tier-matched shortlist |
Migration off. That one matters more here than anywhere. You don't want someone walking in with a fully grown adult from a friendlier server and flattening your bracket. A two-minute AI interval keeps a trickle of prey around for food without cluttering the map, and Dynamic Weather off is a visibility choice.
Playable Classes is where PvP servers get creative. A mid-tier bracket might be Carnotaurus, Ceratosaurus, Dilophosaurus and Baryonyx against Maiasaura, Tenontosaurus, Kentrosaurus and Diabloceratops. An apex-only server is Tyrannosaurus, Allosaurus and Triceratops and nothing else. The settings guide covers how the Playable Classes field behaves, with the caveat that "tier" is a community idea rather than something the game defines.
Some PvP owners also cut the Enabled Mutations list to a handful so fights are about skill rather than which mutation someone rolled. I'd try it with everything on first. Then trim.
What's not on the list, and why
You'll notice CorpseDecayMultiplier, bEnableDiets and AIDensity aren't in any table. They're all real Game.ini keys and they're all missing from the panel on purpose: the form is what generates the file, so there's nowhere for them to live. If one of them is essential to your server's design, open a ticket and name it, and we'll tell you honestly whether it can be done. Editing the file yourself through Files doesn't work, because the next start overwrites it.
Performance, briefly
Growth and day length cost nothing. AI costs. Evrima runs on one CPU core once the server's busy, and a short AI interval on a full server is the fastest route to a low tick rate, so if your server feels sluggish at peak, lengthen the interval before you touch anything else. Dense AI also eats memory. The panel's Overview tab shows live CPU and RAM, and that's the thing to watch for a few evenings after any change.
Tuning from here
These are starting points, not answers. Pick the one closest to your community, run it for a week, ask what feels off, and change one value at a time so you know what did it. If the server has a dinosaur missing from character select after you've been tweaking, check Playable Classes before anything else. It's that. Nearly always.
Plans are on the The Isle hosting page, and the getting started guide covers the first ten minutes if you're new to the panel.