Soulmask Server Troubleshooting Guide — Common Issues and Fixes

Soulmask Server Troubleshooting Guide

I've spent a lot of time digging through Soulmask server issues, and most of them fall into a handful of categories. This guide covers the stuff we actually see in support tickets – not every theoretical edge case, just the problems that come up regularly and how to fix them.

If you're still getting your server set up, the getting started guide is probably a better starting point. For tweaking settings, check the configuration guide.

Connection Problems

The server isn't showing in the browser. Nine times out of ten, the server just hasn't finished starting. Soulmask takes 2-5 minutes to fully initialise and register with Steam's master server list. Give it a minute. If it's been longer than five minutes, double-check that your query port (27015 UDP) is active in the LOW.MS Control Panel – that's what Steam uses to make your server visible. Players can always use Direct Connect with the IP and game port (8777) from your panel as a workaround while the listing catches up.

"Server Incompatible Version" error. The client and server are on different versions. This happens after every major update. Head to your panel's sidebar, click Steam Update, and run it. Once finished, restart the server. On the player side, they need to make sure their game is updated too – in Steam, right-click Soulmask, go to Properties > Installed Files > Verify Integrity of Game Files. That usually sorts it out.

Connection timeout or "Unable to Connect." Work through this list:

1. Is the server actually running? Check the status in your panel. If it says stopped, start it and wait the full 2-5 minutes for it to come up.
2. Is it full? The default player cap is 20 (configurable up to 70 in Engine.ini). Check current players under Current Activity & Stats in the sidebar.
3. Is the server out of RAM? Pull up Current Activity & Stats and look at memory usage. If it's pegged near the limit, the server may be refusing connections. More on RAM below.
4. If only one player is affected, it's almost certainly on their end – firewall, antivirus, or ISP weirdness. Have them try a mobile hotspot to rule out network issues.

Random disconnects. If everyone's dropping at roughly the same time, something is stalling the server – usually an auto-save on a large world or the server running low on memory. If it's just one player, it's their connection.

Crashes

The big one: out of memory

I've seen this more than anything else. Soulmask's server needs about 11-12 GB of RAM just to start, and it climbs from there as the world develops. With active players, expect 16 GB or more. On top of that, there's a known memory leak in the server process – memory usage creeps up the longer it runs, even with nobody online.

Check your RAM usage under Current Activity & Stats in your panel. If it's consistently hitting the ceiling, you've got two options:

• Upgrade RAM. Self-service through your panel – check our Soulmask page for current options.
• Schedule restarts. Set up a daily restart during off-peak hours via Scheduled Tasks in the sidebar. This clears the leaked memory and keeps things stable. Honestly, I'd recommend scheduled restarts even if you have plenty of RAM. It just makes life easier.

Startup crashes

If the server starts and immediately dies, check these in order:

1. Bad save file. If the server didn't shut down cleanly, the save might be corrupted. Save files live at WS/Saved/Worlds/Dedicated/Level01_Main/. You can restore from a cloud backup via Cloud Restore in the sidebar, or manually swap in a local backup through File Manager.
2. Broken startup parameters. Review your settings in Commandline Manager – a stray character or missing value can prevent launch. Common mistake: spaces in your -SteamServerName value without proper quoting.
3. Failed update. Sometimes an update doesn't apply cleanly. Run Steam Update from the sidebar, then restart.

Check the log at WS/Saved/Logs/WS.log through File Manager or Log Viewer – the last few lines before the crash usually tell you exactly what went wrong.

Mod-related crashes

Steam Workshop mods are supported but they're a frequent source of crashes, especially after game updates. If you recently added or updated mods and the server started crashing, remove them one at a time through Mod Manager and restart each time to find the culprit. Incompatible mods won't always give a clear error – sometimes the server just silently dies.

Performance Issues

Lag and rubber-banding usually come down to one of three things:

RAM pressure. We've covered this – the memory leak is real. Monitor it, schedule restarts, upgrade if needed.

Tribesmen AI load. This is the one people don't expect. Every tribesmen NPC runs pathfinding and task logic every tick. The recruitment limit per player defaults to 6 (GeRenMaxZhaoMuCount in GameXishu.json), the guild cap is 50 (GongHuiMaxZhaoMuCount), and deployed tribesmen default to 3 (ManRenChuZhanCount). On a server with 15+ players all running max tribesmen, the CPU load adds up fast. If performance is suffering, tweaking those values down in GameXishu.json (found at /WS/Saved/GameplaySettings/) makes a noticeable difference.

Base complexity. Massive builds with thousands of placed objects cost processing time every tick. If lag spikes happen when players are near a specific base, that base is probably the issue. Not much you can do server-side besides talking to the builder.

If performance degrades noticeably over a few hours even with adequate RAM, that's the memory leak at work. Scheduled daily restarts are the standard fix across basically every Soulmask server I've seen.

Save Files and Backups

Soulmask has two relevant intervals set via startup parameters: the save interval (-saving=600, every 10 minutes by default) and the backup interval (-backup=900, every 15 minutes). These are the game's own backups stored locally on disk.

On top of that, LOW.MS runs automatic cloud backups independently – you'll find Cloud Backup and Cloud Restore in your panel sidebar. These are separate from the game's built-in backups and happen on their own schedule.

Missing progress after a crash. If the server crashes between saves, you lose whatever happened since the last save – up to 10 minutes with the default interval. You can tighten the save interval to 300 seconds (5 minutes) in Commandline Manager if your community really can't tolerate any rollback, but more frequent saves mean more brief hitches on busy servers. Our SSD-backed storage handles it well, though.

Restoring from backup. For the simplest approach, use Cloud Restore from the sidebar – pick a restore point and go. If you need more control, the game's local backups are at WS/Saved/Worlds/Dedicated/Level01_Main/ and you can manage them through File Manager.

One important thing: never force-stop the server during a save. Always use the Stop button in your panel – it sends a graceful shutdown and waits for the current save to finish. Killing it mid-write is the most common way saves get corrupted.

Update Problems

Soulmask updates fairly regularly. When an update drops:

1. Click Steam Update in your panel sidebar. This pulls the latest server build.
2. Restart the server.
3. Tell your players to verify their game files in Steam (Properties > Installed Files > Verify Integrity).

If the server still reports an old version after updating, try a full stop (not a restart – actually stop it, wait a moment, then start it). If that doesn't work, get in touch with support.

Note that PvP/PvE mode is set via startup flags (-pvp or -pve) and can't be toggled in-game – so if you're switching modes during an update, do it in Commandline Manager before restarting.

When to Contact Support

Before you open a ticket, grab two things:

• The server log. It's at WS/Saved/Logs/WS.log – you can view it through Log Viewer in the sidebar or download it from File Manager. The last 50-100 lines before a crash are the most useful.
• RAM and CPU stats. Check Current Activity & Stats and note down the numbers, or take a screenshot.

Include your server ID (it's on your panel dashboard), roughly when the issue happened, and what you've already tried. That way we can skip the basics and get straight to diagnosing the actual problem. Reach out through the LOW.MS Control Panel.