So you've picked up a Vintage Story server – good choice. I've been running VS servers since the early alpha days and it's genuinely one of the most rewarding survival games to host. The community's smaller than Minecraft's but way more dedicated, and the building and farming systems are something else entirely.
This guide gets you from "I just ordered a server" to "my friends are connected and we're punching clay." Let's get into it.
Your Control Panel
Log in to the LOW.MS Control Panel with the credentials from your order confirmation email. Your Vintage Story server will be listed on the dashboard.
Here's the quick tour of the sidebar items you'll actually use in your first session:
- Service Settings is where you'll find your server's IP address, port, and basic config options
- Web Console lets you run commands and watch server output in real time. You'll use this a lot.
- Configuration Files gives you access to serverconfig.json and other config files without needing to download anything
- File Manager for uploading mods, browsing world files, or grabbing backups
- Log Viewer when something goes wrong and you need to figure out why
There are more items in there – Mod Manager, Scheduled Tasks, Cloud Backup, etc. – but those five will cover 90% of what a new server owner needs.
First Boot
Hit Start on the Web Console page. The first startup takes a bit longer than usual because the server needs to generate the world. Watch the console output – you'll see it churning through chunk generation. Give it a couple of minutes.
Once you see something like Server now running on Port 42420 in the console, you're good to go.
Connecting to Your Server
On the client side:
- Open Vintage Story and click Multiplayer
- Click Add Server
- Enter a name (whatever you want – it's just a label)
- For the address, enter your server IP followed by the port:
your.server.ip:42420 - Hit Save, select the server, and connect
The default port is 42420. Since v1.20, Vintage Story uses both TCP and UDP on this port, so make sure you're not blocking either protocol if you're doing anything funky with firewalls on your end. On LOW.MS servers, both protocols are open by default so you shouldn't need to worry about this.
Setting a Server Password
If you want to keep your server private, you've got two options.
Option 1: Server password. Open Configuration Files in your control panel, find serverconfig.json, and set the Password field to whatever you want. Players will need to enter this when they connect. Make sure the server is stopped first – I'll explain why in a sec.
Option 2: Whitelist. This is more granular. You can add specific players rather than giving everyone the same password. Connect to your server's Web Console and run:
/whitelist add PlayerName
You can combine both approaches if you want – password to get in the door, whitelist for an extra layer.
One important thing about serverconfig.json that trips people up a lot: do not edit it while the server is running. Vintage Story writes its config to disk on shutdown, which means any changes you make while it's running get overwritten the moment the server stops. Always stop the server first, make your edits, then start it again.
Making Yourself an Admin
First thing you'll want to do once you're connected is give yourself admin privileges. In the Web Console, run:
/op YourPlayerName
This gives you full server operator permissions. You can now use all admin commands, change settings on the fly, and manage other players.
Some other commands you'll want early on:
/serverconfig maxclients 8– change the max player count (default is 16)/whitelist add FriendName– add someone to the whitelist/time set day– skip to daytime if your first night catches you off-guard/gamemode creative YourName– switch to creative for building out a spawn area
Inviting Friends
Share your server IP and port with your mates. The format is just IP:42420. If you've set a password, send that along too – preferably not in a public Discord channel.
Your friends connect the same way you did: Multiplayer > Add Server > enter the address.
Quick note: everyone connecting needs to be on the same Vintage Story version. If someone's client is outdated or too new, they'll get a version mismatch error. The easiest fix is for everyone to just update to the latest stable release.
Choosing a Play Style
Vintage Story has five built-in play styles, and this is something worth thinking about before your group gets too far in. You set it during world creation in the serverconfig, and changing it later means a new world.
- surviveandbuild – the default. Full survival experience with crafting, farming, and combat. This is what most servers run.
- wildernesssurvival – harder version of the above. If your group wants a challenge, this is it.
- creativebuilding – creative mode. Infinite resources, no hunger, no enemies. Great for build servers.
- exploration – focuses on the world and discovery rather than base building
- homosapiens – the hardcore option. Realistic survival. I'd only recommend this if your group specifically wants a punishing experience.
You can read more about configuring these in our Server Configuration Guide.
RAM and Performance Basics
Vintage Story uses roughly 1 GB of RAM as a baseline, then adds about 300 MB per player. So a server with 5 players will sit around 2.5 GB. Mods push that number up, sometimes significantly.
SSD storage is required since v1.20 – the game does a lot of disk I/O during chunk operations and autosaves. LOW.MS servers all run on SSDs, so you're covered there.
If you want to see what's available, check our Vintage Story server plans.
What to Do Next
Now that your server's running and people are connecting:
- Read the Configuration Guide to tune your world settings, performance, and gameplay options. There's quite a bit you can tweak.
- Set up Cloud Backup from the sidebar in your control panel. LOW.MS runs automatic backups, but having a manual backup before you make big changes is always smart.
- Look into mods once you're comfortable with vanilla. The VS modding scene is excellent. Drop .zip files into the
data/Mods/folder via the File Manager – server-side and universal mods auto-download to clients when they connect, which is really convenient. - If things go wrong, our Troubleshooting Guide covers the common issues. And our support team's here 24/7 if you get stuck.