An Eco dedicated server reads its settings from two JSON files: Configs/Network.eco, which holds your server name, category, connection limits, network ports, password, and RCON settings, and Configs/Localization.eco, which just holds the server’s language. The Eco Config Editor, currently in BETA on Loafhosts, gives you a grouped form for both files so you can change your server name, category, description, connection limit, and language without opening a JSON file and worrying about a stray comma breaking the server. This guide covers what the editor does, how its settings are grouped, the two presets it ships with, which keys are locked and why, how validation works, and when a change needs a restart.
Note: This is a BETA feature. It edits Configs/Network.eco and Configs/Localization.eco specifically; other Eco files are not covered.
What the Eco Config Editor Does
The editor is a form-based view of the two config files, plus a raw view of the underlying JSON if you want to see or edit it directly. In form view, each setting gets a labelled control, a text box, number field, dropdown, or on/off toggle depending on what it expects, along with a short explanation of what it does. When you save, the editor reads the current file from your server, applies only the values you actually changed, and writes the result back, so unrelated formatting in the file is not disturbed.
Every save is validated before anything reaches disk. Number fields are checked against a minimum and maximum, dropdown fields must be one of the listed choices, and toggle fields are written as proper booleans. If any value in a save fails validation, the whole save is rejected with a message telling you which key and why, and the file on disk is left untouched.
Note: Validation runs before the write. A bad value in one field blocks the whole save rather than partially writing the file.
Opening the Editor
Open your Eco server in the Loafhosts panel and look in the server’s sidebar for the Config Editor. It only appears on Eco servers, since it is built specifically around Network.eco and Localization.eco. If your server has never been started, these files may not exist on disk yet because Eco seeds them from templates on first boot, so start the server once, then come back to the editor.
Tip: If the editor reports a file is missing, start the server once to let Eco generate Configs/Network.eco and Configs/Localization.eco, then reopen the editor.
How the Settings Are Grouped
Network.eco is split into four groups:
- General: Server name (Description), Detailed description, whether the server is listed in the public server browser, Server category, Max connections, and the Discord invite ID.
- Network: UPnP (leave this off on hosted infrastructure), the network tick rate, the game server port, the web server port, and the join password.
- RCON: the RCON port and RCON password used for remote console access.
- Advanced: the Playtime schedule field, covered separately below.
Localization.eco has a single General group with one field: Language, a dropdown of English, French, or German.
Every field carries a short help note explaining what it does and why it matters, for example the note on Web server port explains that the panel’s own startup detection depends on it binding successfully, and the note on UPnP explains why you would leave it off on a hosted server.
Tip: Server category affects how likely new players are to find your server when browsing “New Game” in the Eco client. It is worth setting deliberately rather than leaving it at the default.
Presets
The editor ships two presets for Network.eco:
- Public, no password: lists the server in the public browser, clears the join password, and sets the category to Beginner.
- Private / password protected: removes the server from the public browser and resets the category to None, so you can pair it with a password of your own choosing.
Applying a preset writes every setting it defines in a single save. It does not touch anything outside the settings it lists, so applying either preset never affects your world save or player data, only the server-name and visibility settings in Network.eco.
Locked Settings and Why
Five keys in Network.eco are shown locked and cannot be edited from this form: the game server port, the web server port, the RCON port, the join password, and the RCON password.
They are locked because they are managed from your server’s Startup tab and allocations, not from this file directly. The game port is bound to your server’s primary allocation automatically. The web and RCON ports come from additional allocations you assign as startup variables. The join password and RCON password are set as startup variables as well. On every boot, Eco’s own startup process re-templates these values into Network.eco from your Startup tab settings, so even if the editor allowed you to change them here, the next restart would overwrite your edit with whatever the Startup tab has configured. Locking them in the editor avoids that confusing mismatch and points you at the one place, the Startup tab, where they actually take effect.
Note: To change your server’s ports or passwords, use the Startup tab, not the Config Editor. A restart re-applies the Startup tab’s values into Network.eco regardless of what the file currently holds.
The Playtime Field
The Advanced group includes a Playtime field, which is the raw schedule data behind Eco’s in-game “Set Playtime” feature (a timetable of preferred play windows). This is not something you would reasonably type by hand: the intended way to set it is to configure the schedule inside the Eco client through the in-game Game Menu, then copy the resulting data from playtime.eco and paste it into this field. Treat it as an advanced passthrough rather than something to edit freely.
Tip: Leave Playtime blank unless you have already generated a schedule in-game and are pasting its exported data in.
How Changes Apply
Eco reads Network.eco and Localization.eco when it boots. Saving a change in the editor writes the file immediately, but the running server does not pick it up until it restarts, so:
- Make your changes in the form (or the raw JSON view).
- Save. The editor confirms which keys were written.
- Restart the server from the Console or Power controls to bring the new settings into play.
You can make several changes across both files and save them, then do a single restart to apply everything at once rather than restarting after every individual field.
Note: Saving writes the file only, it does not restart the server. Restart to load the new settings.
Putting It Together
The Eco Config Editor turns Network.eco and Localization.eco from files you would otherwise hand-edit in JSON into a grouped form with plain-language help text, two presets for the most common public/private setups, and validation that catches a bad value before it ever reaches disk. Ports, join password, and RCON password stay locked here on purpose, since the Startup tab is the source of truth for those and would overwrite any change made directly in the file on the next boot. Adjust your server name, category, description, connection limit, and language here, save, restart, and you are done, no hand-edited JSON required.