Eco is a civilization-building survival simulation from Strange Loop Games where a shared, damageable ecosystem sits underneath everything your players do. Cut down too many trees, overhunt an area, or dump pollution into a river, and the world actually changes: species can die out, resources run dry, and your community has to build an economy and a government around living within those limits rather than just farming XP. Running a dedicated Eco server keeps that world running around the clock instead of depending on one player’s PC, and it is the only way to get a persistent public or private server your community can rely on. This guide walks through deploying an Eco server on Loafhosts, the one requirement that trips up most first-time hosts, the startup settings you actually need to touch, and the panel tools that work with Eco once it is running.
What You Need Before You Start
Unlike most Steam dedicated servers, Eco will not run on an anonymous install alone. Strange Loop Games requires a valid SLG account (a Strange Loop Games account, separate from your Steam account) to launch the server process at all, not just to download it. SteamCMD installs the server files anonymously, using the dedicated-server depot, but the moment the server tries to start it authenticates against that SLG account. Without a valid username and password there, the process fails at launch every time, so have an SLG account ready before you deploy.
Note: The SLG username and password are entered as Startup Variables when you configure the server, and are required, not optional.
Tip: Create your SLG account ahead of time at the Strange Loop Games site so you are not blocked at first boot.
Sizing Your Custom Server
Eco recommends at least 4 GB of RAM to run at all and 8 GB for a comfortable, active world, plus a few gigabytes of disk for the install and your save. Loafhosts runs one configurable Custom server that clears those numbers easily: you slide RAM from 1 to 32 GB and storage from 10 to 500 GB and pick a protection tier, so a smaller build is strong value for a casual community while a larger one suits a big population or a long-running world with a lot of simulated ecosystem to track. Eco’s server simulates terrain, wildlife, and player-built economy continuously, so give a busier server more RAM and CPU headroom. Pricing starts at $13.50/mo, and longer billing cycles save up to 25%.
Tip: Size up on RAM and CPU headroom if you expect a large or long-lived world with a busy in-game economy.
Tip: A smaller build is fine if you are running a smaller group or just want to try Eco hosting first.
Deploying Your Server
- Choose a plan and region at loafhosts.com and complete checkout.
- Log in to LoafHub at hub.loafhosts.com.
- Select your new Eco server to open the panel.
- On the Startup tab, fill in your SLG username and password, along with the other startup settings covered below.
- Open the Console tab so you can watch the install and first boot.
- Press Start and confirm the console reaches the ready line before you invite anyone.
The install itself runs anonymously through SteamCMD against the dedicated-server depot, so it does not need your SLG credentials, only the launch does. If the console shows the install finishing but the server then exits immediately, the SLG username or password is the first thing to check.
Note: Eco is a .NET application under the hood rather than a native Linux game binary, so first boot can take a little longer than a typical Source-engine server while the runtime spins up. This is normal.
Ports: Game, Web, and RCON
Eco actually opens three network endpoints, and getting them right matters more here than on most games:
- Game port: the main game/query port. This is bound automatically to your server’s primary allocation, so you do not set it directly.
- Web port (WEB_PORT): Eco runs a built-in web admin server alongside the game server, and the panel’s boot detection specifically waits for that web server to report it is listening. If this port is blocked, already in use, or not mapped to one of your server’s allocations, the panel will see the server as stuck starting even though the game port itself may be fine.
- RCON port (RCON_PORT): used for remote console access. It needs a valid port assigned before the server will accept RCON connections at all.
Both WEB_PORT and RCON_PORT need their own allocation on your server, separate from the primary game port allocation, set through the Startup tab like any other startup variable.
Note: If your server appears to hang on “starting” indefinitely, check the Web port allocation first. The panel’s ready-detection depends on the web server binding successfully.
Key Startup Settings
The Startup tab exposes the settings you are most likely to want on day one:
| Setting | Variable | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| SLG Username / Password | SLG_USER / SLG_PW | Required Strange Loop Games account credentials; the server will not launch without them. |
| Server Name | SRV_NAME | Name shown in the Eco client’s server browser. Supports Eco’s in-game chat text markup. |
| Public Server | PUB_SRV | Set to true to list your server in the public in-client browser. Off by default. |
| Server Password | SRV_PW | Optional join password. Leave blank for open access; whitelisted players skip it either way. |
| Max Connections | MAX_CON | Maximum concurrent players. Use -1 for no limit. |
| Server Category | SRV_CAT | One of None, Beginner, Established, BeginnerHard, or Strange, shown to players browsing “New Game” in the client. |
| Language | LANGUAGE | English, French, or German. |
| RCON Password | RCON_PW | Password for RCON access, paired with your RCON port allocation. |
| Auto Update | AUTO_UPDATE | On by default; pulls the latest Eco server build on every boot. |
Warning: Eco is Early Access and Strange Loop Games ships frequent updates, some of which are not save-compatible. Auto Update is on by default and will pull a new build the next time your server restarts. If you are about to invest heavily in a world, or your community depends on a specific build, take a backup first and consider watching the Eco patch notes before your next restart.
Where Your Save and Config Live
Eco’s two config files live under Configs/ in your server’s file system: Configs/Network.eco holds the server name, ports, password, max connections, category, and RCON settings, and Configs/Localization.eco holds the server language. Both are JSON and are seeded from template files the first time the server installs. Your world save lives alongside them in the server’s storage and is included automatically in scheduled and manual backups.
Connecting to Your Server
Players connect from inside the Eco client. If you enabled Public Server, your server appears in the in-client public browser under the name and category you set, and players can filter by category to find the kind of server they want. If you left Public Server off, or players are on a slower DNS/browser refresh, share your server’s IP and game port directly so players can connect to it manually from the client’s connect screen.
Tip: Set a Detailed Description and a Discord invite ID (the part after discord.gg/) to improve how your server shows up in the browser.
Panel Features That Work With Eco
- Change Game: if you decide Eco is not the right fit, Change Game lets you switch your server to a different supported game without ordering a new one.
- Eco Config Editor (BETA): a form-based editor for Configs/Network.eco and Configs/Localization.eco, so you can adjust your server name, category, max connections, language, and other settings without hand-editing JSON. Ports and passwords stay locked here and are managed from the Startup tab instead. See the dedicated Config Editor guide for the full walkthrough.
- Backups: schedule or trigger manual backups of your world save and config before a risky change, an update, or a big mod experiment.
- Schedules: automate recurring tasks like a nightly restart to clear memory during a quiet hour.
- Auto-Restart: configure the server to restart automatically if the process crashes or exits unexpectedly, which matters more on an Early Access title that occasionally has a rough patch.
- RCON: Eco implements a standard Source-style RCON protocol on your RCON port and password, so any third-party RCON client can connect once the port is unlocked and mapped. The panel’s built-in RCON console is currently available for Arma Reforger servers only, so for Eco you will point an external RCON client at your server’s IP, RCON port, and RCON password.
Mods
Eco’s server mods are distributed through mod.io rather than the Steam Workshop. Mods are enabled and configured through Eco’s own Mods.eco file and the in-game admin UI rather than through a startup variable, so there is no panel-side modlist to manage yet; you will handle mod selection from inside the game as an admin, or by editing Mods.eco directly through the File Manager if you are installing mods manually.
Putting It Together
An Eco server needs a bit more up-front setup than most Steam titles because of the SLG account requirement and the extra Web and RCON port allocations, but once those are in place, deployment is the same as any Loafhosts server: pick a plan, deploy, fill in the Startup tab, and start. From there, the Config Editor, backups, schedules, and auto-restart cover the day-to-day, and because Eco tracks a persistent, damageable world, a solid backup habit before big updates or mod changes is worth building early.