How to Host a Vintage Story Server on LoafHosts

To host a Vintage Story dedicated server on LoafHosts, deploy a server, choose a release branch and version, start it once so the game writes its config file, then use the in-panel Config Editor to set your server name, whitelist mode, and world rules before you invite players. Vintage Story is a deep wilderness survival sandbox from Anego Studios, built on a custom cross-platform engine rather than Unity or Unreal, and its dedicated server is a standalone .NET application that keeps running whether or not anyone is home. This guide walks the whole path from an empty plan to a running, joinable server, using only the tools the LoafHub panel actually gives you for this game.

What Vintage Story Is

Vintage Story is a survival sandbox with a heavy crafting and exploration focus, uncompromising difficulty, and lovecraftian undertones running through its world and lore. It is not sold on Steam; the developers have said they prefer to sell directly through the official store, Humble Store, or itch.io, and players authenticate their purchase through account.vintagestory.at. That has one practical effect on hosting: there is no Steam Workshop for this game, no SteamCMD install path, and no in-panel Steam Workshop browser. Mods come from the game’s own mod database instead, and you install them by hand.

Tip: Vintage Story is purchased from vintagestory.at, Humble Store, or itch.io, not Steam

Note: Because there is no Steam Workshop for this game, mod installation on a hosted server is a manual, file-based process, not a one-click browser

Sizing Your Custom Server

LoafHosts runs one configurable Custom server: you slide RAM from 1 to 32 GB and storage from 10 to 500 GB and pick a protection tier. More CPU and RAM headroom matters for Vintage Story because world simulation, chunk generation, and tick rate all lean on steady CPU availability, especially as your player count and explored map area grow. A smaller build is solid value for a small survival group on a modest tick rate. Pricing starts at $13.50/mo, and longer billing cycles save up to 25%.

Tip: Size up on RAM and CPU headroom if you run a larger community, a high player cap, or a lowered tick time for a snappier simulation

Tip: A smaller build is plenty for a small survival group and keeps costs down

Note: The Advanced and Strict protection tiers add Terabit.io L4/L7 DDoS filtering

Note: The Basic protection tier includes standard DDoS mitigation; Terabit.io filtering comes with Advanced and Strict

Picking a Server Region

Vintage Story is not twitch-reflex combat, but latency still affects world interaction and multiplayer smoothness, so host close to the bulk of your players. Custom servers are available in New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Frankfurt, which covers US East, Central, West, and EU, with Montreal available for Strict protection.

1. List where your players actually live
2. For a US East or Canadian group, choose New York, or Montreal if you want Strict protection; for European groups, pick Frankfurt
3. For a Central US group, choose Dallas
4. For a US West or Pacific group, choose Los Angeles
5. If your group is split, favor the region with the most players and the lowest average ping

Step 1: Deploy the Server

Deploying a Vintage Story server on LoafHosts is a checkout-and-wait process.

1. Go to loafhosts.com and choose a plan
2. Pick the region closest to your players
3. Complete checkout
4. Open LoafHub at hub.loafhosts.com and select your new server
5. Wait for the panel to show the server deployed and ready

The Vintage Story dedicated server is a .NET application, and the egg installs it on top of one of three Dotnet runtime images. LoafHosts sets that up for you at deploy time, so you never touch a runtime installer yourself.

Step 2: Set the Release Branch and Version

Before you start the server for the first time, check the two variables that decide exactly which build you run: Release branch and Release version. These live on your server’s Startup tab.

• Release branch: stable, unstable, or pre. Stable is the right default for a community server.
• Release version: leave it as latest to always install the newest build on your chosen branch, or pin an exact version string if you want to control updates yourself.

Warning: If you set Release branch to pre, you must also set an explicit Release version. Leaving Release version as latest on the pre-release branch fails the install outright, because pre-release builds are not resolved automatically.

Warning: Reinstalling or switching branches/versions removes the game’s assets and library folders before extracting the new release. Your world save is untouched, but any manually dropped asset overrides are wiped, so keep those in mind before you change branches on a live server.

Two more Startup variables round out the basics:

• Max Clients: the maximum number of concurrent players, passed to the server at boot.
• Start options: extra command-line arguments appended to the startup command, left blank unless you have a specific need.

Step 3: Start the Server for the First Time

Vintage Story does not ship a config file; it generates one the first time the server process runs. Start the server once before you try to configure anything.

1. Open the Console tab so you can watch the first boot
2. Press Start
3. Watch the console download and extract the release, then boot the server
4. Wait for the console to show “Dedicated Server now running on Port ” (that is the ready line for this game)
5. Stop the server once it reaches a running state so you can review the config it just wrote

The first boot writes serverconfig.json into the server’s data path, which is what the Config Editor reads and writes from that point forward.

Note: If you open the Config Editor before the first boot, it will tell you no settings were found yet. Start the server once, then come back

Step 4: Configure Your Server with the Config Editor

LoafHosts includes a Config Editor built specifically for Vintage Story’s serverconfig.json, currently in BETA. It lays the file out as a grouped form instead of raw JSON, with Server, World, Moderation, and Performance sections, and it validates every value before writing it to disk.

Open your server in the panel and look for the Server Config item under the Game section of the sidebar. From there you can set:

• Your server name, description, and welcome message (shown in the join screen and public listing)
• Max players and the max queued-player count
• Whitelist mode, to require an approved player list before anyone can join
• World rules like PvP, fire spread, falling blocks, and whether time passes while the server is empty
• Performance knobs like tick time, max view distance, client timeout, and the free-disk threshold that shuts the server down safely if space runs low
• World-generation settings such as play style, world type, and seed, which only take effect the first time a new world is created

The editor also ships three one-click presets: PvE (turns off player damage), PvP (turns it on), and Whitelist only. Applying one writes a small, curated patch in a single save rather than requiring you to hunt down each field by hand.

Note: Save writes the file. Vintage Story reads serverconfig.json at boot, so restart the server to bring your changes into play.

Tip: World-generation fields (world name, play style, world type, seed) only apply when a brand-new world is created; changing them after the world already exists has no effect on the existing map.

Step 5: Set a Server Password or Lock Down Access

Vintage Story does not expose a password or whitelist environment variable on the egg; both live inside serverconfig.json or are set live with in-game /serverconfig commands. The panel treats the password field as a locked, sensitive setting on the Config Editor alongside the port and IP, since those three are managed by your server’s assigned network allocation rather than edited freely in the file. If you need a private server, set Whitelist mode to On through the editor and manage the allowed-player list from in-game commands, or set a server password from the console.

Note: Port, IP, and Password are locked in the Config Editor because they are tied to your server’s assigned network allocation and panel-managed secrets

Step 6: Connect and Test

1. Copy the server IP and port from the panel (default game port is 42420, and both TCP and UDP traffic use that same port since Vintage Story 1.20, so there is nothing extra to open)
2. Launch Vintage Story, open the multiplayer server list or use Connect, and enter the IP and port
3. Join and confirm the world loads with the settings you configured
4. Share the connection details with your players

Installing Mods

Vintage Story mods come from the game’s own mod database, mods.vintagestory.at, as .zip, .cs, or .dll files. There is no Steam Workshop for this game and no machine-readable mod install API upstream, so there is no in-panel mod browser for Vintage Story today. The reliable path is: download a mod from mods.vintagestory.at, then upload it into your server’s Mods folder using the panel’s file manager, and restart. Mods load at boot, so any add, remove, or update needs a restart to take effect.

Note: Because Vintage Story has no Steam Workshop, LoafHosts’ Steam Workshop Manager does not apply to this game

Tip: Keep a copy of every mod file you install so you can roll a version back quickly if an update breaks compatibility with your world

RCON

Vintage Story has no built-in RCON. The dedicated server only accepts slash-commands typed directly into its console or sent over stdin. A community mod called Vintage RCON adds an optional Source-RCON-protocol listener with its own password, but it is not installed by default, and LoafHosts does not assume it is present. If you install Vintage RCON yourself and configure its password, you can point a third-party RCON client at it, but the panel’s built-in RCON console (used on other games) is not wired up for Vintage Story out of the box.

Backups, Schedules, and Auto-Restart

Alongside the Config Editor, the same panel-wide tools you use on any LoafHosts server apply to Vintage Story:

• Backups: snapshot your world save before a risky config change, a branch switch, or a mod install. Vintage Story’s own SQLite temp directory is already pointed at your persistent Backups folder on the egg, specifically so the game’s /db vacuum command has room to work without filling a tiny temp filesystem.
• Schedules: automate recurring restarts or backups on a timer, useful for a server that runs unattended.
• Auto-Restart: bring the server back automatically if the process crashes or is killed unexpectedly.
• Change Game: if your community eventually moves to a different title, Change Game lets you repurpose the same server slot instead of ordering a new one.

Tip: Take a backup before switching Release branch or pinning a new Release version, since a reinstall clears the assets and library folders as part of the update

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Vintage Story dedicated server?

A dedicated server runs the Vintage Story server process, VintagestoryServer, on its own, independent of any player’s game client. It stays online around the clock with a fixed IP and port, and it gives you control over serverconfig.json, your world save, and installed mods without one player having to host from their own PC.

Do I need to buy the game on Steam?

No. Vintage Story is not sold on Steam. It is purchased directly from vintagestory.at, the Humble Store, or itch.io, and authenticated through account.vintagestory.at. This does not affect hosting a dedicated server, but it does mean there is no Steam Workshop integration for mods.

Which release branch should I use?

Stable is the right default for a community server. Unstable and pre-release branches exist for testing upcoming builds, but the pre-release branch requires you to specify an exact version string rather than leaving it on “latest”.

How do I set a server password or restrict who can join?

Vintage Story has no password or whitelist Startup variable. Both live inside serverconfig.json, so use the Config Editor to turn on Whitelist mode, or set a password from the server console with in-game commands. The panel treats the password field as locked and sensitive in the editor.

Does Vintage Story support RCON?

Not natively. The dedicated server only takes console commands directly. A community mod, Vintage RCON, can add Source-RCON support if you install and configure it yourself, but LoafHosts does not assume it is present and the built-in RCON console tool is not wired up for this game by default.

How do I install mods?

Download the mod from mods.vintagestory.at, then upload the .zip, .cs, or .dll file into your server’s Mods folder using the panel’s file manager, and restart. There is no in-panel mod browser for Vintage Story because the game has no Steam Workshop and no machine install API.

Why do my config changes not apply right away?

Vintage Story only reads serverconfig.json at boot. The Config Editor writes the file immediately, but you need to restart the server for the change to take effect.

How much does Vintage Story server hosting cost?

The Custom server starts at $13.50/mo, and you scale the price by sliding RAM and storage to fit your server. Longer billing cycles save up to 25%, and there are no setup fees.

Where are LoafHosts Vintage Story servers located?

Custom servers are available in New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Frankfurt, with Montreal available for Strict protection.