How to Edit Your Game Server's Config Files

Most of what makes a game server yours lives in plain text files: the server name, the password, difficulty, player limits, plugin and mod settings. You can edit them straight in the panel's file editor, or open them on your own computer over SFTP in an editor such as Notepad++ or VS Code. Either way, two habits prevent nearly every problem: stop the server before you edit, and keep the file's syntax intact.

Stop the server before you edit

Many games load their configuration into memory when they start and write it back to disk when they shut down. If you edit such a file while the server is running, your change sits on disk until the shutdown writes the old values over it, and the edit seems to vanish for no reason. The .ini files of several Unreal Engine games, such as ARK's GameUserSettings.ini, behave this way.

The safe order is always the same:

1. Stop the server with the power buttons at the top of the server page
2. Edit and save the file
3. Start the server again

Even for files the game never rewrites, most settings are only read at startup. The restart is what makes the change take effect.

Settings the panel fills in for you

Some values are written into the config files by the panel every time the server starts. The port is one example, and depending on the game there can be others, such as the server name or password. If you change one of those in the file, the next start puts the panel's value back.

When an edit keeps reverting after a clean stop and start, look for the same setting in the Startup tab and change it there instead.

For some games there is also a Config tab with ready-made fields for the most common settings. When your game has it, it is the quickest and safest way to change those settings, because the panel takes care of the syntax.

Method 1: edit in the panel

1. Open the game panel and select your server
2. Go to the Files tab and open the folder that holds the file
3. Click the file name. Text files show an edit hint when you hover over them
4. Make your change in the editor
5. Press Save, or Ctrl+S (Cmd+S on a Mac)

The editor colours the syntax of common formats such as .properties, .yml, .json, .toml and .ini, which makes a missing quote or bracket easier to spot. While you have changes that are not saved yet, the editor marks the file as unsaved and asks before letting you leave. A short Saved message confirms the save. Use Back to return to the file list.

A few limits:

• Only text files open in the editor. Worlds, .jar files and other binary files do not.
• Very large files, such as big logs, are too large for the editor. Download them instead.
• Before a bigger edit, make a copy with Duplicate in the file's menu. If the new version breaks something, you still have the old one right next to it.

Method 2: edit over SFTP with Notepad++ or VS Code

SFTP is handy when you edit many files, want to search across a whole folder, or simply prefer your own editor. Click SFTP in the toolbar of the Files tab to see your Host, Port and Username. The password is your SFTP account password, which you choose yourself and which applies to every server on your account. Our SFTP guide walks through connecting step by step.

Three ways to work:

• From an SFTP client. In FileZilla, right-click a file and choose View/Edit. It opens in your editor, and FileZilla offers to upload the file again when you save. WinSCP can do the same with its Edit command.
• From inside the editor. Notepad++ and VS Code both have plugins or extensions that connect over SFTP, so you can open and save remote files without a separate client.
• Download, edit, upload. Download the file, edit it locally, then upload it over the old one. It always works, as long as you remember the upload.

Whichever you choose, pay attention to two details:

• Encoding. Save as UTF-8. Special characters such as æ, ø, å or ä can turn into garbage in other encodings.
• Line endings. Most config files do not care, but shell scripts (.sh) break with Windows line endings. In Notepad++ use Edit, then EOL Conversion, then Unix (LF). In VS Code, click CRLF in the status bar and switch it to LF.

Never edit config files in Word or another word processor. They replace straight quotes with curly ones and can add hidden formatting that no game can read.

The common formats and their pitfalls

.properties is one key=value per line. No quotes, no spaces needed around the equals sign, and a # starts a comment. Keys must be spelled exactly, and true and false are written in lowercase:

max-players=20
white-list=false

.ini groups keys into sections in square brackets. A key only works in the section it belongs to, so add new lines under the right heading, and never create a second copy of a section that already exists:

[ServerSettings]
ServerPassword=secret

.json is strict. Text goes in double quotes, entries are separated by commas, the last entry has no comma after it, and every { and [ needs its closing partner. JSON has no comments, so you cannot leave a note in the file:

{
  "name": "My Server",
  "maxPlayers": 16
}

.yml / .yaml is all about indentation. Use spaces, never tabs, keep the same number of spaces on every level, and always put a space after the colon. Put values containing : or # in quotes:

settings:
  motd: "Welcome: have fun"
  max-players: 20

.toml looks like .ini, with key = value lines under [section] headings, but text values go in quotes.

For every format the same rule helps: follow the style already in the file. If the existing lines use True, write True, not true.

Troubleshooting

My change disappeared after a restart. Either the server was running while you edited, so it wrote its old settings back on shutdown, or the panel sets that value on start. Stop the server, edit again, then start it. If it still reverts, change the setting in the Startup tab.

The server does not start after my edit. Almost always a syntax error. Open the Console tab: most games name the file, and often the line, they could not read. Fix it, or put back the copy you made with Duplicate.

The change has no effect. The server was not restarted, the key is misspelled, or it sits under the wrong section. Compare it with the other lines in the file.

The file does not open in the editor. It is not a text file, or it is too large. Download it and open it on your computer.

Stuck on a file that will not behave? Open a ticket from the support page with your server name and the file you changed, and we will take a look with you.