How to Set Up an Unturned Server

Unturned's free-to-play model means a huge potential player base for your server. Whether you're setting up a PvP survival server, a PvE community, or an RP server with a custom economy, this guide covers everything from initial hosting to Rocket plugin installation.

What You'll Need

• Unturned on Steam — Free to play for everyone.
• A hosting plan — Managed hosting starts at $3-6/month. Self-hosting is also easy since Unturned is lightweight.
• Your server vision — PvP, PvE, RP, or Arena? This determines your map choice, plugins, and settings.

Step 1: Choose Your Hosting Approach

Managed Hosting (Recommended)

Unturned is lightweight and cheap to host. Providers like Shockbyte, Sparked Host, and Nodecraft offer:

• 2-4GB RAM — More than enough for most servers
• Rocket/openmod support — Plugin framework pre-installation
• Workshop integration — Custom maps and mods
• Low cost — $3-6/month for full-featured servers

Self-Hosted

Install via SteamCMD (app_update 1110390). Forward port 27015 (UDP) and 27016 (UDP). Unturned dedicated server runs on Windows and Linux.

Step 2: Set Up on a Managed Host

1. Purchase a plan — 2GB RAM handles 24-32 players comfortably.
2. Select Unturned as your game.
3. Choose your map — PEI, Washington, Russia, or a Workshop map.
4. Access your control panel and configure basic settings.
5. Start the server and verify it appears in the Unturned server browser.

Step 3: Configure Commands.dat

The main config file lives at Servers/YourServer/Server/Commands.dat:

name My Unturned Server
port 27015
map PEI
maxplayers 24
perspective both          # first, third, or both
pvp                       # Enable PvP
mode normal               # easy, normal, hard
password                  # Leave empty for public
welcome Welcome to our server! Type /rules for info.

Key Settings

| Command | Options | Description | |---|---|---| | mode | easy/normal/hard | Difficulty level | | perspective | first/third/both | Camera mode | | map | PEI/Washington/Russia/etc. | Active map | | cycle | 3600 | Day/night cycle length in seconds | | decay | 604800 | Structure decay timer |

Step 4: Install RocketMod

RocketMod is the plugin framework for Unturned. Most managed hosts offer one-click installation. For manual setup:

1. Download the latest RocketMod release.
2. Extract into your server's Modules/ directory.
3. Start the server. Rocket creates its config files automatically.
4. Admin yourself: edit Rocket/Permissions.xml to add your Steam64ID as admin.

Essential Plugins

| Plugin | Purpose | |---|---| | Uconomy | In-game currency and economy | | ZaupShop | Buy/sell items with in-game currency | | Kits | Starter kits and VIP packages | | TPA | Teleport request system | | DeathMessages | Kill feed for PvP | | Warp | Admin-set warp points | | AutoSave | Configurable auto-save intervals |

Place plugin DLLs in Rocket/Plugins/ and restart. Configuration files generate automatically in Rocket/Plugins/[PluginName]/.

Step 5: Set Up Permissions

RocketMod's permission system uses Rocket/Permissions.xml:

<RocketPermissions>
  <Groups>
    <Group>
      <Id>default</Id>
      <DisplayName>Player</DisplayName>
      <Permissions>
        <Permission>tpa</Permission>
        <Permission>kit.starter</Permission>
        <Permission>balance</Permission>
      </Permissions>
    </Group>
    <Group>
      <Id>vip</Id>
      <DisplayName>VIP</DisplayName>
      <Permissions>
        <Permission>kit.vip</Permission>
        <Permission>home</Permission>
        <Permission>vault</Permission>
      </Permissions>
    </Group>
    <Group>
      <Id>admin</Id>
      <DisplayName>Admin</DisplayName>
      <Permissions>
        <Permission>*</Permission>
      </Permissions>
      <Members>
        <Member>76561198012345678</Member>
      </Members>
    </Group>
  </Groups>
</RocketPermissions>

Step 6: Custom Maps and Workshop Content

Unturned has thousands of community maps. To use a Workshop map:

1. Find the map on Steam Workshop and note the ID.
2. In Commands.dat, set map to the Workshop map's folder name.
3. Add the Workshop ID to your server's subscription list.
4. Restart. The map downloads automatically.

Popular community maps include Hawaii, Greece, Elver, Arid, and Buak. Larger maps may need an extra 512MB-1GB RAM.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Server not appearing in browser:

• Verify ports 27015-27016 (UDP) are open.
• Wait 5-10 minutes for indexing.
• Check that the server has fully started in the console.

Rocket plugins not loading:

• Verify the DLL is in the correct Rocket/Plugins/ directory.
• Check Rocket/Logs/ for error messages.
• Ensure the plugin version is compatible with your Rocket and Unturned version.

Players spawning without items:

• Configure starter kits in your Kits plugin.
• Check that the kit.starter permission is assigned to the default group.

Next Steps

• Set up BattleMetrics for player tracking and ban management.
• Create a Discord with rules, server info, and admin applications.
• Configure anti-cheat — BattlEye plus server-side plugins like uGuard.
• Join server listing sites to attract players.

Unturned's free-to-play model means a huge potential community. With budget hosting from Shockbyte and Sparked Host, you can get a server running for less than the cost of a fast food meal.