Veloren Server Best Practices

Checklist

• [ ] weekly version, reinstalled each time a new weekly build comes out, so players' Airshipper clients match. Setup
• [ ] A locked backup before every new build. Builds can upgrade the database, and there's no going back afterwards.
• [ ] Backups every 6–12 hours of userdata/server/. Backups
• [ ] Authentication left on (auth_server_address pointing at the official server).
• [ ] max_view_distance capped to suit your server. Performance
• [ ] Admins added from the console, moderators for day-to-day moderation.
• [ ] Rules in description.ron, which players accept on their first join.
• [ ] Settings edited with the server stopped. A typo makes Veloren quietly fall back to defaults.

Performance

• max_view_distance in settings.ron caps how far players can see, in chunks. The default is Some(65), far more than most servers need. Some(10) to Some(15) keeps CPU and memory down with little visible difference for most players.
• max_players (default 100): set it to what your plan can handle.
• Veloren uses several CPU cores when many players are online in different places. If the CPU is maxed out with few players, view distance is almost always the cause.

Backups

Everything that matters is in userdata/server/:

• Back up the whole userdata/server/ folder every 6–12 hours with a panel schedule. Backup schedules
• Make a locked backup before each new build.
• Stop the server before restoring. The database is written continuously while it runs.

Shutting down cleanly

The panel's Stop saves and shuts down safely. To warn players first, type this in the console:

shutdown graceful 120 --reason "Updating to the new weekly build"

That gives everyone a two-minute countdown. shutdown cancel stops the countdown.

Access and security

• Authentication: keep auth_server_address as Some("https://auth.veloren.net"). Without authentication, anyone can join using any name, including an admin's. Changing it to another auth server shows players a security warning.
• Admins: add them in the console with admin add <name> admin (or moderator), and remove them with admin remove <name>. They're stored by account ID in admins.ron, so a renamed account keeps its role.
• Whitelist: as soon as whitelist.ron lists anyone, only those players can join. Manage it in game with /whitelist add Name.
• Ports: players need only the game port (TCP). The metrics port is for monitoring, not for players. The optional query port (UDP) only shows your server in Airshipper's list.

Moderation commands (in game, as admin or moderator)

Updating to a new weekly build

1. Warn players with shutdown graceful 120, or pick a quiet time.
2. Make a backup and lock it.
3. Settings → Reinstall Server. Your userdata is kept.
4. Start and watch for Server is ready to accept connections.
5. Tell players to update in Airshipper.

Common problems