Vintage Story Server Configuration

Your Vintage Story server has two types of settings:

• Panel-managed settings — controlled from the Startup tab in the EVLBOX panel. These are written to serverconfig.json on every server start and will override manual edits.
• File-managed settings — edited directly in data/serverconfig.json through the file manager. These are yours to customize freely.

---

Server File Structure

Here’s how your Vintage Story server is organized in the file manager. Most of your work will be inside the data/ folder.

• Directorydata/

  • serverconfig.json Panel + manual settings
  • DirectorySaves/

    • default.vcdbs World save file
  • DirectoryMods/

    • example-mod.zip
  • DirectoryBackups/

    • …generated by /genbackup
  • DirectoryLogs/

    • …
• Directoryassets/

  • …
• DirectoryLib/

  • …
• VintagestoryServer

---

Panel-Managed Settings (Startup Tab)

These settings are configured in the Startup tab of the EVLBOX panel. Change the value, restart your server, and it takes effect automatically.

Variable	Description	Default
Server Name	Your server’s name in the server browser (4-80 characters)	EVLBOX Server
Advertise Server	Toggle whether your server appears in the public VS server browser	Off
Whitelist Mode	0 = Default, 1 = Off (anyone can join), 2 = On (whitelisted only)	1 (Off)

Caution

These three settings are overwritten in serverconfig.json on every server start. If you edit them directly in the config file, your changes will be lost on the next restart. Always use the Startup tab for these.

---

File-Managed Settings (serverconfig.json)

All other settings are edited directly in data/serverconfig.json. The panel does not touch these — your changes are preserved across restarts.

Caution

Always stop your server before editing serverconfig.json. The server writes to this file on shutdown and may overwrite your changes if it’s still running.

Accessing the Config File

1. Log in to the EVLBOX panel and stop your server.
2. Navigate to the Files tab.
3. Open the data folder and click on serverconfig.json.
4. Make your changes and click Save.
5. Start your server.

---

Common Settings Reference

Field	Description	Example
WelcomeMessage	Message shown to players when they connect. Use {0} for the player’s name.	"Welcome {0} to our server!"
Password	Require a password to join. Set to "" or null for no password.	"secretpass"
AllowPvP	Enable or disable player-versus-player combat.	true or false
MaxClients	Maximum number of connected players. Also set via Startup tab.	16
ServerDescription	Longer description shown in the public server browser.	"A friendly survival server"

---

Enabling / Disabling PvP

In data/serverconfig.json, find the AllowPvP field:

"AllowPvP": false

Set to true to allow PvP or false to disable it. Save the file and restart your server.

---

Setting a Server Password

To require a password for players to join, set the Password field in data/serverconfig.json:

"Password": "yourpassword"

To remove the password, set it to an empty string or null:

"Password": ""

---

Setting a Welcome Message (MOTD)

The WelcomeMessage field controls the message shown to every player when they connect. Use {0} as a placeholder for the player’s name:

"WelcomeMessage": "Welcome {0} to our server! Type /help for commands."

---

Making Your Server Public or Private

Server visibility is controlled by the Advertise Server variable in the Startup tab:

• On — your server appears in the Vintage Story public server browser.
• Off — your server is unlisted; players need the direct address to connect.

Tip

You can keep your server unadvertised and still allow anyone to join by leaving Advertise Server off and Whitelist Mode set to 1 (Off). This way only people you share the address with can find it.

---

Get a Vintage Story server

Back to Vintage Story Guides

Note

Questions or problems? Reach out to our support team — we’re happy to help!