Host a Stationeers dedicated server your crew can join any time

Why give the colony its own server

When one friend hosts from the game, the station only exists while that friend is playing. A dedicated server keeps the world up for whoever logs in, keeps one copy of the save in one place, and lets you run admin commands without being the host.

RocketWerkz made the server part of the main game code in June 2022 and publishes it as a separate Steam tool that, in its words, is free to download and run anonymously. Dean Hall, the studio's CEO, wrote the setup notes this page leans on, published on his GitHub account together with an example script, runstationeers-linux.sh. Where newer patch notes changed things, especially how saves work, we follow the patch notes.

Will one machine keep up with your base?

Yes, if you pick for the right thing. RocketWerkz does not publish server specs, so we read the patch notes for what actually costs work:

• Your base, more than your headcount. Recent updates spend most of their performance effort on atmospherics, room generation while people mine, and large bases. Our reading: a fast processor with a few spare cores serves a growing station better than a huge core count.
• Up to 30 players. The guide's ServerMaxPlayers runs from 1 to 30, with 10 as the default. During its own playtests for the September 2025 update, RocketWerkz says, up to 10 players were regularly online together.
• Saving is quick now. Each save is a single compressed .save file, and since September 2025 only the snapshot of the world holds the game still, which RocketWerkz expected to take less than a second; the compressing happens afterwards in the background.
• Bandwidth is small. After the August 2026 network rework, a client connected to a world holding 50,000 objects used under 100 KB/s, down from about 650 KB/s. A full server is a sliver of an unmetered port (our arithmetic).
• Memory follows your world. The September 2025 rework replaced a terrain system that never let go of ground once it had been explored. RocketWerkz doesn't say how much memory the new system uses, so check free -h once your base is big.

The server that fits

The server file is built for x86-64 (the .x86_64 at the end of its name is the giveaway), so by our inference an ARM machine is the wrong pick. Our suggestion is an x86 line with SSD storage, and a rack server or a blade, because each of those has its own management controller with a browser console that appears in your dashboard after you set up a console login there, so you can reach it even if Linux will not boot. Most small cartridges only offer power control.

Look at the game server lineup, choose the city nearest your crew, and choose Ubuntu from the Linux images. A server already in the rack is yours in about 30 minutes once your order is approved; payment verification can add time. If you want to see what is racked today, instant servers shows it.

You manage the server; we keep the hardware and the network running.

Up and running on Ubuntu 24.04

First the firewall with SSH only, then SteamCMD from the multiverse repository (the way Valve's page shows), then a user called rocket that owns the game. If apt shows Valve's licence screen, accept it before you paste the remaining lines.

sudo sed -i 's/^IPV6=.*/IPV6=yes/' /etc/default/ufw
sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw --force enable
sudo add-apt-repository multiverse; sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386; sudo apt update
sudo apt install steamcmd
sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash rocket
sudo -u rocket bash -c 'cd /home/rocket && mkdir -p -m 700 world && /usr/games/steamcmd +force_install_dir /home/rocket/game +login anonymous +app_update 600760 validate +quit'

1. Create your world once, by hand: sudo -u rocket bash -c 'cd /home/rocket/game && ./rocketstation_DedicatedServer.x86_64 -loadlatest Colony mars -settingspath /home/rocket/world/setting.xml -settings SavePath /home/rocket/world ServerVisible false StartLocalHost true'. If no save called Colony exists yet, the second word tells it which world to start.
2. Not sure mars is the planet you want? The 2022 guide names these worlds, here in alphabetical order: europa, europa2, loulan, mars, mimas, moon, space, venus, vulcan and vulcan2. Newer versions may hide some of them, and help new or help loadlatest at the server console shows what yours accepts, though the guide warns the Linux console may not print that output.
3. Type save Colony, let it finish, then type quit.
4. Make the settings file private: sudo chmod 600 /home/rocket/world/setting.xml. Only after that, open it with sudo -u rocket nano /home/rocket/world/setting.xml and fill in your server name, join password and admin secret.
5. Let players in: sudo ufw allow 27016/udp.

Your settings, and keeping the password private

Settings live in an XML file. -settingspath tells the server where yours is (it only works on the launch line, and it has to come before -settings), and -settings sets values by name, two words at a time. The ones you will care about, with the defaults from the guide:

• StartLocalHost: false by default; switch it to true, because without it nobody can join.
• ServerVisible: true puts you in the in-game server list via RocketWerkz's master server.
• GamePort: 27016.
• ServerName and ServerPassword: what players see, and what they type to get in.
• ServerAuthSecret: the admin secret (more on that below).
• AutoSave and SaveInterval: on, every 300 seconds.
• SavePath: where your world is stored; this page uses /home/rocket/world.
• LocalIpAddress: leave it at 0.0.0.0 unless you add extra IPs.

Keep the password and the admin secret in the file, never in -settings: whatever is on a command line can be read by any user on the machine with ps. In the file, we infer from the guide's one example, each setting is an XML element carrying the setting's name; that example sets ServerAuthSecret to stationeers, so pick a secret of your own.

Keep it running on its own

A systemd service updates the game, starts your world when the machine boots, and starts it again whenever it stops. Save this file:

# /etc/systemd/system/stationeers.service
[Unit]
Description=Stationeers world
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
User=rocket
WorkingDirectory=/home/rocket/game
ExecStartPre=-/usr/games/steamcmd +force_install_dir /home/rocket/game +login anonymous +app_update 600760 +quit
ExecStart=/home/rocket/game/rocketstation_DedicatedServer.x86_64 -logFile - -settingspath /home/rocket/world/setting.xml -loadlatest Colony mars -settings StartLocalHost true ServerVisible true GamePort 27016 UPNPEnabled false AutoSave true SaveInterval 300 SavePath /home/rocket/world
Restart=always
RestartSec=20
TimeoutStartSec=1800

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Reload systemd with sudo systemctl daemon-reload, start it for good with sudo systemctl enable --now stationeers, and follow the log: journalctl -u stationeers -f (the -logFile - part sends it there). Three lines do the safety work. The dash in front of the update step means a SteamCMD error won't keep the game from launching, but a download that hangs still counts against the start timer, which is why TimeoutStartSec is half an hour. And because RocketWerkz doesn't say how the server exits when it crashes, Restart=always restarts it whatever happened.

Letting your friends in

Give them your IP and port. In the game's console they type join followed by the address and :27016, or they find your server in the list if it is visible. RocketWerkz advises against Steam P2P connections because they can fall out of sync, so connecting straight to your public IP is the way to go.

For admin work, put the same ServerAuthSecret in your own game's settings file. Then, from inside the game, serverrun passes commands to the server, for example serverrun save "Colony". Once systemd runs the server, its own console takes no typing, so removing someone goes through serverrun too: serverrun kick CLIENT_ID removes a player and serverrun ban CLIENT_ID keeps them out; after you edit the ban list by hand, serverrun ban refresh reloads it.

Saves you can come back to

A fix in December 2025 means the server now reliably writes a save as the final player disconnects, on top of the five-minute autosave. Want a save before you stop it while people are on? Run serverrun save "Colony" from the game, with your matching ServerAuthSecret. Your whole world folder (saves, autosaves, settings, ban list) is what to protect. This cron file archives it every night and keeps two weeks:

# file: /etc/cron.d/stationeers-world  (make the folder first: sudo install -d -m 700 /var/backups/world)
0 5 * * * root umask 077; tar -czf /var/backups/world/world-$(date +\%F).tar.gz -C /home/rocket world > /var/backups/world/tar.log 2>&1
20 5 * * * root find /var/backups/world -name 'world-*.tar.gz' -mtime +14 -delete

Nightly copies on the same disk do not protect you from losing the disk, so copy them somewhere else on a schedule of your own. With rsync, skip --delete; otherwise an empty source folder would empty your remote copies too.

To roll back: stop the service, see which archives you have (sudo ls -l /var/backups/world/), and test the one you want with sudo tar -tzf /var/backups/world/world-DATE.tar.gz > /dev/null && echo ok (go no further without ok). Move today's folder out of the way with sudo test ! -e /home/rocket/world.old && sudo mv /home/rocket/world /home/rocket/world.old && sudo ls -l /home/rocket/world.old; if world.old was already there or the list shows nothing, stop there and find out why. Then unpack the chosen one: sudo tar -xzf /var/backups/world/world-DATE.tar.gz -C /home/rocket, then run sudo chown -R rocket:rocket /home/rocket/world, start the service and check the station. Delete world.old only once you are happy.

One warning about updates: the September 2025 release made all older saves unloadable. RocketWerkz pointed players to save converters that the community built, not ones it made itself, so keep an archive of the old save before you try one. If you'd rather decide when a new version arrives, remove the update line from the service and run the update yourself once a backup exists. Trying the beta? Add -beta beta to the app_update step (Valve's page says to quote it together with the app id as one argument on a command line); Valve's page calls the regular branch public, so -beta public returns you, and the same choice goes into the service's update step.

Questions people ask

What ports do I open for Stationeers?

The guide names one: GamePort, 27016 unless you change it. It doesn't say TCP or UDP; the netcode sits on RakNet, which uses UDP, so we allow 27016/udp. If your setting.xml lists any other port setting, allow that one as well.

Does running the server require a copy of Stationeers?

Not to run it. SteamCMD logs in anonymously and downloads app 600760 for free. Everyone who plays on it needs their own copy of Stationeers.

Can I host two worlds on one machine?

Yes, as long as each one gets its own install folder, settings file, save folder, port and systemd service, and you open the second port in the firewall.

Will my old saves load on the new version?

Saves from before the September 2025 update don't; RocketWerkz said all previous saves broke with the terrain and save rework. Keep your nightly archives before any big update.

Is hosting from my own PC good enough?

For a couple of friends who always play together, yes, and it costs nothing. A server pays off once the world should exist whenever anyone logs in.