Startup parameters

Per-game variables — world seed, passwords, modding frameworks — and when they take effect.

Startup parameters are the variables your server reads when it boots. Which ones exist depends entirely on the game: Rust has a world seed, Valheim has a password, Minecraft has the jar file and memory flags.

Think of it as the settings the game needs before it starts, as opposed to config files it reads once running.

Where to find them

Open the Startup parameters tab. Each variable has a name, a short description and a field. Use the search box at the top — some games expose twenty or more.

Change a value, save, then restart the server. Nothing takes effect until the next boot.

Examples worth knowing

Rust exposes the pieces that define a wipe: world seed, world size, a custom map URL, and a modding framework field that accepts vanilla, oxide or carbon — that is how you install Oxide or Carbon, rather than uploading it by hand.

Valheim has the server password, world name, whether the server is public, and a crossplay toggle.

Minecraft has the jar file and Java memory flags. Most people never need to touch these — the version and engine are managed from their own tab instead.

Handle with care

These variables are how the server starts. A wrong value does not produce a friendly error — it usually means the server refuses to boot at all, and the console says something cryptic about a missing file.

Two habits worth having:

Change one thing at a time. If the server stops booting, you know which value did it.

Note the old value before replacing it. There is no undo, and the default is not always shown once you overwrite it.

Reinstalling

A few variables only apply during installation — Steam credentials for games that need an owned copy, or the flag that regenerates a Rust world. Setting them is not enough on its own; the server has to be reinstalled for the installer to run again.

Reinstalling replaces the server files. Take a backup first if there is anything on the server you want to keep.

If something breaks

Restore the value you changed and restart. If you did not note it down, open a ticket from Help centre with your server ID — we can see what the defaults for your game are and put them back.