Abiotic Factor Server Config Generator
Build a complete SandboxSettings.ini — difficulty, enemy and survival multipliers, death penalties,
build rules — with sliders set to the game's real documented ranges, plus the
start_server.bat that loads it via -SandboxIniPath and the
GameUserSettings.ini crossplay line. Every key was read out of a
live dedicated-server install and checked against the v1.3 game files. Abiotic Factor
doesn't write this file for you — so this is the file you actually need.
Server Launch
Name, ports, player cap, password, and world — in Abiotic Factor these are launch parameters, not ini settings. They go on the AbioticFactorServer.exe command line, which is exactly what the start_server.bat tab builds.
SandboxSettings.ini for you. With no file, it silently uses built-in defaults — every "my settings don't apply" thread is this. You create the file and point the launch line at it with -SandboxIniPath. That's the whole job of this tool: a complete file and the matching start_server.bat that loads it.
The name shown in the server browser. Sets -SteamServerName on the launch line.
Player cap, 1–24 (you plus up to 23). Sets -MaxServerPlayers. Abiotic's instances are demanding — 6 is a comfortable default for a home box.
Required to connect. Leave blank for an open server. Sets -ServerPassword (omitted from the script when blank).
The save folder name, created under ...\Saved\SaveGames\Server\Worlds\. Sets -WorldSaveName. Use a fresh name to start a new world; reuse it to continue one.
Main game port, default 7777 (UDP). Sets -PORT. Forward this and the query port below; open both in the firewall.
Steam query port, default 27015 (UDP). Sets -QueryPort. This is how the server browser finds you — forward it too.
Crossplay & Access
Who can join across platforms. CrossplaySetting lives in GameUserSettings.ini (third output tab) and pairs with the -PlatformLimited launch flag.
Controls cross-platform joining. PartialCrossplay is the verified default. NoCrossplay locks the server to a single platform; LocalOnly restricts it to LAN. (All three values confirmed in the v1.3 game files.)
Adds the -PlatformLimited launch flag, which restricts the session to the host's platform. Pair it with NoCrossplay for a strictly same-platform server. Leave off for normal crossplay.
World Difficulty
The top-level difficulty and hardcore switch. Everything from here down writes to SandboxSettings.ini under [SandboxSettings].
The overall difficulty preset. Normal (default) / Hard / Apocalyptic. This sets a baseline; the multipliers below fine-tune on top of it.
Off (default). On enables the hardcore ruleset — far less forgiving. Pair with a harsher death penalty for a true survival-horror run.
World & Environment
Day/night, weather, water, spoilage, and world rules. [SandboxSettings] keys.
Normal (default) runs the cycle; Always Day or Always Night lock it. Always Night is a real difficulty bump — the facility is nastier in the dark.
How fast time passes. Default 1.0×, range 0.1–3.0×. Lower = longer days; higher = faster cycle.
How often weather events roll in. Never / Infrequent / Normal (default) / Frequent / Daily.
On (default) = facility power sockets cut out at night, forcing you to plan around the dark. Off keeps grid power available around the clock.
How fast sinks refill with water. Default 1.0×, range 0–10×. Crank it up if you don't want water to be a chore; 0 turns sinks off as a water source.
How fast food rots. Default 1.0×, range 0–2×. Set 0 to stop spoilage entirely; raise it for a tighter food economy.
How well fridges slow spoilage. Default 1.0×, range 0–2×. Pairs with food spoil speed to tune how much fridges matter.
Off (default) = sink water is clean. On = it's tainted and needs purifying first — a survival-realism bump.
Off (default) = radiation zones don't damage you. On makes them a real hazard. Pairs with Invisible Radiation below.
Off (default) = radiation is visibly marked. On hides the warning haze, so you only know by your Geiger counter — meaner. Mostly relevant when Radiation Deals Damage is on.
Off (default) = world loot is one-time, so the facility gets stripped over a long run. On lets containers refill — much friendlier for long-lived or high-pop servers.
On (default). Governs the personal home-world feature. Leave on unless you specifically want it disabled for your server's setup.
On (default) = the tag-based quick-stash / sorting feature is enabled. A pure quality-of-life toggle; almost everyone leaves it on.
Building & Structures
Structural support limits and furniture rules. [SandboxSettings] keys.
How far unsupported structures may extend before they need a support. Default 5. Higher = more ambitious cantilevered builds. The game documents no fixed upper cap, so this tool caps the slider at 50 for sanity — push higher in the file at your own risk.
Bridge-support tier, 0–2 (default 2). Part of the same structural-support system — higher is more permissive about bridge spans.
Off (default) = player-placed furniture can't be destroyed by players. On allows it — only enable on servers where you trust everyone, or want PvP-style teardown.
Enemies
Spawn rate, health, damage, and AI sharpness. [SandboxSettings] keys — these are the dials that make the facility feel safe or lethal.
How many enemies spawn. Default 1.0×, range 0.5–3.0×. Lower for a calmer base-building run; higher for constant pressure.
Enemy hit points. Default 1.0×, range 0.75–3.0×. Note the floor is 0.75 — you can't make enemies paper-thin, only a bit softer.
How hard enemies hit you. Default 1.0×, range 0.25–3.0×. The big "how punishing" dial — 0.25× is gentle, 3× is brutal.
How much damage enemies do to your turrets, traps, and placed defenses. Default 1.0×, range 0.1–5.0×. Lower it if you want base defenses to actually hold.
How quickly enemies notice you. Default 1.0×, range 0.1–3.0×. Lower it for a stealthier, more forgiving game.
Ranged-enemy aim. Pathetic / Low / Default (default) / High / Precise. Precise enemies punish standing still in the open.
Player Survival
The survival-needs drain rates, XP gain, and friendly-fire. [SandboxSettings] keys. Set a rate to 0 to switch that need off entirely.
How fast hunger drains. Default 1.0×, range 0–2×. 0 = no hunger.
How fast thirst drains. Default 1.0×, range 0–2×. 0 = no thirst.
How fast you tire (sleep need). Default 1.0×, range 0–2×. 0 = no fatigue.
How fast the bladder/bathroom need builds. Default 1.0×, range 0–2×. 0 = off. Yes, this is a real Abiotic survival stat.
Skill/XP gain rate. Default 1.0×, range 0–3×. Raise it for faster character progression on a boosted server.
Damage you deal to teammates. Default 0.5× (note: not 1.0). Range 0–3×. Set 0 for full friendly-fire immunity; raise it for hardcore realism.
Extra (or fewer) starting perk points. Default 0, range -20 to 50. Positive gives everyone a head start; negative makes builds tighter.
Items & Inventory
Stack sizes, weight, durability, and inventory space. [SandboxSettings] keys — the quality-of-life dials.
How many items fit per stack. Default 1.0×, range 1–30× (the floor is 1 — you can't shrink stacks). A big QoL win for reducing inventory juggling.
How heavy items are. Default 1.0×, range 0–5×. 0 = weightless (no encumbrance); raise it for a harsher hauling game.
How long gear lasts before breaking. Default 1.0×, range 0.1–10×. Higher = items last far longer; great if constant repair isn't your idea of fun.
How much durability your gear loses when you die. Default 0.1× (small), range 0–1×. 0 removes the death tax on gear; 1× makes dying really sting.
Starting inventory slots before backpacks. Default 12, range 0–42. Bumping it up is a gentle QoL change that doesn't touch difficulty.
Death & Rules
Death penalty, starting weapon, and the quality-of-life rule toggles. [SandboxSettings] keys.
What you lose on death, as a 0–5 severity scale (default 1). 0 keeps all items; 5 destroys everything; the levels in between get progressively harsher (the exact per-tier handling matches the in-game difficulty menu).
What weapon new players spawn with. None (default) / Shiv / Desk Leg / Kitchen Knife / Starter Baton / Pipe Club / Random.
On (default) = broadcast a message when someone dies. Off keeps deaths private.
On (default) = the host/admin can recover another player's death corpse — handy if someone dies somewhere unreachable. Off locks corpses to their owner.
On (default) = players may reset their character (respec). Off locks builds in — pair with hardcore for commitment.
On (default) = players may opt into Iron Mode (the permadeath-style challenge). Off removes the option server-wide.
On (default) = players share unlocked recipes with the group. Off makes everyone research independently — slower co-op progression.
On (default) = the pager item (player-to-player ping/locator) works. Off disables it. Mostly a co-op convenience toggle.
On (default) = cosmetic gear transmog is enabled. Purely visual; off if you want everyone's appearance tied to actual gear.
Off (default) = research uses the minigame. On skips it, auto-completing research — a popular QoL change for players who find the minigame tedious.
Launch Script Options
These shape the generated start_server.bat, not the ini. The script already passes -SandboxIniPath so your SandboxSettings.ini actually loads.
Wraps the launch in a loop so the server relaunches if it crashes or stops. Good for unattended boxes.
Adds a SteamCMD line that updates the Abiotic Factor Dedicated Server (Steam app 2857200) before each boot. The server doesn't auto-update — after a patch, clients on the new version can't join a stale server. Needs steamcmd on PATH or in the folder.
Redirects server output to server.log instead of the console window. Handy for unattended boxes and crash diagnosis.
About the Abiotic Factor Server Config Generator
Abiotic Factor's dedicated server keeps its gameplay tuning in a single file — SandboxSettings.ini — and the catch is that the server never creates that file for you. Boot it with no file and it quietly runs on built-in defaults; every "I changed the settings and nothing happened" thread traces back to this. You have to write the file yourself and tell the server where it is with the -SandboxIniPath launch argument. This generator builds a complete SandboxSettings.ini with every one of its settings exposed as a slider, dropdown, or toggle — set to the game's real documented ranges — and a matching start_server.bat that already passes -SandboxIniPath, so the file actually loads. Every key here was read out of a live dedicated-server install and cross-checked against the v1.3 game files.
Settings go in an ini; identity goes on the command line
This is the split that trips people up. The gameplay settings (difficulty, multipliers, death penalty, build rules) live in SandboxSettings.ini. But the server's identity — name, ports, player cap, password, and which world to load — are launch parameters, passed on the AbioticFactorServer.exe command line, not written in any ini. So this tool produces both: the ini for the gameplay, and the start_server.bat that supplies the launch parameters (and loads the ini). The two work together; neither is enough on its own.
Real sliders, real ranges
Abiotic Factor's sandbox settings aren't vague on/off switches — most are numeric multipliers with specific, documented bounds, and they're not all 0-to-something. EnemyHealthMultiplier floors at 0.75× (you can't make enemies trivial). ItemStackSizeMultiplier floors at 1× and goes up to 30×. DamageToAlliesMultiplier defaults to 0.5×, not 1×. DurabilityLossOnDeathMultiplier defaults to a gentle 0.1×. The sliders here are clamped to each setting's actual range and start at the actual default, so you're never guessing — or accidentally setting a value the game will just ignore.
Crossplay lives in a different file
One setting doesn't go in SandboxSettings.ini: crossplay. CrossplaySetting belongs in GameUserSettings.ini (the third output tab), and pairs with the optional -PlatformLimited launch flag. The verified default is PartialCrossplay; NoCrossplay locks the server to a single platform and LocalOnly restricts it to LAN. Because the server generates GameUserSettings.ini itself, you merge just the CrossplaySetting line into the existing file rather than replacing it.
Installing the dedicated server
The Abiotic Factor Dedicated Server is a free, separate download — Steam app 2857200, installed anonymously through SteamCMD:
steamcmd +login anonymous +force_install_dir C:\AbioticServer +app_update 2857200 validate +quit
Then forward and open UDP 7777 (game) and UDP 27015 (query). The server doesn't auto-update, so re-run that +app_update 2857200 validate line after each patch — the "Update via SteamCMD on launch" toggle bakes this into the start script for you.
Admins and bans
Moderators and bans aren't in SandboxSettings.ini either — they live in ...\Saved\SaveGames\Server\Admin.ini, which the server creates on first run with a [Moderators] and a [BannedPlayers] section. Drop SteamID64s in there (replacing the example placeholders). That file is outside this generator's scope on purpose — it's a plain ID list, and getting it wrong shouldn't be something a config tool risks.
What this generator deliberately leaves out
- Invented settings. Every key here exists verbatim in the v1.3 game files — all 46 of them, nothing padded.
- The exact death-penalty tiers.
DeathPenaltiesis a 0–5 scale; the endpoints (keep everything / destroy everything) are documented, but we present the middle as plain levels rather than guess at the precise per-tier item handling, which the in-game difficulty menu spells out. - A made-up upper cap on
StructuralSupportLimit. The game documents no maximum; the slider caps at 50 for usability, and you can hand-edit higher if you really want absurd cantilevers.
Related tools
- Abiotic Factor Console Commands — the in-game admin and cheat command reference.
- Conan Exiles Server Config Generator — another survival server, same multi-file approach.
- All GamesOMG generators
Abiotic Factor patches regularly; we re-verify keys, defaults, and ranges against a live server after major updates. Current as of v1.3. Spot a value that's drifted? Hit Report an issue above and we'll re-check it.