Empyrion Server Config Generator
Build a working dedicated.yaml (ports, player cap, identity, scenario) and the
gameoptions.yaml MP block (structure decay, anti-grief, origins, and the full survival
difficulty set) — with dropdowns for the enums and toggles for the switches. Every value is checked against a
live dedicated-server install, not a stale wiki. The output keeps Empyrion's strict YAML spacing
correct so the server actually boots. Paste an existing config back in to keep editing.
Server Identity
Name, password, and player cap. These live in dedicated.yaml under ServerConfig:.
gameoptions.yaml, you must delete the Saves\Cache folder or the server reloads the old cached values and your changes silently revert. More on both below the output.
The name players see in the in-game server browser. Keep it short and searchable.
Password required to connect. Leave blank for an open server. This is the player join password — admin rights are separate (set your name in the in-game AdminConfig.yaml after first boot).
Player slot cap. Verified default is 8. Empyrion is CPU-heavy per playfield — raising this needs real hardware, not just a bigger number.
On (default) = the server appears in the public browser. Off = unlisted; players join by direct IP only.
How many extra playfield (zone) processes to keep warm in memory, 0–10. Default 1. Higher = faster zone transitions for players, at the cost of more RAM. Leave at 1 unless you've got headroom and warp-lag complaints.
Network & Ports
Ports, anti-cheat, and remote telnet. dedicated.yaml → ServerConfig:.
Base UDP port, default 30000. Empyrion actually reserves a range of five ports — 30000 to 30004 — so forward/open 30000–30004 (UDP) on your router and firewall, not just one. Pick a base that leaves four free ports above it.
On (default) = Easy Anti-Cheat enforced. Turn it off only for modded/testing servers where mods aren't EAC-signed — an open server with EAC off is an open door for cheats.
Off (default) = family-shared copies of Empyrion can join. Turn it on to require everyone to own the game — a common anti-ban-evasion measure on PvP servers.
Auto-kick players whose ping exceeds this (ms). Default 0 = never kick. A common value is 300; leave at 0 unless high-latency players are causing rubberbanding for everyone else.
Off (default). On = opens a telnet admin console (used by tools like EAH — Empyrion Admin Helper). If you enable it, set a telnet password below — an open telnet port is a full remote-admin backdoor.
Port for the telnet console, default 30004. Only written when telnet is enabled. Note this sits inside the reserved 30000–30004 range — keep it there or move it well clear of your game port range.
Password for the telnet console. Set this if telnet is on. Only written when telnet is enabled.
World & Scenario
The save, game mode, seed, and scenario. dedicated.yaml → GameConfig:. These only apply when a new save is created — changing the seed or scenario won't reshape an existing galaxy.
The save folder name, created under Saves\Games\. Default DediGame. Keep it a single word, no spaces — it's a folder name and it's where your gameoptions.yaml ends up for an existing save.
Survival (default) or Creative. This also drives which gameoptions.yaml block applies — the generator switches the block's ValidFor tag to match ([ MP, Survival ] or [ MP, Creative ]) automatically.
Integer seed for galaxy generation. Verified default 1011345. Change it for a different galaxy layout on a fresh save; it does nothing to an existing one.
Which scenario to run, by folder name in Content\Scenarios\. Default Default Multiplayer — the stock dedicated-server scenario. Point it at a Workshop scenario's folder to run that instead. This name also tells you where to drop your gameoptions.yaml for new games (see below the output).
Optional. A URL where clients can download the scenario's shared data instead of pulling it from the server on connect — speeds up first joins for big custom scenarios. Leave blank unless you're hosting the data yourself.
Server Limits & Performance
Blueprint limits, heartbeats, login throttling, and the auto-restart period. dedicated.yaml → ServerConfig:. Defaults are sane — most servers never touch this section.
Caps how large a blueprint players may spawn/finish, by Size Class. Verified default 10. Range 1–50; 0 = no limit. Lower it to stop people factory-spawning oversized capital vessels that tank performance.
All (default) = any blueprint. StockOnly = only the game's built-in blueprints. None = blueprint spawning disabled entirely (hardcore — everything hand-built).
Off (default). On = the server uses DLC blocks/cosmetics, which means only players who own the DLC can connect. Leave off for the widest audience.
Hours of uptime before the server schedules a graceful auto-restart. Default 0 = off (the shipped example uses 48). A nightly or twice-daily restart keeps a long-running Empyrion server from drifting into memory bloat.
Optional. Name of a VIP list file — players on it can join even when the server is full. Leave blank unless you run a reserved-slots setup.
How many players may be mid-login at once. Default 5. Raising it can ease the rush after a restart on a busy server, but each login is expensive — don't go wild.
Seconds to wait for a playfield process to start before giving up. Default 90. Raise it (120–180) on slow storage / heavily-modded scenarios where zones are slow to load.
Internal watchdog interval for the main server. Default 15. Leave it unless a host's docs say otherwise.
How long a silent client can go before it's treated as timed out. Default 30. Leave it unless you're chasing a specific disconnect issue.
Bitmask for extra debug logging. Default 0 (normal logs). Leave at 0 unless a developer or host asks you to raise it to diagnose something — higher values spam the log.
Structure Decay & Persistence
Everything from here down lives in gameoptions.yaml, in the MP block — the one that actually applies to a dedicated server. This group controls how long abandoned bases and ships survive and the hard structure cap.
In-game hours an owner can be offline before their unprotected structures start to decay. Verified default 5. 0 = decay off. This is the first timer; full removal is Wipe Time below.
Hours before a fully-decayed structure is deleted for good. Verified default 720 (30 days). 0 = never wipe. This is what keeps a server from filling up with derelict starter bases.
Hours a structure stays offline-protected (un-raidable, non-decaying) after the owner logs off. Verified default 24. Longer protection is friendlier to casual players; shorter suits hardcore PvP.
Seconds after logoff before offline protection kicks in. Verified default 1800 (30 minutes). The delay stops players from logging off mid-raid to instantly shield a base.
Cap on structures allowed in a single playfield. Verified default is 1000 — not 255, despite what a lot of old guides claim; there's no hidden 255 cap here. 0 = unlimited. This is a performance guardrail; lowering it on a busy zone helps the server breathe.
On (default) = ore deposits run dry as auto-miners pull from them. Off = infinite deposits — easier resource economy, but it removes a core reason to expand and explore.
Off (default, verified). On = new base structures must be placed on the ground rather than floating. A niche anti-exploit; most servers leave it off.
Whether blueprints may be spawned underground. Always (default) / PvE (only in PvE zones) / Never. Restricting it curbs the buried-base raiding exploit on PvP servers.
On (default) = turrets buried underground are disabled, killing the classic invincible-buried-turret defense. Leave on for fair PvP.
Off (default, verified). On = thrusters require clear space in front of them to work, so you can't fully bury them inside a hull. A realism/balance toggle; off is the standard.
On (default, verified). On = decorative objects (plants, props) can be knocked down by impacts. Off makes deco static. Cosmetic; rarely changed.
Anti-Grief & Trading
No-build buffer zones around other players' structures and ore, plus what kind of trading the server allows. gameoptions.yaml MP block.
Metres you must keep clear of another player's structures in PvE zones. Verified default 10. Stops people boxing in your base.
Same idea in PvP zones, where it doubles as a spawn-camp buffer. Verified default 300 — much larger than PvE on purpose.
How far from an ore deposit another player must stay before claiming/mining conflicts. Verified default 50. Stops deposit-blocking.
Where the ore-distance rule applies. PvE (default) / All / PvP. Default protects deposits only in PvE; set All if you want it enforced everywhere.
What trading is allowed. All (default) = everything on; None = trading off. The rest restrict by scope (Local = same playfield vs Global = galaxy-wide) and parties (Player2Player vs Player2System, i.e. NPC trading zones). Most servers want All or None.
PvP, Origins & Factions
Forced PvP, friendly fire, the starting Origin (faction), and escape-pod handling. gameoptions.yaml MP block.
Off (default) = each playfield's own PvP/PvE flag decides. On = PvP everywhere, overriding zone flags. Flip this for a full-PvP server; leave off for a normal mixed galaxy.
Off (default) = faction-mates can't damage each other in PvP zones. On = they can — harsher, and a hardcore-PvP staple.
The faction new players start in. The stock Default Multiplayer scenario ships Human (verified live); the bare engine default is Neutral. Valid values are faction names defined by your scenario, so it's a free text field (not a fixed dropdown) — leave it at Human unless your scenario documents another origin.
On (default) = players of different Origins can interact/visit each other's space freely. Off locks Origins apart — used by faction-war scenarios.
Off (default, verified — note the single-player block defaults this on). On = players of the same Origin are auto-allied. Off keeps factions free to fight within an Origin.
Off (default). On = new players begin already enrolled in their Origin's faction rather than factionless. A scenario-design toggle.
On (default) = the starter escape pod despawns once you've moved on, keeping the start area tidy. Off leaves pods littering spawn.
Whether players may respawn locally (near where they died) vs being sent back to a base/start. Always (default) / PvP / PvE / Never. Restricting local respawn in PvP zones raises the stakes of dying.
Survival Difficulty
The full survival-tuning set — mostly Off/Low/Normal/High dropdowns. gameoptions.yaml MP block. Note: Empyrion's own in-file comments swap the Food and Oxygen consumption descriptions — a known game typo. The keys below are correct; ignore that swapped comment if you ever read the raw file.
How well-stocked the starter escape pod is. Easy (default, verified) / Medium / Hard. Harder = fewer starting supplies, a rougher opening.
How fast players gain XP / unlock points. Faster / Normal (default) / Slower.
What you lose on death. DropEverything (default) / DropNothing (keep it all — soft) / DropBagOnly (drop only the toolbelt/bag). DropEverything is the hardcore-survival baseline.
How fast tools and weapons wear out. Off / Low / Normal (default) / High. Off removes the durability grind entirely.
How long constructors take to build items. Faster / Normal (default) / Slower / Instant. Instant is popular on creative/build servers.
How long the factory takes to finish a blueprint. Faster / Normal (default) / Slower / Instant. Instant lets players spawn finished ships immediately — convenient, but it trivializes progression.
How much ore each deposit holds. Rich / Normal (default) / Poor. Pairs with deposit count below to set the whole resource economy.
How many ore deposits spawn per planet. Plenty / Normal (default) / Few. Few + Poor = a scarcity server; Plenty + Rich = abundance.
How punishing environmental radiation and temperature are. Off / Low / Normal (default) / High. Off removes hazard-suit pressure.
How fast players get hungry. Off / Low / Normal (default) / High. Off disables the hunger mechanic.
How fast oxygen depletes off-base. Off / Low / Normal (default) / High. Off disables the oxygen mechanic.
How hard enemies hit. Easy (default, verified) / Medium / Hard. This is the core combat-difficulty dial.
Intensity of drone raids on your bases. Off / Low / Normal (default) / High. Off stops base assaults entirely — friendlier for builders.
How many patrol drones roam the world. Off / Low / Normal (default) / High. Off makes for a quiet, low-threat galaxy.
Cap on simultaneously-spawned enemies per area. Verified MP default 10 (the single-player block uses 60). It's deliberately lower on dedicated servers to protect performance — raise it cautiously.
Player Mechanics & Block Counts
The four limiter mechanics — block-count caps, inventory weight/volume, CPU points, and the BP unlock check. All default on on a live server (a common myth says CPU/volume default off — verified false). gameoptions.yaml MP block.
On (default) = per-structure block-count limits are enforced (the actual per-class caps live in BlocksConfig.ecf, not here). Off lifts them — performance risk on a public server.
On (default, verified) = inventories are limited by weight and volume, so you can't carry an infinite hoard. Off = unlimited carry — a big convenience change, often paired with creative-ish servers.
On (default, verified) = vessels are limited by CPU points, capping how much you can cram onto one ship without more CPU extenders. Off removes the CPU meta entirely — build whatever you want.
On (default, verified) = the factory checks that you've actually unlocked a blueprint's blocks before it'll produce it, so people can't factory around the tech tree. Off skips that check.
Advanced: POIs & Streaming
POI regeneration, fog-of-war, and the Distributed Structure Loading (DSL) streaming distances. Rarely changed — the verified defaults are good. gameoptions.yaml MP block.
On (default) = looted Points of Interest regenerate over time so they can be raided again. Off = once-cleared POIs stay empty — harsher long-term resource pressure.
Off (default). On is for scenarios driven by an external mod/API manager (e.g. some HWS-style setups). Leave off unless your scenario's docs tell you to enable it.
How see-through the map fog-of-war is, 0–100. Default 0 (full fog — you have to explore to reveal the map). Raise it to give players more of the map up front.
Seconds before a distant structure is unloaded from active simulation. Default 30. Part of Distributed Structure Loading — leave it unless you're tuning a high-pop server for memory.
Range at which structures stay loaded on a planet. Default 1700, minimum 600. Lower saves memory but pops structures in/out closer to players.
Same loading range in space, where sight-lines are longer. Default 3500, minimum 1500. Keep it well above the planet value so space structures don't vanish at distance.
About the Empyrion Server Config Generator
Empyrion - Galactic Survival splits a dedicated server's configuration across two YAML files, and both of them are unforgiving. dedicated.yaml holds the server's identity and network layer — name, password, ports, player cap, anti-cheat, and which scenario and seed to run. gameoptions.yaml holds the actual gameplay rules: structure decay and wipe timers, anti-grief buffers, origins and PvP, and the full survival-difficulty set. This generator writes both, with dropdowns for every enum and toggles for every switch, and it keeps the indentation correct — because in YAML, the indentation is the syntax. Every default here was read off a live Empyrion dedicated-server install (Steam app 530870), not copied from a wiki, and it's current as of v1.17.
The two gotchas that break Empyrion servers
Two things trip up nearly everyone hosting Empyrion, and both are why a config "doesn't work" even though it looks fine:
- YAML is spaces, never tabs — and the spacing matters. A single stray space, or a tab where spaces belong, and the server refuses to boot (or silently ignores the file). The output from this tool is already spaced to Empyrion's exact format:
ServerConfig:at column 0, keys at two spaces;Options:at column 0,- ValidForat two spaces, and the option keys at four. Don't reformat it in a "smart" editor that retabs on save. - Delete
Saves\Cacheafter editing gameoptions.yaml. Empyrion caches game options the first time a save loads. Editgameoptions.yamland the server keeps reading the cached values — so your changes appear to do nothing. The fix is to delete theSaves\Cachefolder (it's regenerated on next boot). This is the single most common "my settings reverted" complaint, and it's not a bug — it's the cache.
Edit the MP block, not the SP block
gameoptions.yaml contains more than one settings block, each tagged with a ValidFor line that says which game modes it applies to. A dedicated server reads the multiplayer block — - ValidFor: [ MP, Survival ] — and ignores the single-player (SP) one entirely. People edit the SP block, see no change, and assume the file is broken. This generator only emits the MP block, tagged correctly, so there's nothing to get wrong. (If you switch the game mode to Creative up top, the tool retags it [ MP, Creative ] to match.)
MaxStructures defaults to 1000 — there is no 255 cap
A persistent piece of Empyrion folklore says structures are capped at 255 per playfield. They're not. A live server ships MaxStructures: 1000, and you can set it higher (or to 0 for unlimited). The setting is a performance guardrail, not a hard engine ceiling — on a busy public zone you might actually lower it to keep the server smooth, but you're never forced down to 255. We caught this (and about ten other wrong "wiki defaults") by reading the real file instead of trusting a guide.
Where the files go
- dedicated.yaml → the server's install root, alongside
EmpyrionDedicated.exe. This is the file you point the launcher at with-dedicated dedicated.yaml. - gameoptions.yaml (new game) → your scenario's folder, e.g.
Content\Scenarios\Default Multiplayer\gameoptions.yaml. The scenario name comes fromCustomScenarioin dedicated.yaml. - gameoptions.yaml (existing save) →
Saves\Games\<GameName>\gameoptions.yaml, where<GameName>is your save name. Then deleteSaves\Cache.
Ports: reserve the whole 30000–30004 range
Empyrion's Srv_Port default of 30000 is a base — the server actually claims five consecutive UDP ports, 30000 through 30004 (the telnet console default, 30004, sits at the top of that range). When you forward ports on your router and add firewall rules, open the whole 30000–30004 UDP range, not just 30000. If you change the base port, keep four free ports above it.
Installing the dedicated server
The Empyrion Dedicated Server is a free, separate download on Steam — app 530870 ("Empyrion - Dedicated Server"), distinct from the game (app 383120). It installs through SteamCMD:
steamcmd +login anonymous +force_install_dir C:\EmpyrionServer +app_update 530870 validate +quit
It does not auto-update, so re-run that +app_update 530870 validate line after each game patch — clients on the new version can't join a server still on the old build. Your saves persist across updates.
What this generator deliberately leaves out
- Per-block-class limits. The actual per-structure block caps (how many thrusters, turrets, etc. a single vessel may have) live in
BlocksConfig.ecf, not gameoptions.yaml. We expose theEnableMaxBlockCountswitch that turns the system on, but we don't fabricate the per-class numbers here. - Admin and faction lists. Your admin/elevated-permission names go in
AdminConfig.yamlafter first boot, not in either file this tool writes. - The SP block. Single-player option blocks do nothing on a dedicated server, so there's no reason to ship one.
Related tools
- Empyrion Console Commands — the admin and debug command reference, for once the server's running.
- Conan Exiles Server Config Generator — the same multi-file pattern for another survival sandbox.
- All GamesOMG generators
Empyrion is in active development and patches change defaults; we re-verify keys and values against a live server after major updates. Current as of v1.17. Spot a value that's drifted? Hit Report an issue above and we'll re-check it against a fresh install.