Free Don't Starve Together server hosting

In Don't Starve Together, the world normally lives in the host's game: when they quit, everyone's evening ends. A dedicated server holds the world instead, so any of you can join and leave, and the world is still there when you come back. The only job left is renewing the server in the panel while you play.

What you get

• The official dedicated server, installed from Steam.
• The surface world only. A full world with caves runs two server processes at once, one per shard. Ours runs the surface shard alone, and the panel sets shard_enabled to false at every start, so caves stay off.
• Settings on the Startup page: Max Players (1 to 31, 16 by default), Game mode (survival, endless or wilderness), Cluster Name, Cluster Description and Auto-update server.

Two free plans are offered:

Lite is enough for a few friends. Pick Turbo for a fuller server or a long list of mods. The renewal guide explains how often to press Renew.

Before you start

You need a cluster token, which links the server to your Klei account. Sign in at accounts.klei.com (a Steam login works), open the game servers page for Don't Starve Together, add a server and copy the token, a long string that starts with pds-g^. The cluster token guide shows each screen.

Every player needs their own copy of the game. If you want mods, note the Workshop ID of each one; it is the number at the end of the mod's Workshop link.

How to start

1. On Create your server, choose a plan, then Don't Starve Together.
2. The Setup step asks for Server Token. Paste your cluster token there, or skip it and add it on Startup later.
3. Confirm your email with the code we send. The server downloads from Steam and starts, which takes a few minutes.
4. On Startup, change Cluster Name from "Torchlite DST Server" to something your friends can search for.
5. In the game, players open Browse Games and look for that name.

To lock the server with a password, fill in the empty cluster_password = line under [NETWORK] in DoNotStarveTogether/config/server/cluster.ini, then restart.

Skipped the token on the website, or need to change it? Paste it into Server Token on Startup and start the server: it copies the token into DoNotStarveTogether/config/server/cluster_token.txt on every start. Without a token the server stops right away and the console says so. The cluster token guide shows each step.

Mods take two files. List each mod in mods/dedicated_server_mods_setup.lua so the server downloads it, then switch it on in DoNotStarveTogether/config/server/Master/modoverrides.lua:

ServerModSetup("123456789")

return {
  ["workshop-123456789"] = { enabled = true },
}

Restart after editing them, and use SFTP if you prefer working on the files from your PC.

Common problems

The server stops at once, or the console complains about the token. Server Token on Startup is still changeme, or the token was cut short or deleted on Klei's site. Paste the whole token there and start the server again.

Players cannot join after a game update. Klei updates the game often, and Auto-update server is off by default. Switch it on under Startup and restart; from then on the server updates itself at every start.

You want caves. They are not available on our free servers, because the panel keeps the world to one shard.

Progress after a stop. The panel's Stop button sends c_shutdown(), which saves the world first. Before you step away, c_save() in the console saves straight away.