Duskworld Server Hosting 101

Overview

This guide covers the basics of duskworld server hosting and duskworld console commands, all documented in one place

IMPORTANT – CHANGE YOUR DUSKWORLD.INI

The “adminpass” value on line 149 in your duskworld.ini is INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT, if you leave this default ANYONE can login with RCON rights and change the level, force start the round, and kick/ban players. Most people don’t bother to change this, so it’s possible to join most other people’s games and change their map or run other admin commands.

Go to
<Drive>Program Files (x86)SteamsteamappscommonDuskconfigduskworld.ini for windows
or
/home/<user>/.steam/<steam root>/steamapps/common/Dusk/config/duskworld.ini for linux
just set this to anything else other than “password” and you’ll be fine.

Using The Console

Now that any random user with the knowledge of how the console commands work can’t hijack your server, now you need to know about the different commands and their functions. Also, if you don’t know how to open the console, it’s ~, aka that weird key above tab and to the left of 1 on normal english keyboards. If you have an international keyboard, good luck.

• rcon login <password>
  This gives you admin powers, required for every other command starting with rcon
• rcon changemap <mapname>
  Does what it says on the tin. The map names are as follows:
  fusillade
  “temple mystica_re”
  vestibule
  holiday
  clfftop
  “erebus reactor”
  rift
  skylab
  “dusk of the dead”
  Note: Maps in quotes must be entered including the quotes
• rcon startround
  Forces a round start regardless of the ready status of players in the server
• rcon kick <name>
  You know what this one does
• rcon ban <SteamID>
  Honestly never used this one, it might actually go off of ingame names for all I know.
• rcon ban clearlist
  Unbans everyone on the banlist

These can be run by anyone without admin access

• quit
  Does what it says
• clear
  Clears the console scrollback
• team <number>
  Set your team to 0 for spectator or 1 for normal player
• playerlist
  Prints a list of players with their steamID and steam username next to their IGN in the console

Getting Players / Choosing A Map

Now that you know how to administrate your server, you need to know how to get players, and what map is best for the number of players in the server.

Open the New Blood discord (there’s a link on the duskworld main menu if you aren’t there already), post some “@here hosting a server pls gib attention” in the #duskworld-lfg channel. Wait. Kruezermann joins your server and sends you to the shadow realm (optional).

Now that you have some hopefully average skill human players, you need to know what map to choose. I order the maps by how many players they can comfortably support, and it goes as follows.

• vestibule
  2-3 players – mostly a duel map
• holiday
  2-3 players – good for duels or small casual groups
• fusillade
  2-5 players – the preferred duel map for high skill players, also fantastic for small groups
• “temple mystica_re”
  2-5 players – A bit of a weird one, cramped and hard to navigate but if that’s your thing, go for it
• clifftop
  2-5 players – The middle step between duel maps and the larger deathmatch oriented maps
• skylab
  2-8 players – It’s a big lab building in the sky I guess
• “dusk of the dead”
  2-8 players – If you’re hosting at a normal time, start with this. The most common deathmatch map
• rift
  >8 players – Huge, unless the population is high this map is too big to find anyone with <8 players
• “erebus reactor”
  >10 players – Gigantic, a mostly full server is needed to play it properly

Ending Note

Hopefully this guide was helpful, if any of the text is unclear or becomes incorrect, or if I’ve left anything out you think should be included, leave a comment and let me know.