While this project is constantly being maintained and improved, it's quite tricky to keep the Steam guide up-to-date with the latest improvements for several reasons.

It's strongly recommended to refer to the documentation on the project's GitHub Repository[github.com] as it will always have the latest docs and improvements.

There are several great guides on how to setup dedicated servers for each specific platform, and I’ve used them many times. When I was about to setup a dedicated server for myself from scratch for the 4th time, however, I decided to invest some more time instead and work on a reusable easy setup solution.

The goal was to have a platform-agnostic solution (something that runs in Linux, MacOS or Windows just the same) that would require only a few simple steps to get a proper server up and running. And by “proper” I mean a manageable server with Caves that supports Mods and customization, of course.

The solution was developed using Docker and I’ve been playing on the server for a while quite happy with the result. I hope this project can help other people get started fairly fast and easily, having plenty of time to customize and play!

Please reach me out if come across any troubles while setting this up. Any feedback is deeply appreciated. See the source on GitHub[github.com] with the full docs.

Have fun! :D

The following are the macro steps that are required to get the dedicated server up and running:

• Pick a host machine
  
• Install the required tools:
  - Docker
  - Git (optional)
  
• Get the server files
  
• Set your Cluster Token

By completing the above you'll have a fully working server with caves ready to play! However it will obviously be running on default server and world configurations, no mods at all.

You'll probably want to take some extra steps to:

• Configure the server properties
  
• Customize world generation
  
• Install and customize mods

As mentioned, Docker runs on Windows, Mac OS X and several Linux distributions. Therefore you may pick the platform you like the best and feel comfortable with.

Things to have in mind when selecting your host:

• Have an exclusive machine to host the server to make sure resources will be promptly available to the server
  - You may of course host and play on the same machine. Just make sure you have the proper resources available!
  
• One free CPU core per shard is recommended (2 in total, Master + Caves)
  
• At least 1Gb RAM available per shard, + RAM for the running host OS.
  - 2Gb should suffice for a server with only a few players (4 or less).
  - 4Gb is the optimal for over 4 players
  
• A "lightweight" Linux distribution is recommended to host for performance gains. Suggested distro: Debian 9

Instructions will be focused on Unix-based systems (Linux / Mac OS X). They should be fairly easy to adapt to Windows.

Follow the official docs to install Docker on Linux. At first glance it might seem complicated, but the instructions are very detailed and thorough:

• Docker Engine CE[docs.docker.com]
  
• Docker Compose[docs.docker.com]
  
• Make sure to read through and follow the post-installation steps for Linux[docs.docker.com] (quite important!)
  - Enable your user to manage `docker` without the need of `sudo`
  - Configure Docker to start on boot

You only need the Docker desktop standalone[docs.docker.com] as it has everything you need, no extra steps required. Voilà!


If you want to install git to fetch the server files, it's super easy to install it in any OS[git-scm.com].
In most Linux distros all you need is:

If you installed Git, clone this repository in your home folder:

Alternatively you may simply download the zipped files from GitHub directly, then upload and extract it to your home folder.

The cluster token is stored in the cluster_token.txt file and without it your server won't run online. If you intend to run a LAN only server, you don't need this step.

There are a few ways to generate and get a cluster token. You may follow what's in the existing cluster_token.txt file:
After you get it, make sure to delete everything from this file and leave only your cluster token there, without any spaces or anything else.

You can easily do that replacing `InsertYourTokenHere` in the following command and executing it in your server:

echo 'InsertYourTokenHere' > ~/dst-dedicated-server/DSTClusterConfig/cluster_token.txt

The account that generates the token automatically gains admin access in-game, meaning you can rollback, regenerate the world or use console commands while playing.

For simplicity of the `docker-compose` commands listed below, make sure you'll be running them from within the installation folder:

Full reference can be found in the project's documentation[github.com].


The developers are constantly updating the game, which is really good. However if your game client version mismatch the server's, you won't be able to see your server listed in Browse Servers.

To updated the game client, simply stop and start the server again. On every startup the containers updates the game version automatically. Bear in mind this might take a minute or two.


From your installation folder, run docker-compose in detached mode to start the server

Tip: You can follow logs when running in detached mode:


It's possible to execute game console commands[dontstarve.wikia.com] from the terminal by attaching to the Master shard:

Caution! Every input will be forwarded to the container when attached. That means if you hit CTRL-c the container will receive SIGINT and will gracefully stop.

It's only possible to attach to the Master shard (dst_master container) as it's the one who manages the slave (Caves shard, dst_caves). i.e. Running c_shutdown() on the Master shard will shutdown all shards, while running it on Caves would shutdown the Caves shard only.

Once attached, you may run any commands to manage the game such as c_save(), c_spanw(), c_regenerateworld(), etc.

To detach from the container, press the CTRL-p CTRL-q sequence. Hitting CTRL-c will stop the running container. Check Docker's attach docs[docs.docker.com] for more info.


Saving and shutting down

To save the game right before shutdown, attach to the container and execute c_shutdown():
The Master shard will manage to save the game and send a shutdown signal to the Caves shard as well.

Alternative: shutdown without saving

If you simply want to shutdown the containers without saving the game:

Please refer to the official docs for detailed information on how to:

• Customize your Server and World generation[github.com]
  
• Install and configure Mods[github.com]

All feedback is appreciated! If you have any questions or run into any troubles while setting it up reach me and we'll figure a solution :)

This project is hosted on GitHub[github.com]. Feel free to fork, start a discussion and contribute!