How many players can join?

Six by default and up to 24. The game recommends six and warns players before they join a larger server.

How do I keep strangers out?

Set a join password in the Game tab, either while creating the server or later. The game asks for it before the facility loads, and the short code alone is not enough to get in.

How do I become an admin in the game?

Set an admin password in the Game tab and type it in the game. That unlocks kick, ban and the other admin tools.

Is the facility saved when the server stops?

Yes. The game autosaves every five minutes, and a stop after someone played waits for the next autosave, at most five minutes, before it ends the server.

Free Abiotic Factor server, in 60 seconds.

Escape the GATE facility with your team on the official Abiotic Factor server. From Casual, 24/7 with anti-DDoS included.

Create a Abiotic Factor server 24/7 from €3.00

New versions on release day
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Low-ping regions

Abiotic FactorBeta

Nodes ready · start the first one

~24 ms

Abiotic Factor is in beta: you can create your server already, but we are still tuning its image and it may change without notice.

Guide · Abiotic Factor

Host an Abiotic Factor server

Abiotic Factor is Deep Field Games' co-op survival game set in 1993: a handful of scientists trapped in the GATE Cascade research facility while portals spill anomalies into the labs. The dedicated server is the Windows build the studio publishes on Steam; here it runs under a compatibility layer on Linux and downloads its latest patch each time it boots.

Three settings live in the Game tab: how many scientists may join, a join password and an admin password. The facility is written to disk by the game every five minutes. When somebody played since that last write, stopping the server holds it open until the next one lands, which can take up to five minutes; an empty lab shuts down straight away.

From an empty panel to your first shift

Open the panel, pick Abiotic Factor and a plan: the facility holds about 1 GB once it is loaded.
Keep the default of six players or raise it; the game warns joining players above six.
Add a join password if the lab is private.
Hit start and watch the console: the first boot downloads about 3 GB, which takes a few minutes.
In the game, open Play, find your server by name in the server browser and enter the password.

Joining from the game

In the game, Play leads to the server browser: type part of the server name, pick it and enter the password if the lab has one. Every session also gets a five-letter short code, printed in the panel console, which a friend can type instead of searching. After a game patch the browser hides servers on the old build, so restart yours and it downloads the same patch.

Rules you can change from the panel

Changes to the player cap or to either password are stored at once and reach the game at its next restart. Difficulty, loot respawn and the other sandbox options of SandboxSettings.ini, and mod.io mods, are left at the developer defaults while the game is in beta here.

How much RAM Abiotic Factor needs

We measured about 1 GB with the facility loaded and nobody inside; every extra scientist, base and portal world pushes that up. 2 GB is the smallest plan the wizard offers for it, 3 GB is what we suggest for a full team of six, and 8 GB of disk covers the 3 GB game files, the Windows compatibility layer and years of saves.

Running the server as the owner

The game has no remote command console, so the panel console shows the log, the players online and the server status. Kicks and bans happen in the game: set an admin password, and a player who types it in the game gets the admin tools. Moderators can also be listed by Steam ID in Admin.ini, which the server keeps next to the world save and which backups include.

If something goes wrong

Clients that report a version mismatch are newer than the server: one restart brings it level. Steam can take a minute to list a brand-new server, so if the browser still comes up empty, use the short code from the console. A server that never reaches online usually ran out of disk during the 3 GB download; the console says so in red.

Abiotic Factor Dedicated Server: Setup, Players, Admins and RAM

Versions

Abiotic Factor versions

latestDefault

Switch versions from the panel: we back the server up first and tell you what will be left behind.

Loaders

Abiotic Factor loaders and templates

VanillaVersion latestThe game exactly as the studio ships it.

Pick the template when you create the server: we install it, configure it and hand it over running.

Data

Abiotic Factor server data

Minimum RAM	2 GB
Recommended RAM	3 GB
Disk	8 GB
Port	Assigned to each server; the panel shows it
Free plan	Yes
24/7 from	Casual · €3.00/month
Crossplay	No switch in the panel
Mods	No one-click catalogue
Templates	Vanilla