Soulmask Dedicated Server: Setup, Maps, GM Commands and RAM
Run a Soulmask dedicated server: the Linux build, ports, Cloud Mist Forest and Shifting Sands, PvE or PvP, GM rights, the console commands and the 10 GB of RAM it needs.
A Soulmask dedicated server keeps your tribe, its followers and its settlement running between sessions, on rules you choose, without one player's PC holding the world. This guide covers Qooland's Linux dedicated server, hosting it yourself, the two maps, PvE and PvP, GM rights, the console commands and the memory it really takes on our Soulmask server hosting.
- What it is: Qooland's free Soulmask Dedicated Server, Steam app 3017300, with a native Linux build of about 2 GB.
- Maps: Cloud Mist Forest, the jungle of the base game, and Shifting Sands, the desert of the DLC.
- Memory: an empty world settles near 9 GB, so the server needs 10 GB of RAM. It is one of the heaviest games we host.
- On 1up: in beta, 24/7 from Studio at €20/month. Free and the smaller plans cannot carry it.
1. Self-host or hosting?
The dedicated server is free on Steam and runs on Windows or Linux.
- Install: with SteamCMD,
steamcmd +login anonymous +app_update 3017300 validate +quit. No game licence is needed for the server. - Start: on Linux,
WS/Binaries/Linux/WSServer-Linux-Shipping WS Level01_Main -server -log -SteamServerName="My tribe" -MaxPlayers=10 -pve -Port=8777 -QueryPort=27015. UseDLC_Level01_Mainfor Shifting Sands and-pvpfor player raids. - Ports: UDP 8777 for the game and UDP 27015 for the Steam query. Both must be forwarded on the router.
- Passwords:
-PSW=sets the join password and-adminpsw=the GM password. They are launch options, not a config file. - Saving:
-saving=600writes the world every ten minutes and-backup=900keeps a rolling copy every fifteen.
At home, the memory is the hard part: the world alone takes about 9 GB before anyone joins, on top of what Windows or your desktop already use, and the PC has to stay on while anyone plays. A hosted server keeps that load off your machine and the world up when you log off.
2. Create a Soulmask server on 1up
- Create an account and press Create server.
- Choose Soulmask and a region, London or Paris. The wizard measures your ping and suggests the nearest one.
- Pick a plan. Only Studio and Ultra appear, because they are the plans with 10 GB of RAM or more.
- Pick the map, PvE or PvP, and a join password if the tribe is private.
- Create the server and follow the Console. The first start downloads about 2 GB from Steam and generates the map, a few minutes in all. The server is ready when the log reports the session created.
Every start checks Steam for a newer build first, so a Qooland patch reaches your server with one restart.
3. The settings in the Game tab
| Setting | What it does | Values |
|---|---|---|
| Map | The world the server loads | Cloud Mist Forest or Shifting Sands |
| Mode | Whether players can raid each other | PvE or PvP |
| Max players | How many can be connected at once | 1 to 70, capped by the slots of your plan |
| Password | Asked on the Join Game screen | 4 to 32 characters, empty for an open server |
| GM password | Unlocks GM commands in the game | 6 to 32 characters |
Every field reaches the game as a launch option, so a change applies at the next restart. Experience and gathering multipliers and mods stay at Qooland's defaults while Soulmask is in beta on 1up.
4. The two maps
Cloud Mist Forest is the map every copy of Soulmask includes: jungle, rivers, temple ruins and the tribes that already live there. It is the right start for a new group.
Shifting Sands is the desert map of the paid DLC. The server needs nothing extra, but every player who joins must own the DLC on their own account. Each map keeps its own world on the server, so switching back later finds your jungle settlement where you left it.
5. How friends join
- In Soulmask, open Join Game from the main menu.
- Type part of the server name in the search box and pick your server.
- Enter the join password when the game asks for it.
There is a second way in: run qi in the panel console, copy the invitation code it prints and send it to your friends, who can paste it on the same screen. When a friend gets a version error, their client is newer than your server: restart the server and it pulls the same patch.
6. GM rights and the console
GM in the game. Set a GM password in the Game tab and restart. In the game, open the console and type gm key followed by that password. That unlocks the GM commands, including kicks and bans, which Soulmask only offers in the game.
The panel console talks to the server over its RCON, which never leaves the server. It offers the read commands:
| Command | What it shows |
|---|---|
lp | The players connected right now |
lap | Every player the world has seen |
lg | The tribes of the world |
fps | The server frame rate, a quick health check |
qi | The invitation code for your friends |
Saving needs no command. The world is written every ten minutes and once more on every stop, and our backups copy the whole save folder, WS/Saved, with the world database.
7. How much RAM, and what it costs
We measured an empty Cloud Mist Forest world at 8.7 GB two minutes after the start, and it stayed there. Every tribe, follower and building adds to it, so the server starts at 10 GB and 12 GB is the comfortable size for a group that builds a lot. The 2 GB install, the world database and its rolling copies fit in 10 GB of disk.
Real prices, as on our pricing page:
| Plan | Price | RAM | Slots | Backups | Soulmask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | €20/month | 16 GB | 50 | 10 | 24/7, room for a busy world |
| Ultra | €50/month | 32 GB | unlimited | 20 | 24/7, large communities up to the game's 70 players |
Free, Casual, Starter and Pro stop at 2, 2, 4 and 8 GB, below what Soulmask needs before anyone joins, so the wizard does not offer them for this game.
8. If something goes wrong
- The server is not in the list: Steam can take about a minute after the session is created. Search the exact name, or share the
qicode instead. - Version mismatch after a patch: restart the server so it pulls the new build.
- A friend cannot enter Shifting Sands: they need to own the DLC.
- The server stops during the first start: read the last lines of the console; a memory stop means the plan is too small for the world.
If your group likes survival with friends, our guides to an ARK: Survival Evolved server and the best co-op survival games to host are good next reads.
Written on 2026-10-28. Ports, paths and memory come from our Soulmask image, measured on 2026-10-28; panel fields, commands and plans come from 1up v1.52.0 of 2026-10-28.
Change log
- 2026-10-28: first version.