Sons of the Forest is a tense co-op survival horror experience, and nothing kills the mood faster than the host rage-quitting and ending everyone's session. A dedicated server keeps your island persistent so your base, your stored loot, and your story progress survive between play sessions, and your whole group can hop in whenever they want. Here is how to run one properly.
Why You Want a Dedicated Server
Hosting from the game client ties the world to one person. When they log off, the island is gone for everyone, and their connection has to carry the entire simulation plus every other player. A dedicated server gives you persistent uptime, its own CPU and RAM, and a stable connection so all eight players get consistent performance instead of rubber-banding cannibals.
System Requirements
Sons of the Forest is heavier than most survival sandboxes because of dense forests, AI mutants, and structural building. Plan for:
- 2-4 players: 6GB RAM, 4 cores
- 4-8 players: 8-12GB RAM, 4-6 high-clock cores
- Large bases with heavy building: 12GB+ RAM and CPU headroom for physics
- Storage: ~15GB for the dedicated server plus save growth; NVMe SSD recommended
The AI director and building physics lean on single-thread performance, so a high-clock CPU keeps the world smooth when a mutant horde attacks a big base.
Installing the Dedicated Server
Endnight ships an official dedicated server tool you install through SteamCMD:
- Install SteamCMD and download the Sons of the Forest Dedicated Server app.
- Edit the JSON config: server name, max players, password, game mode, and difficulty.
- Forward the required UDP/TCP ports, or use a managed host that handles networking.
- Launch the server and share the IP so your friends can join via the multiplayer browser.
A managed game host removes the SteamCMD, port-forwarding, and patch-day steps entirely.
Config Options That Matter
- Max players: 1-8; size it to your group to avoid wasting RAM.
- Difficulty: Peaceful, Normal, Hard, or Custom. Agree on it as a group before launch.
- Save slot: Continue an existing save or start fresh; keep the save name consistent.
- Password: Lock private servers so randoms cannot grief your base.
- Structure damage and enemy settings: Custom mode lets you tune how punishing the island is.
Backups and Patch Days
Sons of the Forest receives frequent updates, and a bad crash mid-build can corrupt a save. Automate backups on a schedule and keep several restore points. After each major patch, update the dedicated server before your group reconnects, since out-of-date servers usually refuse client connections.
Hosting Sons of the Forest on Space-Node
Space-Node does not sell Sons of the Forest servers as a ready-made product, so there is no Sons of the Forest plan to order. The route that works with us is a VPS where you install the dedicated server yourself with the steps above. Our VPS plans run in the Netherlands and are out of stock until about the end of October 2026. If you want to talk through sizing before then, contact us.
Whatever you run it on, a full eight-player group should plan for 8 to 12GB of RAM so heavy bases and mutant attacks have room.
Final Word
A dedicated Sons of the Forest server keeps your island alive between sessions and lets your whole group drop in on demand. Give it a strong CPU, enough RAM for your base, and automated backups, then survive the horror together, one mutant wave at a time.