Generate a Terraria serverconfig.txt

Terraria's config file is easy to write and just as easy to have ignored, since the server will not go looking for it unless told to.

Visual Settings

key value Format

Identity

motd

Message shown to players on join.

port

Game port. Note this is not the TShock REST port, which is separate and is what external status tools need.

Gameplay

difficulty

0 classic, 1 expert, 2 master, 3 journey.

World

worldname

World name, used when autocreate generates a new one.

world

Full path to an existing .wld file. Pointing at a world that does not exist while autocreate is on quietly generates a new one instead.

autocreate

World size to generate if none is found: 1 small, 2 medium, 3 large. Larger worlds are the main driver of memory use.

seed

World generation seed. Only used when a world is created.

Players & Access

password

Join password.

maxplayers

Slot limit.

secure

Enables basic cheat protection.

Performance

npcstream

Limits NPC update broadcasts to reduce bandwidth.

priority

Process priority, 0 highest. Leave at 1 unless the machine is doing other work.

serverconfig.txt

worldname=MyWorld
world=
autocreate=2
difficulty=0
seed=
motd=Welcome!
password=
maxplayers=8
port=7777
secure=true
npcstream=60
priority=1

The serverconfig.txt format

Nothing but key=value lines, unquoted. Two settings do most of the work — the path to the world and autocreate — and together they can bite: if the path names a world that is not there and autocreate is switched on, you get a newly generated world rather than your save, with no warning.

The mistake that wastes an evening

Unless the launch command explicitly passes a config argument naming this file, the server never opens it. Launched plainly, it walks you through its own interactive setup instead. That is the whole story behind 'I edited the config, restarted, and nothing changed'.

Starting the server with the file

Pass the file explicitly: TerrariaServer.exe -config serverconfig.txt on Windows, or ./TerrariaServer.bin.x86_64 -config serverconfig.txt on Linux. Put that in the start script once and the interactive setup never appears again, which is also the sign that the file is being read.

Where worlds are kept

By default, worlds live in Documents\My Games\Terraria\Worlds on Windows and ~/.local/share/Terraria/Worlds on Linux, under the account that runs the server. The world line needs the full path to the .wld file, including the folder, not just the world's name. Get it wrong with autocreate on and you will be playing in a brand-new world within a minute.

Settings that only apply once

worldname, autocreate and seed are only used when the server generates a new world. Once a world exists and world points at it, changing them does nothing, so pick the size and seed you want before the first start.

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