Generate a V Rising ServerHostSettings.json

V Rising ships two JSON config files whose names differ by a single word, and nearly everyone puts a setting in the wrong one at first.

Visual Settings

json Format

Identity

Name

Server name in the browser.

Description

Description shown in the browser.

Port

Game port, UDP.

QueryPort

Query port, normally the game port plus one. This is the one server lists read.

World

SaveName

Save folder to load. A new name starts a fresh world.

AutoSaveCount

How many autosaves to keep.

AutoSaveInterval

Seconds between autosaves.

Players & Access

MaxConnectedUsers

Slot limit.

MaxConnectedAdmins

Admin slots held above the player limit.

Password

Join password.

Network

ListOnMasterServer

Publishes the server publicly. Off means direct connection only, and no external checker can see it.

RCON & Query

AdminOnlyDebugEvents

Restricts debug commands to admins.

Rcon.Enabled

Remote console.

Rcon.Port

RCON port. Keep it private.

Rcon.Password

RCON password. Note that game rules — rates, decay, castle limits — are not in this file at all; they live in ServerGameSettings.json.

ServerHostSettings.json

{
  "Name": "My V Rising",
  "Description": "Vampire rules.",
  "Port": 9876,
  "QueryPort": 9877,
  "MaxConnectedUsers": 40,
  "MaxConnectedAdmins": 4,
  "SaveName": "world1",
  "Password": "",
  "ListOnMasterServer": true,
  "AutoSaveCount": 20,
  "AutoSaveInterval": 120,
  "AdminOnlyDebugEvents": true,
  "Rcon": {
    "Enabled": false,
    "Port": 25575,
    "Password": ""
  }
}

The ServerHostSettings.json format

Treat both as strict JSON: no comments, no trailing commas, numbers without quotes. ServerHostSettings.json is only about who the server is and how it connects — name, description, ports, slots, password. Keep game rules out of it.

The mistake that wastes an evening

Everything that shapes how the game plays — rates, decay, PvP rules, castle limits — belongs in ServerGameSettings.json. Anything put in the host file instead is ignored with no complaint, which is how so many servers run default rules in spite of a carefully edited config.

Overrides, not edits

The server first loads the defaults shipped in VRisingServer_Data/StreamingAssets/Settings, then looks for your files in the Settings folder of its data path and applies them on top. That folder can hold complete files or just the values you want to differ from the defaults. Running more than one server on a machine needs -persistentDataPath on each launch line, so each gets its own Settings and Saves.

Becoming admin

Admin rights are not in either JSON file. Add your SteamID, one per line, to adminlist.txt in the same Settings folder; the server picks the change up without a restart. Then enable the console in the game's options, open it with ~ and run adminauth.

Settings from the launch line

Most host settings can also be given at launch, either as a parameter such as -saveName or as an environment variable such as VR_SAVE_NAME, and those win over the files. That is handy in containers, and it is the first place to look when a value in ServerHostSettings.json seems to be ignored.

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