Astroneer dedicated server on a whole Windows machine

What System Era ships

System Era's directions cover one route: install ASTRONEER Dedicated Server from Steam (Library, then Tools) or pull it with SteamCMD as app 728470. Steam's own record for the app lists 64-bit Windows as its only platform, marks it free to download, and launches AstroServer.exe. The config folder the directions point to is Astro\Saved\Config\WindowsServer (written WINDOWS SERVER on their page).

Two things are absent from the official material. There is no Linux build and no Linux procedure, so a Linux host means an unsupported compatibility layer and no one to ask when an update breaks it. And System Era publishes no CPU, memory or player-count figures for the server. Any sizing below is ours, labelled as such.

System Era's page opens with a disclaimer: it offers no warranty or support for self-hosted servers, and any attempt to modify the game or reach its backend services to get around unlocks is met with a ban.

Platforms that can join a self-run server

This table decides the project. A group with Xbox players needs one of System Era's official partner providers, not root on a machine of its own. A Steam group, with or without PS4 friends, is what the self-hosted route was written for.

Install and first start

1. Download SteamCMD for Windows from Valve and extract it to its own folder.
2. Fetch app 728470 into a dedicated directory with the command below. Steam marks the tool free to download; if SteamCMD refuses the anonymous login for it, log in with your own Steam account instead.
3. Run AstroServer.exe once and close it. If Engine.ini and AstroServerSettings.ini are not there yet, System Era's advice is to start the server once and then close it.
4. With the server stopped, edit both files as in the next section.
5. Add the firewall rules, start the server again, and join from the game with the address and port.

steamcmd.exe +force_install_dir C:\AstroServer +login anonymous +app_update 728470 +quit

Valve's SteamCMD documentation puts force_install_dir before the login and uses the same app_update line to fetch updates later. Its validate option re-checks every file and overwrites changed ones; keep it for a first install or a damaged one.

Engine.ini and AstroServerSettings.ini

System Era's instruction is in capitals for a reason: changes made while the server is running are not saved. Stop it, edit, start it.

; Engine.ini
[URL]
Port=8777

; AstroServerSettings.ini (keep the lines already there; change or add these)
PublicIP=203.0.113.10
OwnerName=YourSteamName
OwnerGuid=0

Replace 203.0.113.10 with the server's own IPv4 address. To hand ownership to someone else, System Era's method is to replace the name in OwnerName with theirs; the next time they connect, the server records them and writes their id.

Firewall rules

System Era says Engine.ini only tells the game which port to listen on; the firewall still has to let it in. On a rented machine there is no home router, so the router port-forwarding step in their directions does not apply: the Windows firewall on the server is the gate you control. Their page does not name TCP or UDP, so the two rules below allow the port for both; that choice is ours. Run them in an elevated PowerShell.

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Astroneer 8777 UDP" -Direction Inbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 8777 -Action Allow
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Astroneer 8777 TCP" -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 8777 -Action Allow

If you set a different Port in Engine.ini, use that number in both rules. Remote Desktop is the other way into the box: restrict it to your own address instead of the whole internet.

Bringing a single-player save across

Saves live in Astro\Saved\SaveGames under the install folder. System Era's naming rule is one file name in three parts: the save name, a dollar sign, then a date and time ending in .savegame. Their example joins MYSAVENAME and 2019.05.04-01.20.07.savegame with the dollar sign between them. The date does not need to be accurate, only valid. Copy the file in, then set ActiveSaveFileDescriptiveName to the part before the dollar sign, here MYSAVENAME. Their page spells that key with a typo; edit the line that is already in your file rather than typing a new one.

System Era gives no backup procedure. Our advice: stop the server, copy the SaveGames folder and both ini files to another machine, and start it again. A copy that only exists on the server is not a backup.

Which of our machines fit

Start on the game server line: a physical machine for one customer, every processor on that line rated 2,000 or more on PassMark's single-thread test, with Administrator access to the Windows install. Without published figures from System Era, size by measurement: run your world with your group, watch memory and CPU in Task Manager, and move up if the server struggles. The Intel processor page lists Intel's figures for each Xeon we rent.

• Windows Server installs from the order page, up to 2025 on the widest lines; which versions a build offers depends on its line. The licence is counted per core and billed at its monthly price every month, with no prepay discount. ARM lines do not run Windows.
• An unmetered port, so player count and downloads never show up as an overage line.
• Five cities on our own network, AS19624: the locations page has a test IP per city for your players to ping.
• An out-of-band console (HPE iLO, Dell iDRAC or a Supermicro BMC) is fitted to each rack server and blade we rent; among Moonshot cartridges, the m510 and m710x have one too. Other cartridge models stop at power control, so check the line before you rely on it. Where it is fitted, it is the way back in when a Windows update leaves Remote Desktop unreachable.
• A racked machine is live about 30 minutes after the order is approved; a build to order takes 4-24 hours. Ready units can also be rented by the hour for a weekend session.

When to run it somewhere else

If anyone in the group plays on Xbox, a self-run server will not take them; that is System Era's rule, and no hardware changes it. If you would rather not administer Windows at all, the official partner providers sell slots with cross-play included. For other Windows-only game servers on this class of hardware, see the Empyrion setup and the ICARUS setup.