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The Forest
The Forest
GameCP OfficialSurvival
Verified

The Forest

Dedicated Server Template

As the lone survivor of a passenger jet crash, you find yourself in a mysterious forest battling to stay alive against a society of cannibalistic mutants. Build, explore, survive in this terrifying first-person survival horror simulator.

v20
2/25/2026

The Forest Game Server Hosting

Deploy and manage your own The Forest dedicated server with GameCP's free game server control panel. This template provides a production-ready server configuration with one-click installation, automatic updates via SteamCMD, and full environment variable management. Whether you're hosting for a small group of friends or running a large community server, GameCP makes The Forest server administration simple and reliable.

Free Control PanelOne-Click DeployAuto UpdatesDocker Containerized
Full Hosting Guide

Ready to host The Forest?

Read our complete step-by-step guide covering installation, configuration, performance tuning, and getting your server online in minutes.

Resource Requirements

CPU Cores
2
Memory
4.0 GB(max 8 GB)
Storage
5 GB

+128 MiB per player

Recommended Players

4
Recommended
Min: 1Max: 8

Performance Tiers

Economy

Small co-op session, 1-4 players

RAM2 GB
CPU Shares256
Recommended

Standard

Full server, 4-8 players

RAM4 GB
CPU Shares512

Pro

Dedicated server with heavy building/mods, 8 players

RAM6 GB
CPU Shares1024

Startup Command

#!/bin/bashBash shell with full features

Default

Standard The Forest dedicated server startup via Wine with xvfb virtual display

Default

Environment Variables

SERVER_NAME

Required

Server Name

Server name displayed in the server browser

Default
(empty)

MAX_PLAYERS

RequiredRead Only

Max Players

Maximum number of concurrent players

Default
(empty)

STEAM_ACCOUNT

Game Server Login Token

Create one with App ID `242760` at [Steam GSLT Management](https://steamcommunity.com/dev/managegameservers) to publicly list your server.

Default
(empty)

VAC_SECURE

VAC Protection

Enable Valve Anti-Cheat protection.

Default
off

DIFFICULTY

Required

Difficulty

Game difficulty mode.

Default
Normal

SAVE_SLOT

Required

Save Slot

Save slot to use (1-5). Each slot is an independent world.

Default
1

VEGAN_MODE

Vegan Mode (No Enemies)

No enemies will spawn at all (Vegan Mode).

Default
off

VEGETARIAN_MODE

Vegetarian Mode (No Day Enemies)

No enemies during daytime, enemies only at night (Vegetarian Mode).

Default
off

ALLOW_CHEATS

Allow Cheats

Allow all players to use the built-in developer console.

Default
off

ALLOW_BUILDING_DESTRUCTION

Allow Building Destruction

Allow enemies and players to destroy player structures.

Default
on

TREE_REGROW

Tree Regrow Mode

Regrow 10% of cut down trees when sleeping.

Default
off

RESET_HOLES

Reset Holes Mode

Reset all structure holes when loading a save.

Default
off

ENEMIES_CREATIVE

Enemies in Creative Mode

Allow enemy spawning in creative mode games.

Default
off

REALISTIC_DAMAGE

Realistic Player Damage (PvP)

Dramatically increases player-vs-player damage for PvP-focused servers.

Default
off

SERVER_PASSWORD

Server Password

Password required for players to join the server. Leave empty for a public server.

Default
(empty)

ADMIN_PASSWORD

Required

Admin Password

Password for in-game admin console access. This grants full server control.

Default
(empty)

AUTO_UPDATE

Auto Update

Automatically check for and apply server updates on startup.

Default
1

WINEDEBUG

RequiredRead Only

Wine Debug

Wine debug output level. Set to -all to suppress debug messages.

Default
-all

INIT_TYPE

Required

Init Type

Start a new world or continue from the last save. Set to 'Continue' after your first session to load saved progress.

Default
New

AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL

Auto Save Interval (minutes)

Time in minutes between auto-saves. Minimum: 15.

Default
15

TARGET_FPS_IDLE

Idle FPS

Target FPS when no players are connected. Lower values save resources.

Default
5

TARGET_FPS_ACTIVE

Active FPS

Target FPS when players are connected.

Default
60

SHOW_LOGS

Show Logs

Show server event log output.

Default
on

WINEARCH

RequiredRead Only

Wine Architecture

Wine architecture. The Forest requires 64-bit Wine.

Default
win64

WINEPATH

RequiredRead Only

Wine Path

Wine application path.

Default
/home/container

Lifecycle Scripts

Installation Script

Post-install setup: creates the config directory, generates default config.cfg, verifies server binary, and sets up Steam SDK libraries.

after installghcr.io/ptero-eggs/installers:debian

Configuration Files

Server Configuration

Password, difficulty, and save management. Only updates the settings shown here.

TheForestDedicatedServer_Data/forest/config/config.cfgfile
0 fields

Container Configuration

Docker Image

ghcr.io/ptero-eggs/yolks:wine_latest

Technical Profile

Template ID

the-forest

Author

GameCP Team

Last Updated

February 25, 2026

Status

Active

Configuration Metadata

Information about the origin and version of this game configuration.

Author

GameCP Team

Version

1

Source

gamecp

originalAuthor

admin@softwarenoob.com