Dragonwilds dedicated server: everything we know so far

Dragonwilds launched into early access with dedicated server support, but the official documentation is thin and the game is actively changing. This is what we’ve figured out from running servers ourselves. We’ll update it as things change.

If you’re looking for a plain-English setup walkthrough, start here. This post is for people who want to know how everything works under the hood.

The config file

Server configuration lives in:

RSDragonwilds/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/DedicatedServer.ini

The file uses Unreal Engine’s INI format. The ;METADATA comment at the top is a directive the engine reads even though it’s prefixed as a comment:

;METADATA=(Diff=true, UseCommands=true)
[SectionsToSave]
bCanSaveAllSections=true

[/Script/Dominion.DedicatedServerSettings]
OwnerId=
ServerName=
DefaultWorldName=
AdminPassword=
WorldPassword=
MaxPlayers=6
AdministratorList=()
ServerGuid=

• Diff=true – only write keys that differ from engine defaults
• UseCommands=true – activates a Redpoint EOS plugin that scans for registered console commands. Nothing is registered in the current build, so this has no visible effect.

The [SectionsToSave] block tells the engine which sections to persist when the game writes back to the file. With bCanSaveAllSections=true, everything gets saved. Without it, some keys might not survive a server restart.

Known configuration keys

All keys live under [/Script/Dominion.DedicatedServerSettings].

Startup flags

The server is launched via RSDragonwildsServer.sh. Confirmed working flags:

./RSDragonwildsServer.sh -log -port=7777

-log writes output to the log file in addition to stdout. Always use it. -port sets the UDP port – defaults to 7777 if omitted. This is the right way to run multiple servers on the same machine, or if 7777 is already in use:

./RSDragonwildsServer.sh -log -port=7778

Overriding INI values from the command line

UE5 supports overriding config values at the process level without touching the INI file:

-ini:FileName:[Section]:Key=Value

For example:

-ini:Game:[/Script/Engine.GameSession]:MaxPlayers=4

This is useful for values you want to control externally – from environment variables or a hosting panel – without the server overwriting the config file on restart. We haven’t mapped out which Dragonwilds-specific keys respond to this, but standard UE5 session keys work as expected.

Ports

That’s the only port. No Steam query port, no beacon port, no RCON. The server browser operates entirely through Epic Online Services (EOS) – Jagex built the world browser on top of EOS sessions, not Valve’s server browser protocol. Firewall rules are simple: open UDP 7777 (or whatever port you’ve set) and nothing else is required.

If your server isn’t showing in the browser, the server browser is EOS-side – confirm the server reached CREATE SESSION - Advertise in the logs before debugging network issues.

The startup confirmation line

The server is ready to accept connections when this appears in the logs:

CREATE SESSION - Advertise

Everything before that is initialization. If you don’t see it, the server hasn’t finished starting – or has failed. Look earlier in the log for errors. A missing or invalid OwnerId is the most common reason for a silent exit before this line appears.

Save and log paths

RSDragonwilds/Saved/
├── SaveGames/             ← back this up. it's your world data.
├── Config/
│   └── LinuxServer/
│       └── DedicatedServer.ini  ← also back this up (contains ServerGuid)
├── Logs/
├── PersistentDownloadDir/ ← large, not needed for backups
└── SpudCache/             ← large, not needed for backups

SaveGames is your world data. The server auto-saves the world every 5 minutes. Config/ matters too because DedicatedServer.ini contains the ServerGuid the game generates on first boot – Steam doesn’t manage this file. Lose it without a backup and your save data may not load on a restored server. PersistentDownloadDir and SpudCache are UE5 asset cache directories – exclude them.

Steam details

• Dedicated server App ID: 4019830
• Login: Anonymous – the dedicated server is free and doesn’t require a Steam account
• Runtime: Requires Steam Runtime Sniper (SteamRT3) on Linux. The debian steamcmd image won’t work.

Permission tiers

The server has three access levels:

• Owner – whoever’s Player ID matches OwnerId. Can ban and unban anyone, online or offline.
• Admin – anyone who has entered the AdminPassword via Pause → Settings → Server Management. Can ban regular users who are currently online. Cannot unban. Admin status persists until the password is changed.
• Regular users – everyone else.

What AdministratorList maps to in this hierarchy is unconfirmed. Jagex’s documentation only describes the Owner/Admin/regular distinction without mentioning the field. It likely grants permanent elevated access without requiring the password, but whether that’s Owner-level or Admin-level we haven’t verified.

What we don’t know yet

Things we’re still working out:

• What permission tier AdministratorList actually grants (Owner-level or Admin-equivalent?)
• Whether MaxPlayers can genuinely be pushed beyond 6 – CLI override exposes extra slots in the browser but we haven’t confirmed more than 6 players can connect simultaneously
• How save files handle version migration as the game updates
• Difficulty, PvP mode, and session privacy (Normal/Hard/Creative/Custom, Off/On, public/friends/invite-only) – these states exist in the binary but have no corresponding INI keys in the current build. They appear to be set from the loaded save file rather than server config.
• Direct connect via IP (confirmed on Jagex’s backlog, not yet available)

If you’ve found something that belongs here, let us know.