Survival · High-resource
Host The Forest Servers in Staging (Staging)
Staging: awaiting manual game-client validation. Player connections are not yet verified. Evaluate this server before inviting players.
Host The Forest on your own Windows 10/11 or Linux computer. Swarm Hosts gives you a browser control panel to start, stop, monitor, and back up your server.
- Guided settings
- Backups
Staging · client validation pending
Hardware and runtime
What The Forest needs
Minimum requirements are a starting point. World size, player count, content, and game settings can require more resources.
- CPU
- 4+ cores
- Memory
- 4 GiB minimum
- Player traffic
- UDP
- Backup coverage
- 1 saved data location
Start with 4 CPU cores and 4 GiB memory on a Linux host with fast storage and enough free disk for server downloads, generated worlds, and backups. These are evaluation allocations, not a maximum-player performance promise. Downloads and initial world setup may take several minutes.
Technical overview
Swarm Hosts offers the Windows server through Wine on Linux runtime for evaluation. Read Staging games before inviting players.
Launch workflow
From host to running server
Set a server name, one to eight players, an optional join password, and a unique private admin password. The template uses Continue mode with save slot 1 so restarting loads existing data.
The internal routes are 27015/UDP for gameplay, 8766/UDP for Steam, and 27016/UDP for queries. Share the assigned public player endpoint shown on the server page. Container ports can differ from public relay ports. See Relays and Port Forwarding. Private administration services are not player routes.
- Choose The Forest from Staging and select a suitable host.
- Read the settings below and use a new disposable test deployment.
- Set the required private admin password and keep it separate from the optional join password.
- Launch, inspect startup logs, and monitor resources before attempting a client connection.
Networking
How players connect
Use the PC dedicated-server browser with a matching client. Evaluate public query discovery and joining separately. See the publisher guidance. Check the reported server version before selecting a client; the template does not promise that a later download has the same build as the staging test.
Managed shared relay when the game, host, and current relay path support it.
Game management tools
Manage your The Forest server
Available tools depend on the game, server status, and your permissions. The game guide explains any setup needed for Server Actions.
Use the settings, files, backups, logs, and server controls available for this game. The complete guide documents any game-specific action prerequisites.
Mods & Content status
Mods and custom content
Managed content installation is unavailable for this staging runtime; evaluate vanilla first.
Managed Mods & Content is unavailable. Evaluate the vanilla server before adding any manual content. Preserve a backup before modifying server files and repeat connection and persistence checks after a change.
Know before launch
Before you launch
- Awaiting manual game-client validation. Fresh image startup, five-minute stability, and generated configuration persistence on restart were tested locally on 2026-10-09. Manual client connection and public network validation remain pending.
- Host on Windows 10/11 or Linux with Docker Desktop in Linux-container mode on Windows, or Docker Engine or rootful Podman on Linux.
- Managed shared relay when the game, host, and current relay path support it.
Windows 10/11 + Linux
Ready to host The Forest?
Connect the Windows or Linux computer you already own, then follow the game-specific launch path.