How to Change the Difficulty on Your Icarus Server

Icarus lets you tune how tough the survival experience is for everyone on your server. Whether you want a relaxed exploration session or a brutal fight for survival, you can adjust the difficulty settings at any time from the RiverHosting panel without editing any files manually.

Before you start

• You need an active Icarus server with RiverHosting.
• Log in to the RiverHosting panel at panel.riverhosting.com and open your Icarus server.
• It is a good idea to stop the server before making changes so the settings save correctly. You can restart it again once you are done.

1. Open the Server Config page

The Server Config page is where you control the core settings for your Icarus server, including difficulty-related options.

1. Log in to the RiverHosting panel.
2. Click on your Icarus server to open its management page.
3. In the left-hand menu, click Server Config.

The Server Config page will load with all the available settings for your server in a simple editor. You do not need to edit any files by hand.

2. Adjust the difficulty settings

Once you are on the Server Config page, look for the difficulty-related options. These control things like how aggressive wildlife is, how much damage players take, how quickly they lose food and water, and similar survival challenges.

1. Find the difficulty or survival settings section on the Server Config page.
2. Choose the values that match the experience you want for your group. A lower difficulty is more forgiving, and a higher difficulty makes survival harder.
3. When you are happy with your choices, click Save to apply them.

3. Restart your server to apply the changes

After saving, you need to start the server so the new difficulty settings take effect.

1. Go back to the main page for your server.
2. Click Start (or Restart if the server is already running).
3. Wait for the server to finish loading. You can watch progress in the Console tab.
4. Once it is online, join the server and check that the difficulty feels correct.

Troubleshooting

• The difficulty does not seem to have changed in-game. Make sure you saved the settings on the Server Config page before restarting. Go back to Server Config and check the values are still set to what you chose.
• The server will not start after changing settings. Check the Console tab for any error messages. If an invalid value was entered, revert to the previous setting and try again.
• Changes appear to reset after each restart. This can happen if the server is writing its own config on startup and overwriting your changes. Stop the server first, then make and save your changes, and start it again from a stopped state.
• Players are in an active prospect and the difficulty feels wrong. Some difficulty values may only apply to new prospects. Ask players to complete or exit their current prospect and start a fresh one to see the updated settings.

Need help?

If you run into any issues or are not sure which settings to change, the RiverHosting support team is happy to assist.