How to Change the Difficulty on Your Insurgency: Sandstorm Server

Insurgency: Sandstorm lets you control how tough the AI opponents are on your server. Whether you want a relaxed co-op experience for newer players or a brutal hardcore challenge for veterans, adjusting the difficulty is straightforward from the RiverHosting panel. You do not need to edit any files by hand.

Before you start

• Make sure you are logged in to the RiverHosting panel.
• Open your Insurgency: Sandstorm server from the server list.
• Difficulty settings apply to co-op and checkpoint game modes where AI bots are present. In pure PvP modes, bot difficulty has no effect on the match.
• You will need to restart your server after saving changes for them to take effect.

1. Open the Server Config page

The Server Config page is where you manage the core settings for your Insurgency: Sandstorm server, including difficulty.

1. Log in to the RiverHosting panel and open your Insurgency: Sandstorm server.
2. In the left-hand menu, click Server Config.
3. Look through the available settings for the difficulty or bot difficulty option.

2. Change the difficulty level

Once you are on the Server Config page, adjusting the difficulty only takes a moment.

1. Find the difficulty setting. It may be labelled something like Bot Difficulty or appear as a selectable option in a dropdown.
2. Choose the difficulty level you want. Common options include easier, normal, and harder settings, depending on how challenging you want the bots to be.
3. Once you have made your selection, click Save to apply the change.

3. Restart your server to apply the changes

After saving, you need to restart your server so the new difficulty setting loads properly.

1. In the left-hand menu, click Console to go to your server console.
2. Use the restart button at the top of the console to restart the server.
3. Wait for the server to finish starting up. You will see startup messages appear in the console when it is ready.
4. Join your server and check that the bot difficulty feels different in-game.

Troubleshooting

• The difficulty does not seem to have changed. Make sure you clicked Save on the Server Config page before restarting. If you navigated away without saving, the change was not kept.
• The bots still feel the same. Difficulty changes only affect AI bots in co-op modes such as Checkpoint. If you are playing a PvP mode, bots may not be present and the setting has no visible effect.
• The server will not start after the change. Go to the Console page and read the startup log for any error messages. If the server will not start, you can return to Server Config and reset the difficulty to a default value, then save and restart again.
• Players on the server do not see the change. All players need to be on the server after the restart. Changes made while a match is in progress will not apply until the next server restart.

Need help?

If you run into any issues changing your Insurgency: Sandstorm server difficulty, the RiverHosting support team is happy to help.