Reforged Eden 2 on a Dedicated Server: Install, Update, Keep the Save

Reforged Eden 2 on a Dedicated Server: Install, Update, Keep the Save

Reforged Eden 2 is how a large share of Empyrion multiplayer is actually played - and it is also where most self-hosted Empyrion projects die. Not because any single step is hard, but because the scenario, the save and the game version form a triangle that must stay consistent, and one careless update breaks it. This guide is the routine that keeps it consistent.

How scenario hosting actually works

An Empyrion scenario is not a mod your players install. It lives on the server, in the Scenarios folder, and the dedicated config points at it when the galaxy is created. From then on:

• The galaxy save belongs to that scenario - the scenario defines the content the save was built from.
• Players receive the content from the server when they join. Nobody needs the scenario locally.
• Switching scenario later means starting a new galaxy. A scenario is part of the world it created.

Install, once

1. Install the Empyrion dedicated server with SteamCMD (anonymous login works; the server is free to download).
2. Get Reforged Eden 2 into the server's Content/Scenarios/ folder - from the Workshop via a client copy, or however your host provides scenarios.
3. In the dedicated config (dedicated.yaml), set the scenario name to the RE2 folder, alongside the usual server name, password and player cap.
4. Start the server and let it generate the galaxy. First generation of an RE2 galaxy takes noticeably longer than vanilla - that is normal.

The version-matching rule (this is the whole game)

Your galaxy was created from a specific version of the scenario. The server must keep running that version until you deliberately upgrade. The two classic failure modes:

• Silent scenario update - the scenario folder gets refreshed (a Workshop sync, a host-side auto-update) while the save stays old. Joins fail or the world misbehaves in strange ways.
• Blind manual update - you copy the new RE2 version over the old one without reading its notes. Some updates are save-compatible, some require intervention, and the notes are where the difference lives.

The update routine that keeps months-old galaxies alive

1. Back up first: the full save folder and the current scenario folder, together. This pair is your rollback.
2. Read the scenario's update notes for save-compatibility remarks.
3. Apply in a maintenance window, with the server stopped.
4. Start, verify, then reopen - check a few playfields and known bases before announcing.

A managed Empyrion server exists to make exactly this routine a button: scenario installed at creation, version pinned to the save, updates applied only when you choose, with an automatic backup taken first.

When co-op joins fail, check in this order

1. Game version - after a patch, client and server must match. Restart Steam, update the server.
2. Scenario version - the rule above; if versions drifted, roll the scenario back to the save's version.
3. Loading time - a big RE2 galaxy takes minutes after a restart before it accepts joins.
4. Direct connect - join by IP and port to bypass a slow server browser.

Sizing note

Empyrion server load tracks active playfields, not raw player count - eight people spread across eight planets cost far more than eight in one base, and RE2 content raises the per-playfield cost. Plan 8 GB RAM for a small vanilla crew, 12 GB for an RE2 faction, 16 GB and up for busy public galaxies, plus room for the ~20 GB server install before any save data.