Sons of the Forest Custom Difficulty Configuration

Sons of the Forest Custom Difficulty Configuration

Sons of the Forest ships with four preset difficulties — Peaceful, Normal, Hard, and Hardest. But dedicated server operators can tune every individual component of that difficulty through the dedicatedserver.cfg file, allowing any blend between these extremes. You might want brutal enemy damage but generous food spawns, or normal combat with accelerated hunger for extra survival tension.

Understanding the Difficulty Field

The top-level Difficulty key sets the base template. All other fields override the template values:

{
  "Difficulty": "Normal",
  ...
}

Valid base values: "Peaceful", "Normal", "Hard", "Hardest".

Enemy & Combat Settings

{
  "Difficulty": "Normal",

  // How hard enemies hit (1.0 = Normal, 2.0 = double damage)
  "EnemyDamageModifier": 1.5,

  // How many enemies spawn per active day-night cycle
  "EnemySpawnRate": 1.0,

  // Aggressiveness — how quickly enemies target players
  "EnemyAggression": "High",

  // Allow creepy mutants to attack during day (default: false on Normal)
  "EnemyDaytimeAttacks": true,

  // Allow the cannibal villages to respawn
  "CannibalRespawn": true,

  // Time (in game days) between village respawns
  "CannibalRespawnDays": 3
}

Survival Mechanic Settings

{
  // How fast the hunger bar depletes (1.0 = default rate)
  "HungerRate": 1.5,

  // How fast thirst depletes
  "ThirstRate": 1.5,

  // How fast stamina drains while sprinting
  "StaminaDrainRate": 0.8,

  // How fast stamina regenerates while idle
  "StaminaRegenRate": 1.2,

  // Overall health regeneration from food/rest
  "HealthRegenRate": 0.5,

  // Allow health regeneration during combat
  "CombatRegen": false
}

Resource & World Settings

{
  // Multiplier for resources dropped by trees, rocks
  "ResourceDropMultiplier": 0.75,

  // Animal spawn density (1.0 = default)
  "AnimalSpawnRate": 1.0,

  // Whether food items found in the world spoil over time
  "FoodSpoilage": true,

  // Multiplier for spoilage speed (1.0 = default day count)
  "FoodSpoilageRate": 1.5
}

Preset Recipes: Community-Tested Configurations

🔴 "Nightmare Island" (Ultra Hard)

{
  "Difficulty": "Hardest",
  "EnemyDamageModifier": 2.0,
  "EnemyAggression": "High",
  "EnemyDaytimeAttacks": true,
  "HungerRate": 2.0,
  "ThirstRate": 2.0,
  "FoodSpoilage": true,
  "FoodSpoilageRate": 2.0,
  "ResourceDropMultiplier": 0.5
}

🟡 "Casual Exploration" (Relaxed Combat)

{
  "Difficulty": "Peaceful",
  "EnemyDamageModifier": 0.25,
  "EnemySpawnRate": 0.3,
  "EnemyAggression": "Low",
  "HungerRate": 0.5,
  "ThirstRate": 0.5,
  "ResourceDropMultiplier": 2.0
}

🟢 "PvE Community Server" (Standard + Respawn)

{
  "Difficulty": "Normal",
  "EnemyDamageModifier": 1.0,
  "CannibalRespawn": true,
  "CannibalRespawnDays": 7,
  "HungerRate": 0.8,
  "FoodSpoilage": false
}

Kelvin & Virginia Companion Settings

{
  // Allow Kelvin to die permanently (true = permadeath)
  "KelvinPermadeath": false,

  // Allow Virginia to die permanently
  "VirginiaPermadeath": false,

  // Kelvin task efficiency (higher = faster wood/stone gathering)
  "KelvinEfficiency": 1.0
}

Professional Hosting

Configure difficulty on the fly from a clean dashboard. Host your Sons of the Forest server with Supercraft and get full file access, dedicated NVMe storage, and 24/7 expert support.