Stationeers Dedicated Server Setup: SteamCMD, Linux and the Blank-Screen Trap
Stationeers is one of the best self-host candidates in the survival-sim genre - a genuinely native Linux server, anonymous SteamCMD, no licence keys. It is also a game whose server guides go stale fast and whose two classic traps are not documented where people look. This guide covers the current setup and both traps.
1. Install with SteamCMD
The dedicated server is its own Steam app, separate from the game you play, and it downloads with anonymous login - no Steam account that owns Stationeers is needed on the server. Install it with SteamCMD into its own directory the same way as any Steam dedicated server, and keep the OS current: community reports cluster around old distributions breaking after the networking-layer update, so treat a recent LTS as the baseline.
2. The Linux trap: it wants a display that does not exist
The Linux server is a Unity headless build that still expects a virtual framebuffer. On a desktop machine you never notice. In a bare container, a minimal VM or a systemd unit without a display, the server simply exits on start with nothing useful in the log. This is the number one "it won't start" report for Stationeers on Linux.
The fix is to run it under xvfb (X virtual framebuffer) or inside an image that provides one. Once a framebuffer exists, the server starts and runs normally. Managed hosts deal with this for you - it is one of the reasons rented Stationeers servers exist at all for such a self-host-friendly game.
3. The config trap: some settings only work as launch arguments
Stationeers splits its configuration between a settings file and the command line, and a few important values - the port and the password among them - are only honoured as launch arguments. Set them in the file and the server silently ignores them, which produces the classic "my settings did nothing" hour of confusion. When a setting refuses to take effect, move it to the command line before debugging anything else.
4. Size the hardware for the simulation, not the player count
Stationeers simulates every pipe, room and tank continuously. The cost of your server tracks the size and complexity of the base, not how many people are logged in - a two-person base with a mature gas network works the CPU harder than a fresh eight-person world.
- Young base, small crew: 8 GB RAM, two fast cores.
- Established base, full atmospherics: 16 GB RAM, four to six fast cores.
- Large or modded, long-lived world: 24 GB and up.
Single-core clock speed is the number that matters: the atmospheric tick is largely single-threaded, so a high-clock CPU beats a many-core one.
5. Worlds, saves and mods
The world folder is the save - back it up and the base comes with it. World type (Moon, Mars, Europa, Vulcan) is fixed at creation and cannot be changed later, so choose deliberately. Workshop mods must be installed server-side as well as by every player, and load order matters more than in most games because atmospheric mods can conflict.
Self-host or rent?
If you enjoy Linux administration, Stationeers self-hosts well once the two traps above are handled. If you want the framebuffer, launch arguments, updates, autosaves and backups dealt with - and a high-clock CPU without buying one - a managed Stationeers server is the version of this guide where every step is already done.