The Nexus Core: Mastering Sync
The **Nexus Core** is the heartbeat of Subnautica 2’s multiplayer experience. It is a proprietary synchronization engine designed to handle the complex physics of underwater environments across high-latency connections. In 2026, understanding **Entity Tethering** and **Biographic Persistence** is key to a smooth server.
🧠 How Nexus Core Works
- Asynchronous Simulation: Local physics are calculated on the client and validated by the server to ensure "instant" feeling movement.
- Tethering: The server only tracks the "Biographic State" (HP, AI state) of creatures near players, de-spawning physics for everything else.
- Latency Masking: Nexus Core uses "Predictive Bubble" tech to hide up to 200ms of lag during creature attacks.
1. Optimizing Entity Tethering
If your players report "Teleporting Stalkers" or Leviathans that suddenly vanish, your Tether settings are too aggressive. Optimize your Nexus.cfg:
📏 Tether Radius
Set TetherRadius=200. This ensures creatures remain physically active long enough for players to observe them from a distance through sub-windows.
⏳ Handoff Delay
Set TetherHandoff=2.5s. This prevents an entity from "flickering" when two players cross each other's tether boundaries.
2. Biographic Persistence (BP)
Subnautica 2 features "Persistent Ecosystems." If you damage a Leviathan and it escapes, it should theoretically carry that damage and scar for the rest of the server's life. This is **Biographic Persistence**.
2026 Performance Tip: BP data is light, but the "Heal-In-Dark" setting controls how fast those states are cleared.
Set BPClearInterval=3600 (1 hour) to balance world realism with memory usage. Reducing this to 600 will improve performance at the cost of "Long-term Leviathan tracking."
3. Networking for High-Pop (4+)
While the default is 4 players, some community 8-player servers struggle with **Nexus Jitter**. Use these 2026 networking flags in your start_server.sh:
-nexus_priority high
-udp_burst_size 1024
-interpolation_delay 0.1s
Troubleshooting Nexus Core
"Desync" errors on Base Building?
This happens if two players attempt to build on the same "Foundation Voxel" simultaneously. Enable ServerSideBuildingValidation=true. This adds 50ms of building latency but prevents base corruption.
Creatures are passive and ignoring players?
The server thread is likely hung. Check your TPS. If it is below 15, the Nexus Core will prioritize "Position Sync" over "AI Logic." Upgrading your CPU frequency is the only 2026 fix for this.
Is 'Nitrox' still needed?
No. Nexus Core is the official, high-performance successor to the community efforts of the previous games. Community mods now build *on top* of the Nexus Core rather than replacing it.
Next Steps
Nexus-Optimized Hosting: Supercraft’s Subnautica 2 servers feature **Nexus-Prioritization** at the machine level. We route game traffic through our high-frequency cores to ensure your aquatic sync remains flawless, even during 8-player base raids.