Unturned California 2 Server Admin Guide: Setup, Config, Mods & Performance
California 2 is the biggest curated map in Unturned's history — over six years of community development, the deepest endgame content of any Unturned map, and one of the most ambitious mods ever shipped on the workshop. Since its release, Unturned player counts have surged +116%, and a wave of new community servers is forming around it.
This guide covers everything a server admin needs to host California 2 reliably: where to install it, what server config differs from vanilla Russia, mod and plugin compatibility, performance tuning for the larger map, and the Day-1 issues admins are reporting most frequently.
What's California 2 and why it matters for server hosting
California 2 is a community-built curated map for Unturned, succeeding the original California map. Key facts:
- 6+ years of development — one of the longest-running community projects in Unturned history
- Largest playable area of any official curated map — significantly larger than Russia, Washington, or PEI
- Deep endgame — quest chains, hidden bunkers, custom NPC factions, faction-specific weapons
- New mechanics — custom progression, faction reputation, new vehicles, deep-water diving zones
- Performance impact — bigger map + new mechanics = higher server CPU/RAM than vanilla Russia
For server admins, the practical consequence is this: Unturned hosting plans tuned for vanilla Russia may not handle California 2 cleanly at full player capacity. We'll cover the spec implications below.
1. Installing California 2 on a dedicated server
California 2 is a Workshop map. To install it on a dedicated server:
- Find California 2 on the Steam Workshop. The Workshop ID is needed for server config.
- Subscribe to the map in your local Unturned (this caches the files for upload reference).
- For dedicated server install, edit your server's
WorkshopDownloadConfig.json(or equivalent in your hosting panel) to include the California 2 Workshop file ID. - Set the map name in
commands.dat:
Note: the exact map slug may differ depending on the Workshop release version. Some hosts auto-detect from the Workshop config; on managed Supercraft hosting, California 2 appears as a one-click map option in the panel.map California2 - Restart the server. First-launch generation can take 3-5 minutes for a map this size — be patient.
Save file location
California 2 saves are stored in the standard Unturned save path:
Servers/<your-instance-name>/Worlds/California2/Backup this entire folder before any major server update; California 2 saves can hit 200+ MB after a few weeks of crew play.
2. Server config differences for California 2
The default commands.dat values tuned for Russia are usually fine for California 2, but a few knobs deserve attention:
| Config option | Russia default | Recommended for CA2 | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
maxplayers | 24 | 16-20 (per CPU core) | Larger map = more entities to simulate per tick |
perspective | First/Third | First (PvP) or Both (PvE) | CA2 has wider sightlines; first-person feels fairer in PvP |
cycle | 3600 (1 hr) | 5400 (1.5 hr) | Larger map; longer day-cycle gives players time to actually traverse it |
loadout | basic | basic (CA2 has its own faction starts) | CA2 quest progression assumes vanilla starting loadout |
resources (toggle) | Default | Default — don't touch | CA2 resource distribution is hand-placed; modifying breaks balance |
gold | false | false | CA2 was designed for free / non-gold servers; gold-only loot conflicts with custom items |
3. Performance tuning for California 2
Reports from the first wave of California 2 servers consistently mention three performance pain points. Here's what to do about each:
Pain point 1: Tick rate stutter at 16+ players
California 2's expanded mechanics (custom NPCs, faction simulation, larger world streaming) push CPU harder than vanilla Russia. If your server runs fine at 8 players but stutters at 16+, the culprit is almost always CPU saturation, not RAM.
Fix: switch to a hosting plan with dedicated vCPU cores, not shared. On Supercraft, that's Plan M or higher. Self-hosters on shared cloud VPS need to upgrade tier.
Pain point 2: Memory growth over long sessions
California 2 has more world objects to simulate than vanilla maps. Memory pressure builds over multi-hour sessions, especially in heavily-trafficked zones. Symptom: server is fine for the first 4-6 hours, then degrades.
Fix: schedule daily server restarts via cron (or via your panel's auto-restart feature). 4 AM local time is the standard low-traffic window. This clears memory cleanly without disrupting players.
Pain point 3: World streaming hitches when crew sails between regions
The map is so large that crew members traveling from one region to another can trigger world-streaming hitches for everyone on the server. This is a client-side rendering issue but presents as "server lag" to non-technical players.
Fix: there's no perfect server-side fix, but lower maxplayers and ensure your hosting region is geographically central to your crew. We'd also recommend coaching players: when sailing between zones, give 30 seconds for the world to stream rather than sprinting at full speed.
4. Mod and plugin compatibility on California 2
California 2's custom mechanics interact with mods in unpredictable ways. Conservative recommendations:
| Plugin / Mod category | CA2 compatibility | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| RocketMod core (Kits, Teleport, Uconomy) | ✅ Compatible | No known conflicts |
| OpenMod (Plugins, Permissions) | ✅ Compatible | No known conflicts |
| Loot table modifiers | ⚠️ Test first | CA2's loot is hand-placed; modifiers may break quest progression |
| Vehicle mods | ⚠️ Mostly fine | CA2 has custom vehicles; conflicts possible if mods register the same vehicle ID |
| Custom NPC mods | ❌ Avoid | CA2 has its own NPC system; custom NPC mods create save-corruption risk |
| Map editor / structure-add mods | ❌ Avoid | Curated maps don't support runtime structure additions cleanly |
| Anti-cheat / anti-grief plugins | ✅ Compatible | Run these as you would on any map |
For the full plugin list, see our Unturned plugin guide. For RocketMod install steps, see RocketMod installation.
5. Day-1 issues admins are reporting
Common California 2 server issues from the first weeks of widespread hosting:
"World failed to generate" on first launch
Usually caused by the Workshop file not fully downloading before server startup. Fix: stop the server, manually verify the California 2 Workshop folder contains all map data files, then restart. Larger workshop files (CA2 included) sometimes hit timeouts during automatic download.
Quest NPCs not spawning
If players report that California 2's faction NPCs aren't appearing where they should, check that you haven't disabled NPCs in commands.dat (cheats false doesn't disable NPCs, but npc false on some hosts may). Also verify no plugin is hooking the NPC spawn pipeline.
Vehicle physics weird at high speeds
Reported on certain CA2 zones with elevation changes — vehicles can phase through terrain at speed. Server-side fix is limited; coach players to drive carefully through these zones, and consider increasing physics_freezing tolerances if the issue is severe.
Save file growing rapidly
CA2 saves grow faster than vanilla Russia saves. After 4-6 weeks of active play, a 50-player CA2 server save can reach 500+ MB. Plan your backup storage accordingly. See our backup & restore guide.
Crew members seeing different POI states
This is the desync issue most commonly reported on CA2. Usually a network MTU issue (large packets needed for world-streaming get fragmented). Fix on a managed host: ensure your panel has the latest network tunables. On self-hosted: check your VPS's network MTU and consider raising socket buffer sizes via net.core.rmem_max and net.core.wmem_max on Linux.
6. California 2 + admin commands cheat sheet
Standard Unturned admin commands work on California 2 with a few caveats. The most useful for CA2 specifically:
/give <steamID> <itemID> <amount>— spawn an item to a player. CA2 has custom item IDs in the 8000+ range/teleport <steamID> <location>— teleport a player. CA2 has named locations like "SanFrancisco", "LosAngeles", "DeepWaterDiveSite"/spawn <npcID>— spawn a CA2-faction NPC for testing. Use sparingly; can corrupt save/save— manual save. Run this before any risky admin action on CA2 — the save is more painful to lose than vanilla/reset— reset world. Will wipe all CA2 progression including hand-placed faction state. Avoid unless intentionally fresh-starting
For the full reference, see our Unturned admin commands guide.
7. Backup recommendations for California 2 servers
Three backup tiers we recommend:
- Hourly — most recent N=24 hourly snapshots. Recovers from "I just deleted the wrong base"
- Daily — most recent N=14 daily snapshots. Recovers from "yesterday's update broke our save"
- Weekly — keep N=8 weekly snapshots, off-server. Recovers from "two weeks of bad data accumulated and we want to roll back"
Managed Supercraft Unturned hosting includes daily off-server snapshots automatically. For self-hosters, set up a cron rsync job — see backup & restore.
Further reading
- All Unturned maps overview — how California 2 compares to other curated maps
- Server lag reduction guide — applies to CA2 with extra emphasis
- Plugin guide (RocketMod / OpenMod) — what works on CA2
- Admin commands reference — the full command set
- Backup & restore — critical for the larger CA2 saves
- Server configuration deep-dive — every commands.dat option explained