The Forest Server Difficulty and Game Modes
Configure difficulty (Peaceful, Normal, Hard, HardSurvival) and enemy behaviour modes including veganMode, vegetarianMode, realisticPlayerDamage, and creative mode enemy toggles.
The Forest Server Difficulty and Game Modes
The Forest offers four difficulty levels and several independent gameplay toggles that control enemy behaviour and survival mechanics. All settings live in server.cfg.
Difficulty Setting
Set with the difficulty key:
difficulty Normal
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
Peaceful |
No combat — enemies are present in the world but do not attack players |
Normal |
Standard gameplay experience, balanced enemy aggression and damage |
Hard |
Increased enemy aggression, reduced resources, higher player damage |
HardSurvival |
Hard mode plus heightened survival demands (hunger, thirst deplete faster); closest to permadeath experience |
HardSurvival is the most punishing mode. Players who die lose their equipped items and respawn with survival penalties. Recommended only for experienced groups.
Enemy Behaviour Modes
These settings operate independently of difficulty and can be combined:
veganMode
veganMode off
| Value | Effect |
|---|---|
off |
Cannibals and mutants spawn normally (default) |
on |
All cannibals and mutants are disabled entirely — no enemies in the world |
Use veganMode on if you want a pure building/survival experience with no combat at all.
vegetarianMode
vegetarianMode off
| Value | Effect |
|---|---|
off |
Enemies are active at all times (default) |
on |
Enemies only become active at night — daytime is safe |
vegetarianMode stacks with difficulty. You can run difficulty Hard with vegetarianMode on for hard survival mechanics but daytime building safety.
allowEnemiesCreativeMode
allowEnemiesCreativeMode off
Controls whether enemies spawn when difficulty is set to Peaceful or when Creative mode is active. Default off means no enemies in these modes.
Damage Settings
realisticPlayerDamage
realisticPlayerDamage off
When set to on, fall damage and certain enemy hits deal significantly increased damage — a long fall can kill a player in a single hit. Pairs well with HardSurvival for maximum difficulty.
Cheats
allowCheats
allowCheats off
When on, connected clients can open the in-game debug console and use cheat commands. Recommended off for serious servers. When on, players can spawn items, toggle godmode, and alter game state without admin privileges.
Recommended Combinations
| Play Style | Suggested Settings |
|---|---|
| Casual co-op | difficulty Normal, treeRegrowMode on, veganMode off |
| Builder / no combat | difficulty Peaceful, veganMode on |
| Horror / survival | difficulty HardSurvival, vegetarianMode off, realisticPlayerDamage on |
| Night terror | difficulty Normal, vegetarianMode on |
All of these settings take effect on server restart. Change them in server.cfg and relaunch the server.