The Isle Server Settings Explained: Every Key Game.ini Option

Where Game.ini lives and how to edit it safely

On Linux hosts, Game.ini is usually at TheIsle/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/Game.ini. On Windows it is TheIsle/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/Game.ini. The server must be started once before these files exist, so let it boot, then stop it and begin editing.

The file has two important sections. [/Script/TheIsle.TIGameSession] is for gameplay and server keys such as growth, AI, weather, queue and RCON. [/Script/TheIsle.TIGameStateBase] is for repeated list-style keys such as AdminsSteamIDs, WhitelistIDs, VIPs and AllowedClasses. Keys in the wrong section are silently ignored, and a broken section header means the server falls back to defaults.

Engine.ini is separate. It holds the [EpicOnlineServices] block with DedicatedServerClientId and DedicatedServerClientSecret. Leave that alone unless it is missing, because without it the server will not register with Epic Online Services and may not appear in the browser at all.

• Start the server once so it generates the config.
• Stop the server before editing. It keeps config in memory and rewrites Game.ini on shutdown, which overwrites edits made while it is running.
• Change panel-owned fields in the panel, not only in the file. Some panels write server name, player count, humans, queue, password and RCON fields into Game.ini at every start.
• Keep your own copy after updates. Patches can reset or replace Game.ini.
• For repeated keys, use one line per entry: AllowedClasses, AdminsSteamIDs, WhitelistIDs, VIPs and DisallowedAIClasses.

This flow is the part most guides skip, and it explains why “the setting looked right in the file” often still ends with default behaviour on the live server.

[/Script/TheIsle.TIGameSession]
ServerName=Gateway Community
GrowthMultiplier=2
bSpawnAI=true

[/Script/TheIsle.TIGameStateBase]
AdminsSteamIDs=YourSteamID64
WhitelistIDs=YourSteamID64
AllowedClasses=Tyrannosaurus

Identity and access settings players notice first

These keys decide how the server appears in the browser, who can enter, how full servers behave, and how you administer it. For MaxPlayerCount, treat the browser number as a promise to players: if the hardware and plan cannot hold it cleanly, reduce it. For sizing, use The Isle server requirements and RAM guide alongside your gameplay goals.

The queue tuning keys in the standard template are QueueJoinTimeoutSeconds=30, QueueHeartbeatIntervalSeconds=8, QueueHeartbeatTimeoutSeconds=5 and QueueHeartbeatMaxMisses=2. They control how the queue decides a waiting client is still there. Change them only when you are fixing queue behaviour itself, because the trade-off is simple: stricter values clear stale clients faster, looser values are kinder to unstable connections but keep ghost spots for longer.

Growth and survival rules: the settings players judge you on

GrowthMultiplier is the rule most players feel within minutes, even if they never read your description. It sets the time cost of every life. Low growth makes survival meaningful and death expensive. High growth shortens the juvenile stage, speeds recovery after losses, and makes players more willing to take risks because getting back to adulthood costs less time.

The default is 1. At 2, growth is twice as fast, which means time to adult is effectively halved. The maths stays simple: at 3 growth takes about a third of the default time (about 33%), at 5 a fifth (20%), at 10 a tenth (10%) and at 20 a twentieth (5%). That is why this setting shapes mood so strongly: it affects nesting value, fight frequency, rage after death, and how quickly empty species rosters refill.

• Semi-realism / realism: 0.5-1
• Standard community: 1-2
• Casual / high-traffic: 2-5
• Event servers: 10-20

2-3 is the most common community territory because it respects the survival loop without asking for a very long commitment from every new player. Very high values are a known danger zone. Community-maintained defaults warn that extreme settings can break growth, and the sensible ceiling is no higher than 20.

Change growth at a wipe and announce it. Mid-cycle changes create a fairness problem: players who already spent the time under the old rate will feel punished, while later arrivals get a cheaper route to the same adult animals.

Related survival switches

• bEnableDiets=true keeps the diet system active. Leave it on if you want the intended food loop and its buffs; turn it off only if you want a flatter, simpler survival rule set.
• bEnableMutations=true keeps the mutation system available. It adds build variation; turning it off makes the server more predictable but less distinct from life to life.
• bEnableHumans=false leaves playable humans off. Turning it on adds a playable human mode next to the dinosaurs, which changes what the server is about, so treat it as a ruleset choice and say so in the server name or Discord.

Food and the ecosystem: AI, plants and corpse decay

This group controls how reliable food is when players are not providing it themselves. That matters most to carnivores at quiet times. If you remove too much AI support, the ecosystem stops feeling lean and starts feeling empty.

Turning AI off altogether is rarely the right first step. For gameplay, it removes the safety net that keeps young carnivores moving through the map instead of stalling out. If AI feels too generous, cut AIDensity to 0.5 before using bSpawnAI=false.

AI density and spawn checks are also the biggest AI-side cost to main-thread CPU time and memory use. For the full tuning path, use our guide to reducing The Isle server lag rather than trying to solve performance here by gutting the food web.

Migrations and patrol zones

Migrations are the map’s traffic controller. They decide how often the server gives species a reason to gather elsewhere, and how long those reasons stay active. Longer timers make migrations easier to catch and complete. Shorter timers make the world feel more urgent and push more missed connections, which can be good for conflict but bad for casual groups trying to follow the system.

If you want to simplify the world without flattening it completely, turn off mass migration first and leave normal migration on. That keeps directional play without the larger pulses that can pull too many players into the same place at once.

Day, night and weather

The default day and night lengths are 45 minutes of day and 20 minutes of night, for a full real-time cycle of 65 minutes. That is a practical baseline because players see both light states in one regular session, but neither one dominates the whole evening.

Raising day length gives more time for travel, nesting, social organisation and long overland movement before visibility drops. Raising night length does the opposite: it puts more emphasis on cautious movement, ambush, listening and species that handle darkness well. There is no universally correct ratio; the right answer depends on whether you want the map to feel readable or threatening.

bServerDynamicWeather=true enables dynamic weather. With MinWeatherVariationInterval=600 and MaxWeatherVariationInterval=900, weather shifts every 10 to 15 minutes. That does not just change scenery. It changes visibility, route confidence and the timing of hunts and nesting runs, so predictable weather feels calmer while dynamic weather makes the same route feel different across one play session.

Spawning and the playable species roster

bUseRegionSpawning=false means players do not choose a spawn region at character select. Turning region spawning on makes joining friends easier and gives players more control over their opening route, but it also encourages stacking in favourite regions. If you want region choice without constant reuse of the same area, pair it with bUseRegionSpawnCooldown and RegionSpawnCooldownTimeSeconds.

AllowedClasses is the playable roster, and it lives under TIGameStateBase. Use one line per species. The class names are case-sensitive and must match the shipped file exactly. If a name is invalid, it is ignored. If you remove a line, you remove that species from character selection.

DisallowedAIClasses is different. It only blocks AI spawns and belongs to the ecosystem side of the config, not the playable roster. That means blocking Boar or Goat as AI does not affect what players can pick.

[/Script/TheIsle.TIGameStateBase]
AllowedClasses=Tyrannosaurus
AllowedClasses=Stegosaurus
AllowedClasses=Kentrosaurus
AllowedClasses=Omniraptor

[/Script/TheIsle.TIGameSession]
DisallowedAIClasses=Boar
DisallowedAIClasses=Goat

When the game updates and the roster changes, copy names from the current shipped file rather than from an old forum post. That one habit prevents a lot of “missing species” confusion.

What can change live over RCON, and what still needs a restart

RCON is for live control while the server is running. It is useful when you want to test a gameplay change with players online instead of restarting into guesswork. The important catch is that live changes last only until restart or config reload unless you also write the same choice into Game.ini or the host panel afterwards.

Evrima’s RCON commands are case-sensitive and can change between updates. Common live commands include aidensity, toggleai, disableaiclasses, wipecorpses, togglemigrations, getplayables, updateplayables, toggleglobalchat, togglewhitelist, addwhitelist, removewhitelist, announce, save, setgrowthmultiplier and togglegrowthmultiplier.

Many other settings still belong to restart territory. Admins and VIPs need a restart. Day and night length, corpse decay, AI spawn interval, plants, region spawning, diets, mutations and queue settings are usually next-start changes. Some panels can push a few extras live, but do not rely on that convenience unless your provider explicitly supports it.

Starting values by server style

These are sensible starting points, not hard rules. The safest approach is to begin close to a known style, then change one cluster at a time so player feedback is actually about that change and not three others made on the same day.

If you are still choosing a host, prioritise full Game.ini access, proper Evrima RCON support, scheduled restarts, backups, and a London location if most of your players are in the UK or nearby Europe. A tidy control panel is helpful, but less important than being able to see exactly what the panel writes into your config at boot.

Troubleshooting common Game.ini problems

The Isle server FAQ

Where is the Game.ini file on a The Isle server?

On Linux hosts it is usually TheIsle/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/Game.ini, and on Windows it is TheIsle/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/Game.ini. The server needs to run once before the file exists. After that, stop the server before you edit it or your changes can be overwritten on shutdown.

Why do my The Isle server settings keep resetting?

The usual causes are editing while the server is live, or changing a field that your host panel rewrites every time the server starts. Updates can also replace or reset Game.ini. The fix is to stop-edit-start, use the panel for panel-owned fields, and keep your own backup copy after updates.

What is a good GrowthMultiplier for a The Isle server?

For standard community play, 2-3 is the most common starting point because it speeds growth without removing the survival loop. Realism servers tend to stay around 0.5-1, casual and high-traffic servers around 2-5, and events around 10-20. Avoid changing it mid-cycle if you can, because players judge fairness on time invested.

How do I add admins to a The Isle Evrima server?

Add one AdminsSteamIDs=YourSteamID64 line per admin under [/Script/TheIsle.TIGameStateBase]. Restart afterwards so the running server reads the updated list. Do not use the old ServerAdmins format from old guides, because Evrima expects AdminsSteamIDs.

Can I change The Isle server settings without restarting?

Some of them, yes. AI, growth, global chat, whitelist, migrations and playable species can be changed live with RCON, but those changes disappear at restart unless you also mirror them into Game.ini or the panel. Many other settings, including admins and VIPs, still need a restart to become reliable.

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