Creating Allowlist(Whitelist) Slots for Your Don't Starve Together Server

On a Don't Starve Together server, an "allowlist" refers to a set of reserved player slots and a file that lists specific player ID numbers in it. Only the players on that list will be allowed to use those reserved slots when the normal slots are full.

You can use the reserved allowlist slots to make sure there's always an available slot for yourself, your family, your close friends, or an admin, whenever you want to play on your server. You can also still allow players from the public to join the server too if you want.

When all the normal non-reserved player slots are in use, any random players who attempt to subsequently join the server will receive a message window in the in-game server browser that no spots are available on the server.

Used as a Traditional Allowlist

If you set the total number of reserved slots to the maximum total player count, you will make this system behave more like a traditional allowlist in other games (like Minecraft). Since all slots are reserved, requests to join from random players are refused, and only the people on the specific list can join the server.

Combined with a Password

You can still use a password for the server, as an extra layer of security. This might be useful if you have concerns that someone is handing out the password to the server to random people. They'll get past the password, but won't match the list of user IDs.

Setting up the Allowlist

Add Setting to cluster.ini Config File

Navigate to the /.klei/DoNotStarveTogether/MyDediServer folder and look for the config file cluster.ini.

Select it, and click "Edit" at the top of the Server Files window. This will open the config file in a text editor.

Look for the section of the config file [NETWORK] in orange letters. In that section, down below the other settings, insert a new line, and add the following:

whitelist_slots = #

Replace the pound sign (#) with the actual number of reserved slots you want on the server. These reserved slots will be subtracted from your max players on the server! For example, if you have 10 max players and set whitelist_slots to 5, then only 5 slots will remain for the public to use.

Get the User KU ID

This is an ID number assigned to each player by the game developer, Klei itself when they create an account on Klei's website.

From a Player

A player can provide their own KU ID if they know it. They can get this information from their account page on Klei, when they log into their website with their account name and password. A player can also automatically go to their account page on the Klei website if they click on the "Account" button on the title page of Don't Starve Together in Steam.

From Chat Logs

You can also get a player's KU ID from the chat logs on the server - simply have the player say something in chat first. These logs will be located in both the "Master" and "Caves" directories (/.klei/DoNotStarveTogether/MyDediServer/Master or /.klei/DoNotStarveTogether/MyDediServer/Caves). The logs are named server_chat_log.txt. Select the file, and click "Edit" on the Nodecraft control panel, to show the contents of the log. A player's KU ID should be listed in front of every message they have sent.

Create whitelist.txt File

In the same folder, /.klei/DoNotStarveTogether/MyDediServer, create or upload a .txt file, called whitelist.txt.

Inside the file, on a separate line for each player, add their KU ID and then save any changes made to the file.

You can include more KU IDs than the number of reserved slots you made. Players on the allowlist will receive the normal messages about the server being full if all the reserved and regular slots are in use. It will not bump anyone offline, and they will still need to wait for an opening.

If your allowlist has fewer IDs than the number of reserved slots, this seems to cause issues with it working correctly. So don't make 5 reserved slots, and only put 2 KU IDs in the whitelist.txt file. Make the reserved slots equal to lower than the number of KU IDs in the whitelist.

Restart the Server

The changes made to the config file, and the new whitelist.txt file, will not be loaded until the server is restarted.

Once the allowlist is loaded, if all the regular slots are full, any players who attempt to join will see this message in their client:

Now you have allowlist slots on your Don't Starve Together server, and a VIP fast lane to get onto your server!