Why can't I use caves on my migrated server?

Caves are not yet available on servers migrated from the Legacy panel to ZapX.

Don't Starve Together: Enable Caves

Learn how to enable caves on your Don't Starve Together game server with a setting in the panel—no second server needed → Learn more

10 November 20262 min read0 Views0 helpful

Introduction

Beneath the Overworld in Don't Starve Together lies a second world: the caves. You can enable them on your game server with a single setting. You don't need a second server—the cave world runs as a second shard on the same server as your Overworld.

Requirements

The caves need noticeably more RAM than the Overworld alone. We recommend 4 GB RAM. Before enabling them, check that your server has enough memory.
Servers migrated from the Legacy panel to ZapX cannot use caves yet.

Enable caves

In your game server's management panel, open the Configuration tab.
Select the Startup parameters category.
Set Caves to true.
Click Save.
Restart the server, for example by clicking Restart now. The setting takes effect the next time the server starts.

On the next startup, we'll automatically add the extra port for the caves, and your server will start both the Overworld and cave world. In the Console, you can identify output from the cave world by the [Caves] prefix.

What happens to your world

Your Overworld stays intact. Enabling caves does not generate it again.
The cave world is generated the first time the server starts with caves enabled. It is located in the DoNotStarveTogether/Cluster_1/Caves folder, while the Overworld is in the DoNotStarveTogether/Cluster_1/Master folder. You can find both folders in the Files tab.
The server sets the shard settings in cluster.ini and server.ini on every startup. You don't need to add anything there for the caves.
The caves automatically use the same mod configuration (modoverrides.lua) as the Overworld.
If you disable the caves, the server will start only the Overworld the next time it starts. The Caves folder will not be deleted.

Customize cave world generation

For the cave world, the server creates a worldgenoverride.lua file with the DST_CAVE preset in the Caves folder. This happens only if there isn't already a worldgenoverride.lua or leveldataoverride.lua file there. The server won't overwrite your own file.

If you'd like to generate the cave world with custom settings, place your worldgenoverride.lua or leveldataoverride.lua file in the DoNotStarveTogether/Cluster_1/Caves folder before the first startup with caves enabled.

Conclusion

The Overworld and caves now run together on your server. You can enter the caves in-game as usual.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

No. In the Configuration tab, under Startup parameters, set Caves to true, save, and restart the server. The cave world will then run as a second shard on the same server.

The caves need noticeably more RAM than the Overworld alone. We recommend 4 GB.

Yes. Your Overworld stays intact. Only the cave world is generated the first time the server starts with caves enabled.

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