StarMade: Whitelist

Learn how to enable the whitelist on your StarMade server on your VPS and choose who can join → Find out more

10 November 20262 min read0 Views0 helpful

Introduction

A whitelist is an access list that limits who can join your server. StarMade includes a built-in whitelist that you enable in server.cfg and populate using whitelist.txt. This guide explains how to set up the whitelist on your VPS.

Enable the whitelist

If you set up StarMade using the Game Server Installer, both files are located in the C:\ZapX-GameServers\starmade\server\StarMade\ folder.

Connect to your VPS using Remote Desktop.
Stop the server using the StarMade (starmade) - Stop shortcut. This saves the universe.
Open server.cfg and set these three options to true:

cfg

USE_STARMADE_AUTHENTICATION = true
REQUIRE_STARMADE_AUTHENTICATION = true
USE_WHITELIST = true

Open whitelist.txt in the same folder, or create the file if it doesn't exist. Add each player on a separate line:

txt

act:-1:PlayerName
act:-1:AnotherPlayer

Save both files and start the server using StarMade (starmade) - Start.

Info

Each time the installer runs, it only updates the server name and player slots in server.cfg. Your whitelist settings and whitelist.txt are preserved, even after an update.

Manage whitelisted players

To add a player, add a new line to whitelist.txt in the same format. To remove a player, delete the corresponding line. Then restart the server using StarMade (starmade) - Restart to load the changes.

If player names contain special characters, use the exact name shown when they log in to the game to avoid errors.

Test the whitelist

After restarting the server, try connecting with an account that isn't listed in whitelist.txt. Access should be denied. Then connect using a whitelisted player name.

If whitelisted players can't join, check that StarMade authentication is enabled and required. Otherwise, player names may not be matched reliably. You can find error details in C:\ZapX-GameServers\starmade\logs\server.log.

Conclusion

Once you've followed all the steps, your whitelist is active and you can control exactly who can access your server. The installer also includes whitelist.txt in its backups. If you have any questions or run into any problems, our support team is here to help every day! 🙂

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Stop the server, open server\StarMade\server.cfg, and set USE_STARMADE_AUTHENTICATION, REQUIRE_STARMADE_AUTHENTICATION, and USE_WHITELIST to true. Then start the server again.

In whitelist.txt in the server\StarMade\ folder, add one player per line in the format act:-1:PlayerName. Then restart the server.

Yes. The installer only updates the server name and player slots in server.cfg. Your whitelist settings and whitelist.txt are preserved and included in backups.

Feedback

Was this article helpful?

Your feedback helps us prioritize and improve content.

0 of 0 Users found this article helpful.

Personal support

Need more help than the guide provides?

Our ZAP support team knows your product — briefly describe your issue and we'll help you personally.

Zappy knows this guide and answers you right in the chat.

Which 🍪 cookies would you like to allow?

StarMade: Whitelist

Introduction

Enable the whitelist

Manage whitelisted players

Test the whitelist

Conclusion

Frequently asked questions

Starmade

Enable the whitelist

Manage whitelisted players

Test the whitelist

Conclusion

Game Server

Servers & Hosting

ZAPX

Resources

ZAP-Hosting