The in-game console is the fastest way to diagnose a misbehaving server, run an event, or test a balance change without grinding. This page walks through the commands that are actually useful on a multiplayer server, with verified syntax and the warnings that matter. The full alphabetical reference lives at Admin Commands; this guide is a "what do I use this for" view.
Press F1 on US/EU keyboards to open the console (the actual key is the one above Tab — it varies by layout, e.g. tilde or backtick). On dedicated servers, only players in serveradmin.xml can run privileged commands; permission level 0 is full access, higher numbers are more restricted. Players without admin access see the console as a chat-only window.
For headless dedicated servers, you can also run admin commands via telnet (default port 8081) or the web control panel — useful when the in-game client is unavailable.
When the server is lagging or memory is climbing, these are the first commands to run before reaching for a restart.
| Command | Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|---|
mem | — | Prints memory information and calls the garbage collector. Run this first when a player reports lag or rubber-banding. |
memcl | — | Like mem but for client memory; calls GC on the client side. |
chunkcache | cc | Lists chunks currently loaded in the server cache. Useful for spotting runaway chunk loading near a problem POI. |
listents | le | Lists all entities currently spawned (zombies, players, animals, vehicles). Quick way to confirm if you're hitting MaxSpawnedZombies. |
listplayers | lp | Lists all currently-connected players. |
lpi | — | Lists all players who have ever played, with their entity IDs and Steam/EOS IDs. Use this to find the right ID for ban / kick. |
gettime | gt | Prints the current in-game day and time. |
The bread-and-butter of running a public server.
| Command | Syntax | Notes |
|---|---|---|
kick | kick <name | entity id | steam id> [reason] | Removes a single player; they can rejoin. |
kickall | kickall [reason] | Drops every connected player. Useful before a reboot or settings change. |
ban add | ban add <name | id> <duration> <duration unit> [reason] | Duration unit is e.g. minutes, hours, days, years. |
ban list | ban list | Lists all active bans. |
ban remove | ban remove <name | id> | Removes a ban by player identifier. |
say | say <message> | Broadcasts a server message to every connected client. Sender shows as "Server". |
shutdown | shutdown | Saves and exits cleanly. Always preferred over killing the process. |
For events, testing, or rolling out a temporary tweak.
| Command | Syntax | Notes |
|---|---|---|
settime | settime day | settime night | settime <hhmm> | settime <day> <hour> <minute> | Warning from the in-game help: "Using this command runs a high risk of breaking everything timer related on your save game." Use sparingly and back up your save first. |
weather | weather (run help weather for parameters) | Controls weather settings. Specific subcommands change between patches — help weather in your version's console is the source of truth. |
spawnentity | se <player id> <entity id> | Spawns the named entity at the named player. Look up entity IDs with listknownentities. |
spawnwh | spawnwh <number> | Spawns a wandering horde of the given size. Use for live events, but watch your spawn caps — see Blood Moon balancing. |
settempunit | stu <C | F> | Sets temperature display unit. Cosmetic but useful when running an event for an international audience. |
setgamepref | setgamepref <preference name> <value> (shortcut sg) | Adjust any game preference at runtime. View current values with getgamepref. |
debugmenu | debugmenu [on | off] (shortcut dm) | Toggles Debug Mode. Enables creative menu, fly mode, no-clip, and the entity spawner. Don't leave on for production servers. |
For testing balance changes or running scripted events without making players grind.
| Command | Syntax | Notes |
|---|---|---|
giveselfxp | giveselfxp <amount> | Awards XP directly to the executing admin. Useful for testing Game Stage transitions without playing through. |
buff | buff <buff name> | Applies the named buff to the executing admin. |
buffplayer | buffplayer <name | id> <buff name> | Applies a buff to another player. |
debuff / debuffplayer | Same syntax as buff / buffplayer | Removes a buff. |
For server operators who tail the log or run remote tools (CSMM, BotMan, custom scripts).
loglevel <level> <true | false> — toggles a log level on or off. Levels: INF, WRN, ERR, EXC, ALL. Telnet/web-only command.gfx af <0 | 1> — toggles anisotropic filtering. Mostly client-side relevance.settime can break time-based mechanics on your save. Bedroll expiry, land-claim decay, and questing timers may misbehave after a forced jump. Back up before using.debugmenu + creative menu = save corruption risk if you spawn quest-related items in unusual quantities. Always test on a copy of the save.serveradmin.xml with level 0 lets that player ban anyone, including you.shutdown, not the OS kill. The save flushes on graceful shutdown; killing 7DaysToDieServer mid-tick can corrupt the world chunk file currently being written.shutdown from cron / systemd