Updating with Minimal Downtime
Tags: updates, downtime, maintenance
Patch days are when players churn. Stage updates, communicate windows, and keep a rollback plan so you can recover quickly.
Plan the window
- Announce maintenance at least 24 hours ahead with exact start time, duration, and time zone.
- Choose off-peak hours and avoid horde nights unless absolutely necessary.
- Prepare patch notes or links so players know what is changing.
Stage and back up
- Take a full backup (world, configs, mods) and verify it extracts.
- Test the update on a staging server with the same mods and settings.
- Record new config defaults; game updates sometimes overwrite custom values.
Deploy
- Stop the server cleanly, apply the update, and reapply any custom XML or mod changes.
- Start the server and scan logs for errors before opening it to players.
- Run a quick join test, a trader visit, and a quest to confirm core systems work.
Branches: current stable vs experimental
V3.4.0 is the current stable branch since 26 October 2026; V2.6, V3.0, V3.1, V3.2 and V3.3 are earlier releases. If TFP has an experimental build running, you opt in through the Steam beta branch named latest_experimental; on 29 October it still carries V3.4.0 b6, older than the b9 hotfix of 28 October on the default branch, so there is nothing newer to test. The client and the server must be on the same branch, or players hit an incompatible/invalid version error. See Version Mismatch for the exact symptoms.
- The server updates automatically on restart, so most branch changes are picked up by a clean stop and start.
- After flipping a branch, if the server is stuck on an old build, force a revalidation server-side:
steamcmd +login anonymous +app_info_update 1 +app_update 294420 validate +quit (294420 is the dedicated-server appid).
- Announce a branch change loudly. Players on the wrong branch cannot connect until they switch their client to match.
Rollback plan
- Keep the previous server binaries and mod versions ready.
- If the update corrupts saves, shut down, restore the last backup, and announce the rollback with time lost.
- Log what failed so you can retry after a hotfix instead of guessing.
Communicate
- Post start and end updates in chat/Discord; include the new build number.
- If downtime runs long, give ETA updates every 15 - 20 minutes.
- After success, highlight any client steps (verify files, download mods) so players can reconnect smoothly.