How to start your Icarus server for the first time

Click Start on your server's Overview page and wait for the badge to say Online. That takes well under a minute on a normal start. The server then waits in the Server Lobby until a player joins and picks a prospect.

Start it

1. Open your server in the panel.
2. Click Start.
3. Open the Console tab, or watch the small console on Overview, to see what the server is doing.

What the Console shows

Icarus runs its Windows dedicated server on our machines, and the Console shows the game's own log file as it is written.

With Auto Update on (the default), every start first checks Steam for a newer Icarus server build and downloads it if there is one. A start right after a game update takes longer because of this.

The server is ready when the Console shows a line with one of these:

• (Engine Initialization) Total time:
• Game Engine Initialized

When that line appears, the badge changes to Online, and shortly after the server shows in the game's dedicated server browser under its Server Name.

The Server Lobby

A new server has no prospect yet. The first player to join lands in the Server Lobby, where any player can start a new prospect or load a saved one. See How to start, load and resume prospects on your Icarus server.

When the last player leaves, the server goes back to the lobby on its own. Your prospect is kept and can be loaded again.

What a new server already has

• Server Name: A PlayNHost Server. Change it before you invite people, because players find your server by its name.
• Join Password: empty, so anyone who finds the server can join.
• Admin Password: a random password made for your server. Keep it to yourself; it makes a player admin: How to become admin on your Icarus server.
• Player slots: the number your plan includes.
• Mods: none. The two mod folders already exist: How to add mods to your Icarus server.
• Automatic backup: if your plan includes backups, a schedule that backs the server up every night. See How to back up and restore your Icarus world.

Next steps

1. Set the name and passwords.
2. Join your server.
3. Invite your friends.

If the server does not reach Online, see Your Icarus server is stuck on starting.