How to host a No More Room in Hell server (2026)

Short answer. You can host a No More Room in Hell server yourself for free: install the dedicated server, Steam app 317670, with SteamCMD and an anonymous login, put your settings in nmrih/cfg/server.cfg, start it with srcds_run and open the port you pass with -port. Or rent a No More Room in Hell server and skip the install and the networking.

Players find your server by name in the in-game server browser. This guide covers the original game, not No More Room in Hell 2.

Checked on 5 November 2026 against the 1.15 Networking Update, released on 1 September 2026, the newest update the developers had announced on Steam.

This guide uses two sources: the developers' own Steam announcements, and what we run on every No More Room in Hell server we host. Where we could not confirm something in a primary source, it is left out. To skip to the rental route, go to Option 2.

What you need

• The server software: the No More Room in Hell dedicated server, Steam app 317670. We install it with an anonymous Steam login. The game itself is a separate Steam app (224260) that your players install; Steam lists it as free to play.
• A machine that stays on: a spare PC, a home server or a cloud virtual machine. This guide uses 64-bit Debian or Ubuntu; our servers run Debian 12. The game has Windows and Linux builds on Steam, but we have only tested the Linux server.
• RAM and CPU: the developers do not publish server requirements that we could find. Treat any figure you read elsewhere as an estimate.
• A port: one port of your choice, passed to the server with -port and opened on your firewall and router.
• A player count: set with -maxplayers.

Option 1: host it yourself

The download command and file paths below are based on the ones our servers use. The panel also adds a few safeguards we explain further down.

Install the server

1. Install the libraries SteamCMD needs.

   sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install curl tar ca-certificates lib32gcc-s1 lib32stdc++6 lib32z1 -y

   SteamCMD itself is a 32-bit program (its download ships only linux32/steamcmd), which is why these 32-bit libraries are needed. If srcds_run later stops with a missing .so library, install the package that provides it (the :i386 one if it is a 32-bit library).
2. Create a user for the server and switch to it.

   sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash -U nmrih
   sudo su - nmrih

3. Install SteamCMD and let it update itself once.

   mkdir -p ~/steamcmd ~/server/steamapps
   cd ~/steamcmd
   curl -sSL -o steamcmd.tar.gz https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steamcmd_linux.tar.gz
   tar -xzf steamcmd.tar.gz
   ./steamcmd.sh +quit

4. Download the server.

   ./steamcmd.sh +force_install_dir /home/nmrih/server +login anonymous +app_update 317670 validate +quit

   In our own installs, SteamCMD downloads sometimes failed without an error while the command still looked finished, on about two clean installs in seven. In those failures the file steamapps/appmanifest_317670.acf was missing, so check for it and for srcds_run in the server folder, and run the command again if either is missing.
5. Copy the Steam client libraries. Our install copies them into .steam/sdk32 and .steam/sdk64 in the home folder of the user the server runs as (on our servers, the server folder is that home folder). For the nmrih user above:

   mkdir -p ~/.steam/sdk32 ~/.steam/sdk64
   cp ~/steamcmd/linux32/steamclient.so ~/.steam/sdk32/
   cp ~/steamcmd/linux64/steamclient.so ~/.steam/sdk64/

Write the settings

1. Create the config file nmrih/cfg/server.cfg inside the server folder, and put these five lines in it. They are the settings our panel manages:

   hostname "My No More Room in Hell server"
   sv_password ""
   sv_difficulty "classic"
   sv_alltalk 0
   mp_timelimit 45

   The panel offers three values for sv_difficulty: casual, classic and nightmare. Its Time limit per map (minutes) setting writes mp_timelimit, and its Global voice chat switch writes sv_alltalk as 1 (on) or 0 (off).
2. Add admin cvars if you want them. The 1.14.2 update added sv_ban_items, a comma-separated list of banned item names, with the example sv_ban_items me_fubar,exp_tnt,item_pills. The 1.15 update added sv_gamedesc_override, which changes the game description without a plugin. The announcements list many more server cvars.
3. Restart the server after you change server.cfg.

Open the port

• Open the port you will pass to -port on the machine's firewall and forward it on your router.
• The 1.15 update added Steam Networking and says "port forwarding is no longer required". The only way it describes to use it is a new menu in the game's Create Server dialog (public, friends-only or unlisted servers). It does not say how a dedicated server uses it, so we still open the port on ours.

Start it and join

1. Start the server from the server folder. This is our start line, with port 27015 as an example:

   ./srcds_run -game nmrih -console -port 27015 +map nms_northway +ip 0.0.0.0 -maxplayers 8 -strictportbind -norestart

   -port must be the port you opened, and -maxplayers sets the player slots. The server is ready when the console prints a line containing gameserver Steam ID.
2. Join it. Start No More Room in Hell, open the server browser and search for your server name exactly as written in hostname. Since 1.15 the browser also shows each server's difficulty in its game description.
3. Update by stopping the server and running the step 4 download command again. The 1.15 announcement says the update is applied when players restart No More Room in Hell, so they need to restart their game too.

Why your settings may do nothing

This is the trap we found building our install. Our panel changes a setting by editing the line that is already in server.cfg. It cannot create the file and it cannot add a missing line, and it reports nothing in either case. The setting looks saved and does nothing. Our install therefore creates the file and adds only the five lines your own file does not already carry. If you manage server.cfg by script or by hand, do the same: make sure each of the five lines exists before you rely on a tool to change it.

Option 2: host it on PlayNHost

Renting removes the install, the port and the update routine. You still choose a name, a password if you want one, and your rules.

1. Pick a plan. Open the No More Room in Hell server hosting page. There is one plan at the time of writing, FIREAXE, for 8 players. Press Customize Plan and finish the order. Prices change, so check them on that page.
2. Wait for the install. The server appears in the panel. Its Console prints a line containing gameserver Steam ID when it is ready.
3. Name it. On the Settings tab, under Game Settings, set the Server name and, for a private server, a Join password. Then restart.
4. Choose your rules in the same place: Default Map (the map the server starts on), Difficulty (casual, classic or nightmare), Global voice chat and Time limit per map (minutes). Restart to apply them. See How to Change Your No More Room in Hell Server Settings and Maps.
5. Make yourself admin. See How to Become an Admin on Your No More Room in Hell Server.
6. Invite your players. On Overview, copy the Server Address and send it to your players, with the Join password if you set one. See How to Connect to Your No More Room in Hell Server.

What the panel does for you

• The port is assigned and open from the start, and the server starts on it.
• The install retries the SteamCMD download up to three times and stops with a clear error if the app never arrived, instead of leaving a server that dies on its first boot.
• Your settings are written into server.cfg at every start, so you change them in Game Settings, not in the file. The install seeds the five lines first, so the settings above have a line to land on.
• With Auto Update on (the default, under Show advanced in Game Settings), the server downloads any new build from Steam each time it starts.
• An optional Install SourceMod switch adds Metamod:Source and SourceMod: turn it on and reinstall the server, because only the install reads it. The install fails loudly if they did not land, instead of pretending they did. Turning it off later does not remove them.
• If the server is missing from the browser, see How to Fix a No More Room in Hell Server Missing From the Browser.

Self-hosting or renting: an honest comparison

• Cost: the server software is free. Self-hosting costs power, hardware and bandwidth, or a cloud machine. Renting is a monthly fee set by the plan.
• Uptime: a home server is only up while your PC, power and internet are. A rented server runs on the host's hardware.
• Exposure: at home, players connect to your public IP address and you look after the firewall and router. A rented server keeps your home IP out of it.
• Setup: self-hosting needs the command line, SteamCMD, a port and a hand-kept server.cfg. Renting needs a name, a password and your rules.
• Control: self-hosting gives you every file. On our servers you change the main settings in the panel and still have the Files tab for the rest.

Ready to skip the setup? See the No More Room in Hell server plans.