Windrose servers are configured through two JSON files. Once you know where they live and how they're structured, configuring your world is straightforward.

The golden rule: stop the server before editing

Windrose overwrites ServerDescription.json on shutdown, so changes made while the server is running are lost. Always stop first, edit, then restart. This is the most common cause of "my changes didn't save" tickets. On the HypeServ panel, you edit both files through the File Manager with the server stopped.

The two config files

• ServerDescription.json is located at R5/ServerDescription.json and controls the name, password, slots, and active world.

• WorldDescription.json is located at R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB/<version>/Worlds/<world-id>/WorldDescription.json and controls the gameplay settings of a world.

Both are created automatically on first launch. Start and stop the server once before editing anything.

ServerDescription.json

Controls how players find and join your server. The important fields:

• ServerName: the name players see.

• InviteCode: auto-generated, alphanumeric, and case-sensitive ("aBc123" ≠ "abc123"). Players use it to join.

• IsPasswordProtected + Password: these go together. The password is ignored as long as protection isn't true, so enable that first.

• MaxPlayerCount: keep it within your plan's slot count.

• WorldIslandId: must match the IslandId in WorldDescription.json, otherwise the world won't load.

Leave P2pProxyAddress and PersistentServerId alone: the former is pre-configured, and editing the latter can orphan your save data.

WorldDescription.json

json

{
  "IslandId": "your-world-id",
  "WorldName": "My World",
  "WorldPresetType": "Medium",
  "WorldSettings": {
    "FloatParameters": { },
    "BoolParameters": { },
    "TagParameters": { }
  }
}

WorldPresetType accepts Easy, Medium, Hard, or Custom (shown in-game as "Captain's Choice").

Note: as soon as you edit any value in WorldSettings, the preset automatically switches to Custom. This is expected behavior, not a bug.

The most important settings

• MobHealthMultiplier / MobDamageMultiplier: 0.2 to 5.0 (default 1.0). Enemy toughness and hit strength.

• CombatDifficulty: Easy / Normal / Hard. Affects AI behavior beyond the raw multipliers.

• ShipsHealthMultiplier (0.4 to 5.0) / ShipsDamageMultiplier (0.2 to 2.5): ship durability and damage.

• Coop.StatsCorrectionModifier: 0.0 to 2.0. How much enemies scale with player count (0.0 = no scaling). Leave at default unless the balance doesn't fit your group size.

• EasyExplore: counterintuitively, true disables map markers for immersive exploration.

• Coop.SharedQuests: true shares quest progress across all players.

Running multiple worlds

You can host multiple worlds and switch between them (only one runs at a time). Each lives in its own folder under Worlds, named to match its IslandId. To switch, stop the server, set WorldIslandId in ServerDescription.json to the world you want, and restart. Save data persists independently, so nothing is lost.

If the server won't start after a change

Almost always a JSON syntax error, such as a missing comma or a broken backslash in a tagged key. Check the server console to see what's causing the problem.

Don't feel like setting up a Windrose server yourself? Spin up a Windrose server at HypeServ and edit everything from the panel, or ask us on Discord.