My Server Won't Start

Use this guide when Start is unavailable, the server remains Stopped or Starting, or startup ends in Error. Do not submit repeated starts or create a replacement server as a test.

Check the account, status, and permissions

Open the intended server in Console, refresh once, and note its status and message. On a shared server, the owner can check your start/stop permission in Roles & Sharing. A missing control may be an access restriction, not a failed server.

If the server is Stopping, wait for Stopped before trying Start. If it is Starting, follow the waiting checks below rather than changing settings.

If Start is blocked or the server stays Stopped

  1. Read any message shown after the start attempt.
  2. Check the owner's Credit Balance, the displayed hourly rate, and Banked Hour. Creating a server or starting without unused prepaid time requires one full hour upfront. A positive banked remainder can resume; a configuration upgrade may still need extra credit.
  3. If credit is insufficient, the owner must top up. A member's own balance does not pay for a shared server.
  4. After the top-up is confirmed, select Start once.

The expected result is a transition to Starting, then Running. A top-up alone does not restart the server. See Hourly Billing and Banked Hour.

If the server stays Starting

A new start may include game downloads or world loading. Keep the page open or return later and check whether the status message and Activity Log have progressed. Startup time varies by game; Running can still be followed by a short game-loading period before players can join.

Do not change region, tier, size, settings, or mods while the operation is in progress. If the message remains unchanged and the server never becomes ready, contact support with the time you started it and how long you waited. You do not need to keep retrying to prove the problem.

If startup ends in Error

Read the status message and recent Activity Log entries before changing anything. Note whether the failure began after a game update, settings change, or mod change.

  • For a clearly identified invalid setting, use the settings and mods checks. Change only the relevant value and follow the stop, save, and start sequence.
  • Do not remove mods at random: an existing world may depend on them.
  • If the log reports a save-backup problem, or progress is missing, use the save-data guide instead of retrying startup.
  • If there is no clear, safe correction, leave the configuration unchanged and contact support.

Error does not mean billing has paused. If you want to stop further hosting use, select Stop when available and verify Stopped. If that transition also fails, report it; do not delete the server.

If Auto-start was missed

Check the selected day, time, timezone, and enabled action in Automation, along with the owner's available credit at the scheduled time. A failed or skipped occurrence is not retried later. Follow An Automation Didn't Run before starting manually.

When to contact support

Ask for help if startup stays in progress without visible progress, the same error returns after one known correction, or Start is still blocked despite sufficient credit and permission. Include the server name, game, status message, start-attempt time and timezone, waiting time, and relevant Activity Log entries.

Use the support-case steps and safe evidence checklist. Do not include passwords, tokens, or share-link keys.