How to Add an Admin to Your Nightingale Server

Nightingale has no admin list with Steam or Epic IDs. Instead there is a single admin password for the server: whoever enters it in the game unlocks admin mode for themselves. So you do not need to collect any IDs – you simply hand the password to the people who should get admin rights.

Warning

Everyone who knows the admin password can kick and ban players on your server. Only share it with people you trust and use a different password than your server password.

Set the admin password

1. Open the dashboard
   Open the dashboard of your server and switch to the Settings.

2. Enter the admin password
   Enter the password you want in the Admin Password field.

3. Restart the server
   Save the change and restart your server so the new password is applied.

Important

If a password is already pre-filled in the field, make sure to replace it with your own before your server is publicly reachable – otherwise anyone who knows the pre-filled value can gain admin rights.

Why not in the configuration file?

The admin password is stored in /NWX/Config/ServerSettings.ini in the line AdminPassword=. However, your server rewrites that line from the dashboard field on every start. A manual change in the file would be gone again after the next start – so only set the password in the dashboard. The same applies to the server password (Password=) and the difficulty (StartingDifficulty=).

Enable admin mode in the game

1. Join the server
   Connect to your server. How to do that is described in Join Server.

2. Open the menu
   Press Esc in the game to open the menu.

3. Select Admin Mode
   Select the entry Admin Mode: OFF.

4. Enter the password
   Enter the admin password of your server and confirm with Confirm.

5. Check the result
   If the menu now shows Admin Mode: ON, you are authenticated as an admin.

Disable admin mode again

1. Open the menu
   Press Esc and select the entry Admin Mode: ON.

2. Confirm
   Confirm with Confirm.

3. Rejoin
   Leave the server and join again so the change takes effect.

Note

Admin mode only applies to the current session and the current connection. After a lost connection or a server restart you enable it again the next time you join.

Tip

How to remove players from your server as an admin is described in Kick & Ban Players.

What admin mode can do – and what it cannot

Note

In Nightingale, admin mode exists to kick and ban players. There are no classic admin chat commands, and the console in the dashboard only shows the server's output – it does not accept commands.

Cheat and debug menu

Separate from this there is the cheat and debug menu. You do not need it for kicking and banning. If you want to use it on your server, three things are required:

• Enable it on the server through the Enable Cheats variable in the dashboard.
• Additionally start your client with the -EnableCheats launch option. Add it in Steam under Library → Nightingale → Properties → Launch Options.
• Authenticate in the game with the admin password as described above.