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How to set up your Assetto Corsa server on ZentexNode

Step by step: add your Steam account, reinstall, start it, set the name and passwords, upload cars and tracks and connect with your drivers.

By Tech Team··4 min read
How to set up your Assetto Corsa server on ZentexNode

🏁 What you'll have at the end

Your Assetto Corsa server running, with your name and password, the track and cars you choose, and your drivers connected. Everything is done from the panel, in your browser. Follow the steps in this order.

🔑 1. Add your Steam account

The dedicated server is downloaded from Steam, and Steam only lets an account that owns Assetto Corsa download it. In the panel, open your server and go to the Startup tab. Fill in:
  • Steam Username: your Steam login name (the one you sign in with, not the name your friends see).
  • Steam Password: your Steam password.
  • Steam Auth Code: only if your account has Steam Guard. It's the code Steam gives you at that moment. It expires quickly: type it right before step 2, not earlier.
Without an account, the installation ends with the message ERROR - STEAM USER NOT SET and the server won't work.

Your Steam password stays saved in the panel. With the Auto Update option on (it comes that way), the server signs in to Steam with that account every time it starts, to download updates. If you'd rather it isn't used again, set Auto Update to 0 in Startup after installing: then it's only used to install or reinstall. If you change your Steam password, put the new one here before reinstalling or turning Auto Update back on.

🔄 2. Reinstall the server

Go to Settings and click Reinstall Server. The panel downloads the server with your account. It takes a few minutes; you can follow it in the console.

▶️ 3. Start it and check it's running

Click Start and watch the console. The server is ready when Server started appears. If it never shows up, check the Steam username and password from step 1 and repeat step 2.

✏️ 4. Name and passwords

These three are changed in Startup, not in the files, because the panel writes them again on every start:
  • Server Name: the name players will see.
  • Server Password: the password to join. If you leave it empty, anyone can join.
  • Admin Password: the password to become an admin in the session.
Don't touch the ports either: the panel automatically sets the main port of your server address for the game, and the second port for the server's web connection (you'll see it in Startup as HTTP Port). After changing anything, restart the server.

🏎️ 5. Cars, track, sessions and slots

These are set by hand in two files in the cfg folder, from the panel's Files tab or over SFTP:
  • server_cfg.ini: the track (TRACK), the allowed cars (CARS, separated by semicolons), the number of slots (MAX_CLIENTS) and the practice, qualifying and race sessions.
  • entry_list.ini: the grid slots, with the car for each one. There must be at least as many slots as drivers.
The server's content/cars and content/tracks folders come empty. Upload the folders of the cars and the track you'll use, copied from your game's content folder, with the same folder name. That name is what goes in TRACK and CARS. If there are many files, use SFTP. Every driver needs the same content installed in their game.

🛡️ 6. Become an admin in the session

Once connected, open the chat and type /admin followed by your Admin Password. Then type /help to see the admin commands available to you.

🎮 7. Connect

Your server address is in the panel. Your drivers can join in two ways:
  • From the game's online mode, searching for the server by name in the list.
  • With Content Manager, adding it by hand with your server's IP and the HTTP Port shown in Startup, for example IP:HTTP-PORT.
If you set a password, it will ask for it when joining.

🚨 If something goes wrong

  • "ERROR - STEAM USER NOT SET". The Steam username or password is missing in Startup. Fill them in and reinstall.
  • The installation fails with Steam Guard. The code expired. Get a new one from Steam, type it in Steam Auth Code and reinstall right away.
  • "Server started" never appears. Check in the console which track or car it can't find: its folder must be in content with the same name as in server_cfg.ini.
  • My name or password changes disappear. They're changed in Startup, not in the file: the panel rewrites it on start.
If you'd rather receive it ready to race, Assisted setup is an optional one-off service where a technician sets it up for you. For any question, open a ticket on our Discord. And if you don't have a server yet, here are the Assetto Corsa hosting plans.
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