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How to Change the Difficulty of a Conan Exiles Server

Use Esc → Settings → Server Settings to choose Civilized, Decadent, or Barbaric. This guide covers Enhanced and Legacy menu locations, the admin-password reset, ServerSettings.ini recovery, and troubleshooting.
Length9 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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Use Conan Exiles’ in-game admin menu: join as an administrator, open Esc → Settings → Server Settings, select Civilized, Decadent, or Barbaric, and confirm. Changing the preset resets the server’s admin password, so restore the AdminPassword entry in ServerSettings.ini and grant yourself admin access again before you continue managing the server.

What the three difficulty presets mean

Conan Exiles uses three named server-difficulty presets rather than a numeric slider. The labels are consistent across the supported menu guides, but the menu location depends on which game build you are running.

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Preset Practical meaning Best fit
Civilized Easy New players, relaxed co-op, or a server where survival friction should be low.
Decadent Normal A middle-ground ruleset for a general-purpose server.
Barbaric Hard Experienced groups seeking tougher survival and combat conditions.

The preset is a bundle of base values. It is not a separate character mode, and it does not replace individual settings that you may have customized elsewhere.

What changing difficulty affects

The official Conan Exiles wiki describes the Difficulty setting as adjusting base values in several server-setting categories. The normal impact is concentrated in the Combat, Survival, Harvesting, and Purge tabs.

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  • Combat: the preset supplies baseline combat-related values.
  • Survival: the baseline survival pressures are adjusted.
  • Harvesting: gathering-related defaults are part of the bundle.
  • Purge: purge-related baseline settings are included.

The same description says that Progression, Crafting, and Day/Night are left alone by the Difficulty control. If your server has carefully tuned crafting rates, experience progression, or the day-and-night cycle, changing the preset is not documented as changing those categories.

Because the preset changes base settings, review any custom values that matter to your community after applying it. The menu is the supported way to apply the preset; it is safer than trying to infer a hidden configuration key from a different server version.

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Before you change the server

Make sure you can administer the server

You must join with the server’s administrator password before the Server Settings controls are available. If you are hosting locally, use the administrator credentials configured for that server. If another person owns the server, ask them to perform the change or provide temporary administrative access.

Tell connected players what will happen

Difficulty is a server-wide choice. Decide whether the change is intended for a fresh season, a planned challenge, or a correction to an accidental setting. Announce the timing so players are not surprised by different combat, survival, harvesting, or purge behavior.

Keep the current administrator password available

Changing the difficulty resets the admin password. Have the password you want to use ready before confirming the new preset. You will need to write it back to ServerSettings.ini, reconnect, and make yourself an administrator again.

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Back up configuration before manual work

If you expect to inspect or edit the configuration file, copy the existing file first. A backup gives you a known version to restore if the server starts with unexpected values or if a host panel rewrites the file.

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Change the difficulty through the in-game admin menu

  1. Join the server as an administrator. Connect to the Conan Exiles server and authenticate with its admin password. Being an ordinary player is not enough to expose the server controls.
  2. Open the pause menu. Press Esc after you have entered the world.
  3. Open Settings. Select Settings from the pause menu.
  4. Open Server Settings. Choose Server Settings rather than a client-only graphics, audio, or control page.
  5. Find the difficulty control. On the Enhanced build, the control is placed in the Server tab. On the Legacy build, it appears in the General menu. If you do not see it in one location, check the other location that matches your build.
  6. Select a preset. Choose Civilized, Decadent, or Barbaric.
  7. Confirm the change. Apply the selection using the confirmation control shown by your client. Do not leave the page before confirming; an highlighted option that has not been accepted is not a completed server change.
  8. Expect administrator access to be cleared. The difficulty change resets the admin password. Continue with the password-recovery procedure below before attempting another administrative change.

The exact button styling can vary between client builds, but the supported route remains the same: authenticate, open Settings, enter Server Settings, choose the preset, and confirm.

Restore the admin password after the change

The password reset is the most important side effect. It does not mean the difficulty failed; it means the server no longer accepts the previous administrator credentials.

  1. Stop the server before editing its file. Use your server’s normal stop control. Stopping first avoids a running process writing its own values over your edit.
  2. Open the server configuration directory. The official wiki identifies the file as ServerSettings.ini in Saved/Config/WindowsServer. The complete path depends on where your dedicated server is installed.
  3. Set the administrator password. In ServerSettings.ini, set the AdminPassword line to the password you intend to use. Do not remove unrelated settings.
  4. Save the file and start the server. Keep the backup until you have confirmed that the server starts normally.
  5. Reconnect and authenticate. Join the server with the password you just configured.
  6. Grant yourself admin access again. Use the game’s normal admin-authentication process. The difficulty preset and the administrator login are separate actions, so completing one does not automatically complete the other.

If you manage the server through a hosting control panel, the panel may expose a file editor or an environment-specific configuration area instead of the directory shown above. Follow the panel’s equivalent path, but preserve the same order: stop, back up, set AdminPassword, save, start, reconnect, and re-administer yourself.

Enhanced and Legacy menu locations

Players often report that the setting is “missing” because they are following instructions for the other build. The distinction is small but important:

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Build Menu path after opening Server Settings
Enhanced Open the Server tab and locate Difficulty.
Legacy Open the General menu and locate Difficulty.

Both builds use the same three preset names. If neither tab contains the control, first verify that you actually authenticated as an administrator. Then confirm that you opened the server-settings page rather than a client settings page. A host panel can also limit which in-game controls are exposed, in which case the server owner or panel administrator must perform the change.

Why the in-game method is preferable to guessing an INI value

Some server administrators try to change difficulty by adding a guessed key and value directly to the configuration file. That is risky because the exact storage key and accepted values for the preset are not established consistently across current guides. Sources also disagree about whether the preset itself is written as a durable value in ServerSettings.ini on every server type.

The reliable, supported route is therefore the in-game menu. Use the file only for the documented recovery task—restoring AdminPassword—unless you have inspected a current configuration generated by your own running server and understand how your host applies settings.

If you must inspect the file, stop the server first. A running server can rewrite its configuration during shutdown or startup, which can overwrite an edit made at the wrong time. Because the precise difficulty key is not confirmed here, do not invent one from a forum post aimed at another build.

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Hosted server and self-hosted server differences

Hosted control panel

A hosted server may provide a start/stop button, an online file editor, and an in-game admin-password field. The labels differ by provider, but the operational requirements do not: you need administrator access, you must apply one of the three presets, and you must restore the password after the reset. If the panel automatically restarts the server, wait for that operation to finish before reconnecting.

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Self-hosted dedicated server

On a self-hosted installation, the configuration is ordinarily under the server’s saved configuration tree, with ServerSettings.ini in Saved/Config/WindowsServer. Installation paths vary, so search from the server installation directory rather than assuming a drive letter or a particular folder above Saved.

Console or platform-specific installations

The documented path names a Windows dedicated-server folder. If your platform stores configuration elsewhere, use that platform’s server-management interface or file layout. Do not copy a Windows path literally into a different operating system’s file browser.

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Troubleshooting by symptom

The Server Settings page is unavailable

  • Reconnect using the server’s administrator password.
  • Open the pause menu only after the character has fully joined the server.
  • Confirm that you selected Settings and then Server Settings, not a local client-settings page.
  • If you are on Enhanced, inspect the Server tab; if you are on Legacy, inspect General.

The difficulty option is not visible

Check the other build-specific location first. If the control is absent from both, the account may not be an administrator or the host may restrict in-game server changes. Ask the server owner to apply the setting through the supported menu.

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The old admin password no longer works

This is expected after a difficulty change. Stop the server, restore the AdminPassword line in ServerSettings.ini, save, start the server, reconnect, and authenticate again. Do not keep retrying the old password; it will not restore access.

The server starts but the setting appears unchanged

Verify that you confirmed the preset rather than merely highlighting it. Re-enter Server Settings and check the selected preset. If the server is managed by a panel, check whether the panel reapplied an older configuration when it restarted. Use your backup to compare only the settings you intentionally changed.

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A manual file edit disappears

Stop the server before editing, retain a backup, and avoid editing while the server is shutting down or starting. A management panel may also regenerate configuration from its own saved template; in that case, change the value through the panel or use the in-game menu instead of repeatedly editing the generated file.

Planning a difficulty change for an established world

Choose the timing

Apply the preset during a planned maintenance window. Players may be in combat, harvesting, or preparing for a purge when the server rules change. A short announcement and a known changeover time reduce disputes about why the same activity produced a different result.

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Record the previous state

Before confirming, record the current preset and keep the configuration backup. This gives you a rollback reference if the new rules do not suit the community. Do not assume that selecting the previous label alone will restore every custom value that existed before the change.

Review the affected categories

After the change, test the categories identified by the official description: combat, survival, harvesting, and purge. Leave progression, crafting, and day/night settings out of this review unless you intend to change them separately; the Difficulty control is not documented as modifying those categories.

Re-establish administration

Make restoring the admin password part of the maintenance checklist, not an optional follow-up. Without it, you may be unable to correct another server setting from inside the game.

Quick checklist

  • Join with the current administrator password.
  • Press Esc.
  • Open Settings → Server Settings.
  • Use Server on Enhanced or General on Legacy.
  • Select Civilized, Decadent, or Barbaric.
  • Confirm the selection.
  • Expect the admin password to reset.
  • Stop the server and back up ServerSettings.ini.
  • Set the AdminPassword line in Saved/Config/WindowsServer/ServerSettings.ini.
  • Start the server, reconnect, and grant yourself admin access again.

What not to do

  • Do not assume the Enhanced menu layout applies to Legacy, or vice versa.
  • Do not treat a highlighted preset as saved until you confirm it.
  • Do not continue using the old administrator password after the change.
  • Do not guess a difficulty key or value in the INI file when the accepted syntax has not been verified for your server build.
  • Do not edit a live configuration without a backup and a stopped server.
  • Do not assume that a difficulty change alters progression, crafting, or the day/night cycle; those categories are described as unaffected by the preset.

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