Here's how to connect to your Sons Of The Forest server and adjust the most important settings.

Connecting

Open the server page in the client area and click Start.
Wait until the status shows “running”. You can follow the progress in the Console tab.
Copy the address (IP:Port) at the top of the server page.
Connect in-game via the multiplayer menu or direct connect using this address. If the server has a password, enter it when joining.

Important settings

In the Startup variables tab:

Server name (SRV_NAME) – name in the server list and in your Steam contacts.
Password (SRV_PW) – password for joining.
Max. players (MAX_PLAYERS) – how many players can play at the same time.
Game mode (GAME_MODE) – difficulty when creating a new save; ignored for an existing save.
Save slot (SAVE_SLOT) – number of the slot if you've uploaded your own save from your PC.

More settings are in the file serverconfig/dedicatedserver.cfg in the Files tab. Changes in the Startup variables tab take effect on the next restart.

Game modes

The Game mode startup variable only applies to a new save:

peaceful – no hostile enemies
normal – the standard experience
hard – stronger enemies
hardsurvival – hard and with scarce resources
custom – your own rules in dedicatedserver.cfg

Useful values in dedicatedserver.cfg

"SaveInterval": 600 – saves every 600 seconds
"IdleDayCycleSpeed": 0.0 – stops time while nobody is online
"IdleTargetFramerate" and "ActiveTargetFramerate" – limit the processing load without and with players

Stop the server before editing the file.

Player count

Sons of the Forest allows up to 8 players at the same time. Set the number via Max players.

Good to know

If you can't connect, set Skip network test (SKIP_TESTS) to TRUE and restart the server.
The first start takes longer because the server files are downloaded and set up.

Sons Of The Forest: connect to and set up your server