VEIN's gameplay settings are console variables whose names start with vein.. You can change many of them in the game from the admin menu, and set any of them as your server's defaults in Engine.ini.
Changing settings in the game
You need to be an admin first: see How to make yourself an admin on your VEIN server.
- Join your server.
- Press
\on your keyboard to open the admin menu. - Go to Config and change the settings you want.
The admin menu has some of the settings, not all of them. For the rest, use Engine.ini.
Setting them in Engine.ini
- Sign in to the control panel at panel.chicagoservers.co, open your VEIN server and click Stop. The game rewrites its files when it shuts down, so changes made while it runs can be lost.
- Open the Configs tab and choose Engine.ini (gameplay console variables).
- Under the
[ConsoleVariables]line (add it if it isn't there), add one line for each setting you want to change, asvein.Setting=Value, for examplevein.PvP=0. Leave out the ones you don't change. - Click Save, then Start your server.
On/off settings take 1 (on) and 0 (off). Make a backup on the Backups tab before big changes. For the server name, password and admins, see How to Configure your VEIN Server.
Common settings and their defaults
Defaults can change between VEIN updates. These were current in late 2026:
vein.PvP:1(players can hurt each other)vein.BuildObjectPvPandvein.BaseDamage:1(bases can be damaged)vein.Time.TimeMultiplier:16vein.Scarcity.Difficulty:2(Standard)vein.Calendar.WaterShutoffTimeDays:30in-game daysvein.Calendar.ElectricalShutoffTimeDays:46in-game daysvein.Stats.XPMultiplier:1vein.Permadeath:0(players can respawn)vein.Autosave.Interval:300secondsvein.ContainersRespawn.Interval:10800secondsvein.AISpawner.Hordes.ChancePerMinute:0.05
All Engine.ini settings
These are the variables VEIN has had under [ConsoleVariables]. New updates add and change some, so the list may not be complete. Some of them (camera, gamma, mouse, crouch, units and music) are personal display and control options from each player's own game settings: setting them on the server may have no effect for players.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
vein.Activity.AFKKickTimeSeconds | If this is greater than 0, kick players who haven't moved for this many seconds |
vein.ActorPartition.BatchSize | Batch size to process actors over |
vein.ActorPartition.Enabled | Enable actor partition |
vein.ActorPartition.PlayerDistance | Distance to despawn actors |
vein.Admin.Logs.MaxLogs | Max log count |
vein.AI.AcceptanceDistance | Acceptable distance to be at a location |
vein.AI.AsyncSensing | Compute sight from AI asynchronously |
vein.AI.EnablePathUpdates | If false, don't pathfind at all |
vein.AI.PathUpdateRate | Seconds between updating paths |
vein.AI.PathUpdateRate.CloseDistance | Distance where you are considered 'close' enough to do high-resolution pathfinding updates |
vein.AI.PathUpdateRate.Far | Seconds between updating paths for distant zombies |
vein.AI.SightInterval | Sight check interval |
vein.AISpawner.AnimalLayerPercentage | What fraction of animals are asleep to start |
vein.AISpawner.Enabled | 1 to let AI spawn, 0 to stop it |
vein.AISpawner.EnableVirtualization | 1 to enable AI virtualization, 0 to disable |
vein.AISpawner.FieldOfViewDot | The dot product indicating the player's field of view (-1 to 1) |
vein.AISpawner.HordeMode | 1 to enable horde mode, 0 to disable |
vein.AISpawner.Hordes.ChancePerMinute | How many hordes spawn per minute |
vein.AISpawner.Hordes.Duration | Duration of a horde event |
vein.AISpawner.Hordes.Enabled | 1 to enable horde spawning, 0 to disable |
vein.AISpawner.Hordes.MaxDistance | If a player gets this far away from where the horde is triggered (e.g. escaping in a car), the horde event ends |
vein.AISpawner.Hordes.NoiseEffect | Bigger means more likely hordes from noise |
vein.AISpawner.Hordes.ScentEffect | Bigger means more likely hordes from bad smells. Negative means hordes from good smells |
vein.AISpawner.ProxifyZombies | Use zombie proxy swapping |
vein.AISpawner.ProxifyZombies.Distance | Distance to proxify zombies |
vein.AISpawner.SpawnCapMultiplier | Spawn cap multiplier for AI |
vein.AISpawner.SpawnCapMultiplierZombie | Spawn cap multiplier for zombies only |
vein.AISpawner.ZombieCrawlerPercentage | What fraction of zombies are crawlers |
vein.AISpawner.ZombieLayerPercentage | What fraction of zombies are asleep to start |
vein.AISpawner.ZombieWalkerPercentage | What fraction of zombies are walkers |
vein.AISpawnpoint.Chance | Chance (0 to 1) to use an AI spawnpoint instead of a random location |
vein.AISpawnpoint.Delay | Delay between AI spawns |
vein.AISpawnpoint.MaxZ | Max. distance to spawn zombies below or above you (in case of caves, etc.) |
vein.AllowPickpocketing | 1 to enable pickpocketing, 0 to disable |
vein.AlwaysBecomeZombie | If this is on, characters who die become a zombie, regardless of infection |
vein.AlwaysFreeLook | Like permanently holding down the free-look key |
vein.Animals.LayingDownDistance | How far away stimuli has to be for animals to 'wake up' |
vein.Animals.NavWalk | If animals should use nav walking instead of walking |
vein.Animation.UpdateRateOptimizations | Enable update rate optimizations (don't change this at runtime) |
vein.Appearance.MergeSkeletalMeshes | Merge skeletal meshes when combining clothing |
vein.Assets.CacheDataAssets | 1 to cache hard-loaded data assets |
vein.Autosave.Enabled | 1 to enable autosaves, 0 to disable |
vein.Autosave.Interval | Seconds between autosaves |
vein.Autosave.MaxQuantity | Maximum autosaves to keep |
vein.BaseDamage | Can bases be damaged at all? |
vein.BasicVehicleReplication.PositionInterpSpeed | Vehicle position interpolation speed |
vein.BasicVehicleReplication.RotationInterpSpeed | Vehicle rotation interpolation speed |
vein.BasicVehicleReplication.UpdateInterval | Interval between basic vehicle replication when the vehicle is moving |
vein.BasicVehicleReplication.UpdateIntervalSlow | Interval between basic vehicle replication when the vehicle is not moving |
vein.BatchTicks.Active | Is the batch ticking system active/running ticks? |
vein.BatchTicks.Enabled | Is the batch ticking system enabled? |
vein.BatchTicks.EveryFrame | Force the batch tick system to run every frame and ignore countdowns/delays |
vein.BatchTicks.PositionGranularity | Size of hierarchical position query box |
vein.BuildObjectDecay | Are utility cabinets (UCs) needed to stop bases decaying? |
vein.BuildObjectPvP | Can players damage other players' bases? |
vein.Calendar.ElectricalShutoffTimeDays | Days until the power is shut off |
vein.Calendar.WaterShutoffTimeDays | Days until the water is shut off |
vein.Camera.EnableSprintFOV | Enable or disable zooming when sprinting |
vein.Camera.FirstPersonADS | When aiming down sights, go into first-person even if you're in third-person |
vein.Camera.FirstPersonBody | Show legs in first-person |
vein.Camera.FOV | How much FOV to apply |
vein.Camera.HeadBob | How much head bob to apply |
vein.Camera.MeleeViewPunchMultiplier | How much to attenuate melee view punch |
vein.Camera.SmoothingLocation | How much location camera smoothing to apply |
vein.Camera.SmoothingRotation | How much rotation camera smoothing to apply |
vein.Camera.UseMouseWheel | Use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out |
vein.CameraScreen.CameraCaptureInterval | Interval between camera frames |
vein.CameraScreen.CameraCaptureIntervalFar | Interval between camera frames when the player is far away |
vein.Censor.ContentFriendly | If this is on, names of drugs are censored or replaced with false names |
vein.Characters.Max | Maximum number of characters one player may have |
vein.Cheating.MaxItemTransferDistance | Disconnect people if they try taking an item from this far away |
vein.Cheating.MaxVehicleMovement | If a vehicle move request is this far away from its actual location, log it |
vein.ClothingHideable | Can players hide their clothes for roleplaying purposes? |
vein.Conditions.AlwaysShow | Show all conditions always, regardless of threshold |
vein.Conditions.NetworkInterval | The delay between networking conditions |
vein.Conditions.NetworkIntervalSlow | The delay between networking conditions where conditions are expected to predict |
vein.Consciousness.RecoveryPerSecond | How much consciousness to recover |
vein.Construction.ContinueBuilding | Always keep building, regardless of holding down shift or not |
vein.ContainersRespawn.Enabled | If this is on, empty containers respawn items |
vein.ContainersRespawn.Interval | How often (in seconds) containers respawn their contents |
vein.DeadDoorsIntact | 1 to spawn doors that damage things, 0 to just crumble |
vein.Firearm.BloodSplatter.MaxDecals | How many blood decals to spawn from a firearm |
vein.Firearm.BloodSplatter.MaxDistance | Max distance for blood decals to spawn from a firearm |
vein.Firearms.AISoundMultiplier | Multiplier for firearm use to alert zombies. Smaller means sound travels less far |
vein.Firearms.MaxRange | Max range for bullets |
vein.Furniture.PhysicalFall | Furniture physically falls to the ground |
vein.Furniture.RespawnRate | Seconds to respawn furniture |
vein.Furniture.Respawns | If furniture respawns at all |
vein.Gamma | Gamma value |
vein.GoreHoles.Enabled | 1 to enable gore holes, 0 to disable |
vein.HeadshotDamageMultiplier | How much more or less damage headshots do |
vein.HideChat | Hide all chat |
vein.HideCodeLocks | Hide code locks |
vein.HideNameplates | Hide player names |
vein.HideWorldPartitionLoadingScreen | Don't make a black screen when world partition is loading after a teleport |
vein.Holidays.AlwaysSpawn | Always spawn holiday actors, even if it's not a holiday |
vein.HUD.HideAllNameplates | Hide all item, player and other nameplates |
vein.Inventory.AlwaysUpdateContents | If turned on, always update container contents, regardless of distance |
vein.Inventory.DisableItemUpdates | Disable all item updates |
vein.Inventory.ItemUpdateInterval | Duration between regular item updates |
vein.Inventory.PropertyNetworkInterval | Duration between property updates |
vein.Inventory.QuickDismantleEnabled | 1 to enable alt-clicking on an item to dismantle it |
vein.InvertedPitch | Inverted mouse pitch |
vein.ItemActorSpawner.MinimumWorldTime | Item actor spawners won't spawn before the world is this old |
vein.ItemActorSpawner.RespawnInterval | Item actor spawner respawn interval |
vein.ItemActorSpawner.Respawns | Do item actor spawners ever respawn? |
vein.Landscape.LODCurvesEnabled | Enable landscape LOD curves |
vein.LightHiderVolume.Enabled | Enable light hider volumes |
vein.MainMenu.EnableModsPanel | Enable the mods panel in the main menu |
vein.MaxLoadingDuration | Maximum time to spend loading the world before unfreezing the player |
vein.MeleeSlowdownDuration | How long to slow down melee animations on impact |
vein.MeleeSlowdownSpeed | How much to slow down melee animations on impact |
vein.MinLoadingDuration | Minimum time to spend loading the world before unfreezing the player |
vein.Movement.AirControl | Character air control amount |
vein.Movement.MaxBrakingDecelerationFlying | Character flying braking deceleration maximum |
vein.Movement.MaxFlySpeed | Max fly speed while in the air |
vein.Multiplayer.AllowDifferentVersions | Allow joining different-versioned servers through the server browser |
vein.Music.Enabled | 1 to enable music, 0 to disable |
vein.Music.LocationWeight | How much to prioritize regional music |
vein.Music.NightWeight | How much to prioritize night-focused music |
vein.NoSaves | Can players not save? |
vein.OfflineRaidProtection | If this is on and no utility cabinet owners are online, the base is invulnerable |
vein.Permadeath | Can players not respawn? |
vein.PersistentCorpses | 1 to enable persistent corpses, 0 to disable |
vein.PersistentCorpses.CorpseRemovalDelay | How fast to remove corpses |
vein.PersistentCorpses.RemoveTime | How fast corpses go away, in seconds |
vein.PersistentCorpses.RotTime | How fast corpses rot (get stinky), in seconds |
vein.PersistentCorpses.SkeletalTime | How fast corpses turn into skeletons, in seconds |
vein.PhysicsProxy.BlockSize | Block size to put foliage into |
vein.PhysicsProxy.CapsuleTimeBudget | Maximum time to spend updating capsules in a single frame |
vein.PhysicsProxy.Enabled | If false, pause updating proxies |
vein.PhysicsProxy.MaxDistance | Maximum distance to allow physics proxies from a player |
vein.PhysicsProxy.NumProxies | The number of physics proxies |
vein.Placement.AlwaysAllow | Ignore any placement restrictions when moving or building |
vein.Placement.MaxFenceHeight | Maximum height for vertical fences |
vein.Placement.MaxPlacementAttachParents | Maximum attachment chain when placing objects |
vein.Placement.MaxUtilityCabinets | Max. number of utility cabinets people can build |
vein.PunchInterval | How fast players and NPCs can punch |
vein.PvP | Can players damage other players? 1 on, 0 off |
vein.RagdollDragForce | What force to apply when dragging ragdolls |
vein.RepGraph.CellSize | Replication graph cell size |
vein.RepGraph.DestructInfo.MaxDist | Max distance (not squared) to replicate destruct infos at |
vein.RepGraph.DisableSpatialRebuilds | Disable spatial rebuilds |
vein.RepGraph.DisplayClientLevelStreaming | Display client level streaming |
vein.RepGraph.DynamicActorFrequencyBuckets | Dynamic actor frequency buckets |
vein.RepGraph.EnableFastSharedPath | Enable fast shared path |
vein.RepGraph.FastSharedPathCullDistPct | Fast shared path cull distance percentage |
vein.RepGraph.LogLazyInitClasses | Log lazy init classes |
vein.RepGraph.SpatialBiasX | Spatial bias X |
vein.RepGraph.SpatialBiasY | Spatial bias Y |
vein.RepGraph.TargetKBytesSecFastSharedPath | Target KB/sec fast shared path |
vein.RichPresence.Enabled | 1 to enable rich presence, 0 to disable |
vein.Saves.Async | Save on a different thread |
vein.Saves.Format | Save game format |
vein.Saves.LogEmplacements | Log when a save object is emplaced |
vein.Saves.SkipInitialApply | Skip the initial save application when loading the map |
vein.Saves.SkipInitialApplyCheck | Skip the initial save application check when loading actors |
vein.ScalarField.Timeout | Duration the scalar field cache is held for |
vein.Scarcity.Difficulty | Loot scarcity: 0 = None, 1 = More Loot, 2 = Standard, 3 = Less Loot, 4 = Impossible |
vein.Scent.CacheTime | How often to reset scent caches |
vein.Sky.DFAO | If distance field ambient occlusion is on |
vein.Sky.DistanceFieldShadowDistance | Distance field shadow distance for sun and moon |
vein.Sky.DynamicShadowCascades | Shadow cascade count for the sun |
vein.Sky.DynamicShadowDistance | How far the sun renders dynamic shadows |
vein.Sky.FogIndoorsInterpolationSpeed | Speed of blending indoor and outdoor fog |
vein.Sky.LightShaftBloom | Should the sky cast shaft bloom? |
vein.Sky.MoonDynamicShadowCascades | Shadow cascade count for the moon |
vein.Sky.MoonDynamicShadowDistance | How far the moon renders dynamic shadows |
vein.Sky.TickInterval | Seconds between each tick of the sky |
vein.Sky.VolumetricClouds | If volumetric clouds should be rendered instead of painted ones |
vein.Sky.VolumetricFog | Should the sky fog be volumetric? |
vein.StaggerChance | Stagger odds |
vein.Stats.NetworkInterval | The delay between networking for stats |
vein.Stats.XPMultiplier | How much more or less XP you earn |
vein.StunLockChance | Stunlock odds |
vein.StunLockDuration | Stunlock duration |
vein.Time.ContinueWithNoPlayers | If this is on, time keeps moving when no players are on the server |
vein.Time.NightTimeMultiplier | How much faster than daytime nighttime runs |
vein.Time.NightTimeMultiplierEnd | The hour (24-hour clock) the night multiplier ends |
vein.Time.NightTimeMultiplierStart | The hour (24-hour clock) the night multiplier starts |
vein.Time.StartOffsetDays | How many days in a new game starts |
vein.Time.TimeMultiplier | How fast the game world's clock runs |
vein.ToggleCrouch | Toggle crouch vs. press-and-hold |
vein.TV.AllowRemoteContent | If this is on, TVs can play content from the web |
vein.TV.CameraCaptureInterval | Interval between camera frames |
vein.TV.CameraCaptureIntervalFar | Interval between camera frames when the player is far away |
vein.TV.Server.AllowRemoteContent | If this is on, TVs can play content from the web (server) |
vein.Units.Fahrenheit | Temperature units: 0 Celsius, 1 Fahrenheit |
vein.Units.Imperial.Distance | Distance units: 0 metric, 1 imperial |
vein.Units.Imperial.Pressure | Pressure units: 0 metric, 1 imperial |
vein.Units.Imperial.Volume | Volume units: 0 metric, 1 imperial |
vein.Units.Imperial.Weight | Weight units: 0 metric, 1 imperial |
vein.Usable.MaxValidationDistance | Maximum distance to objects to validate uses for |
vein.Usable.ValidateDistance | If all use distances should be validated |
vein.UtilityCabinet.AllowRaiding | If this is off, nobody can add themselves to utility cabinets |
Need help? Open a support ticket and we'll take a look.