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How to Change the Difficulty of a Conan Exiles Server

Select Civilized, Decadent or Barbaric from Server Settings, then reset AdminPassword in ServerSettings.ini and re-admin yourself.

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Use Conan Exiles’ in-game admin menu: join as an administrator, open Esc → Settings → Server Settings, choose Civilized, Decadent or Barbaric, and confirm. The change resets the server’s admin password, so you must set AdminPassword in ServerSettings.ini again, log in with the new password and grant yourself admin access.

What the three difficulty presets mean

Conan Exiles presents server difficulty as three presets rather than a single slider. Pick the preset that matches the experience you want for everyone on that server.

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Preset Intended level Use it when
Civilized Easy You want a more forgiving server experience.
Decadent Normal You want the standard difficulty.
Barbaric Hard You want tougher default conditions.

The official Conan Exiles wiki describes Difficulty as a group of base-setting adjustments, generally affecting the Combat, Survival, Harvesting and Purge areas. The preset does not normally alter the Progression, Crafting or Day/Night settings. Individual values can still be changed separately after selecting a preset.

Before you change the setting

Make sure you can administer the server

You need to join the server using its current admin password. If you are not already an administrator, the Server Settings controls may not be available. Have the password ready before opening the menu.

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Warn players about the password reset

Changing the preset resets the admin password. This is the most important side effect: after confirming the new difficulty, the password you used to enter the admin controls is no longer valid. Plan to update ServerSettings.ini immediately and re-admin yourself.

Identify your client build

The menu label differs between the Enhanced and Legacy builds. The setting is under the Server tab in Enhanced and under the General menu in Legacy. If you do not see the option in one location, check the other path that matches your build rather than assuming the server is misconfigured.

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Back up the configuration if you will edit it

If you need to restore the admin password manually, make a copy of the configuration file first. The official wiki places the file at Saved/Config/WindowsServer/ServerSettings.ini for a Windows dedicated server. A hosted service may expose the same settings through its control panel instead of the local file.

Change difficulty through the supported in-game method

  1. Join the server. Connect with the current admin password so the game recognises you as an administrator.
  2. Open the pause menu. Press Esc.
  3. Open Settings. Select Settings from the pause menu.
  4. Open the server controls. Choose Server Settings.
  5. Find Difficulty. On an Enhanced build, look in the Server tab. On a Legacy build, look in the General menu.
  6. Select a preset. Choose Civilized, Decadent or Barbaric.
  7. Confirm the change. Apply the selection using the confirmation control shown by your client.
  8. Restore administrator access. Because the password is reset as part of this operation, update the AdminPassword line in ServerSettings.ini, reconnect with that password and make yourself an administrator again.

The menu route is preferable to guessing an INI setting. It is the documented, supported way to apply the preset and avoids relying on an undocumented key name or value.

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Reset the admin password after the change

Windows dedicated server

  1. Stop the server before editing its configuration. This prevents the running process from writing over your change while it is shutting down or saving settings.
  2. Open the server’s Saved/Config/WindowsServer directory.
  3. Back up ServerSettings.ini to a separate location.
  4. Open the original file in a plain-text editor.
  5. Locate the existing AdminPassword line and set it to the password you want to use. Preserve the file’s normal INI formatting; do not invent an additional difficulty key.
  6. Save the file, start the server and wait for it to finish loading.
  7. Join using the new password, then use the administrator controls to grant yourself admin access again.

Hosted server

Some hosts provide an editor or an Admin Password field in the server panel. Use that field if it writes the server’s AdminPassword value, then restart or apply the panel change according to that host’s controls. The exact panel workflow is not universal, and a panel may manage settings differently from a self-hosted installation.

Why stopping first matters

Guides disagree about whether the selected preset is written back to ServerSettings.ini, particularly when a hosting panel is involved. A server can also rewrite its INI during shutdown. Stopping the process before a manual edit is therefore the safer sequence: back up the file, edit while the server is stopped, save, and only then start it.

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What changes and what stays the same

Categories normally affected

  • Combat: the preset supplies its base combat-related values.
  • Survival: survival-related defaults are adjusted as part of the selected difficulty.
  • Harvesting: gathering defaults are included in the preset.
  • Purge: purge-related base settings are included.

These are category-level effects. The preset is not a promise that every value in each tab will be identical on every server, because administrators can override individual settings.

Categories left alone

  • Progression
  • Crafting
  • Day/Night

If you need different experience gain, crafting rules or time-of-day behavior, adjust those settings separately after changing the difficulty.

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Enhanced and Legacy menu paths

Client build Navigation If you cannot find Difficulty
Enhanced Esc → Settings → Server Settings → Server Confirm that you joined with admin rights, then look for the preset in the Server tab.
Legacy Esc → Settings → Server Settings → General Check the General menu; the labels do not match the Enhanced layout.

The build distinction explains why screenshots or instructions from another client can appear to show a missing option. Follow the path for the build you are actually running.

Common problems and precise fixes

The Difficulty option is missing

  • Verify that you joined with the current admin password.
  • Check both possible locations: Server for Enhanced or General for Legacy.
  • Open Server Settings, not a single-player or character-settings screen.

The old admin password no longer works

This is expected after confirming a new preset. Stop the server, restore or replace the AdminPassword value in ServerSettings.ini, start the server, reconnect with the new password and grant yourself admin access again.

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You changed the preset but cannot administer the server afterward

The difficulty change and administrator authentication are separate states. Re-establish the password first; then re-enter the server and make yourself admin. Do not keep trying the pre-change password.

The preset appears to revert

Check whether a hosting panel is regenerating the configuration. Panel-managed servers can apply settings through their own workflow, and sources differ on whether the preset is stored directly in the INI. Apply the difficulty in the in-game menu, then use the panel’s own save or restart controls if it manages the server files.

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Your manual edit disappears

Make sure the server was stopped before you edited the file. A running server can rewrite configuration during shutdown. Restore the backup, stop the server completely, edit again, save, and start it only after the file is closed.

You are unsure which INI key controls difficulty

Do not guess. The exact key name and accepted values for the preset are not established here, and available guides disagree about whether the preset is persisted in ServerSettings.ini. Use the in-game control. If you must investigate a file-based workflow, inspect a current file generated by your own running server and keep a backup before making changes.

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How to verify the change

  1. Reconnect after updating the admin password.
  2. Open Esc → Settings → Server Settings and confirm that the selected preset is displayed in the correct build-specific tab.
  3. Check the individual Combat, Survival, Harvesting and Purge values if you need to document the resulting baseline.
  4. Confirm that Progression, Crafting and Day/Night settings still match your previous configuration if those systems must remain unchanged.
  5. Test administrator access with the new password from a fresh connection, not only from an existing session.

A fresh login is important because an already-open session can hide the fact that the password was reset. Verification also separates the preset choice from later per-category overrides.

Changing difficulty without disrupting a shared server

Choose a maintenance window

Although the menu operation is short, the password reset requires a configuration update and a new administrator login. Perform the change when players can tolerate a brief interruption, especially on a server where nobody else can edit the configuration.

Record the old settings

Before selecting a preset, note any custom values in Combat, Survival, Harvesting or Purge. Difficulty supplies base values for those categories, and recording your overrides makes it easier to restore a preferred setup.

Tell other administrators about the new password

Every administrator who relies on the old password will need the replacement. Share it through your normal private administrative channel rather than leaving the value in a public message.

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Keep the backup until players confirm access

Retain the pre-change copy of ServerSettings.ini until you have confirmed that the server starts, the new password works and the selected preset remains visible. Then archive or securely delete the backup according to your normal server-maintenance practice.

Can you change difficulty by editing the INI directly?

A direct file edit is not the reliable first choice for this task. The exact difficulty key and accepted values are not confirmed, and documentation differs on whether the selected preset is represented in ServerSettings.ini. A hosted panel may also apply the setting without exposing the same file structure used by a self-hosted Windows server.

Use the in-game admin menu for the preset itself. Use the INI only for the documented recovery step of setting AdminPassword, and only while the server is stopped. Never replace a working configuration with a guessed key or a value copied from an unrelated build.

Quick reference

Need Action
Set an easier baseline Choose Civilized.
Use the normal baseline Choose Decadent.
Set a harder baseline Choose Barbaric.
Open the setting on Enhanced Esc → Settings → Server Settings → Server.
Open the setting on Legacy Esc → Settings → Server Settings → General.
Recover admin access Set AdminPassword in Saved/Config/WindowsServer/ServerSettings.ini, start the server, log in and re-admin yourself.
Avoid an unsafe file edit Stop the server and back up the INI before changing it.

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