Running a GROUND BRANCH dedicated server means controlling every detail of how your matches play — player count, AI numbers, difficulty, round length, map rotation and who has admin power. This guide walks through the key server settings across Server.ini, MapList.ini and Admin.ini, so you can tune your server exactly how your group likes it.
The three config files
Server.ini— core server settings: name, player limit, password and global gameplay options.MapList.ini— your map rotation, pairing each map with a mission (game mode) and per-map options.Admin.ini— the Steam IDs of players who get admin/RCON control.
On managed XGamingServer hosting, you can edit these in the visual panel instead of by hand.
Key gameplay settings
| Setting | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| MaxPlayers | 8–16 | Player slots. 16 is the hard limit; 8 is typical for co-op, 16 for PvP. |
| MaxAI | 0–50 | Absolute cap on AI. Set 0 to disable modes that need enemies. |
| OpForCount | 1–MaxAI | How many AI actually spawn in Terrorist Hunt / Intel Retrieval. |
| Difficulty | 1–4 (0 = custom) | AI skill for the co-op PvE modes. |
| RoundTime | 3+ min | How long each round lasts before it ends. |
Building your map rotation (MapList.ini)
Each MapList.ini entry pairs a map with a mission and per-map options. For example, a co-op Intel Retrieval round on SmallTown with 30 AI on difficulty 2:
MapList=/Game/GroundBranch/Maps/SmallTown/SmallTown?Mission=/Game/GroundBranch/Mission/SmallTown/IntelRetrieval?opforcount=30?difficulty=2?roundtime=60?timeofday=0800Available missions include TerroristHunt, IntelRetrieval, Extraction, Uplink, Defuse, Deathmatch and TeamElimination — availability varies per map. You can also change the map on the fly from the in-game admin menu. Full walkthrough: change map & mission.
Setting a name, password and admins
- Server name — set the hostname players see in the browser (guide).
- Password — lock the server for private co-op or scrims (guide).
- Admins — add trusted players’ Steam IDs to
Admin.iniso they can manage the server in-game (guide).
Skip the INIs entirely
If you’d rather not hand-edit config files, XGamingServer’s GROUND BRANCH hosting exposes all of this in a visual panel on AMD Ryzen 9 7950X hardware — change maps, AI count, difficulty and slots with a click, plus one-click updates and DDoS protection. See our full configuration docs.
Read more
- How to Set Up a GROUND BRANCH Dedicated Server
- GROUND BRANCH AI & Difficulty Guide
- GROUND BRANCH Game Modes Explained
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