How to Customize World Generation in Don't Starve Together (worldgenoverride.lua)

Edit worldgenoverride.lua on your Don't Starve Together server to control season length, day length, world size, resource frequency, and starting season.

Don't Starve Together's worldgenoverride.lua lets you customize everything about your world before generation: season lengths, world size, resource frequency, starting season, day/night ratios, mob spawns. Each shard (Master and Caves) has its own file. This page is the complete reference.

File Location

DoNotStarveTogether/Cluster_1/Master/worldgenoverride.lua
DoNotStarveTogether/Cluster_1/Caves/worldgenoverride.lua

If the file doesn't exist, create it. Settings only apply when the world is first generated — to apply changes to an existing world, you must regenerate that shard's save/ folder.

File Format

return {
  override_enabled = true,
  preset = "SURVIVAL_TOGETHER",
  overrides = {
    season_start = "summer",
    world_size = "huge",
    season = "shortboth",
  }
}

Field	Required	Description
`override_enabled`	Yes	Must be `true` for any of your overrides to apply
`preset`	Yes	The base preset to start from — overrides modify this preset
`overrides`	Yes	Table of `setting = "value"` pairs to apply on top of the preset

Available Presets

Preset	Description
`SURVIVAL_TOGETHER`	Standard DST surface world (default for Master shard)
`SURVIVAL_TOGETHER_CLASSIC`	Classic Don't Starve world layout
`SURVIVAL_DEFAULT_PLUS`	Survival mode with more resources
`COMPLETE_DARKNESS`	Always-night extreme survival
`DST_CAVE`	Standard cave world (default for Caves shard)
`DST_CAVE_PLUS`	Caves with more resources

Season Settings

Setting	Values	Description
`season_start`	`default`, `autumn`, `winter`, `spring`, `summer`, `random`	Which season the world starts in
`season`	`noseason`, `veryshortseason`, `shortseason`, `default`, `longseason`, `verylongseason`, `random`	Length of all seasons
`autumn`	same as `season`	Length of autumn specifically
`winter`	same as `season`	Length of winter specifically
`spring`	same as `season`	Length of spring specifically
`summer`	same as `season`	Length of summer specifically

World Size & Layout

Setting	Values	Description
`world_size`	`small`, `medium`, `default`, `huge`	Total map size
`branching`	`never`, `least`, `default`, `most`	How branchy the map setpiece layout is
`loop`	`never`, `default`, `always`	Whether the map loops back on itself
`task_set`	`default`, `cave_default`, `classic`, `lavaarena`, `quagmire`	Set of regions to use

Day/Night Cycle

Setting	Values	Description
`day`	`default`, `longday`, `longdusk`, `longnight`, `noday`, `nonight`, `nodusk`, `onlyday`, `onlydusk`, `onlynight`	Day phase ratio

Resources (set per resource type)

These all use the same value scale: never, rare, default, often, mostly, always. Examples:

Setting	What
`flint`	Flint nodes
`grass`	Grass tufts
`sapling`	Saplings
`trees`	Tree density
`rock`	Boulders
`gold_depth`	Gold ore in caves
`flowers`	Flowers
`berrybush`	Berry bushes
`carrot`	Wild carrots

Mobs (creatures)

Same scale as resources: never, rare, default, often, mostly, always.

Setting	What
`spiders`	Spider dens
`pigs`	Pig houses
`bunnymen`	Bunnymen (caves)
`tallbirds`	Tallbird nests
`hounds`	Hound attack frequency
`rabbits`	Rabbit holes
`beefalo`	Beefalo herds
`frogs`	Frog ponds
`bees`	Bee hives

Special Settings

Setting	Values	Description
`petrification`	`none`, `few`, `default`, `many`, `max`	Petrified trees
`boons`	`never`, `rare`, `default`, `often`, `mostly`, `always`	Special set-piece structures
`cavelight`	`veryslow`, `slow`, `default`, `fast`, `veryfast`	(Caves) light cycle speed

Recipes

Boosted Resource Server

return {
  override_enabled = true,
  preset = "SURVIVAL_TOGETHER",
  overrides = {
    flint = "often",
    grass = "often",
    sapling = "often",
    trees = "often",
    rock = "often",
    berrybush = "often",
    flowers = "often",
    season = "longseason",
    season_start = "autumn",
  }
}

Hardcore Survival

return {
  override_enabled = true,
  preset = "SURVIVAL_TOGETHER",
  overrides = {
    flint = "rare",
    grass = "rare",
    trees = "rare",
    season = "veryshortseason",
    season_start = "winter",
    hounds = "often",
    spiders = "often",
    day = "longnight",
  }
}

Endless Summer

return {
  override_enabled = true,
  preset = "SURVIVAL_TOGETHER",
  overrides = {
    season_start = "summer",
    autumn = "noseason",
    winter = "noseason",
    spring = "noseason",
    summer = "verylongseason",
  }
}

Apply Your Changes

Stop your server from Console.

Edit Master/worldgenoverride.lua (and/or Caves/worldgenoverride.lua) with your overrides.

Crucial: worldgenoverride only applies on first world generation. To force regeneration, delete the existing save/ folder inside that shard's directory:

DoNotStarveTogether/Cluster_1/Master/save/
DoNotStarveTogether/Cluster_1/Caves/save/

This wipes the existing world for that shard. Back up first if you want to preserve it.

Start the server. The new world generates with your overrides applied.

Why Aren't My Changes Applying?

Cause	Fix
`override_enabled = false`	Set to `true`
Edited only Master, expected caves to change	Each shard has its own file — edit both
Lua syntax error	The file must be valid Lua. A trailing comma after the last entry is fine, but missing commas or quotes break it. Use a Lua linter if unsure.
World already generated	Overrides only apply on first gen — delete the `save/` folder to regenerate
Wrong preset name	Preset names are case-sensitive

How to Customize World Generation in Don't Starve Together (worldgenoverride.lua)

On this page