How to Manage Prospects on Your Icarus Server (Create, Switch, Delete)

Create new prospects, switch between saved prospects, run Open World or Outposts, and delete old saves on your Icarus dedicated server.

In Icarus, the world isn't a single persistent map — it's a prospect. Each prospect is its own save: a chosen mission/map, difficulty, hardcore flag, and a save name. Your dedicated server can hold many prospects but only run one at a time. This page covers every way to create, switch, and delete them.

Icarus prospect type selector

How Prospects Work

Type	What It Is	Timer	Persistence
Prospect	A timed mission (Tier 1–5). Gear is lost if the timer expires.	Yes	Temporary
Outpost	A persistent base — ARCWOOD, ICEHOLM, HOLDFAST, Olympus	No	Permanent
Open World	The Styx full sandbox (`OpenWorld_Styx`)	No	Permanent

For an "always-on" server experience, run an Outpost or Open World prospect.

Where Prospects Are Stored

Icarus/Saved/PlayerData/DedicatedServer/Prospects/

Each prospect is a single .json file named after the save name you chose. Never rename or hand-edit these files — RocketWerkz's docs warn it causes unrecoverable corruption. Always copy/move whole files.

Create a New Prospect

There are three ways: from the in-game lobby, from ServerSettings.ini, or from the startup parameter.

Make sure the server is running with no prospect loaded (you'll land in the lobby). If you have ResumeProspect=true, set it to false first and restart.

Connect to the server in-game. You'll see the prospect selection screen.

Pick the prospect type, difficulty, and save name. Hit Launch.

Allow players to launch? Set AllowNonAdminsToLaunchProspects=true in ServerSettings.ini to let any connected player choose. Set to false to lock it to admins only.

Stop the server, then open Icarus/Saved/Config/ServerSettings.ini.

Under [/script/icarus.dedicatedserversettings], add a CreateProspect line in the format [Type] [Difficulty 1-4] [Hardcore true/false] [SaveName]:

[/script/icarus.dedicatedserversettings]
CreateProspect=OpenWorld_Styx 1 false MyOpenWorld

For an Olympus outpost on Hard:

CreateProspect=Olympus 3 false OlympusBase

Save and start from Console. The server creates the prospect on first boot, then auto-loads it.

After it's been created once, comment out or remove the CreateProspect line and set ResumeProspect=true to keep loading the same save going forward.

In the XGamingServer Panel Startup tab, add:

-CreateProspect="OpenWorld_Styx 1 false MyOpenWorld"

Same format as the INI version. Use this when you want to create a fresh prospect without editing files.

Prospect Type Names

The Type argument must match the internal name of the map/mission. The most common ones:

Type Name	What It Is
`OpenWorld_Styx`	Full Styx sandbox (Open World)
`Olympus`	Olympus outpost — permanent base on Olympus
`Prometheus`	Prometheus prospect map
`Styx`	Original Styx mission map
`OpenWorld_Olympus`	Open World Olympus (where supported)
`OpenWorld_Prometheus`	Open World Prometheus (where supported)

The exact list of type strings changes with game updates. To get the current list on your server, run the Help command in the server console.

Switch Between Saved Prospects

Stop the server.

Edit ServerSettings.ini. Set LoadProspect to the save name (without .json):

[/script/icarus.dedicatedserversettings]
LoadProspect=OlympusBase
ResumeProspect=false

Save and start. The server loads OlympusBase.json from the Prospects folder.

You can also switch live from the in-game admin chat (run /ReturnToLobby first to leave the current prospect, then choose a new one from the lobby).

Resume the Last Prospect on Restart

For most servers, you want the same prospect to auto-resume after every restart:

[/script/icarus.dedicatedserversettings]
ResumeProspect=true

When ResumeProspect=true, the server reads LastProspectName (auto-populated) and skips the lobby on boot.

Delete a Prospect

Stop the server.

Click Files and navigate to Icarus/Saved/PlayerData/DedicatedServer/Prospects/.

Delete the .json file for the prospect you no longer want.

If that prospect was the active one, edit ServerSettings.ini and clear LastProspectName= and LoadProspect= so the server doesn't try to reload it.

Start the server.

Allow players to delete? Set AllowNonAdminsToDeleteProspects=true in ServerSettings.ini to let players delete prospects from the lobby. Default is false — admins only.

Backup a Prospect Before Risky Changes

Prospects are single .json files — backing one up is just downloading it.

Stop the server.

In Files, navigate to Icarus/Saved/PlayerData/DedicatedServer/Prospects/.

Right-click your prospect's .json → Download. Keep it somewhere safe.

To restore: stop the server, upload the .json back into the same Prospects folder (overwriting if needed), and start.

Common Mistakes

Mistake	What Happens	Fix
Renamed the `.json` file	Save corrupts on load	Restore from backup; never rename
Edited the `.json` by hand	Save corrupts	Restore from backup
Left `CreateProspect=` set after first boot	Server creates a fresh prospect every restart, overwriting your save	Remove `CreateProspect`, set `ResumeProspect=true`
`LoadProspect` and `ResumeProspect=true` both set	Behavior is `ResumeProspect` wins	Pick one
Save name has spaces	Server can't find the file	Use underscores or no spaces

How to Manage Prospects on Your Icarus Server (Create, Switch, Delete)

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