Heat Server Hosting

What Heat Is, and Why Groups Still Host It

Heat is an open-world survival game set in 19th century America, by Code}{atch, the studio behind Reign of Kings. You survive the wilderness, build a home, farm, raise animals and claim land, while the towns of Washington, Tombstone and Sacayo trade with you through merchants, bankers and innkeepers. Players can chase power positions such as President, Sheriff, Chief and Governor, or turn outlaw and have the law come after them.

The world covers 67 square kilometres and 20 biomes, from mountain peaks and deserts to swamps and tropical shores, and changes through four seasons. Multiplayer is a shared survival world for up to 40 players. That mix of homesteading and frontier politics only really works when the same people come back to the same world, which is what a dedicated server gives a group.

An Honest Look at Heat's Status

Heat entered Early Access on 30 January 2019 and left it with Update 19 in June 2020, when Code}{atch said it had completed its roadmap. Four more updates followed: bug fixes and new farming audio, then seasons, temperature and weather, then fishing and bug catching, and finally gold panning, treasure maps and an economy rework. Update 23, on 23 June 2021, is the last post on the game's Steam news.

• Still on sale: Heat can be bought on Steam today.
• Official site: playheat.net returned an error when we checked in October 2026.
• No new content expected: nothing on Steam points to further updates.
• Stable for servers: with no patches, a server's settings and world keep working unchanged.

Code}{atch was also frank that Heat was built for high-end PCs and that its heavy graphics limited how many people could play. Rent a Heat server because your group enjoys the game as it stands.

Sizing a Frontier World

Heat's roles and economy need people to mean anything: a Sheriff with nobody to chase is just a hat. Size the server for the most players you expect online together.

• 10 slots: a homestead crew, friends or family sharing a claim, on the free 5GB.
• 16 slots: a small town with enough players for law and outlaws, with 8GB.
• 24 slots: rival groups, land taxes and contested power positions, with 12GB.
• 32 slots: the most the order form sells, for a full community world with 16GB.

Slots and memory can both be changed later from the client area, so there is no harm in starting small.

PvE or PvP: Setting the Rules

Code}{atch's update notes document the settings that decide how harsh your frontier is. The main ones:

Admins, Permissions and Commands

Heat stores permissions in permissions.cfg. It defines groups, such as a default group with the game.fairplay permission and an admin group with every permission, and a users section that assigns players to groups by in-game name. To become admin, replace the placeholder user with your own name, keep the admin group under it, and restart.

Update 23 made a core set of commands work even when commands are disabled in the server settings: /help, /version, /logout, /quit, /save, /shutdown, /report, /kick, /ban, /unban, /banlist, /whitelist, /registry, /permission and /config. Admins also have /explore to see the whole map and /unstick to free a player caught on a chair or other object.

Saves, Wipes and Backups

While Heat was being updated, Code}{atch wiped its official servers with each big update and left community servers to decide for themselves. With the build now settled, a wipe is entirely your choice, for a new season of land claims or a fresh start after a long feud.

Use /save before planned changes and /shutdown for a clean stop. Our offsite copies cover the last 7 days, and the Backup Manager lets you snapshot the world yourself before a wipe or a rule change, so nothing is lost by accident.

Check Your Group's PCs Before You Rent

The server lives in our data centre, but every player still needs a PC that can run Heat. Steam lists these minimums:

Heat also uses Easy Anti-Cheat. If someone's PC is borderline, have them try a session before the group commits to a long billing cycle.

What to Compare Before You Rent a Heat Server

For a game without updates, the details that matter are a little different.

1. Honesty about the gameA host should tell you that Heat is no longer updated before you pay, not after.
2. Access to the settingsYou need the server settings and permissions.cfg yourself, without a ticket for each change.
3. Slots you can changeCheck that you can move between slot counts as the group grows or shrinks.
4. Memory in the priceSee how much RAM the base price includes and what a bigger tier costs.
5. Backups you restoreSnapshots before wipes and rule changes are your safety net.
6. Billing termsMonthly billing with no minimum term suits a game with no roadmap.

Heat Server Glossary

Homestead

Heat's single-player farming mode, separate from the multiplayer world.

Land Claim Flag

The flag that claims land for a player or group.

Power position

A role of power in the world, such as President, Sheriff, Chief or Governor.

Outlaw

A player who attacks townsfolk and gains Heat, bringing the law after them.

Heat Level

The wanted level given for killing townsfolk.

PvE server

A server with container and farm locks, where players cooperate rather than raid.

Structure PVP

The setting that controls whether buildings can be damaged.

permissions.cfg

The file that defines permission groups and which players belong to them.

game.fairplay

The permission given to the default group of ordinary players.

Wipe

Resetting the world for a fresh start, decided by the server owner.

Heat Server Help and Next Steps

Useful pages for running your world.

• How to add admins to your Heat serverOur knowledge base guide to permissions.cfg.
• Heat news on SteamCode}{atch's update notes, the source of the server settings.
• Heat on SteamSystem requirements and the store page.
• Gaming Deluxe control panelWhat the panel does and how to log in.
• Our server locations
• Contact support24/7 help with settings and permissions.