Starbound is a game that takes place in a two-dimensional, procedurally generated universe which the player will explore in order to obtain items. The server can be run as a Windows Service using FireDaemon Pro, which allows you to start the server automatically at boot prior to login, start multiple instances of the server and more. This HOWTO will show you how to set it up. You can also use Fusion to manage FireDaemon and other Windows services via a web browser.

Starbound Setup Under FireDaemon Pro

First, purchase the Starbound software from the Steam store here here and use its included server software.

Starbound uses one configuration files to store its settings. This configuration file is located in C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\Starbound\starbound.config. If the file doesn't exist, you may need to manually run the server first.

Download and install FireDaemon Pro into the directory of your choice, typically C:\Program Files\FireDaemon.

Next start the FireDaemon GUI from the desktop shortcut. Click on the "Create a new service definition" button in the toolbar (or type Ctrl+N) and enter the information into the fields as you see below. Adjust the paths to suit your installation. Note there are no required parameters.

Now click on the Settings tab. If you DON'T want to see Starbound Server running, uncheck the Interact with Desktop check box & select “Hidden” from the “Show Window” dropdown. You can optionally run the Starbound Server as the user you installed it as. You can change the Process Priority to allocate more CPU time to Starbound or specify which CPU or core Starbound will run on (in the case of multi-processor, hyperthreaded or multi-core CPUs).

Now click on the Lifecycle tab. Uncheck Graceful Shutdown as it slows shutdown of the server.

Now click on the OK button to install and start your Starbound Server!