How to port forward a Sons of the Forest server
Sons of the Forest needs three UDP ports, and only one of them is derived from the others: the game port, a fixed Steam query port, and a separate port for world-state transfer.
Your setup
Pick the firmware family, not the exact model — the menus are identical across a range.
Default is 8766. If you changed it, it is the value of GamePort in dedicatedserver.cfg.
The private address of the machine running the server — ipconfig on Windows, ip addr on Linux. It starts with 192.168, 10. or 172.
Open these
This firmware accepts ranges, so each line below is a single rule.
- 8766 UDP
- 9700 UDP
- 27016 UDP
8766UDPGame trafficGamePort.27016UDPSteam queryQueryPort. A fixed default, independent of the game port.9700UDPBlob syncBlobSyncPort. Carries world-state transfer; without it clients stall at the loading screen.
Do not open these
This game has no remote-administration port to get wrong. Forward only what is listed on the left and nothing else.
Step by step: your router
- 1
Give the server a fixed local IP
A forward points at one address. If the server picks up a different one after a reboot, the rule silently starts pointing at nothing — this is why forwards "stop working" on their own.
On this router:look for DHCP Reservation, Address Reservation, Static Lease or Manually Assigned IP
- 2
Open the router admin page
Try these addresses in a browser on the same network:
- 192.168.0.1
- 192.168.1.1
- 192.168.2.1
- 10.0.0.1
Almost always printed on a sticker on the router itself.
- 3
Find the port forwarding page
Port Forwarding, Virtual Server, NAT, Applications & Gaming, or Port Mapping
Vendors use at least six names for the same feature. Whatever it is called, the page you want is the one asking for a port, a protocol and a device on your network. If the external and internal port fields both exist, set them to the same number.
- 4
Create one rule per line
a description field, if there is one External / WAN / Public / Service port Internal / LAN / Private port Protocol Internal IP / Device / Server IP Sons of the Forest 8766 8766 UDP your server’s local IP Sons of the Forest 9700 9700 UDP your server’s local IP Sons of the Forest 27016 27016 UDP your server’s local IP External and internal port are the same number here. Changing the external port is possible, but then everyone connects on the new one, so keep them matched unless you have a reason.
- 5
Let the server through its own firewall
The router now sends traffic to the machine, and the machine can still refuse it. Windows Defender Firewall in particular blocks a freshly installed dedicated server by default, which looks exactly like a failed forward.
Take it with you
Sons of the Forest — port forwarding rules ------------------------------------------ 8766 UDP -> <server local IP> 9700 UDP -> <server local IP> 27016 UDP -> <server local IP>
Check whether it worked
Test from outside your own network. Connecting from a machine in the house proves nothing — that traffic never leaves the LAN and never touches the rule you just wrote.
What usually goes wrong
The third port is the one that produces a memorable failure. Without it players connect successfully, the server accepts them, and then the client sits on the loading screen indefinitely because the world data has nowhere to travel. It looks like a corrupt save or an underpowered machine, and it is neither.
Not forwarding at all
The game is designed around a small group, so the hosting question here is usually about persistence rather than capacity — whether the world is available when the person who owns the PC is not.