No Dedicated Server + Host Troubleshooting · Ready or Not

**Ready or Not ships no dedicated server and cannot be self-hosted as one.** Every session is hosted locally on the host player's machine and discovered through Steam / EOS lobbies; if the host leaves or drops, the session ends. That is why this page has no "open these ports", "install the server via SteamCMD" or "config file path" fact blocks — they are not missing data, those things genuinely do not exist. Five independent cross-checks: (1) the official wiki states verbatim "All matches are hosted locally, there are no dedicated servers."; (2) the official Steam appdetails categories contain no Dedicated Server entry; (3) all eleven "Ready or Not" entries on SteamDB are games, DLC or music, with no Tool-type app; (4) none of the 172 game directories in the upstream pterodactyl/game-eggs repository contains ready_or_not; (5) the commercial host SurvivalServers states it does not sell RoN servers because no public dedicated server files are published. The official appinfo `config.launch` confirms it too: the only executables are `ReadyOrNot.exe` and `CrashReporter.exe`, with no `*Server.exe` at all. The widely reposted 2020-10-25 guide (`ReadyOrNotServer.exe`, `Dedicated01.ini`, `-GAMEINI=`, `-port=` / `-queryport=`, `MapList`, `AdminPassword`, `LoggedinAdmin`) dates from the closed alpha and has no counterpart in the current build — it is the direct cause of "I followed the guide but the file is not there". Hosting properly means: the host launches the game normally, creates a lobby in-game, and friends join by platform invite or the lobby list. No manual port forwarding, no router setup. The multiplayer cap is 5 (community-consistent, not on the official wiki); the Nexus player-cap mod raises it to 16, but requires every player to install the same .pak.