Managing Player Bans on an Eco Server

Eco is a cooperative survival game where the planet ends if your civilization is not ready in time. Most of that pressure is supposed to come from the incoming meteor, but a stubborn troublemaker in chat or in the world itself can be more disruptive than the actual apocalypse. When that happens, banning the offender keeps the project alive. This guide walks through both the in-game commands and the manual file edit you can fall back on when commands are not available.

Banning a Player

You need admin permissions on the server before any of this works. Log into the game, then press the slash key to open the chat bar.

Run the following command:

`/ban PlayerName`

Replace `PlayerName` with the username you want to remove. To record a reason on the ban entry, add a comma after the name and type the explanation. The ban takes effect within a few seconds and the target is dropped from the world.

Unbanning a Player

There are two ways to lift a ban. The first uses another chat command. The second is a manual edit on the server files, which is heavier but indispensable when you have locked yourself out or cannot reach the server through the game client.

Option 1: The Unban Command

From the same chat bar, run:

`/unban PlayerName`

Not sure who is currently on the banlist? Running `/ban` or `/unban` with no argument prints the blocked players, which helps when you cannot remember the exact spelling.

Option 2: Editing the Users.eco File

If the commands are off the table, you can clear the ban directly from the server files. You will need the player's SteamID64 first.

Finding the SteamID64

• Open the SteamID.io website.
• Search for the player using their profile name or Steam URL.
• Confirm the profile matches the right person.
• Copy the SteamID64 number from the result.

Editing the File

• In your server panel, stop the server before touching the file. Edits applied while it is running can be overwritten or corrupted on shutdown.
• Open the Config Files section from your panel menu and select `Users.eco`.
• Scroll down to the `BlackList` block.

• Locate the entry that contains the SteamID64 you copied.
• Delete every line for that user, from the opening `{` down to the closing `}`.

• Click Save and restart the server when prompted.

Common Issues

The player can still join after the ban. Double check the spelling. The chat window prints an error if no user with that name exists. Names with similar Unicode characters or trailing spaces will fail silently in some cases, so retype the username rather than copying it from elsewhere.

Errors after editing Users.eco. Formatting in this file is strict. When you remove a banned player, take out every line between the `{` and `}` braces without leaving any blank lines behind. If the entry you removed was the last item in the list and had a trailing comma after its `}`, delete that comma too. Running the file through a JSON validator before restarting catches most lingering syntax issues.

Related Reading

• SteamID.io website
• How to add admins to an Eco server
• Eco guides