How to set up reserved slots on a Squad server

Setting up Reserved Slots guarantees that your admins, clan members, or VIP players can join the server even if it is completely full. This is key to maintaining order and ensuring a comfortable experience for regular participants.

The entire process comes down to two stages: assigning permissions to players and allocating the number of slots in the startup settings. Follow these instructions.

Find the Player's Steam64 ID

To grant reserved slot permissions, you will need the player's unique 17-digit identifier — Steam64 ID. If you don't know where to find it, use this guide.

Configure the Admins.cfg File

You need to edit the administrator configuration file to assign specific players the right to bypass the queue.

Go to your server's "File Manager" and find the file Admins.cfg. It is located at the following path:

SquadGame/ServerConfig/Admins.cfg

Open the file and add a new group with reserve permissions, then bind the players' Steam64 IDs to it. Use the following format:

Group=<GroupName>:<permissions>
Admin=<Steam64ID>:<GroupName>

Example of ready-to-use code for the file:

In this example, we create a group VipPlayers with the reserve permission and add two players to it.

Group=VipPlayers:reserve
Admin=7656119801xxxxxxx:VipPlayers
Admin=7656119808xxxxxxx:VipPlayers

_Important:_ The reserve permission (exactly like this, in lowercase) is responsible for access to reserved slots.

Specify the Number of Slots

Simply granting permissions is not enough — you need to tell the server exactly how many spots to keep open for reserved players.

1. Go to the Game Panel, navigate to the “Game Settings” section, and switch to the “Game” tab.

2. Find the “Reserved Slots” parameter.

3. Set the desired number of spots (e.g., 2 or 5).

Note: these slots will be deducted from the total player limit to always remain free for those you added to Admins.cfg.

4\. Save Changes and Restart the Server

After editing the file and changing the startup parameters, be sure to save all changes and restart the server.

Now the specified players will be able to connect to the server, even if it appears as full in the server browser. Ensure that the Steam64 IDs are entered correctly, without extra spaces.