SCUM Server Ping Limits and Drone Settings via LinuxGSM

SCUM is one of the most network sensitive titles on the Unreal Engine. Hit registration on bolt action rifles falls apart for any client above roughly 120 ms of latency, and admins on PvP servers spend an outsized fraction of their time refunding deaths caused by laggy raiders. The fix is a strict server side ping kick, paired with a raised tickrate and a properly scoped admin drone configuration so cheaters cannot trivially exploit the spectator camera. This guide deploys SCUM on Debian 12 with LinuxGSM and ships a hardened ServerSettings.ini.

Prerequisites

• Debian 12 with 12 GB RAM and at least 6 modern CPU cores (high single thread clock matters).
• A non root user with sudo access.
• UDP 7042, UDP 7777, UDP 8888 open at the firewall.
• 40 GB of free disk for the SteamCMD install and persistent saves.

Step 1: System Preparation

$sudo adduser --disabled-password --gecos "" scumuser
$sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
$sudo apt update
$sudo apt install -y curl wget file tar bzip2 gzip unzip bsdmainutils \
$  python3 util-linux ca-certificates binutils bc jq tmux netcat-openbsd \
$  lib32gcc-s1 lib32stdc++6 libsdl2-2.0-0:i386

Step 2: Install LinuxGSM and the Server

$sudo machinectl shell scumuser@
$cd ~
$wget -O linuxgsm.sh https://linuxgsm.sh
$chmod +x linuxgsm.sh
$bash linuxgsm.sh scumserver
$./scumserver install

Step 3: Open the SCUM Port Range

$sudo ufw allow 7042/udp
$sudo ufw allow 7777/udp
$sudo ufw allow 8888/udp
$sudo ufw reload

Step 4: Enforce a Hard Ping Limit

Open the generated ServerSettings.ini. The two relevant keys are scum.MaxPing and scum.MaxPingKickInterval. Set them to a value that protects PvP fairness without nuking regional players. 150 ms is a sane PvP league cap.

$[Networking]
$scum.MaxPing=150
$scum.MaxPingKickInterval=30
$scum.ServerTickRate=30
$
$[Server]
$scum.ServerName=Hardened SCUM PvP
$scum.MaxPlayers=64
$scum.ServerPassword=
$scum.MessageOfTheDay=Hard ping cap 150ms. Cheaters banned, no appeals.

Step 5: Lock the Admin Drone

The drone camera is intended as an admin only investigation tool. Out of the box it is exposed too widely, which has been abused by malicious staff to ghost their own raids. Confine it to a single trusted admin account by removing it from the moderator inheritance chain.

$[Drone]
$scum.AllowDroneForAdmins=1
$scum.AllowDroneForModerators=0
$scum.DroneMaxAltitude=500
$scum.DroneMaxDistanceFromOwner=2000
$scum.DroneRequireConfirmationLog=1

$76561198000000001[SetGodMode,SetFamePoints]
$76561198000000099[SetGodMode,SetFamePoints,Drone]

Step 6: Schedule Rolling Restarts

$crontab -e
$0 */6 * * * /home/scumuser/scumserver restart
$0 4 * * 0 /home/scumuser/scumserver update

Performance and Tuning

• Do not push ServerTickRate past 30 unless the host CPU has a sustained 5 GHz boost, the Unreal physics step does not benefit linearly.
• Set MaxPingKickInterval to at least 30 seconds so a player's transient packet loss does not cause an immediate kick.
• Audit the drone confirmation log weekly, any drone activity outside a known incident is grounds for staff review.

Conclusion

A SCUM server with a real ping cap, a healthy tickrate, and a tightly scoped drone configuration plays measurably better in PvP and gives operators a paper trail when something goes wrong. LinuxGSM keeps the lifecycle simple, and the ServerSettings.ini above is small enough to version in git.