'Authentication failed', any solutions to this (hosting) issue?

[konijnenmoed]

Hi there, I've been hosting a 24/7 dedicated server for 13 weeks now. In the meantime I've tackled most issues myself (e.g. automatically updating and restarting server, automated clean up tasks for items, multiple backups during the day, 20 snapshots for rollback), and it has been running very smoothly and doesn't need much upkeep at this point. The only thing I've been encountering almost daily – and haven't been able to find any solutions for – has been the following:

'Authentication failed' 
Players who switch shards or try to join my server will sometimes have issues showing as the 'Authentication failed' error. I've reached out to my server hosting, and they told me that the cluster token (from Game Servers in my Klei account) got "stale", which makes the connection to Klei's API difficult. It seems to be increasingly happening around two weeks after renewing the cluster token.

It starts with one player reporting the issue and after a while more players will get the same error message when switching shards or rejoining. The only way to fix the issue is to restart my server manually. Which means all players will get disconnected. Rebooting my server takes only one minute, but me or my admins need to be around to restart. I can't find a workaround or solution to fix it without our interference. Some people don't know how to contact us (which is something I'm working on right now), so they won't have access to the server without any help.

Current "solutions":

• Renewing my cluster token every two weeks.
• Restarting the server (manually) when the issue persists for players.
• Asking players who had this issue persistently to do the following:
  • Check firewall settings
  • Whitelist: DST,DST*64
  • Whitelist: nullrenders(*64).exe (inside the installation folder)

Other solutions?
After weeks of trying to figure out how to fix this or solve it with a workaround, I wonder if anyone from the Klei team knows what to do. Preferably, I want to stay away from (manually) restarting my server as much as possible. The only no go for me is using server mods.

Thanks in advance!

[Bobot roi]

bump

[namhai]

We are still experiencing this problem and looking for a solution

[konijnenmoed]

@nome @JesseB_Klei Could anyone of you help me out with this?

[nome]

On 9/23/2025 at 2:13 AM, konijnenmoed said:

they told me that the cluster token (from Game Servers in my Klei account) got "stale", which makes the connection to Klei's API difficult. It seems to be increasingly happening around two weeks after renewing the cluster token

I don't know what that would even mean? Dedicated server tokens as designed are not supposed to need rotation on any schedule other than your own, they're permanent. Could you maybe get more detail from your hosting provider? I suspect the problem is on their end.

[Adgycarp]

That is quite strange indeed. Based on the observed issues&solutions it seems this problem stems from either the server OR the clients.

It may be practical to try and find server logs with errors from when the issue occurred, though i fear it may not be of any use.

If you're willing to take the time researching, i'd suggest asking (or tracing) where the people live, who are having these issues.
I do know that as of lately, more and more people from Russia are stumbling upon client authentication failures, which apparently has something to do with the state cutting off internet access to some of steam/klei servers that they need to log into the game properly.
If most of your people who are getting the problem connect from RU, that may be the cause, but i'm not sure..

But this whole debacle also feels quite familiar to something else. My friend @Kova_ runs meow together servers alongside myself, and there is always this one server/cluster that causes similar issues to clients, almost as if it is the 'ass-end' or scapegoat of all servers. It is consistently the 6th out of 6 clusters, and the particular issues look a lot like what you are experiencing, konijnenmoed.
Either the clients lose connections, or they can't connect at all, despite the server seemingly being in working order, and other players being online at the time.
I also remember my own client logs telling me about authentication failures when this happened to me. And usually the solution is a server restart.
Sadly we do not know the fix, but all we know is that this particular problem is rooted in them steam's connection, perhaps some API or SteamVPN, we don't know 😕

I'm thinking your issue may also be caused by a faulty steam connection, but again i am not certain. nome's idea sounds smart, to ask your host provider if they can find any potential causes.

With that said, good luck, and maybe kova can add some more useful knowledge to this.

 

Ps. I will someday check out your server when it's online and i happen to be playing DST

[konijnenmoed]

Thanks for the reply @Adgycarp! Much appreciated. And you are always welcome to join my server (it's Warren Wreath), would be fun to have you around!

I've been in contact with my hosting already – before nome's reply and after, but haven't had the time to write it down yet. Will update soon here.

If @Kova_ is open to it, I could send a message on Discord with some extra details if that's easier. 

[Kova_]

Sure you can ask me there, I prefer Discord over forums since I do not look here every time

[konijnenmoed]

Just a heads up, but I've been experiencing another issue since last update with a different error message but the same result (players can't migrate from main to cave shard). This error message has never showed up before the last update/patch.

Wonder if something has changed or if I'm just unlucky (again)? 

Players will be stuck in loading screen (see loading screen image) after trying to migrate from surface to cave. During this process, console shows me the following:

[30/10/2025 12:40:081 [master]: [Shard] Migration for KU_XXXX timed out.
[30/10/2025 12:40:081 [master]: [Shard] Cancelling pending migration #31 for (KU_XXXX)
[30/10/2025 12:40:081 [master]: [Shardl Migration by user ('KU_XXXX') failed (177).
[30/10/2025 12:40:081 [master]: CloseConnectionWithReason: ID_DST_USER_CONNECTION_FAILED
[30/10/2025 12:40:08] [master]: [Steam] SendUserDisconnect for [STEAM ID XXXX]'
[30/10/2025 12:40:08] [master]: [Shard] (KU_XXXX) disconnected from Master (1)