So you just grabbed a BeamMP server — nice. Let's get you up and running.
Finding Your Server
After your order goes through, your server shows up in your dashboard. Click on it to open the server panel. This is your home base for everything — starting the server, uploading mods, tweaking settings, all of it.
Setting Up Your Auth Key
Before your server can appear on the public server list, you need a BeamMP authentication key. If you haven't done this yet, follow our auth key setup guide — it takes about 2 minutes.
Once you've got your key, head to the Config Editor tab and paste it into the AuthKey field. Hit save and you're good.
Starting Your Server
Click the Start button in the top-right of your panel. You'll see the console light up with startup logs. Once you see something like Server started, you're live.
First boot usually takes 30-60 seconds. Don't panic if it's not instant.
Connecting to Your Server
There are two ways to connect:
From the Server List
- Open BeamNG.drive
- Hit Multiplayer → BeamMP
- Search for your server name
- Click Connect
Your server won't appear in the list if your auth key isn't set up or if the server is set to private. Check server not showing in list if you're stuck.
Direct Connect
If your server is private (or you just don't want to scroll through the list):
- Open BeamMP multiplayer menu
- Click Direct Connect
- Enter your server IP and port (shown at the top of your panel)
- Hit Connect
Share this IP:port with your friends so they can join too.
What's Next?
Your server is running the default map (gridmap_v2) with no mods. From here you'll probably want to:
Welcome to the club. 🚗