Setting up your community

Welcome. This walks you through getting your Hell Let Loose server running on the panel — the six steps everyone does, then everything optional, so you can pick what your community actually wants.

Roughly fifteen minutes, most of it waiting on Discord's website. You do not need to install anything: the panel runs on your host's machine and you use it in a browser.

This guide lives at /hosting/guide on your panel and needs no sign-in, so the link works for anyone you send it to — a co-owner deciding whether to sign up, or a moderator who needs step 5.

Before you start, have these ready:

Nothing you do here touches your game server until you choose to switch it on, at step 6. Until then the panel only watches. You can connect a server another tool is already managing and nothing will collide.

---

Required

1. Sign in

Open your panel link and press Sign in with Discord, then authorize.

The sign-in reads three things: who you are, which Discord servers you are in, and your roles in the one you open. It cannot read your messages, and it never posts anything.

If the page then says you are in no servers, or that none give you Manage Server, it is telling you which of the two it found. Either you signed in with an account that is not in your community's Discord — very common if you keep a separate personal account — or you are in it without Manage Server, in which case the owner grants it under Server Settings → Roles. Sign in again with the right account, or get the permission, and reload.

2. Set up your community

You will see the Discord servers you manage. Find yours and press Set up.

Beside the button there is a contact email box. It is optional and you can change it later, but fill it in: it is the only way anyone can reach you about billing or a legal notice if your community is ever suspended — at which point the panel is exactly what you cannot get into.

That click creates your community — your own private space on the panel, with its own database, its own settings, and its own everything. It is also the moment you accept the terms of service, which the page says beside the button.

Only somebody with Manage Server on that Discord can set it up. That is deliberate: it proves the community is yours to sign up.

3. Accept the terms

The first time the panel opens, the full terms cover the screen with an Agree button underneath. Read them (there is a download link to keep a copy) and agree.

If you are not the community's admin, you will be told an admin has to accept — pass it to them.

4. Create your owner account

You will land on Create owner account. Pick a username and password.

This is a separate login from Discord, and that is intentional. Discord decides which community you reach; this account decides what you can do inside it. The first account created becomes the owner and holds every permission — everyone you add later gets exactly what you give them.

5. Connect your game server

Go to Administration → Connections and add your server.

Careful with the menu: the sidebar section called Servers holds your maps. Game-server connections live under Admin → Administration → Connections.

You will need:

Your server starts in observe mode, which is read-only. The panel watches everything — live roster, kills, chat, score, match history — and sends nothing to the game. That is why it is safe to connect a server another tool is already managing.

You are now up and running. Live view, the player directory, bans, VIPs, moderation, map history, backups and the request system all work from here.

6. Switch to active when you are ready

Observe mode cannot kick, message, ban, or manage VIP in-game. When you want the panel to act, open the server's card on Administration → Connections and press Switch to active.

One rule before you do. If another tool (CRCON, an older panel, a bot) is still automating the same server, turn its automation off first. Two systems acting on one server means doubled warnings, doubled kicks, and two systems fighting over your VIP list.

---

Optional

None of this is required. Take what your community wants, in any order.

Bring your team in

Give someone panel access

Administration → Users & roles — create their account, then give them a role rather than picking permissions one by one. The built-in roles run from Viewer (watch only) upward, and every permission can be set per server and separately for read (see it) and write (do it).

Also needed today: your staff reach the panel through the same Discord door you did, which currently admits the person who set the community up plus anyone with Manage Server on your Discord. If a moderator cannot get in, that is why — ask your host, who can widen it.

Let people ask instead of granting more

Nobody needs a permission in order to ask for something. Anyone can build a request from the same dialogs they would use to act, and whoever holds the permission signs it off under Moderation → Requests. New moderators can start with very little and still do the whole job from their first shift. Included for every community.

In-game admin (the admin camera)

Administration → Console admins. This is separate from panel access — it is power on the game server itself, not a login here.

Connect your Discord

Your own bot

Discord → Setup & status. Your community brings its own Discord application, so your bot's traffic and rate limits are yours alone.

1. At https://discord.com/developers/applications, create an application, open Bot, and

reset the token.

1. Paste the token into the panel, along with the Application id and Public key from the

application's General Information page, and press Save & verify.

1. The panel checks the token with Discord and then checks the bot is in your server. Use the

invite link it shows, then press Verify again.

1. For slash commands, paste the Interactions Endpoint URL the panel shows into the

application's General Information page.

1. Turn on the Server Members privileged intent (Developer Portal → Bot) if you want role

syncing.

Until a bot is verified, every Discord feature simply stays off — nothing breaks.

What the bot unlocks

• Relay & alerts (Discord → Relay & alerts) — route match events, admin actions and alerts

to the channels you choose, per server. Included.

• Slash commands — your staff act from Discord. Included.
• Map vote posts — the vote runs as a Discord poll. Included.
• Role sync, the status board, and the VIP panel and badges — each an add-on.

Discord roles to panel roles

Discord → Sign-in & roles maps your Discord roles onto panel roles. (Panel sign-in with Discord is not switched on for hosted communities yet — for now, create accounts as above.)

Let the server look after itself

• Auto settings (Auto settings → Server settings) — profiles that change server settings by

schedule or population. Included.

• Broadcast (Administration → Broadcast) — a rotating in-game message. Included.
• Map vote (Maps → Vote setup, run it from Maps → Vote) — let players pick what plays

next. Included.

• Rules (Auto settings → Rules) — the auto-moderator: warn, punish and kick on rules you

write. An add-on.

• Seeding (Auto settings → Seeding) — seeding rules and rewards for the players who fill

your server. An add-on.

Look after your data

• Backups (Administration → Backup) — turn on the nightly automatic backup, pick an

hour, and choose how many to keep. There is a Create full backup now button beside it, and the same screen restores. Do this one. Included.

• History length (Add-ons) — new communities keep game events for 1 day. Longer is a

priced step on a ladder, and your host can also switch ageing off entirely so nothing is ever deleted. Bans, VIPs, player careers, staff actions and settings are never aged out, whatever you choose.

• Bring your history from CRCON (Administration → Connections) — import an existing CRCON

backup so your players arrive with their history. An add-on.

• Data trim (Administration → Data trim) — delete old history you do not want, with a backup

taken first. Included.

• Public stats and streamer mode (Administration → Live settings) — a public page for your

players, and a mode that hides names on stream. Included.

Money

• Add-ons (Add-ons) — the page that lists what Standard already includes and what each extra

costs, with a switch beside each one. Turning something on starts billing from your next invoice; the rest of the month is free. Turning it off changes nothing but the billing — nothing is deleted, and switching back picks up where you left off. Needs the Database export & import permission.

• Your bill — same page. Standard is charged per connected game server; add-ons are

charged per community and cover every server you run. You can settle up and pay by card there if your host has card payments switched on.

• Sell VIP for real money (Payments) — connect Stripe, PayPal, Patreon, Ko-fi or Buy Me a

Coffee and have purchases grant VIP automatically, including memberships that last as long as the subscription. An add-on.

• Your own subdomain — yourclan.<your host's domain>, serving your community's PUBLIC pages

(stats, streamer views). Sign-in and the panel stay on the main address. An add-on; ask your host to switch it on, as it needs a DNS entry on their side too.

• Ask before you buy. Your host can switch any add-on on for you directly — free, or for a set

period like a trial or a season. If there is something you want to try, asking costs nothing.

Make it yours

• Plugins and custom layouts — rearrange pages and add community-built views. An add-on.
• Analytics (Analytics) — eight views: server, matches, players, combat, composition,

announcements, staff coverage and map votes. Each is an add-on, and there is a bundle that covers all of them for less than buying them separately.

---

Good to know

Ask your host. Add-ons can be switched on for you directly — free, or for a set period like a trial or a season — without you buying anything. If there is something you want to try, asking costs nothing.

A locked screen is not a broken one. Anything your community has not enabled shows a card explaining what it is and what it costs, with a link to the Add-ons page. Nothing is hidden or half-working.

Help lives in the panel. The Help page has step-by-step guides — "Give someone VIP", "Ban a player, and lift it later", "Run an event and pay the people who came", "Back up everything, and get it back" — written for whoever is on shift, not for whoever installed it. It is open to everyone, no permission needed.

Two names worth remembering, because the menus can mislead:

• Game-server connections are under Administration → Connections, not under the Servers

section (that one is maps).

• The heading at the top of a page is the section you are in, not the tab. On Players → VIPs

the heading reads Players; VIPs is the tab.

Everything is logged. Every action carries the name of whoever did it, visible under Administration → Staff activity and on each player's profile.

---

If something is not working

Work down this list — it is ordered by how often each one is the answer.

1. The panel says a feature is locked. That is an add-on your community does not hold. The card

says what it does and what it costs, with a link to the Add-ons page. Nothing is broken.

1. A server shows as offline, or nothing is updating. Check the RCON details under

Administration → Connections. A changed RCON password is the usual cause; the panel cannot tell a wrong password from a server that is down.

1. You cannot do something you expect to. Check your role under Administration → Users & roles.

Permissions are per server and split into read and write, so it is normal to see a screen you cannot act on.

1. A Discord feature is silent. Discord → Setup & status says whether your bot is verified and

in your server. Until it is, every Discord feature stays off deliberately rather than failing.

1. Still stuck? Tell your host what you did, what you expected, and what you saw — and the

time it happened, so they can find it in the logs. A screenshot of the whole window (including the address bar) is worth more than a description.