What Enabling Anomaly Changes

Anomaly.Server replaces the normal public-client admission path for the lifetime of the enabled plugin.

Transactional lifecycle

During enable, Anomaly snapshots the relevant runtime server values, initializes identity and required services, installs only its own mandatory patches, then applies runtime-only offline/modded overrides. It becomes operational last.

While operational, Anomaly disables the game’s IP-passthrough mode and authenticates the socket endpoint directly. The v5 handshake does not carry a trusted-proxy forwarded address. Servers that depend on reverse-proxy forwarding therefore need a direct-listener deployment for v1; clients behind one proxy otherwise share endpoint-based rate limits and forwarded-address ban semantics are unavailable.

During failure or disable, Anomaly stops new admission first, restores the captured runtime state, and removes only Anomaly-owned patches. It does not persist online_mode=false or rewrite config_gameplay. If safe restoration cannot be proven, admission remains deny-all instead of reopening an unverified path.

If teardown drains an already accepted authentication handoff or cannot prove that every authenticated client disconnect began, Anomaly deliberately retains its deny-all patches and runtime overrides. Do not attempt to re-enable the plugin in that process; restart the server before admitting players again.

Client and identity model

Vanilla clients cannot complete the Anomaly handshake.
Mismatched protocol releases are rejected before gameplay.
Every server derives its own @anomaly enrollment ID for a client identity.
The same player can have different IDs on different servers.
Rotation advances are accepted only through valid contiguous lineage; rollback and competing forks are rejected.

Password status

Public shared-password authentication is not available in v1. RequirePassword=true rejects remote clients. A legacy verifier-equivalent path exists only as an explicitly enabled loopback compatibility switch and must never be exposed to internet clients.

Facility synchronization

Anomaly must initialize before facility generation. It authenticates the final LCZ, HCZ, and Entrance layout and sends the same snapshot to initial and late-joining clients. Companion plugins may author the layout through FacilityLayout and MapEvents.LayoutFinalizing. A failed or rejected generation does not admit clients into a different layout.

Custom content

The custom-content catalog defines items:

Custom items clone a valid stock item template.
They may customize display name, description, and an optional PNG icon.
They inherit the stock model, pickup, behavior plumbing, and weight.
Advertised PNG files also support texture overrides on existing network objects.
Advertised OGG files support added announcer vocabulary.

Custom roles, effects, models, weights, mesh replacement, AssetBundles, generic remote spawning, and destructive active-session hot reload are not v1 features.

Continue to Install Anomaly.Server.