How to Become Admin on a Nova-Life: Amboise Server (adminLevel)

To become admin on a Nova-Life: Amboise server, join the server once so your character exists, stop the server, open the city database life.db with DB Browser for SQLite, find your player and set the adminLevel column to 5, then write the changes, upload the file back and restart. In game, press F5 to open the admin menu. There is no admin list in server.json and no console command for it: admin rights are stored per player in the database.

Values run from 0 to 5. 0 is a normal citizen, 1 to 4 give partial staff access, and 5 is full admin. That scale is how most cities build a staff team: owners on 5, senior staff a step down, helpers lower still.

What you need

• Access to the server files, through the file manager, SFTP or the folder on your PC.
• DB Browser for SQLite, a free tool from sqlitebrowser.org that opens .db files.
• Your character on the server. The row you edit only exists after you have joined and created a character at least once.

Step 1: Join once and create your character

Start the server, join it from the server list, and go through character creation until you are in the city. That writes your player into the database. Then leave.

Step 2: Stop the server

This matters more than any other step. The server holds life.db open while it runs and keeps writing to it. If you edit the database while the server is up, the server can overwrite your change on the next save, or the file can be damaged. Stop it fully before touching the file.

Step 3: Back up and download life.db

The database sits in your city's folder:

Servers/
  MaVille/
    Config/
      server.json
    Plugins/
    life.db

Copy life.db somewhere safe first. This file is the whole city: characters, money, property, jobs. A backup turns any mistake into a two minute fix. Then download a working copy to your PC.

Step 4: Edit adminLevel

1. Open DB Browser for SQLite and choose Open Database, then select life.db.
2. Go to the Browse Data tab.
3. In the table dropdown, pick the table that holds players. You will recognize it by columns such as names and the adminLevel column.
4. Find your row. Use the filter box under a column header to search for your character name or Steam ID.
5. Double click your adminLevel cell and set it to 5.
6. Press Ctrl+S (or Write Changes). Without this, nothing is saved.

Only change your own row, and only that one column. Changing IDs or other fields can break characters.

Step 5: Upload and restart

Upload the edited life.db back to the same folder, replacing the old one. Make sure the file name stays exactly life.db. Start the server, join, and press F5. The admin menu opens if it worked.

Admin levels for a staff team

Exactly which tools unlock at each level depends on the game version, so give new staff a low level first and raise it once you have seen what they can do. Repeat Steps 2 to 5 for each staff member after they have joined once.

Common problems

Plugins with their own admin systems

Some community plugins, like admin tool packs built on ModKit, add their own commands and permission checks on top of the game's admin level. Those are configured in the plugin's own files in the Plugins folder. The adminLevel in life.db is still what the base game's F5 menu uses, so set that first.

Doing it on a hosted server

On a GamezServers Nova-Life: Amboise server the process is the same, just easier to do safely. Stop the server from the panel, take a one click backup, download life.db from the file manager or over SFTP, edit it, upload it back and start the server again. If anything looks wrong afterwards, restoring the backup takes one click. If your city is not in the server list yet, our Nova-Life list fix guide covers isPublicServer, and our setup guide covers the rest of the files.

FAQ

What adminLevel is full admin in Nova-Life?

5. Levels 1 to 4 are partial staff access and 0 is a normal player.

What key opens the admin menu in Nova-Life: Amboise?

F5, once your adminLevel is set and the server has been restarted.

Can I edit life.db while the server is running?

No. Stop the server first. A running server can overwrite or damage the file.

Where is life.db?

In your city's folder, Servers/<your server name>/, next to the Config and Plugins folders.

Why is my player not in the database?

You need to join and create a character first. Then stop the server and download a fresh copy.