Factorio: server, Space Age, mods and saves

Settings, your factorio.com account, the expansions, admins and saves are on your Factorio server's Server tab, mods on its Mods tab, and who is online on its Players tab.

The first start

During installation the server downloads the current stable Factorio version straight from factorio.com, creates the settings files in data/ and generates a first save saves/gamesave.zip. The version is shown at the top of the Server tab. Space Age with Quality, Elevated Rails and Recycler is on by default; the public server list is off on new servers.

Joining

1. 1

   Start Factorio and choose Multiplayer › Connect to address.

2. 2

   Enter the address with port from your server's Overview, for instance 203.0.113.10:25600.

3. 3

   If the server has a Server password, Factorio asks for it.

• Players need the same Factorio version as the server.
• While any of the expansions is on (Space Age, Quality, Elevated Rails, Recycler), every player needs Space Age on their account.
• Factorio offers to download the server's mods when a player joins.

The settings

The Server tab shows data/server-settings.json as a form in four groups: Finding the server (name, description, tags, public list, LAN, password), Players and rights, Saving and pausing and Network. The i next to a setting explains it. Only the values you change are saved; if someone changed the same value in the file in the meantime, the page says so instead of overwriting it. Name, description, player count, autosave interval, number of autosaves and kicking idle players are set by the server at every start from start variables, so the page changes the start variable too. Everything applies from the next start; the page offers the restart right away.

Public list and factorio.com account

A server appears in the public list (Multiplayer › Browse public games) only with a factorio.com account. Without one, Factorio reports “Missing token” in the log; the Server tab then says so and offers to switch the public list off. Joining by address still works.

1. 1

   Open your profile on factorio.com and copy the Token. It is also on your computer in the Factorio folder's player-data.json as service-token. We do not need your password.

2. 2

   On the Server tab under factorio.com account, enter the username and token and press Save account. The portal checks both with the mod portal.

3. 3

   Under Finding the server, switch on the Public list and save.

Space Age and the expansions

Under Expansions one switch turns Space Age on or off; the mods Space Age needs go along. Quality, Elevated Rails and Recycler can be switched one by one too. The choice is saved in mods/mod-list.json and applies from the next start.

Saves and a new map

Saves shows the saves folder, with the save the server loads at start. Load picks another for the next start. Download fetches a file to your computer; you upload a save of your own into saves with Upload in the file manager. Names of letters, digits, - and _ can be loaded.

New map creates a new save at the next start, with the expansions and mods that are on then. The portal writes the seed and peaceful mode into data/map-gen-settings.json; every other map value you change there in the file manager. The previous save stays.

Mods from the mod portal

The mod portal hands out mods only to factorio.com accounts that own Factorio. That is why the Mods tab needs your account from the Server tab to install. Searching and viewing work without it.

• The search shows mods with a version for your server's Factorio version, most downloaded first.
• View shows the version, what the mod needs, recommends or is incompatible with, and what gets installed along with it. If an expansion the mod needs is off, or it is incompatible with a mod that is on, the tab says so and does not install.
• The portal downloads the files itself, checks their checksum and puts them into mods/. Your token never reaches your browser in the process.
• Installed mods are switched on and off with their switch; Remove moves them to the recycle bin. When a newer version exists, the mod says so.

Factorio loads mods at start; after a change the tab offers the restart.

With Update mods on restart (at the bottom of the tab) every start and restart checks for newer versions. If there are any, we first make a safety copy, then update and start; if the server then crashes repeatedly, we restore the copy and start with the previous mods. Every step is in the activity. A restart after a crash updates nothing.

Players, admins and whitelist

The Players tab asks the running server who is online. From there you kick, ban and unban, make players admin, write in the chat and save the game right away. The whitelist lives in the save: while it is empty, anyone may join; once a name is on it, only the players on the list. You keep the admins on the Server tab under Admins; while the server runs, changes go to the game, otherwise into server-adminlist.json.

Performance

Factorio updates the whole factory 60 times a second (UPS). If the server falls below that, the game runs slower for everyone. Large factories, many mods and Space Age with several planets need more memory and computing time.

• The Performance tab shows memory and CPU over time.
• Fewer mods, and no mods that compute a lot in the background, help most.
• Autosaving pauses the game briefly; a longer interval makes that rarer. Saving without stutter is marked experimental by Factorio.
• Players download the whole map when they join; Maximum upload rate and Map downloads at once under Network limit that.