Add mods to your Space Engineers server: Workshop search and Mods page

Open Mods in the left menu to add Steam Workshop mods to your Space Engineers server. You search or browse the Workshop, add the mods you want, put them in order, and save. The mods download the next time the server starts.

This page works the same on the Vanilla and Torch editions. It adds mods only. Torch plugins are not managed here.

Note

You need permission to read and edit files on the server. If you see a message that you do not have permission, ask the server owner to add it. See Manage users.

Before you start

• The world has to exist. If the page says to start the server once, press Start, wait for Game ready... in the Console, then stop the server.
• The server must be stopped to change its mods. A running server rewrites the world file when it saves, and would undo your changes. If the server is running, the page shows a warning with a Stop server and save button once you have made a change.
• Mods are ignored while cross-platform play is on. If you see the cross-platform warning, the mod list will not take effect until that setting is off.

Add a mod

1. Stop your server.
2. Open Mods in the left menu.
3. Under Add mods, browse the list. It opens on the most popular Workshop mods. Use these controls to narrow it:
   • Category chips such as Block, Planet, Production, Character, Script, or HUD.
   • The sort menu: Most popular, Trending, Top rated, Newest, or Recently updated.
   • When you pick Trending, a second menu sets the period: Today or This week.
   • Search Steam Workshop to look for a name or words in the description.
4. Press Details on a mod to read about it before you add it. The details show the Workshop description, screenshots, rating, author, tags, and any required mods.
5. Press Add. If the mod needs other mods and they are not in your list yet, the button reads Add with N required and adds them too.
6. Repeat for other mods. New mods are marked as unsaved changes.

If you already have a Workshop link or ID, paste it into Add by ID or Workshop link. You can paste several at once.

Note

Steam has no compatibility information for Space Engineers mods. The page can show tags, the last update date, and whether a mod was removed or made private, but it cannot tell you whether two mods work together. Read the comments on each mod’s Steam page.

Required mods

Many mods depend on other mods. When your list is missing a required mod, a banner names it and has an Add button. This is information, not an error: the game downloads required mods by itself when the server starts. Adding them to your list lets you see them and choose their order.

Required mod names need Steam to answer. If Steam is not answering, the page says so and your list is still safe.

Reorder and remove mods

• Use the up and down arrows on a mod in Installed mods to change its order.
• Press the trash can on a mod to take it out of the list. You can also open Details and use Remove from list.
• Mods from other sources than the Steam Workshop (for example mod.io) stay in the list, marked Other source (read only). You can keep them in place, but this page cannot add or remove them.
• Press Discard to throw away your unsaved changes.

The page warns you if you have more than 200 mods, because that many can make the server slow to start.

Save

1. Press Save. If the server is still running, press Stop server and save instead. It stops the server, waits until it is offline, and then saves.
2. Start your server from the power bar.

Before each save the page makes a backup copy next to the world file, named Sandbox_config.sbc.bak- followed by the date and time. It keeps the newest five. If a save fails, the page restores the previous file and tells you.

Only the mod list in Sandbox_config.sbc is changed. The rest of the world is not touched.

What happens when the server starts

The game reads the mod list, downloads each mod and the mods they require from the Steam Workshop, and then loads the world. Watch the Console. The server is ready when you see:

Game ready...

The first start with a new mod list takes longer, because the mods have to download. A large list takes longer still. If the Console reports a mod it cannot download, it was probably removed or made private on Steam. Remove it from the list and save again.

Players download the mods when they join.

Vanilla and Torch

Both editions use the same page and the same mod list. The page finds the right world folder for you: config/Saves/World/ on Vanilla and Instance/Saves/World/ on Torch.

If your server was switched from Vanilla to Torch, an old config/Saves/World/ folder can still be on disk. The page uses the Torch world in Instance/. If the two worlds are not the same one, open a ticket before you move anything. See Contact support.

Something is wrong

• The Mods page is missing. It only appears on Space Engineers servers. If you are on one and still do not see it, open a ticket. See Contact support.
• Search shows an error or no results. Steam did not answer. Try again in a moment, or paste a Workshop link or ID instead.
• The save says the mod list changed on the server. Someone, or the game, changed the world file after you opened the page. Press the refresh button at the top of the page to load the current list, then make your changes again.
• Other problems. See Space Engineers server problems.