How to host a Satisfactory dedicated server

Three ways to host

Coffee Stain, the developer, send people to the community-run Satisfactory wiki for dedicated server setup, and most of the facts below come from there. Its dedicated server page was last edited on 4 November 2026, the day patch 1.2.5.0 came out.

Hosting a session from the game

One player starts an online session from their own game and sets its privacy. With Friends Only, friends find it in Join Game, and the Session ID works too. With Private, people join by invitation. Up to four players are officially supported. More is possible by adding MaxPlayers=X to the host's Game.ini, with a risk to performance.

Coffee Stain say saves stay on the host's platform. The factory lives on one person's PC, and the others can only play in it while that person is hosting. That's the usual reason to move to a dedicated server: the factory is there whoever is online.

Since patch 1.2.5.0, a hosted session is also the only way to play across platforms. Steam, Epic, PS5 and Xbox Series players can join each other once they have linked an Epic account. Dedicated servers are not part of crossplay.

What your own PC needs

From the wiki's requirements section:

In our tests the Linux server started with 8 GB available and its install took about 3 GB. Factories grow, and the save grows with them, so a late-game world needs more memory than a new one. The RAM calculator gives our estimate for your group.

In a virtual machine, the CPU type matters: the wiki says a Proxmox VM set to kvm64 won't run the server, and to set it to host.

Ports to open on your router

That's three entries on two port numbers, and you need all of them. Older guides often leave out TCP 8888 or TCP 7777, and guides from before patch 1.0 still list ports 15000 and 15777, which the server no longer uses.

Forward them to the PC that runs the server, and give that PC a fixed address on your home network first; the wiki says the same, because otherwise the router can hand the PC a new address and the forwarding stops working. Port redirection isn't supported for the standard port, so forward 7777 outside to 7777 inside. Allow the same ports through the firewall on the server PC.

If TCP 8888 isn't forwarded properly, players “can initiate a connection but will be perpetually stuck on the 'loading' screen”.

Set it up, step by step

1. Install the server. In Steam it's in your library as a tool, once you change the library filter to show tools. With SteamCMD on Linux:

   steamcmd +force_install_dir ~/SatisfactoryDedicatedServer +login anonymous +app_update 1690800 validate +quit

   On Windows, from the SteamCMD folder (choose your own install folder):

   .\steamcmd.exe +force_install_dir "C:\Game Servers\Satisfactory Server" +login anonymous +app_update 1690800 validate +quit

2. Give the server PC a fixed local address and forward the three port entries above.
3. Start it from the install folder. Windows:

   .\FactoryServer.exe -log -unattended

   Linux:

   ./FactoryServer.sh

4. Claim it straight away. Start Satisfactory, open the Server Manager from the main menu and add the server by its address and port 7777. On the same network as the server, use its local address.
5. Give the server a name, then set the administrator password.
6. Create a new game, or upload a save you already have from the Server Manager. Until you do one of these, there's nothing for anyone to join.
7. Only now give friends your public address.

To stop it cleanly, type quit in the Server Manager's Console tab, or press Ctrl+C in the server's window. The wiki warns against closing the window with its X.

Bring an existing save

Your single-player or hosted saves are in %LocalAppData%\FactoryGame\Saved\SaveGames on Windows, inside a folder named with a long number. Upload one from the Server Manager once you've signed in as admin, then load it there. The server keeps its own saves in:

The config folder is inside the install folder. Copy the saves folder somewhere else now and then: it's your factory.

The settings to change first

Most settings live in the game's Server Manager, not in files.

Edit the files only while the server is stopped: the wiki says the server writes them when it shuts down, so a change made while it runs can be overwritten. For eight players, in Game.ini:

[/Script/Engine.GameSession]
MaxPlayers=8

For players on older PCs or slow connections, raise the timeouts in Engine.ini (seconds; the wiki says the default is 30):

[/Script/OnlineSubsystemUtils.IpNetDriver]
InitialConnectTimeout=60.0
ConnectionTimeout=60.0

To autosave every ten minutes instead of five, sign in on the Server Manager's Console tab and type FG.AutosaveInterval 600. Game updates can overwrite the files, so check your changes after a patch.

How friends join

Friends add the server in the Server Manager on the main menu, using your public address and port 7777, and join it from there. They don't use Join Game: that menu is for sessions hosted from someone's game. If you set a player password, they'll need it. They don't need the admin password.

Players who bought the game on Steam and on Epic can both join the same dedicated server.

Console players can't. Coffee Stain's support page says dedicated servers “are only supported on PC”, and the 1.2.5.0 notes say they're “not available during Crossplay”. To play with someone on PS5 or Xbox, host a session from the game.

Keep it updated

Everyone has to be on the same version and the same branch. Steam updates players' games on its own, so after a patch, update the server too. Installed through Steam, it updates like any other tool. With SteamCMD, stop the server and run the install command again.

To run the Experimental branch, add -beta experimental to the SteamCMD command. To come back, use -beta public, “since Steam may not switch back on its own”.

Traps

• The second port. An endless loading screen usually means TCP 8888 isn't reaching the server.
• Leaving it unclaimed. In our tests, an unclaimed server gave administrator access to the first game client that reached it. Claim yours before the address goes anywhere.
• Using Join Game. A dedicated server is added in the Server Manager. Join Game gives “Encryption token missing”.
• Redirecting the port. The wiki says redirection isn't supported for the standard port.
• Raising the player cap. The server is tuned for four. Every extra player is a risk to performance, and the wiki's 16 GB figure applies beyond four.
• Console friends. They can't join a dedicated server, whoever runs it.

For these and the other errors players see on a server that's already running, see Satisfactory server won't connect? Check these eight things.

Common questions

Do I need to buy Satisfactory again for the server?

No. The wiki's SteamCMD command logs in anonymously, so the download needs no Steam account. Each player still needs their own copy of the game.

Can I run the server and play on the same PC?

You can, if the PC has the memory for both. The wiki lists one known issue: when you host on the PC you play on, the server can become unreachable after you disconnect, with no official fix yet. A second PC avoids it.

How many players can join?

Four by default, which is what the server is tuned for. Raise MaxPlayers as shown above, and plan for 16 GB of memory beyond four.

I forgot the admin password. How do I reset it?

On your own server, stop it and delete ServerSettings.7777.sav (the number is the port) from the saves folder's parent, SaveGames. The wiki warns that this also resets the server name, the player password, the session it loads at start and its certificate, so you claim it again from scratch.

Renting a server instead

This section is about our Satisfactory servers only. Three things differ from the home setup above.

The ports. On our servers the reliable messaging port is your game port plus one: 7778 if your game port is 7777. It is not 8888, and there's nothing for you to open. The panel shows the address to give friends, and its “Can players reach it?” check tests the reliable port.

The claim. You choose the admin password when you create the server, and we claim the server with it within about a second of its first start. You sign in to the Server Manager with that password and create or load your game.

Your save. Upload it in the Server Manager as above, or bring it in from the panel's Files page: upload the .sav (or several in one .zip), and we check it before putting it beside the server's own saves. If one has the same file name, it's replaced and the old one is kept for 7 days, so you can undo. Then load it from the Server Manager.

The panel sets maximum players (four by default), the number of rotating autosaves and the two timeouts. The Server Manager does the rest. Ours start at 8 GB. Keep your own copy: download your files from the panel's Files page, as one .zip or over SFTP. Sizes are on the pricing page, and servers are rented by the pass: a day, a week or a month. When a pass ends the server stops and its files are kept for 30 days.

Game facts checked against Satisfactory 1.2.5.0.