Fixes · 7 min read
Satisfactory server won't connect? Check these eight things
Stuck on the loading screen, "Encryption token missing" or no answer at all? Eight checks for a Satisfactory dedicated server, at home or rented.
Last checked
Short answer
What the message on screen means
| What players see | Usual cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| “Encryption token missing” | Usual causeJoined through Join Game | FixCheck 1 |
| Can't sign in, or nothing to join | Usual causeServer not claimed, or no game loaded | FixCheck 2 |
| Endless loading screen | Usual causeThe reliable messaging port is blocked | FixCheck 3 |
| Server never answers in the Server Manager | Usual causeNot running, not forwarded, or a firewall | FixCheck 4 |
| “Certificate Verify Result: certificate is not yet valid” | Usual causeA clock or time zone is wrong | FixCheck 4 |
| “Failed to Connect to the Server API” with an IPv6 address | Usual causeThe address isn't in brackets | FixCheck 4 |
| Refused after a patch | Usual causeGame and server on different versions or branches | FixCheck 5 |
| Dropped while joining a big factory | Usual causeTimeouts too short for that player | FixCheck 6 |
| The fifth player can't join | Usual causeThe cap of four | FixCheck 7 |
| A friend on PS5 or Xbox can't find it | Usual causeDedicated servers are PC only | FixCheck 8 |
1. You used Join Game instead of the Server Manager
Join Game is for sessions your friends host from their own game. A dedicated server is added in the Server Manager on the main menu, and every player joins it from there. Players who try Join Game can get a network error that says “Encryption token missing”; the fix is the same: add the server in the Server Manager and join from there.
Use the server's address and its game port: 7777 unless you changed it. On our servers, copy the Join address from the server's Overview tab. It's the address and port in one, written address:port, and the port isn't always 7777. If the game asks for them separately, the address is the part before the colon and the port is the number after it.
2. Nobody can manage it, or there's nothing to join
A new Satisfactory server has to be claimed before it can run a game: someone adds it in the Server Manager and sets its admin password. Then the admin creates a new game or loads a save. Until both have happened, there's nothing for anyone to join. Friends don't need the admin password. There's no player password at first; if you set one in the Server Manager, they'll need that instead.
On your own PC, claim it yourself before you share the address: in our tests an unclaimed server gave admin rights to the first game that reached it. If you've lost the admin password, the wiki's way back is to stop the server and delete ServerSettings.7777.sav (the number is the port) from its SaveGames folder, which also resets the name, player password and certificate, so you claim it again.
On our servers, we claim it for you as soon as it first starts, with the admin password you chose when you created it. After each start the console shows a line beginning claim:. If it says still unclaimed or gave up, tell us straight away. The panel only uses your admin password at that first start and keeps it hidden; to change it, use the Server Manager. There's no reset button in the panel, so keep a note of it.
3. It's stuck on the loading screen
Satisfactory needs two port numbers: the game port in your address, on TCP and UDP, and a second TCP port for what the game calls reliable messaging. If that second one is blocked, players “can initiate a connection but will be perpetually stuck on the 'loading' screen”, in the wiki's words. That's the usual cause, though not the only one (see 6).
On your own PC, the second port is TCP 8888. Forward it to the server PC alongside TCP and UDP 7777, and allow it through the server PC's firewall. If you have to forward it from a different outside number, start the server with -ExternalReliablePort= set to that number as well.
On our servers, the second port is your game port plus one (7778 if you're on 7777), not 8888, and it's open already. To test it, open the Overview tab, find Can players reach it? and press Run the checks. Look at the Reliable port line. If it says Works, that port is open at our end, and the block is most likely on the player's side: their router, firewall or VPN. If it says Fails while the server is running, tell us, because that part is ours.
4. Nothing reaches the server at all
On your own PC, test from the inside out, as the wiki does. First check the server is running and listening. On Linux:
ss -plnut | grep FactoryServerOn Windows, in PowerShell:
Get-NetUDPEndpoint -LocalPort 7777
Get-NetTCPConnection -LocalPort 7777,8888 -State ListenIf it's listening only on one local address rather than all of them (0.0.0.0, :: or *), only that address works. Then join from another PC on the same network, using the server's local address. If that works but your public address doesn't, the problem is the router: the forwarding must point at the server PC's current local address (give it a fixed one), and 7777 outside must go to 7777 inside, because the wiki says redirecting the standard port isn't supported. Hosting on the PC you play on has one known issue: the server can become unreachable after you disconnect.
Two messages have their own fixes. “Certificate Verify Result: certificate is not yet valid” means a clock is wrong: check the date, time and time zone on the player's PC and on the server. If the server's clock was the wrong one, the wiki says to stop it, delete its ServerSettings file as in 2, and start it again. “Failed to Connect to the Server API” with an IPv6 address usually means the address needs square brackets, as in [2001:db8::1]:7777.
On our servers, wait until the panel says the server is running, then press Run the checks on the Overview tab. The certificate message is about the player's clock: check the date, time and time zone on their PC.
5. Your game and the server are on different versions
Everyone has to be on the same version and the same branch, release or Experimental. Steam updates players' games on its own, so after a patch the server has to catch up.
On your own PC, stop the server and run the SteamCMD install command again; add -beta experimental for the Experimental branch, or -beta public to come back, because the wiki says Steam may not switch back on its own.
On our servers, check that Update on start is on (it is by default, under Game → All settings) and press Restart, or Start if the server is stopped. The first start after a patch takes longer while it downloads. If your group plays Experimental, open Settings → Game version, type experimental, press Change version and confirm. The panel reinstalls the game on that branch. To go back, type public, but a world saved on a newer Experimental build may not load once you're back on release, so download your world first.
6. Players time out while joining
Players on older PCs or slower connections may need longer to connect than the server allows, and big factories take longest. Coffee Stain say patch 1.2.5.0 tried to fix some of the problems with joining big saves in multiplayer, and that some remain.
On your own PC, stop the server and raise both timeouts in Engine.ini, in the install's FactoryGame/Saved/Config/WindowsServer or LinuxServer folder:
[/Script/OnlineSubsystemUtils.IpNetDriver]
InitialConnectTimeout=60.0
ConnectionTimeout=60.0On our servers, open the Game tab and, under Connection, raise Joining timeout (30 seconds at first) and, if they're dropped after getting in, Connection timeout (20 seconds at first). They take effect at the next start, so restart afterwards. Change them here, not in Engine.ini: the panel writes these two into that file every time the server starts.
7. A fifth player can't get in
Servers start with room for four players, which is what Satisfactory's server is tuned for. More players can hurt performance and stability, and the Satisfactory wiki suggests 16 GB of memory for more than four.
On your own PC, set MaxPlayers under [/Script/Engine.GameSession] in Game.ini while the server is stopped. On our servers, raise Maximum players on the Game tab, under Players, then restart; the server's owner can add memory under Settings → Memory.
8. Your friend is on PlayStation or Xbox
Since patch 1.2.5.0 (4 November 2026), Steam, Epic, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series players can play together. Dedicated servers are not part of that: Coffee Stain say they are PC only and not available during crossplay. Console friends can't join a dedicated server, ours or anyone else's.
To play together, each of you links an Epic Games account (you can make one in the game's Online Settings) and you add each other as friends on Epic. Then one of you hosts a session from the game and the others find it in Join Game.
Still stuck?
On your own PC, the server's log is FactoryGame/Saved/Logs/FactoryGame.log in the install folder, and it usually names the problem. The full home setup, ports and all, is in how to host a Satisfactory dedicated server.
On our Satisfactory servers, press Copy the last 200 lines on the console, then press Contact a human on your Overview tab and paste them in, with what the player sees on screen. A person reads it, not a bot.
Game facts checked against Satisfactory 1.2.5.0.