Satisfactory Dedicated Server Mods: How to Install Them

Installing Satisfactory dedicated server mods takes four moves: save and stop the server, back up its saves, put the Satisfactory Mod Loader (SML) and each mod’s server build in place, then start it and read the log. The mods you run on your PC won’t work if you copy them across, because a server needs different files. This guide covers every route that works with Satisfactory 1.2 (Satisfactory Mod Manager’s Manage Servers, ficsit-cli, a manual install and a host’s panel), the GameFeatures folder that 1.2 mods now use, and how to tell from the log that every mod actually loaded.

Save, stop and back up before you add mods#

Do these three things before you change a single file, whichever route you take. Most broken modded servers come from skipping one of them.

1. Save the factory

   Stopping a Satisfactory server does not save it: whatever happened since the last autosave (every 5 minutes by default) is lost. Open Server Manager in the game, go to the server’s console and run server.SaveGame BeforeMods. The save appears in the session list with that name.

2. Stop the server

   The ficsit.app docs ask you to stop the server before installing, updating or removing mods: the files are in use while it runs. Stop it from your panel, with systemctl stop on a Linux service, or by closing the window on Windows.

3. Copy the saves somewhere else

   On Linux the server keeps its saves in ~/.config/Epic/FactoryGame/Saved/SaveGames/server/ under the user that runs it (the .config folder is hidden). On a Windows server they are in %LOCALAPPDATA%\FactoryGame\Saved\SaveGames\server\. Copy the whole folder, or take a backup in your host’s panel.

Then check every mod on your list for a server build. Each version of a mod on ficsit.app lists the targets it was built for:

For the compatibility model behind those labels—including game-version ranges, profiles and vanilla-client restrictions—read how Satisfactory mods work on a dedicated server.

A mod without your server’s target can’t go on the server, and the whole group has to play without it. When we checked on 4 October 2026, 846 of the 1,587 mods on ficsit.app had a Linux server build for 1.2, including 77 of the 100 most downloaded.

Install from Satisfactory Mod Manager with Manage Servers#

Satisfactory Mod Manager (SMM) 3 can install your profile directly on a server, as long as it can reach the server’s files: a folder on the same PC, FTP or SFTP. This is the easiest route for a home server and for hosts that give you FTP or SFTP details.

If you first need to make one client profile for every PC player, read our Satisfactory Mod Manager profile guide; this page covers applying mods to the dedicated server.

1. Open Manage Servers

   In SMM, open Manage Servers in the left panel (under Other).

2. Add the server

   Pick the connection type (a local path, FTP or SFTP) and point it at the folder where the server is installed, the one that contains FactoryGame. For FTP or SFTP, use the host, port, user and password your host gave you.

3. Select it and choose the profile

   Choose the server as the installation at the top of SMM, then select the same profile your group plays with. SMM downloads the server builds of every mod in it, plus SML and every dependency, and copies them over.

If SMM says it can’t find the game, the path stops one folder too high or too low: it has to be the folder with FactoryGame and FactoryServer.sh (Linux) or FactoryServer.exe (Windows) inside. SMM keeps the server’s mods in step with the profile, so later changes are the same two clicks: edit the profile, select the server, apply.

Install with ficsit-cli on a headless Linux server#

When the server is a Linux machine you reach over SSH, ficsit-cli does the same job as SMM from the command line. It’s the open-source command-line tool from the Satisfactory Mod Manager project (satisfactorymodding/ficsit-cli); download the ficsit_linux_amd64 binary from its releases. Run it as the user that runs the server, so the files keep the right owner. These commands were checked with ficsit-cli 0.7.1. First create a profile for the server and register the server install that uses it:

./ficsit profile new myserver
./ficsit installation add /home/steam/SatisfactoryDedicatedServer myserver

Then find each mod’s reference on ficsit.app; search prints it in brackets after the mod’s name:

./ficsit search "refined power"

There is no mod add command in 0.7.1. Add mods in the interactive screen (run ./ficsit with no arguments, pick the profile and the mods), or edit ~/.local/share/ficsit/profiles.json and list each mod reference under your profile’s mods:

"mods": {
  "RefinedPower": { "version": ">=0.0.0", "enabled": true },
  "SmartFoundations": { "version": "=34.3.1", "enabled": true }
}

>=0.0.0 takes the newest version that fits; =34.3.1 pins one. Then, with the server stopped:

./ficsit apply

apply downloads the Linux server builds, SML and every dependency into the server’s FactoryGame/Mods/ folder and removes mods that are no longer in the profile. It also writes a lock file there, so the next apply keeps the same versions until you change the profile.

Copy the server zips by hand into the right folders#

A manual install works anywhere, but you resolve dependencies yourself, and the ficsit.app docs say there are no manual directions for SML 3 on Linux: on a Linux server, ficsit-cli is the safer route. On a Windows server, or if you just want to see what the tools do:

1. Download each zip

   On each mod’s ficsit.app page, open the version that matches your game and download its WindowsServer or LinuxServer file. Do the same for SML and for every mod listed as a dependency.

2. Make a folder per mod

   The zips have no folder of their own: RefinedPower.uplugin, Binaries, Content and Config sit at their root. Create a folder named exactly after the mod reference and unzip into it. SML goes in FactoryGame/Mods/SML/.

3. Put game feature mods in GameFeatures

   Open the mod’s .uplugin file. If it contains "GameFeature": true, its folder goes in FactoryGame/Mods/GameFeatures/ instead of FactoryGame/Mods/.

The folder is decided by the mod, not by its size or age. These are the folders ficsit-cli used for some popular mods on our test server:

A mod in the wrong folder, or with an extra folder level from the zip, simply doesn’t load. And copying the Mods folder from your PC never works: those are the Windows client builds, which a dedicated server can’t run.

Let your host’s panel install them#

If you are still comparing providers, our Satisfactory hosting checklist covers the server claim, backups, ports and region before you choose. If your server is rented, check what the host offers before you set up SFTP: many hosts simply give you SFTP details and send you to SMM, and a few install ficsit.app mods from their own panel. Before you pick a route, ask your host three things: does the panel install SML and dependencies for you, does it make a copy of your saves before a mod change, and what happens if a mod fails to load.

For groups that would rather paste a list than manage SFTP or a shell, we recommend Game Hosting’s Satisfactory servers. On the Mods page you paste ficsit.app links, mod references or a profile exported from Satisfactory Mod Manager. On the next start the server installs them with ficsit-cli for its Linux build, with SML and every mod they need, and keeps those versions until your list or the game version changes, or you click Look for updates. It copies your saves before every mod change, and if a mod can’t be installed or doesn’t load, the server doesn’t start and names the mod. Starting without the mods would strip their buildings from the save. Each mod shows its author and a link to its page, and a button copies the list for your friends. There’s no mod search in the panel, so you find mods on ficsit.app, and there’s no SFTP. On our test server, a new factory with 18 popular mods (24 with dependencies) used 3.2 GB of memory and ran at a full 30 ticks a second, well inside the 8 GB plan.

Start the server and confirm every mod loaded#

A modded server that starts isn’t proof that every mod loaded. The log tells you. On Linux it’s FactoryGame/Saved/Logs/FactoryGame.log inside the server folder; a Windows server writes the same file under its own install folder. After a start, look for the mod loader’s lines:

LogSatisfactoryModLoader: Display: Satisfactory Mod Loader v.3.12.0+827 pre-initializing...
LogSatisfactoryModLoader: Display: Initialization finished!

Then look for errors that name a mod:

The PowerSuit line is real: on our test server on 5 October 2026, PowerSuit 1.4.0 was listed with a Linux server build but its server file was made for an older server, and the game closed a second after starting. A server that doesn’t start is the safe outcome here, since nothing in the save changes.

When the log is clean, join with compatible versions of the mods required on both sides. Client-only and server-only mods can be handled in separate profiles. In Server Manager the server shows as Modded, so vanilla players cannot join; share the right client profile before game night.

Update or remove mods without losing the factory#

Mods are tied to the game version, and Satisfactory clients on Steam and Epic update themselves. After a big update, mods stop working until their authors catch up: after 1.2 came out, SML took 4 days and some big mods took weeks. Until then you can keep the server on the old version only while every player can stay on it too, which usually means waiting with the server off or playing unmodded.

• Update by stopping the server, applying the profile again (SMM or ficsit apply) and checking the log. Pinning a version keeps a mod still while the rest update.
• Add a mod the same way. It needs no special care, but your friends must add it too.
• Remove a mod only after a backup. Everything it built disappears from the save the first time it loads without it, and that save can’t get them back. If you change your mind, go back to the copy made before the change, not to a later autosave.

Keep the last copy from before each change for a while: a mod problem often shows up only after a few hours of play, when an autosave has already overwritten the save you started from. If you are still comparing providers, use the Satisfactory host mod-support checklist to check the panel workflow before you hand over an existing world.