How to: Add Mods To Your Space Engineers Server

Useful Links

• FileZilla FTP Client Guide
• How To Generate A New Space Engineers World
• How To Upload A Single Player World To Your Space Engineers Server (Coming Soon)
• TCAdmin User Panel

Before We Get Started

Space Engineers uses two configuration files, one for the dedicated server client, and one which is read by the client, which reflects changes on your server. The one which is read by the dedicated server client is in charge of setting the parameters which are used to generate a new save, this file is SpaceEngineers-Dedicated.cfg. Then, once the world is generated, a new file will be made under WORLD/Saves/World Name/Sandbox_config.sbc. Sandbox_config.sbc is the file that controls changes you experience in-game including Administrator rights and Mods.

To install Mods, the first step is to have a world already set up on your server. You can do so by following either one of our guides, "How To Generate A New Space Engineers World" or "How To Upload A Single Player World To Your Space Engineers Server."

From there, make sure you log into your TCAdmin user panel with the information we provided you with in your verification email. Be sure to stop your server now. Next, go to configuration files. From there you'll see both configuration files, one for your SpaceEngineers-Dedicated.cfg and one for your Sandbox_config.sbc file. Before you edit ANYTHING verify your server is stopped. If you open this file before the server is turned off, the time parameter in the world config file will become unsynced with the in-game time, leading Space Engineers to believe that this is not the correct Sandbox_config.sbc file for your save. Therefore, your server will not start.

Note 1: If your server is running on Torch, your Sandbox_config.sbc file can be found in the instance/saves/yourWorldName folder, the rest of this guide will stay the same.

Note 2: If you've uploaded your world, and if it has mods. they will automatically install on the server without having to edit the sandbox file.

Modifying Your Sandbox_config.sbc

Once you've verified your server is stopped, it's now safe to open the Sandbox_config.sbc file with the text editor. There will be a lot of files here, so just hit Ctrl+F to open up the search function of your browser. Search for "mods". It should bring you to a line of code that looks like this:

<Mods />

The first step is to open up this element so you can add a list of mods to it. To do that, replace <Mods /> with:

<Mods>
</Mods>

Between these two elements, you can now add information about mods that the server can read and download to your server.

Now that you have your mod element set up, you'll need to go on to steam workshop and find a mod you like. For example, I'll use the popular workshop mod "Automatic LCDs 2." You'll need to find the workshop mod ID first. If you take a look at the URL bar of your browser, you'll see the end of the URL will end with "/filedetails/?id=long number" the long number is going to be your workshop ID. In this case, the workshop ID is "822950976". Now that you have your ID you're ready to add your mod to your Sandbox_config.sbc file.

Between your mods elements, add this code:

<ModItem>
  <Name>WorkshopID.sbm</Name>
  <PublishedFileId>WorkshopID</PublishedFileId>
</ModItem>

For my example, with the mod I want to use, my mods section will look like this:

<Mods>
  <ModItem>
    <Name>822950976.sbm</Name>
    <PublishedFileId>822950976</PublishedFileId>
  </ModItem>
</Mods>

If you wish to add more mods, just add more ModItem elements. So say I want to also use the Titan Engine mod (294555339) as well as my previous mod, I'd apply a change like this:

<Mods>
  <ModItem>
    <Name>822950976.sbm</Name>
    <PublishedFileId>822950976</PublishedFileId>
  </ModItem>
  <ModItem>
    <Name>294555339.sbm</Name>
    <PublishedFileId>294555339</PublishedFileId>
  </ModItem>
</Mods>

Once you've added all the mods you'd like, go ahead and save the Sandbox_config.sbc file by clicking "Save" in the top left-hand corner of the text editor. From there, go back to your TCAdmin user panel and start your server back up. 

To verify this is working, click on your web console and it will open a new window. Within it will show the Space Engineers Dedicated console. It should prompt you with this message for every mod added:

Downloading mod: id = WorkshopID

Now that everything is up and running, all of your users will have access to these workshop mods upon joining your server. Great job!