Satisfactory Dedicated Server: Setup, Ports and Saves on Your Server

A Satisfactory dedicated server keeps your factory running when nobody is hosting, so the team can log in at any hour and pick up where the last shift left off. Coffee Stain ships the dedicated server as a free Steam tool (app 1690800) with a native Linux build, and that is what runs on your Satisfactory game server.

This page covers what our setup does for you and what it leaves to you: the first boot, claiming the server, the two ports it needs, where saves and config files actually sit on the Linux build, updates and branches, and the errors people hit most. If you run the server yourself instead, the self-hosting section near the end gives the SteamCMD commands and hardware figures.

Version checked

Satisfactory 1.2, patch v1.2.4.0 (11 August 2026). The public and experimental server branches were the same build when this was checked.

What the panel sets up for you

The server is installed by SteamCMD with an anonymous login, so you don't need to put a Steam account on the server. The Startup tab has these variables:

The server starts as Engine/Binaries/Linux/*-Linux-Shipping FactoryGame -Port=<your port> -ReliablePort=<reliable port>. When the console prints Engine Initialization, the panel marks the server as running.

Edit Max Players and autosaves in the Startup tab, not in the INI files

The panel writes MaxPlayers into FactoryGame/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/Game.ini and mNumRotatingAutosaves plus both timeouts into Engine.ini every time the server starts. If you change those keys in the file, the next boot puts back the value from the Startup tab. Other keys in those files are left alone. The configuration guide lists them.

First boot and claiming the server

1. Open the server in the panel and click Start. The first start downloads the full dedicated server before it launches, so it takes longer than later restarts.
2. Wait for Engine Initialization in the console.
3. In Satisfactory, open Server Manager from the main menu and click Add Server. Enter the IP and port from the Address at the top left of your panel.
4. Accept the server's certificate when the game asks.
5. Give the server a name and set an administrator password. This is the claim. The first person to finish this step owns the server, so do it straight away after the first boot.
6. Create a new game, or upload a save (next section).

A player password is off by default. Turn it on in the Server Manager under Player Password Protection. The official wiki's comment: "Yes, that's an interesting choice of name for that option."

Don't use "Join Game" for the first connection

Everyone, not just the admin, should join through Server Manager → Add Server. Joining a dedicated server any other way gives the Encryption token missing network error.

Most day-to-day settings live in the Server Manager, not in files: server name, both passwords, Auto Pause, Auto-Save on Player Disconnect, Autosave Interval, Network Quality, and Server Restart Interval. That last one is the hour of day when the server restarts, not a number of hours between restarts. Server console commands are typed into the Server Manager's Console tab. The commands and API guide lists all eight of them.

Ports: 7777 and the reliable port

Since Patch 1.1 a Satisfactory server needs two ports:

Ports 15000 and 15777 haven't been used since 1.0. If a guide tells you to open them, it's out of date.

On our servers, players only ever need the Address from your panel. The game tells clients the reliable port by itself. If players can connect but then sit on the loading screen forever, the reliable port is the usual cause. The official wiki also says the server "will fail to initialize" if the reliable port is already taken. Both of those need a support ticket, not a config edit.

Where your saves and settings actually are

The Linux build keeps its saves outside the install folder, in the home directory of the user running it. On your server that means a hidden .config folder at the top of the File Manager:

A FactoryGame/Saved/SaveGames/ folder inside the install directory is not where the server looks. Saves uploaded there won't show up in Manage Saves.

The easy way to move saves is the Server Manager's Manage Saves tab, which uploads a local .sav directly. For big saves, or when you'd rather use files, the world upload guide covers finding your local save and putting it in the right folder.

Save before you stop

Stopping the server doesn't write a fresh world save. The server comes back from the most recent autosave. Before you restart or run a scheduled task, save from the Server Manager or wait for an autosave.

Forgot the admin password? Stop the server and delete ServerSettings.<port>.sav, where <port> is your game port. The next start is unclaimed, so you can claim it again. This also clears the server name, player password, auto-load session name and certificate. Your saves in server/ aren't touched.

Updates and branches

With Automatic Updates set to 1, every start runs SteamCMD against app 1690800 and installs whatever is new before the server launches. Players must be on the same version as the server. If people can't join after a game patch, restart the server so it updates.

To switch between stable and experimental:

1. Take a backup first. A save opened on a newer version may not load on an older one again.
2. Set [Advanced] Branch Name to experimental, or to public to go back to stable. Leaving it empty doesn't always move a server back off experimental, because Steam can remember the old branch. The official wiki's fix is to set public explicitly.
3. Make sure Automatic Updates is 1 and [Repair] Validate Server Files is 1. The egg only switches an installed server's branch with both on.
4. Restart, then clear Validate again so later starts stay fast.

We haven't run a branch switch on one of our Satisfactory servers yet. After the restart, check the version line in the console, and contact support if it hasn't changed.

Mods are separate from all this: the mod guide covers Satisfactory Mod Manager over SFTP. A game update usually breaks mods until their authors catch up.

Troubleshooting

Some console lines look alarming but are harmless: steamclient.so: cannot open shared object file followed by Loaded '/home/container/.steam/sdk64/steamclient.so' OK, failed to init SDL thread priority manager, the two LogOnline: Warning: OSS: EOSSDK lines once the server is up, and Exiting abnormally (error code: 130) when you stop it.

Running a Satisfactory dedicated server yourself

If you host it on your own machine instead, here's what the official wiki recommends:

• Install: steamcmd +force_install_dir <folder> +login anonymous +app_update 1690800 validate +quit. Run the same command again to update. Both Windows and Linux builds exist, and you don't need to own the game to download the server.
• Hardware: 8 GB RAM minimum, 16 GB for more than four players or large saves. A CPU with strong single-thread performance matters more than core count. No ARM or 32-bit support, and a VM with a kvm64 CPU type won't run it.
• Network: forward the game port on TCP and UDP plus 8888 TCP. The game port can't be remapped (the external number must match the internal one), but the reliable port can, with -ExternalReliablePort=.
• Saves on Windows: %LocalAppData%\FactoryGame\Saved\SaveGames\server.

Your own machine has to stay on and forwarded around the clock, which is why a hosted Satisfactory dedicated server is the easier choice for most groups.

What to Read Next

• Satisfactory Configuration — the INI keys the panel doesn't manage
• Satisfactory Admin Setup — the Server Manager console, the HTTPS API and every launch option
• Installing Mods on Satisfactory — Satisfactory Mod Manager over SFTP
• How to Upload Your Existing World to Your Satisfactory Server
• Is Satisfactory crossplay? — Steam and Epic share your server; console players cannot reach it

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