Satisfactory server not working?
Start here.
Satisfactory keeps its settings behind the game’s own API instead of a file, pauses itself when nobody is on, and ticks at 30 by design, so a healthy server can look locked, idle or slow. Most of what follows is reading those three correctly.
# what fixes most Satisfactory problems 1 Server looks frozen or “paused” → Normal when empty; 30 tick is the max 2 Only 4 players can join → Settings → Player cap, then restart 3 Game asks for an admin password → Settings tab → Admin password eye
I can’t find or get into my server in Satisfactory
Add it by address
In game: Server Manager → Add Server. Address and port go in two separate fields, not as one IP:port — copy both off your server card. The address field is masked like a password, so paste with care.
Accept the certificate warning
The first connect shows a Server Certificate Warning with a fingerprint. Every Satisfactory server makes its own certificate, so this is expected. Accept it.
Sign in as admin with our password
We claimed the server for you when it first started, so the game asks you for an admin password. It’s on Settings → Admin password: press the eye.
New server? Create the game
A brand-new server has no world loaded. Create one from the Server Manager, or load a save you uploaded (see below).
Friends add it the same way
Everyone adds the server through Server Manager → Add Server; joining through the friends list doesn’t work for a dedicated server. Steam and Epic players can share it.
The Settings tab is read-only, or it’s asking me for an admin password
Start the server
Satisfactory has no settings file to edit: the panel reads the settings off the running server through the game’s own API. Stopped, there’s nothing to read.
Not claimed yet? Stop and start once
We claim a new server as it starts, and the settings unlock then. If the tab says the server hasn’t been claimed and stays that way, stop and start it once.
Claimed it yourself in game?
Then the game holds your admin password, not ours. Type it into the box at the bottom of the tab and press Unlock these settings. It’s checked against the game on the spot and kept for this server; nothing restarts.
Apply per group, live
Change a value and press that group’s Apply button, e.g. Apply Server options. It takes effect immediately, no restart. If the game didn’t take a value, the panel says so instead of showing a tick.
The one exception: player cap
Player cap is a startup setting the game’s API doesn’t carry, so it sits under Startup — applied on restart and uses the Apply bar at the bottom. More below.
Why: Changing settings needs the admin password the server was claimed with, and a Satisfactory server belongs to whoever claims it first — which is why we claim yours the moment it boots.
My server looks frozen, says it’s paused, or is stuck at 30 FPS
Paused with nobody on is normal
Satisfactory pauses itself when nobody is connected and wakes the moment someone joins. That’s Pause when empty under Settings → Server options, on by default.
30 is the ceiling, not a throttle
The server ticks at 30 by design — we read 29.95 with no game loaded, running and paused. Around 30 is a healthy server.
Real lag reads well below 30
If the tick on your server card drops well under 30, the world is struggling. Then look at Memory used on the same card.
Memory follows the factory
Machines, belts and trains set the number, not players: we measured about 0.4 GB before a world loaded and about 3 GB with a young save. Near your plan’s ceiling, a bigger tier is the fix.
Why: Leaving Pause when empty on costs nothing: a paused server has nothing new to lose, and we still save it before every stop.
Only four people can join
Four is the game’s default
We measured it: a server launched with no cap set reports a limit of 4.
Raise it in Settings
Settings → Startup — applied on restart → Player cap, anywhere from 1 to 127.
Apply and let it restart
Use the Apply bar at the bottom. The cap is a launch setting, so it lands when the server comes back; the player count on your card then reads against the new limit.
Don’t edit Game.ini for this
The panel sets the cap on the launch line, and that wins over a MaxPlayers written into Game.ini.
Did my factory save when I stopped it? And how do I bring my own save?
A stop saves first
Before every stop we ask the game to save, as <session>_server_save: one file per session, overwritten each time, and the one the server loads at its next boot.
Save on demand
Console → Save world now before anything risky. In between, the game keeps its own rotating autosaves, every 300 seconds by default (Settings → Autosave interval).
Claimed it in game? Unlock Settings once
The save on stop uses the admin password. On a server you claimed in game, until you’ve entered it on the Settings tab, a stop can cost you up to the last autosave.
Backups
Worlds & backups: nightly off-site copies on top of the game’s own autosaves, one click to restore or download.
Bring your own save
Upload the .sav through Files into satisfactory/.config/Epic/FactoryGame/Saved/SaveGames/server/, then load it from the in-game Server Manager. Leave ServerSettings.<port>.sav behind: it’s named after the port it was made on, and on a different port the server ignores it.
Why: We measured the game’s own shutdown before we fixed this: the call was accepted, the process exited 91 ms later having written nothing, and the next boot loaded the last autosave — 204 seconds of play gone. That’s why the save comes first.
Will turning on Advanced Game Settings kill our achievements?
Yes, for that save, for good
Turning Advanced Game Settings on — flight, free building, god mode and the rest — permanently disables Steam achievements on that save. Switching every toggle back off doesn’t bring them back.
Back up first
Worlds & backups → take a backup. An older save is the only way back.
Better: do it on a copy
Enable them on a copy of the save and keep your real playthrough clean.
The panel makes you tick a box
Settings → Advanced Game Settings won’t apply until you tick “I understand achievements will be permanently disabled on this save”.
Creative mode is a report, not a switch
The Creative mode row tells you whether Advanced Game Settings have ever been used on this save. True means that door is already open.
Why: Achievements are locked by the act of enabling Advanced Game Settings, not by any one toggle, so no combination of switches undoes it.
How do I kick or ban someone?
Satisfactory has no ban
None of the functions in the game’s server API touches a player. That’s Coffee Stain’s design, not a gap in the panel.
Kick from inside the game
Server Manager → the player → Kick, signed in as admin with the password from Settings → Admin password. A kicked player can come straight back.
Keep someone out with the client password
Set or change the client password in the in-game Server Manager and give it only to the people you want. Changing it logs everyone out, so warn your crew.
Expect the Players tab to lose its count
With a client password set, the game only reports its player count to a client that can log in, and we don’t hold your client password. Joins and leaves still show on the Server tab’s history, which reads the server’s log.
I added mods and nothing changed
Mods and Configs folders whole, your mods and their settings with them. Turn mods off instead if you only want them out of the way.Install the loader
Mods tab: the Satisfactory Mod Loader is one click. Make sure mods are on.
Mods go in the Mods folder
Files → satisfactory/Mods/. The game finds plugins in that folder by itself.
Server builds only
A mod needs a Linux server build to load on a dedicated server. Plenty of popular mods on ficsit.app ship none and won’t load, however you install them.
Restart, then check the Mods tab
Mods are read at boot. After the restart the Mods tab says The loader reported in this boot’s log — mods are loading; if it says the loader hasn’t reported yet, check the Console.
None of these, or still stuck?
Check the problems every game shares
Connections, settings that will not take, where your world is, lag: the answers that hold on every game are on the support page.
Write to us
The form arrives with Satisfactory already set; tell us what you tried and it saves a round trip. Pressing Need help? in your panel does the same and attaches your server, so there is nothing to look up.