Getting Started with Your Factorio Server

So you've got a Factorio server. Nice. Let's get you from "I just ordered this" to "my friends are connected and we're arguing about bus layouts" as quickly as possible.

I'm going to walk through the full first-boot process, because Factorio's dedicated server has a couple of quirks that trip people up if you're coming from other games. Nothing complicated – just a few things worth knowing upfront.

Ordering and First Boot

Head over to our Factorio server hosting page and pick a plan that suits your group size. All plans come with 10GB RAM as a base, which is more than enough for a fresh world and a reasonable number of mods. If you end up building a mega-base later (and you will, let's be honest), RAM upgrades are available up to 30GB.

Once your order's processed, you'll get access to the LOW.MS Control Panel at control.low.ms. This is where you'll manage basically everything – config files, mods, file management, backups, the lot. The sidebar gives you quick access to Service Settings, Configuration Files, the Mod Manager, File Manager, Log Viewer, and more. Poke around a bit. It's worth knowing what's there.

Creating Your First Save

Here's the thing that catches most people out: Factorio won't start without an existing save file. Unlike a lot of game servers that generate a world on first launch, Factorio needs you to explicitly create one first.

Your server comes with a save already created so you can get going immediately. But if you ever want to start fresh with different map generation settings, you'll want to know how this works.

Through the Web Console in your control panel, you can run:

/bin/x64/factorio --create ./saves/my-save.zip

That creates a new save using the default map generation settings. If you want to customise world generation – resource richness, enemy base frequency, that kind of thing – you'll want to edit map-gen-settings.json in the data/ directory before creating the save. I'll touch on that more in the server configuration guide, but the key thing to remember is that map generation settings only apply at creation time. You can't retroactively change ore frequency on an existing world.

Your save files live in the saves/ directory as .zip files. You can download them through the File Manager, back them up via Cloud Backup, or upload saves from your single-player game if you want to continue an existing factory in multiplayer.

Connecting to Your Server

There are two ways to connect, and both work fine.

Direct connect is the simplest. In Factorio's multiplayer menu, click "Connect to address" and type your server's IP address followed by the port – something like 203.0.113.10:34197. Your IP and port are shown in your control panel under Service Settings. The default game port is UDP 34197.

Server browser is the other option. If you've set visibility.public to true in your server-settings.json (it's under Configuration Files in the panel), your server shows up in Factorio's public server list. Players can search by name and join directly. You can also set a game_password if you want it publicly listed but not open to randoms.

One thing to note – if require_user_verification is set to true (which it is by default, and I'd leave it that way), everyone connecting needs a legitimate Factorio account linked to their copy of the game. This prevents pirated copies from joining.

Setting Up Admins

First person to connect to a fresh server isn't automatically admin – you need to set this up. The admin list lives in server-adminlist.json in your server's root directory. You can edit it through the File Manager or Configuration Files section in the panel.

The format is dead simple:

[
    "YourFactorioUsername",
    "YourFriendUsername"
]

Use Factorio usernames here, not Steam names. Once you're in-game as an admin, you can promote other players with /promote PlayerName and it'll update the file automatically. Admins can also demote, kick, ban, and run console commands – all the usual stuff you'd expect.

The /admins command shows who's currently got admin privileges. /ban and /kick do what they say. There's a full command reference in the configuration guide if you want the complete list.

Basic Server Settings

The main config file you'll care about day-to-day is server-settings.json, found in the data/ directory. You can edit it through the Configuration Files section in your control panel. Here are the settings I'd look at first:

name and description – what shows up in the server browser. Make it something your friends can actually find.

max_players – set to 0 for unlimited, or cap it at whatever your plan supports. Honestly, for most friend groups, the default is fine.

game_password – set one if you don't want uninvited guests. Even if visibility is off, anyone with your IP can connect without a password.

autosave_interval – defaults to 10 minutes, which is reasonable. I wouldn't go much higher than that. Factorio crashes are rare, but losing an hour of work to a power blip is annoying.

auto_pause – when true, the game pauses when nobody's online. Leave this on unless you specifically want the factory running 24/7 (some people do, for the authentic "the factory must grow" experience).

afk_autokick_interval – minutes before idle players get booted. Set to 0 to disable. Useful on public servers, less important for private ones.

There's a lot more in that file, and I cover all of it in the server configuration guide.

Mods – The Matching Problem

Factorio modding is brilliant, but multiplayer mod management has one iron rule: every player must have exactly the same mods at exactly the same versions as the server. I'm not exaggerating. Factorio compares checksums. If there's any mismatch – wrong version, extra mod, missing mod – you're not getting in.

The practical workflow looks like this:

1. Install mods on your server through the Mod Manager in the control panel, or upload .zip files to the mods/ directory via File Manager. Don't extract them – Factorio reads them as zips.
2. The mod-list.json file in the mods/ directory controls which mods are enabled or disabled. The panel's Mod Manager handles this for you.
3. Tell your players which mods to install. They need to match exactly.
4. For mod-settings.dat – this is a binary file that stores mod configuration. Easiest approach: configure your mods in a single-player game, then upload the mod-settings.dat from your local Factorio install to the server's mods/ directory.

If you've picked up the Space Age DLC, worth noting that it's treated as a mod internally. Everyone needs to own it for it to be active on the server.

Quick Checklist

Before you call your friends over:

• Save file exists in saves/ (your server comes with one, but verify it's there)
• server-settings.json has your preferred name, password, and player settings
• Admin list includes your Factorio username
• If using mods, all players have matching mod versions installed
• You've noted your server IP and port from the control panel

That's genuinely it. Factorio's server is one of the more straightforward ones to run once you get past the "create a save first" step. If you run into issues, the troubleshooting guide covers the common stuff.

Now go automate something.