A Satisfactory dedicated server on bare metal

Hardware, by the wiki

The factory simulation leans on one fast core. A machine with many slow cores does less for a megabase than one with fewer, faster ones, so pick the processor by clock and generation, then give memory headroom for the save to grow.

Ports since Patch 1.1

8888 arrived with Patch 1.1.0.0. 15000 and 15777 have been unused since 1.0; guides that still open them are out of date. -Port= moves the main port, and the server tries the next number up if it is taken. -ReliablePort= moves 8888, and the server refuses to start if that port is busy.

Installing on Ubuntu

1. Create a steam user without sudo; the wiki recommends running the server unprivileged.
2. Install SteamCMD from multiverse with i386 enabled, accepting Steam's licence prompt.
3. Download app 1690800 into the user's home with anonymous login.
4. Open SSH and the three game ports, then start FactoryServer.sh.

sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash steam
sudo add-apt-repository multiverse
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y steamcmd

sudo -u steam /usr/games/steamcmd +force_install_dir /home/steam/SatisfactoryDedicatedServer +login anonymous +app_update 1690800 validate +quit

sudo ufw allow 22/tcp
sudo ufw allow 7777
sudo ufw allow 8888/tcp
sudo ufw enable

ufw allow 7777 without a protocol opens both TCP and UDP, which this port needs. Wrap FactoryServer.sh in a systemd unit running as steam with Restart=on-failure, and re-run the app_update line after each patch so the server matches the clients.

Claiming the server

A new server must be claimed before it can start a game. Start the game, open the Server Manager from the main menu, add the server by IP address and port, give it a name and set the administrator password. Until a server is claimed, anyone who can reach it can claim it and set the administrator password, so claim it as soon as it is up. Admin rights then go to whoever knows that password. A player password is optional and off by default.

Steam and Epic clients both connect, whichever store the server binaries came from.

Saves and backups

On Linux the server writes saves to ~/.config/Epic/FactoryGame/Saved/SaveGames/server under the account that runs it. The Server Manager sets the autosave interval and whether to save when a player disconnects.

Autosaves share the server's own disk. Copy that folder off the machine on a schedule; a factory represents hundreds of hours nobody wants to rebuild.

Why a whole machine

On our bare metal game servers the simulation gets every core of a physical machine at full clock, with no hypervisor and no neighbour's load. You choose the configuration and the operating system, on HPE enterprise hardware, in New York, Miami, San Francisco, Amsterdam or Bucharest.

A racked machine is live about 30 minutes after the order is approved; a build to order takes 4-24 hours. The port is unmetered and support is staffed 24/7. For processor choice by clock and generation, see Intel Xeon servers and the full dedicated catalogue.

When to skip the dedicated box

Two or three friends playing together can host a session from the game client. A dedicated server pays off when the factory must keep running while everyone is offline, when the group outgrows the host's PC, or when the save is large enough that the host's own game stutters.