How do you create and host a Sat­is­fact­ory dedicated server?

If you’re looking for maximum flex­ib­il­ity and want to make your game world publicly ac­cess­ible, running a dedicated Sat­is­fact­ory server is the best option. This type of server is ideally hosted on rented external hardware, which ensures reliable per­form­ance and avail­ab­il­ity. In­stall­a­tion and basic con­fig­ur­a­tion are usually handled via the Steam or Epic Games client.

Should you host a Sat­is­fact­ory server or play a private online game?

If you want to play Sat­is­fact­ory online with friends, you generally have two options. You can either start a private session that runs on your own PC or host a game session on a dedicated Sat­is­fact­ory server.

The main advantage of hosting the game on your own device is that no ad­di­tion­al hardware is required. However, as soon as more players join a private game, ad­di­tion­al system resources are needed, which puts a sig­ni­fic­antly higher load on your PC compared to single-player mode. The same is true for your internet con­nec­tion. The biggest dis­ad­vant­age of a privately hosted game is that the game world is only ac­cess­ible to other players when you are online and have the session running.

The more people you want to grant access to a Sat­is­fact­ory game world that is available to join at any time, the more relevant an ex­tern­ally hosted Sat­is­fact­ory server becomes. In this case, you not only have powerful server and broadband resources behind you, but also the option to make the Sat­is­fact­ory server publicly ac­cess­ible (via IP address).

What are the re­quire­ments for creating a Sat­is­fact­ory server?

The hardware re­quire­ments for a Sat­is­fact­ory server primarily depend on the number of players who connect to the server at the same time. However, it should be noted that Sat­is­fact­ory is designed and optimised for a maximum of four players in mul­ti­play­er mode. While it is possible to configure game worlds for more than four players, the Swedish de­vel­op­ment team Coffee Stain Studios does not guarantee per­form­ance in these cases.

Based on in­form­a­tion from the official Sat­is­fact­ory wiki and the re­quire­ments of the dedicated server tool available in the Epic Games Store, the following basic system re­quire­ments apply:

• CPU (processor): AMD or Intel (4 cores) at 3.4 gigahertz or higher; strong single-core per­form­ance preferred
• RAM (memory): 8 gigabytes of RAM for 1–4 players, 16 gigabytes or more for larger save files or more than 4 players
• Hard drive storage: 10–15 gigabytes for the Sat­is­fact­ory server software; ad­di­tion­al storage space for save game(s) or optional mods

In addition to the computing power for the Sat­is­fact­ory dedicated server, you also need to factor the operating system’s workload into your planning. In principle, you can choose between common Linux dis­tri­bu­tions such as Ubuntu—but the developer-re­com­men­ded option is a Windows Server operating system. For Windows Server 2025, for example, the following ad­di­tion­al re­quire­ments would therefore need to be covered:

• 1.4 GHz processor (64-bit)
• at least 2 GB of RAM (with a graphical interface: 4 GB re­com­men­ded)
• at least 32 GB of hard drive storage

Which IONOS solutions are suitable for running a Sat­is­fact­ory server?

You can rent hardware for your own gaming server from a wide range of providers. However, the wide range of packages and plans can quickly become over­whelm­ing. After all, you want to avoid choosing too little or too much per­form­ance—and, above all, prevent un­ne­ces­sary costs.

At IONOS, you can choose from the following three server types, each of which is also available in various packages:

• vServer: With a vServer (also known as a Virtual Private Server, VPS), you get access to vir­tu­al­ised resources that you share with other customers—without any loss of per­form­ance. The booked hardware is billed at a fixed monthly price.
• Cloud Server: IONOS Cloud Server packages also use vir­tu­al­ised resources. However, since this model is billed by the minute, you only pay for the per­form­ance you actually need.
• Dedicated Server: With an IONOS Dedicated Server, you get hardware that is reserved ex­clus­ively for you. This server type is also char­ac­ter­ised by high single-core power, which is reflected in the price.

Sat­is­fact­ory server scenarios and suitable IONOS packages

In the table below, we’ve put together a few possible scenarios for your Sat­is­fact­ory server and matched them with the ap­pro­pri­ate IONOS server models and packages.

How to create a Sat­is­fact­ory server step by step

Once you’ve chosen a hosting en­vir­on­ment and have your login details ready, you can start setting up your Sat­is­fact­ory server. The tutorial below walks you through the key steps, using IONOS servers (vServer, Cloud Server, and Dedicated Server) as examples. The server software itself is installed via Steam.

Step 1: Establish a remote con­nec­tion to the server

You can access the hardware of your rented server via remote access. The first step is therefore to set up a suitable Remote Desktop con­nec­tion. With IONOS, however, this con­nec­tion can also be es­tab­lished con­veni­ently through your browser using the customer account. To do so, simply log in via the following login page and have your in­di­vidu­al customer details ready.

First, click ‘Server & Cloud’ and select the server en­vir­on­ment you rented for Sat­is­fact­ory server hosting. Then click on the server itself. Under ‘Actions’, you will find the option ‘Open remote console’.

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Step 2: Install the Sat­is­fact­ory server ap­plic­a­tion via the Steam client

Once the con­nec­tion has been suc­cess­fully es­tab­lished, you can proceed to install the Sat­is­fact­ory dedicated server software. If you purchased the game via Steam, the server ap­plic­a­tion can be obtained directly through the platform. To do this, install the Steam client on the server and then follow these steps:

1. Sign in with the Steam account you used to purchase Sat­is­fact­ory.
2. Open the ‘Library’.
3. Use the drop-down function (down arrow) in the left-side menu.
4. Tick the box for ‘Tools’.
5. Type ‘Sat­is­fact­ory Dedicated Server’ into the search bar.
6. Select the ap­pro­pri­ate search result.
7. Click ‘Install’ to create the Sat­is­fact­ory server.

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Step 3: Start the Sat­is­fact­ory server

After in­stall­a­tion, you can start the Sat­is­fact­ory server from the same location in the Steam client. Simply click the ‘Start’ button that is now displayed. Steam will then auto­mat­ic­ally check for available updates to the server software and verify that all required tools and runtime en­vir­on­ments are installed. If any com­pon­ents are missing—such as the Microsoft Visual C++ runtime—the client will auto­mat­ic­ally prompt you to install the required com­pon­ents.

Step 4: Open server ports

In the next step, you need to make sure that the ports relevant to Sat­is­fact­ory are open on your server. In par­tic­u­lar, this includes the following ports:

• UDP port 15777: This ‘query port’ is used to handle queries to the Sat­is­fact­ory server (player count, server name, etc.). This is the default port number, which can be changed if needed. (No longer required since Patch 1.0.)
• UDP port 15000: The ‘beacon port’ 15000 is required if you want to run multiple server instances at the same time. (No longer required since Patch 1.0.)
• TCP and UDP port 7777: Players connect to the game world of your Sat­is­fact­ory server via the ‘game port’. This is also the default port number, which can be changed if needed.
• TCP port 8888: Another ‘game port’ that must be opened to ensure a smooth con­nec­tion setup.

Opening a port requires you to set up a cor­res­pond­ing firewall rule. With IONOS servers, this can be done directly in the Cloud Panel:

1. Log in to the Cloud Panel.
2. Open the ‘Server & Cloud’ section and then select your rented server hardware.
3. In the left-side menu, click ‘Network’.
4. Select the ‘Firewall Policies’ menu item.
5. Under ‘Inbound’, create the rules for the query and game port (op­tion­ally also for the beacon port).

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Step 5: Enable the server

In the next step, you’ll enable the newly created Sat­is­fact­ory server via the Server Manager in the game client.

Launch Sat­is­fact­ory and select ‘Server Manager’ from the menu. Then click ‘Add Server’ and enter the IP address of your server. For the port, enter the game port ‘7777’. Apply the details by clicking ‘Confirm’.

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You’ll receive a message stating that the server is currently unclaimed and needs to be con­figured. First, enter a name in the provided field and click ‘Confirm’.

In the second step, set a server password, then enter it again. Apply the password by clicking ‘Confirm’.

Finally, select a game world for your Sat­is­fact­ory server. Switch to the ‘Create Game’ tab and choose the desired starting area. Enter a custom session name and enable ‘Join’ if you want to auto­mat­ic­ally connect to the Sat­is­fact­ory dedicated server once the world has finished loading. To complete the process, click ‘Create Game’ to generate the world.

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Step 6: Join the server

If you selected the option to join auto­mat­ic­ally, your game will connect to the Sat­is­fact­ory dedicated server as soon as the setup process is complete. For all other players, the following in­struc­tions explain how to join the Sat­is­fact­ory server:

1. Start the game
2. Open ‘Server Manager’
3. Click ‘Add Server’
4. Enter the IP address and port, then click ‘Confirm’
5. Enter the server password
6. ‘Join Game’

After a short loading time, you’ll be in the pre­vi­ously selected game world and can start your self-hosted Sat­is­fact­ory adventure!

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Step 7: Configure the Sat­is­fact­ory server

After creating your Sat­is­fact­ory server, you can further customise its settings. For example, it is possible to increase the default limit of four players. To do this, you need to edit the Game.ini con­fig­ur­a­tion file. By default, this file is located in the following directory (replace ‘Username’ with the ap­pro­pri­ate user name):

C:/Users/Username/AppData/Local/FactoryGame/Saved/Config/Windows

Open the file and add the following script at the end, replacing ‘X’ with the desired number of players (a value of up to 127 is possible):

[/Script/Engine.GameSession]
MaxPlayers=X

Save the file and restart your Sat­is­fact­ory server to apply the changes.

More detailed in­form­a­tion on con­fig­ur­ing a Sat­is­fact­ory dedicated server—such as adjusting the save interval or timeout settings—can be found in the Sat­is­fact­ory Wiki on wiki.gg.