Space Engineers Dedicated Server: Setup, Worlds, Admins and RAM

A Space Engineers dedicated server keeps your crew's station, ships and half-welded refinery in one world that runs whether or not the person who started it is online, so nobody has to host from a gaming PC and nobody loses a build because a session ended. This guide covers Keen Software House's official server, hosting it yourself, its configuration file, the two starting worlds, admin rights, how saving works and the RAM it needs on our Space Engineers server hosting.

• What it is: Keen Software House's free Space Engineers Dedicated Server, Steam app 298740, about 8 GB installed. There is a Windows build only, on the .NET Framework.
• Players: up to sixteen engineers, eight by default.
• Worlds: Star System or Empty World, chosen when the world is created.
• Joining: the servers tab of Join Game, by searching the server name.
• On 1up: in beta. Free runs it with the hourglass at ×2, and Starter keeps it online 24/7 at €5/month with 4 GB of RAM.

1. Self-host or hosting?

The dedicated server is a free Steam tool and installs without a licence of its own. It is a Windows program on the .NET Framework, so on Linux it needs a compatibility layer with .NET 4.8 inside it.

1. Install: with SteamCMD, steamcmd +@sSteamCmdForcePlatformType windows +login anonymous +app_update 298740 validate +quit.
2. Start: run DedicatedServer64/SpaceEngineersDedicated.exe -noconsole -ignorelastsession -path <your instance folder>.
3. Configure: the instance folder holds SpaceEngineers-Dedicated.cfg with ServerName, GameMode, MaxPlayers, OnlineMode, ServerPort, AutosaveInMinutes, the Administrators list and PremadeCheckpointPath.
4. Give it a world: without a PremadeCheckpointPath the server logs that the premade world was not found and stops. Once a save exists, LoadWorld points at it instead.
5. Port: UDP 27016 for the game and the Steam query at once. The Steam communication port stays local, and the remote API is optional and off by default.
6. Stop cleanly: send an interrupt. The server writes Autosave in unload, rewrites the world and exits in under a second.

On Linux the awkward part is the runtime, not the game. With only the older Visual C++ redistributable in the layer, VRage.Native.dll fails to load and every planet throws an error; the server needs the 2022 redistributable and .NET 4.8 in the prefix, and preparing that takes 2.4 GB and a long first build. Our image ships it ready.

2. Create a Space Engineers server on 1up

1. Create an account and press Create server.
2. Choose Space Engineers and a region, London or Paris. The wizard measures your ping and suggests the nearest one.
3. Pick a plan. On Free the wizard shows the hourglass before you create the server; Starter and up carry the 4 GB the game needs, 24/7.
4. Choose the scenario and the game mode, set the player slots and paste the SteamID64 of each admin.
5. Create the server and watch the Console. The first start downloads about 8 GB and prepares the runtime, so give it several minutes.
6. The world is open when the console prints Game ready....

On 1up the Windows server runs under Wine 11 with .NET 4.8 in its prefix. You set none of that up, the game port is published for you and the server name you typed is what players search for.

3. The settings in the Game tab

Scenario and game mode are read only when the world is created. After that the save keeps its own rules, and the Worlds tab is where you wipe it and start over. Slots and the admin list are written into the configuration on every start, so a change applies after one restart.

There is no server password field in the panel, and the server is listed publicly: anyone browsing the server list can find it. Keep the server name discreet if you want a quiet world, and use the admin screen to kick and ban anyone who should not be there.

4. How your crew joins

1. From the main menu, open Join Game.
2. Switch to the servers tab and search for the server name you chose.
3. Join. The first connection downloads the world state, which takes a moment on a built-up server.
4. Adding the address to your Steam favourites also works and survives a rename.

The server answers Steam's queries on the same port as the game, so it shows its name, its mode and its player count in the list. A server missing from the list usually needs a minute more after Game ready..., or the list filters are hiding it.

5. Admins and the console

The server's remote API stays off, so the panel console shows the log rather than taking commands: the world that loaded, the .NET version, Game ready... and any error.

Admin work happens in the game. An admin listed by SteamID64 presses Alt+F10 to open the admin screen, and from there can kick and ban players, save on demand, remove abandoned grids, see every player's position and spawn what the crew needs. Bans live in the world folder and travel in our backups.

6. How the world is saved

The whole world lives in one save folder: the grids you welded, the voxels you carved out of asteroids and every inventory, under Saves in the instance folder next to the configuration. The server autosaves every five minutes and again when it stops, in under a second, so a stop costs at most the last few minutes of welding.

Our backups copy the instance folder, which means the world, the configuration and the ban list, and leave out the 8 GB of game files and the runtime, since both are reinstalled on a restore. That keeps a backup small enough to restore while your crew waits.

7. How much RAM, and what it costs

A fresh Star System with nobody online settled between 1.6 and 1.7 GB in our measurements. Every grid your crew welds and every planet surface they visit stays in memory while the world runs, and a long-lived survival world grows steadily, which is why the floor is 4 GB and we suggest 6 GB for a busy crew. The 8 GB of game files, the 2.4 GB runtime and a growing save fit in 14 GB of disk.

Real prices, as on our pricing page:

Free includes 3 hours of server time a day and 30 hours a month. Space Engineers needs more RAM and disk than Free carries, so the hourglass runs at ×2 and those 3 hours become 1 hour 30 minutes of real play: enough to lay out a base with a friend before you decide. Casual stops at 2 GB, below the 4 GB the game needs, so the wizard does not offer it for this game.

8. If something goes wrong

• Premade world not found: the configuration has no scenario. Pick one in the Game tab and restart; on 1up the panel always writes one.
• Planets throw errors on a self-hosted server: the compatibility layer is missing the 2022 Visual C++ redistributable, so the native library does not load.
• Not in the server list: wait a minute after Game ready..., then search the name again.
• Scenario or mode did not change: both apply to a new world only. Start one from the Worlds tab.
• The first start ends early: read the last lines of the console; a disk that fills during the 8 GB download is the usual cause.

If your crew likes building together, our guides to a Satisfactory dedicated server, a Factorio dedicated server and an Icarus dedicated server are good next reads.

Written on 2026-11-02. Ports, paths, memory, the saving and the stop come from our Space Engineers image, measured on 2026-10-28; panel fields, plans and the hourglass come from 1up production of 2026-11-02.

Change log

• 2026-11-02: first version.