Adding Mods to Your Don't Starve Together Server

Adding mods to your Don't Starve Together server is very easy, as the game already has a system that will allow you to automatically download and install mods directly from the Steam Workshop. This article will show where it is located and how to use it.

Download the Mods to Your Server

Go to the Server Files tab on the left-hand side of your Nodecraft Pro control panel and click on the mods folder to open it. Once you have opened the mods folder, look for the file dedicated_server_mods_setup.lua. This is the file that controls the automated system for downloading mods automatically. Select the file and then click "Edit" to open a text editor.

Once you have that file open, there are instructions inside of it for how to add the mods.

The system will support downloading individual mods or even entire Steam Workshop collections.

The characters -- in the setup file are comment characters, that tell the file to ignore anything after them, so don't begin the mod setup lines with those or they will not take effect.

You have two options of how to add mods from the Steam Workshop to your server, you can add either mods individually, or by adding the mods to a collection and having the server download the whole collection.

Adding Individual Mods

To use a single mod, add the line:

ServerModSetup("ID number")

Where ID number is replaced with the Steam Workshop ID number. Make sure to keep the quotation marks (" ").

To easily find the Steam Workshop ID number for a specific mod, start your Steam client and go to the Steam Workshop for Don't Starve Together. Once in the workshop, click on a mod and it will take you to a website for that mod. In the URL at the top of the Steam window, the ID number will be near the very end, immediately after id=. See the example below.

If you need to add additional mods, just add another ServerModSetup("ID number") line under it, and keep repeating until you have added all the mods you want downloaded.

Adding Workshop Collections

It is possible to add an entire workshop collection, using the line:

ServerModCollectionSetup("Workshop Collection ID")

Below is an example of both lines added to the file:

It is generally more common to add mods individually rather than through a collection, to more easily add/remove mods and to organize them in the file. The workshop collection was removed before continuing, so the rest of the process would be simpler.

Enabling the Mods

Create the modoverrides.lua file

In the Server Files tab of your Nodecraft Pro panel, navigate to the /.klei/DoNotStarveTogether/MyDediServer/Master location, and click on the Create File button. Name it modoverrides.lua, and then feel free to copy and paste the text below into the file.

This example file allows for 4 mods, but you may add additional lines for more mods. Make sure to leave the return { portion at the beginning, and the double } } at the end. Those signify the beginning and the end of the file.

Replace the #### portions with the workshop mod ID numbers. See the examples below for how this file should look as well.

return {
  ["workshop-####"]={
    configuration_options={  },
    enabled=true 
  },
  ["workshop-####"]={
    configuration_options={  },
    enabled=true 
  },
  ["workshop-####"]={
    configuration_options={  },
    enabled=true 
  },
  ["workshop-####"]={
    configuration_options={  },
    enabled=true 
  } 
}

If you have Overworld and Caves split apart, the process will be similar. The only difference is, to create a modoverrides.lua file in the /.klei/DoNotStarveTogether/MyDediServer/Caves folder in the Server Files.

Start Your Server

Start your server up and begin playing on it with all of your mods! If you're curious as to where your mods are located on your server, you can find them in your /mods and /ugc_mods folders on your server. Depending on when the mods were created/updated/formatted, they will end up in either location on your server.

Configuring Your Mods

Sometimes it's not enough to just enable your mods, but you want to configure how they behave as well. The best way to accomplish this is to have your game client create the file, as there are a lot of configurations that can go on to customize your mods.

Creating the Files to Upload to Your Server

Within the game client on your PC select "Host Game".

Enable the "Server Mods" you wish to use on your server, these will be Steam Workshop addons you've subscribed to.

Take the time to configure each mod how you wish, all of your changes will be included in the files we will be uploading to your server.

Once everything is how you wish, select the "Generate World" button in the lower right.

Upload the Mod Config Files

Once the world has finished being created, go to the Main Menu and select "Host Game" once again. Click on the folder icon, it will take you to the files we will be needing. The location on a Windows PC is usually Documents\Klei\DoNotStarveTogether\(randomly generated number)\Cluster_1\.

Select the Master folder, and you'll find a file called modoverrides.lua. Upload this file to your /.klei/DoNotStarveTogether/MyDediServer/Master folder in the Server Files tab of Nodecraft Pro. You can drag and drop the file directly into your server, or you can also use FTP. This file is very important, as it will enable the mods we will be uploading to the server in the next step. It also includes all of the changes you made to customize the mods.

Repeat the process for Caves if applicable. You will select the Caves folder on your PC and upload that particular modoverrides.lua file to /.klei/DoNotStarveTogether/MyDediServer/Caves on your Nodecraft server.

Here's what the contents of the file can look like in comparison when you have various settings within each mod configured:

It is MUCH easier to let the game get you the correct syntax than trying to type it out yourself. If you have any questions or issues at all, please reach out to us in Support!