[GUIDE] Dedicated server workaround

[Cheezen]

I recently started playing Satisfactory with two of my friends and I quickly fell in love with the game. What bothered me is that one of my friends had our save game file and we could only play together when he was hosting the game. Sharing the file manually is obviously too much work and effort, so I came up with this workaround that allows us to play solo or together whenever we like on our most recent save game.


NOTE: I've only tested on Windows 8 and 10 where the game is installed via Steam.

How it works

Flow explained[caliberdesign.se]


Just to avoid misunderstandings - we're not going to make a dedicated server but in my eyes, this is almost equally good. We're setting up a "master folder" with Google Drive that contains the save games that you and your friends automatically download to the Satisfactory save game folder by using mklink in Windows. As soon as you (or a friend) create a new save game or update an already existing one the other friends will have the update in less than 30 seconds.

Installation guide

1. Navigate to your Satisfactory save game folder and find what your unique number is. In my case, it's located in "C:\Users\MYNAME\AppData\Local\FactoryGame\Saved\SaveGames\<unique number>", where my unique number is 76561197960732275. I'll use this number in this guide just to make it easier to follow the steps, but remember to replace it with your own for each step where it's used. If you can't see the "AppData" folder, watch this video).
   
   
2. Download Google Drive[www.google.com] and install it using a Google account.
   
   
3. This is for the person that decides to set up the master folder. One of you creates a folder called "Satisfactory Saves" on your Google Drive (using the website). Share the folder by right-clicking it, click "Share" (make sure "Anyone with the link can edit" is chosen), click "Copy link" and send this to your friends.
   
   This is for the people who are syncing the master folder. Open the link from your friend who created the master folder. Right-click the folder on the Google Drive website and choose "Add to My Drive". If you can't see this option, press Shift + Z to get a context menu allowing it to add the folder to your drive. This folder should within a few seconds appear on your computer where you installed Google Drive.
   
   
4. Go back to your Satisfactory save game folder. Rename the existing "76561197960732275" folder to "76561197960732275 Backup" in order to restore the save games in case something messes up.
   
   
5. Keep this folder open and open a new explorer window and navigate to the master save game folder on Google Drive on your computer (in my case "F:\Satisfactory Saves" where F: is where I installed Google Drive). Here you should see the "76561197960732275" folder but in the system Satisfactory save games folder you shouldn't, only the backup folder we just renamed.
   
   
6. Time for the magic! Press the Windows key on your keyboard, type "cmd", right-click it and choose "Run as administrator" (important!). If you can't find it, watch this video. Enter the following command, all in one single row:
   
   

   mklink /D "<paste the path to your local Satisfactory save games folder and add \76561197960732275\ at the end>" "<paste the path to your master folder on Google Drive>\"

   
   Make sure you get the backslashes, quotation marks and paths correct. The first path will lead to a folder that doesn't exist - yet. In my case, I ended up with this:
   
   

   mklink /D "C:\Users\Anders\AppData\Local\FactoryGame\Saved\SaveGames\76561197960732265\" "F:\Satisfactory Saves\"

   This should result in a message saying "Junction created for..." that tells you everything worked. In case you don't get this message, make sure you set up the folders in the correct way, that the paths are correct and that you don't mix up \ with / and vice versa.

✔️ That's it!

Copy your save game files from the backup folder you renamed to either the Google Drive folder or the Satisfactory folder. It doesn't matter since they are cloned. If a change happens in one of the folders, the other one picks up the change instantly. Another bonus is the version history that Google Drive gives you, in case you'd like to restore an older version of a save game for some reason.

🚀 Test it

Load any save game and add for example a foundation somewhere. Save, wait about a minute, tell a friend to load that very save (which should also have an updated timestamp by now in the file name) and see if they can see your foundation. If they do, it all works!

This is when it won't work

• If two or more decide to launch a game using the most recent save and continuously update the file with their own separate versions. This will result in the file being updated with the save game that was saved most recently, meaning one person's progress will be lost. Make sure that your friends aren't already playing using the save game you intended to host. Only one person can host a synced save game at a time.
  
• Make sure you have a working internet connection before playing. If you don't, you could potentially load a save game that isn't the most recent. Once you autosave it, the latest on Google Drive will be overwritten with the outdated file you uploaded and progress could be lost.

Worth mentioning

I've tested this method a few times and it worked as intended. Other cloud sync services could be used as well (like Dropbox or Mega) if desired. I don't take responsibility for any progress lost but I'm happy to help you guys as much as I can 😊 Good luck!