How to Add Mods to Your Don’t Starve Together Server

Don’t Starve Together comes with a full mod system for servers. You do not have to upload the mods yourself — the server downloads them from the Steam Workshop on its own. Two files are responsible for this:

• dedicated_server_mods_setup.lua defines which mods are downloaded.
• modoverrides.lua defines which mods are active in the world — per shard.

Warning

Stop your server before adding mods. After a game update, mods may be incompatible and cause crashes.

Find the Workshop ID

1. Open the mod in the Steam Workshop
   Open the Steam Workshop for Don’t Starve Together and look up the mod you want.

2. Read the ID from the address
   The Workshop ID is the number at the end of the URL. For https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=350811795 the ID is 350811795.

Add mods for download

1. Stop the server
   Stop your server via the dashboard.

2. Connect via SFTP
   Connect to your server via SFTP or use the file browser in the dashboard.

3. Open the file
   In the main directory of your server, open the following file:

   mods/dedicated_server_mods_setup.lua

4. Enter the mods
   Add one line per mod with its Workshop ID:

   ServerModSetup("350811795")
   ServerModSetup("2902364746")

5. Add collections
   If you want to load a complete Workshop collection, use this command with the ID of the collection instead:

   ServerModCollectionSetup("379114180")

6. Save
   Save the file.

Enable mods in the world

1. Open the cluster folder
   Navigate to the folder that contains the cluster.ini file. That is your cluster folder. Inside you will find the shard folders Master (overworld) and, if the caves are enabled, Caves.

2. Open modoverrides.lua
   Open the modoverrides.lua file in the Master folder. If it does not exist yet, create it:

   <cluster folder>/Master/modoverrides.lua

3. Enter the mods
   Add each mod with its Workshop ID in the format workshop-<ID>:

   return {
     ["workshop-350811795"] = { enabled = true },
     ["workshop-2902364746"] = { enabled = true },
   }

4. Set mod options
   If a mod offers its own options, add them via configuration_options. The valid names and values are listed in the modinfo.lua file of the mod in question:

   return {
     ["workshop-2902364746"] = {
       enabled = true,
       configuration_options = { mode = "Easy Cartography" },
     },
   }

5. Cover the caves
   If the caves are enabled on your server, copy the same file to <cluster folder>/Caves/modoverrides.lua as well. Every shard has its own mod list.

6. Start the server
   Start your server. On startup it downloads the listed mods and enables them, so the first start can take a little longer.

Important

Both files belong together: every mod you enable in modoverrides.lua also needs a matching ServerModSetup() line in dedicated_server_mods_setup.lua — and the other way around. If one of the two entries is missing, the mod will not be loaded.

Do players have to do anything?

No. Server-only mods do not have to be downloaded by joining players at all. Mods that also have to run on the client are downloaded and enabled automatically through the Steam Workshop when players join.

Tip

Downloaded mods are stored by the server as mods/workshop-<ID>/ folders. You can use this to check whether a mod was actually loaded. Also create a backup of your world before changing mods.