How to Enable Crossplay on Your Space Engineers Server

With crossplay, players on PC (Steam), Xbox and PlayStation play together on your server. For this, your server runs on Epic Online Services (EOS) instead of Steam and is flagged as console compatible. You set both in the file SpaceEngineers-Dedicated.cfg — there is no field for this in the dashboard. The dashboard does not overwrite these entries on startup, so your change is kept.

Requirements

For your world to start with crossplay, it must meet these conditions:

• At most three different planet types — with crossplay, the server only allows three planet types per world. If your world contains more, startup aborts with the message World contains too many planet types and could not be loaded.
• No Steam Workshop mods — crossplay servers only load mods from mod.io. If a Steam Workshop mod is in the mod list, the world does not start. Remove such mods from the <Mods> block first (see Add Mods).
• Block limits enabled — in Sandbox_config.sbc, <BlockLimitsEnabled> must not be NONE and <TotalPCU> must not be 0. The preinstalled world already meets this.

Important

The preinstalled world on your server contains six planet types (EarthLike, Mars, Moon, Alien, Europa and Titan) and does not start with crossplay. Upload a world with at most three planet types first — see Upload a World.

Enable crossplay

Warning

Stop your server before editing the config file. A running server can overwrite your changes.

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 config
   Open the file /config/SpaceEngineers-Dedicated.cfg.

4. Switch the network to EOS
   Find the line <NetworkType>steam</NetworkType> and change the value to eos:

   <NetworkType>eos</NetworkType>

5. Enable console compatibility
   Find the line <ConsoleCompatibility>false</ConsoleCompatibility> and change the value to true:

   <ConsoleCompatibility>true</ConsoleCompatibility>

6. Start the server
   Save the file and start your server.

7. Check crossplay
   While the world loads, the server console shows whether console compatibility is active:

   Console compatibility: Yes

Note

You need both entries: eos runs your server on Epic Online Services, where PC and console players play together, and ConsoleCompatibility opens it up to Xbox and PlayStation players. The entries only exist in SpaceEngineers-Dedicated.cfg — you do not need to change the world files Sandbox.sbc and Sandbox_config.sbc for this.

Warning

If the console shows Console compatibility: No, the server switched console compatibility off again while loading. The console names the reason shortly before:

• World does not have Block Limits Enabled. — enable block limits in Sandbox_config.sbc.
• Total PCU value is 0. — set <TotalPCU> in Sandbox_config.sbc to a value greater than 0.
• Total mods size ... is higher than limit — your mods are larger than 3 GB in total.

How players join

Crossplay servers do not appear in the Steam server list but in the EOS server list:

• PC: Select Join Game in the main menu, open the Servers tab and switch the server list from Steam to EOS. Search for your server name there.
• Xbox and PlayStation: Find your server in the server list of the multiplayer menu. On PlayStation, Enable Crossplay must be turned on in the game options — otherwise the game does not show crossplay servers.

Note

Direct Connect via IP address and port as described in Join Server only applies to servers without crossplay. All players — including on PC — join a crossplay server via the EOS server list.

Tip

If experimental mode is active on your server, console players only see it in the server list once they also turn on experimental mode in their game.

What changes with crossplay

• Mods: Only mods from mod.io work (see below). Mods with scripts only run if their code is executed exclusively on the server — client-side scripts do not run on consoles.
• Admins: Admins set by SteamID in the config do not take effect. Promote admins in-game or via the Remote API — see Add Admins.
• PCU: The server calculates PCU using console values — for example, armor blocks cost 2 PCU instead of 1.
• In-game scripts: You can still use scripts for Programmable Blocks, including with console players.

Add mods from mod.io

1. Find the mod ID
   Open the mod you want on mod.io. The mod ID is shown in the mod's right sidebar under ID, for example 1234567. Use the copy icon next to it to copy it.

2. Add the mod
   With the server stopped, open /config/Saves/World/Sandbox_config.sbc and add the mod to the <Mods> block as described in Add Mods — with mod.io as the service. Replace 1234567 with the mod ID:

   <Mods>
     <ModItem FriendlyName="Mod Name">
       <Name>1234567.sbm</Name>
       <PublishedFileId>1234567</PublishedFileId>
       <PublishedServiceName>mod.io</PublishedServiceName>
     </ModItem>
   </Mods>

3. Start the server
   Save the file and start your server. The server downloads the mods from mod.io on startup.

Disable crossplay

With the server stopped, set the values in /config/SpaceEngineers-Dedicated.cfg back to <NetworkType>steam</NetworkType> and <ConsoleCompatibility>false</ConsoleCompatibility> and start your server.

Note

The server adjusts some world settings while crossplay is enabled and saves them in the world — among others <UseConsolePCU> (PCU using console values) and <MaxPlanets> (at most three planet types) in Sandbox_config.sbc. These values remain after disabling crossplay. Change them back if needed with the server stopped, for example to <UseConsolePCU>false</UseConsolePCU> and <MaxPlanets>99</MaxPlanets>.