The finding A mod could not be downloaded means the Steam Workshop refused the download, or the mod is private. Open the mod on the Workshop to see if it is still there and public. If it is gone, take it off the list on the Mods page and apply the change.
On a Space Engineers server the game itself downloads the mods, at each start. The panel only writes the world’s mod list. So a download problem shows up after a start, on the Crashes page.
Find the mod
- Open the Crashes page. It lists each start of the server.
- Choose the start that went wrong, usually the newest one. A start that never let players in reads Failed to start.
- Under What the panel can tell, look for the finding A mod could not be downloaded. Its category reads Mod resolution. It shows the log lines that caused it, with line numbers. Read them for a Workshop number or a mod name.
If there is no finding, the log did not hold a known cause. Open the list of last lines at the bottom of the same page and read what the game wrote.
Check the mod on the Workshop
- Open the Mods page, then the On this server tab.
- Find the mod by its number. Use the link icon on its row, Open on the Workshop.
- Look at the Workshop page. A private mod, a removed mod and a mod the author hid cannot be downloaded by anyone else.
On the same row the panel may say Not on the Workshop, or “The Workshop no longer offers it. The copy on the server keeps loading, but it cannot be updated.” Another sign is the line “On the list, but the game did not load it at its last start.”
Take it off the list
The game’s wiki warns about this case: when a mod is deleted or made private, a world that uses it can fail to load.
- Take a panel backup first. A mod that added blocks removes those blocks from the world for good when it leaves the list. Stop the server first. Then, in Settings, Backups, press Create, then Create Backup.
- On the Mods page, press the red trash button on the mod’s row, named Take (mod name) off the list.
- A bar appears at the bottom. It counts the changes, for example “1 to remove”, and has Discard changes and Apply and restart. Press Apply and restart (the server is running) or Apply (it is stopped).
- Read the box that asks to confirm. When the server is running, it stops now and starts again. Players online are disconnected.
The panel stops the server, writes the world’s new list, and starts it again only if it was running. A stopped server stays stopped, and loads the new list at its next start.
See remove a mod for the full steps.
If it does not work
- The mod is public but the finding comes back. Check the Workshop page again for a note from the author. If the same mod is named at the next start, take it off the list.
- A mod needs another mod. The game adds the mods a mod needs by itself, so you do not list them. See mod dependencies.
- Apply says the downloads need more disk than the server has. Free some space first. A bigger plan has more disk: 30 GB on Small, 40 GB on Standard, 50 GB on Large. This only happens when you add mods, never when you take one off.
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Sources: spaceengineers.wiki.gg: Mods