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Guides / Space Engineers / Workshop mods

Mods that need other mods on a Space Engineers server

A mod can need other mods. The game adds them to your server's list at its next save, so you do not add them. Reference issue log lines were harmless.

Updated , checked on Space Engineers 1.210.014

You do not need to add the mods another mod needs. The game downloads them and adds them to the world’s mod list by itself, at the next save. The panel does not ask about them.

This is the game’s own behaviour. The wiki of Keen Software House, the game’s makers, says needed mods “will be automatically added to the world’s mods list”, and you do not need to subscribe to them either.

What you will see

  1. Add the mod you want on the Mods page and apply. See add mods.
  2. The game starts and fetches the mod and the mods it needs.
  3. When the game saves, it adds the needed mods to the world’s list. They then show on On this server.
The Mods page, On this server, with the note that says the game adds the mods they need to this list when it saves
  1. On this server (1)
  2. The World page link (2)

The note above the list (the link (2) goes to the World page) says the game “adds the mods they need to this list when it saves”. The panel never shows a “Needs” line on a mod’s row for this game. If a needed mod is not on the list yet, wait for a save, then reload the page.

The Config Editor has a switch for this under Server settings: Download what mods need. Its help says: “The game adds the mods each mod needs by itself at the start. Leave on.” Leave it on.

The order

The game loads a needed mod after the mod that asked for it. The wiki calls this “likely a bug”. It does not matter when a mod only uses things from the needed mod. It can matter when a mod wants to change something the needed mod defines. If that goes wrong, see the load order.

“Reference issue detected” in the console

You may see lines like this in the Console or the log:

Reference issue detected (circular reference or wrong order)

They name the needed mods. With three mods, one needing the others, these lines appeared with the mods in either order, and all three mods loaded (measured on a Loafhosts server). They are a notice, not a failure. The row of a mod that loaded says “Loaded at the last start.”

If it does not work

  • A needed mod is missing from the list. The game adds it when it saves. Wait for the next save, then reload the page.
  • A mod does nothing. The needed mod may have failed to download. The Crashes page names a mod that could not be downloaded.

More about the game: Space Engineers servers.

Sources: spaceengineers.wiki.gg: Mods

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