Getting Started

In this section, we will guide you through the process of setting up a development environment, making your first mod for Satisfactory, and provide important information regarding modding.

The Getting Started Guide is written assuming that you follow each page in sequence, getting progressively less step-by-step as you get used to how things work.

It is imperative that you follow the documentation closely, skipping nothing, while you are still learning. Every step in the docs is here for a good reason. If you think you found a mistake, contact us (covered below) so we can fix it!

Spending thirty seconds reading now can save you hours of frustration later. This is not an exaggeration.

Navigating the Docs

Before we get into the modding setup, here’s a quick overview of how this documentation website works, so you can find the pages you’re looking for.

As you read, keep your eyes out for boxes like these, which draw attention to particularly important things to watch out for, or helpful tips to help further your modding knowledge.

Using the Sidebar

Every documentation page has a corresponding link in the sidebar. On desktop, this sidebar is on the left side of the screen. On mobile (and narrow windows), you must press the 'table of contents' button in the top left to expand it. This sidebar can be thought of as a folder system. You can use the triangles to expand or collapse subsections of the sidebar. Some, but not all, of these subsections have 'title pages', which are the entries listed in-line with the triangle in the sidebar. For example, you are currently on the title page of the 'Getting Started' section.

This getting started section should be followed in top to bottom order. The next page you should read after this one is titled 'Dependencies.'

This site hosts the documentation for the Satisfactory modding community, as well as a few specific mods. You can navigate to other mods' documentation with the switcher at the bottom of the sidebar. You can also use the switcher to visit older versions of the docs, which are preserved for historical purposes. Watch out for the 'Outdated Version' banner at the top of the screen to tell when you’re on an old page.

The docs also have a search functionality accessible in the top right, or by pressing Ctrl+K on your keyboard. The search only works on the latest version of the docs, and searches the sub-site you’re currently on.

Using the Table of Contents

In addition to the sidebar on the left, each page features table of contents on the right. Use this to keep track of how far though a page you are or jump between sections.

Join the Discord

Making mods for Satisfaction can get complex and confusing at times, but we’re here to help. Please consider joining our community Discord Server and pick up the Aspiring Modder role in the #rules channel to get access to dedicated help channels for mod makers.

Contributing to the Docs

These documentation pages are all written by community members, and are publicly editable via GitHub’s PR system. You can see the source code by clicking 'Edit this Page' in the top right corner of any page.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with corrections, suggestions, or questions. The best way to reach the team is our Discord Server.

You can find more info on contributing to the docs here.

Mod Reference

We need to talk about the concept of a "mod reference" before we continue because it will be referenced quite often.

A mod reference is essentially a mod’s unique name. This mod reference will then be used in class names, file names, folder names, and many other places. When you upload your mod to the Satisfactory Mod Repository for other people to use, you’ll need to provide your mod reference there as well.

Your Unreal plugin (also known as your mod) will need to use the mod reference as its name, and any C++ modules you write must be in a Source folder with the mod reference as the name.

Mod references can’t contain special characters (ex. +, #, ., ß, …) nor can they contain spaces. However, they can contain underscores (_).

We strongly suggest that you follow Pascal Case naming conventions, that is, each 'word' in the mod reference starts with a capital letter and the rest are lowercase.

Here are a few possible examples of mod names and suggested mod references.

Mod Name: Example Mod

Mod Reference: ExampleMod

Mod Name: Rob’s very cool mod

Mod Reference: RobsVeryCoolMod

Note the exclusion of the apostrophe, because it’s a special character.

Next Steps

Next up is setting up your modding development environment. Use the site’s sidebar to navigate to the 'Dependencies' page. You can read more about using the sidebar in the Navigating the Docs section.