Dependencies

To get started with modding Satisfactory, you’ll need multiple other pieces of software installed first.

Don’t worry, we’ll guide you through each step of downloading and installing these dependencies.

This can be a very lengthy process, so if you have to work on something else, make a note of where you left off so it’s easier to resume.

Beware that the modding environment can take up a lot of space once everything is installed and built - 30+ GB is possible. Keep this in mind when deciding where put all your files - don’t keep them on a drive with very little space left.

If you’d prefer a different format of guide, you can find a video guide here. As of SML 3.0.0, these video tutorials are out of date, but some of the concepts will still carry over. If you get stuck in the video tutorials, return here and follow these guides instead. Be sure to read over the steps here as well to be sure you’re doing things correctly.

Before you Begin

Make sure you’ve read the starting information on the Getting Started title page to learn important information about how to use these docs.

Satisfactory

This one should be pretty straightforward, and odds are, you’ve already done it. Simply buy, download, and install Satisfactory from the Epic Games Launcher or Steam. Launch the game at least once to ensure all files get set up correctly.

Visual Studio

Visit the Microsoft Visual Studio downloads page and download the version you want. We suggest Visual Studio 2022 Community, because it is free of charge and modern. It may force you to sign up to access the older versions, but they are free.

Run the installer, and agree to prompts you receive along the way. From the "Workloads" page select "Desktop & Mobile > Desktop development with C++" and "Gaming > Game development with C++". You might have to scroll a bit to find them.

If you already have Visual Studio installed, you can run the installer again and choose Modify to select these two workloads to add them to your installation.

Continue through the rest of the prompts to install Visual Studio. Downloading and installing Visual Studio can take a while, so we advise you to find some lizard doggos to pet while you wait, or working on some of the other install steps below.

You will also need the .NET Framework SDK, version 4.6 or higher (but not Core/v5). If you do not know if you have the .NET Framework SDK, the VS installer should provide an option to install it. It is recommended to tick it.

An alternative to Visual Studio which is very popular among C++ modders is Rider for Unreal Engine. If you consider using it, make sure you still have the necessary VS-C++ packages installed.

Unreal Engine 4 (Custom Engine)

Because Satisfactory uses a modified version of Unreal Engine, we modders need to be using that same version as well to develop our mods.

If you already have Unreal Engine installed for something else, that installation will not work for Satisfactory modding - you will still have to follow the below steps.

Link your GitHub as an Epic Games Developer Account

For this step, you’ll need a GitHub account, so sign up for one if you don’t already have one.

Once you’ve got a GitHub account, you’ll need to register it with Epic Games and join the Epic Games GitHub organization to be able to download this special version. Directions on how to link so can be found here.

If the page says, "Sorry, the service is temporarily unavailable. Please try back later." try turning off any ad-blockers or content filters you may have enabled and refreshing the page without cache (Ctrl+Shift+R).

You will probably have to check your email and confirm from there, as well as making sure you’re logged into your linked GitHub account when you follow the upcoming link.

Download the Custom Engine

Next, navigate to the Satisfactory Modding custom Unreal Engine GitHub project to download some installer files.

The below box will contain a link to the specific release that you should download. It’s imperative that you download the correct engine for the version of the game you’re modding or you will have to repeat a large amount of the setup process again.

This is the archived 3.4.1 version of the docs.

If you want to develop mods for a newer release, you should follow the latest docs branch.

To develop for 3.4.1, use this version: https://github.com/SatisfactoryModdingUE/UnrealEngine/releases/tag/4.26.2-css-40

Download three files from the linked release:

  • UnrealEngine-CSS-Editor-Win64-1.bin

  • UnrealEngine-CSS-Editor-Win64-2.bin

  • UnrealEngine-CSS-Editor-Win64.exe

If you see a "404 This is not the web page you are looking for" error, then you didn’t finish linking your account. The page is not dead, this is what GitHub displays as a security measure when someone tries to access a private repo and is not part of the correct organization.

Check for emails from both Epic and GitHub, and be sure that you followed the above steps. You can verify that you’ve correctly joined the GitHub organization by checking for "EpicGames" on the GitHub Account Organizations page. If your GitHub account is already listed as linked on the Epic Games page you can unlink and relink it re-send the GitHub organization invitation.

Install the Custom Engine

Once all 3 files have finished downloading, run the .exe to and follow through its prompts to install the custom Unreal Engine version and corresponding Editor.

If the installer asks you to select the folder with the next medium files, select the folder that contains the two .bin files you downloaded.

Additionally, make sure to name the downloaded files exactly as stated above, otherwise the installer may be unable to locate the two .bin files.

This install process, and opening Unreal for the first time afterwards, can take some time. Don’t worry about opening Unreal yet though. It will probably ask you to compile things you haven’t properly set up yet.

Wwise

Wwise is a sound engine used by Coffee Stain, and in order to develop mods, you’ll need to install and integrate Wwise with your mod project, even if you do not plan to modify sounds.

Visit Wwise and click on the Get Wwise → Download Wwise button in the upper right corner. Click the download button, which will ask you to sign in. Create an account if you don’t have one yet, or sign in, to download the launcher. After you finished downloading Wwise, open the installer.

Select WWISE from the top bar. Click the Latest drop-down and change it to All. Select 2021.1 from the next dropdown. Select version 2021.1.8.7831 from the final dropdown. Click Install.

Watch out - most newer versions of Wwise don’t have support for Unreal Engine 4, which this project needs.

If you don’t see this exact Wwise version, try any other version starting with 2021.1, preferring newer versions, or asking for help on the Discord.

Once presented with options on what to install, select:

  • Packages

    • Authoring

    • SDK (C++)

  • Deployment Platforms

    • Apple

      • macOS

    • Microsoft

      • Windows

        • Visual Studio 2017

        • Visual Studio 2019

Click Next. You don’t need to add any plugins so just press Install to skip in the bottom left to begin the installation process. Accept the terms and conditions prompts that appear along the way.

If you encounter a checksum error during Wwise integration, installing any other Wwise version should fix the problem.

Starter Project

The SML development team has an Unreal project prepared that comes pre-installed with Satisfactory Mod Loader, placeholder assets for base game content, and some useful developer plugins.

Within this 'Starter Project,' you can develop as many mods as you like while still keeping their files separate, which will be covered later in the docs.

If you are familiar with version control software (ex. Git), we suggest that you clone the repo, which drastically simplifies the process of updating the files later when the game updates.

This is the archived 3.4.1 version of the docs.

If you want to develop mods for a newer release, you should follow the latest docs branch.

To develop for 3.4.1, clone the v3.4.1 tag of the repo.

If you’re not familiar with version control, now is a great time to learn! Using Version Control Software (VCS) is a great skill to have for developers and will greatly help with updating your project in the future, as well as protect you from losing your mod sources if you upload them to a hosting website like GitHub.

However, if you’d just like to get started modding, you can download a zip of the Starter Project from the Satisfactory Modding GitHub, or directly via the link below.

This is the archived 3.4.1 version of the docs.

If you want to develop mods for a newer release, you should follow the latest docs branch.

To develop for 3.4.1, use this zip: https://github.com/satisfactorymodding/SatisfactoryModLoader/archive/refs/tags/v3.4.1.zip

Don’t do anything with the downloaded files yet - this will be covered on the next page, Project Setup.

Satisfactory Mod Manager

Satisfactory Mod Manager offers a convenient developer mode that automatically installs the correct version of SML and helps manage mod files for you. To enable it, change your selected profile to development. If you’re using Satisfactory Mod Manager, you can skip the below steps and move on to the next page of the tutorial.

If you’re not using the mod manager, you’ll need to follow the manual install directions to get the relevant files set up.

Alternatively, once your modding environment is set up, you can use Alpakit to automatically build and install SML. This process is covered on the next page.

Next Steps

Now that all the dependencies are installed, you can move onto setting up the project.