How to Change the Description of a Factorio Server

Last modified on Aug 10, 2023 in factorio

By Dalton Whalen

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Overview

When attempting to attract players to a Factorio dedicated server, providing gameplay information can be beneficial to persuade players into joining. While a server name can summarize the server in a few words, it often is not enough to describe the exact contents of the server. Luckily, Factorio allows you to add a server description, which can provide plenty more information for prospecting players. Whether you describe the rules, provide a website URL, or anything else, this can be entirely customized to your liking. With Apex Hosting, changing your Factorio server description is as easy as altering a text field, so we have created this tutorial to lead you through the necessary steps.
 

Changing the Description

1. Navigate to the Apex Server Panel, then stop the server.
2. In the left-hand menu, navigate to the Customizations tab.
3. Here, scroll down to the Public Server Description option.
   
4. Within the respective text field, type your desired server description.
5. Afterwards, return to the main panel page.
6. Press the Start or Restart button to boot up the server.

 
When the server is online, it will be loaded using your desired server description.
 

Locating the Changes

Once the setting has been adjusted to your liking, the new server description can be viewed through the in-game server browser. You can check this by performing the following:

1. On your own computer, launch Factorio.
2. From the main menu, visit the Multiplayer tab.
   
3. Afterwards, enter the Browse Public Games option.
4. Using the search bar and filters, locate your server.
5. In the bottom-right, you can now find your set server description for all to see.
   

 
Whether you use this description to provide necessary information to players or to simply share more insight into the server’s purpose, this is all possible!

Additionally, using Factorio’s Rich Text modifiers, you can change the color and font of the text to stand out and attract player attention. Whether you use a variety of colors, bold the text, or more, these options are at your fingertips.
 

Common Issues

There is no description in the server list:
If the description does not appear, return to the Customizations tab and ensure it has not been placed in the incorrect field. Afterwards, restart the server to ensure the description is properly loaded and try again. If issues still occur after this, restart the game to refresh the server cache and see if the changes appear. If the description is still missing or is incorrect, check the search parameters and ensure you are checking the correct server.

My server does not appear in the public list:
When this occurs, it often means that the server is not configured to be in public mode. To fix this, log into your Factorio profile account. In the token section, press the Reveal button, then copy the string of text. In the Apex Panel Customizations page, paste the string into the Token field, followed by the Username in its own field. Finally, change the Public Server dropdown menu to Enabled, then restart the server. It should now boot up in public mode with your desired description.
 

Useful Links

Factorio Hosting Page
Factorio Guides