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How to Toggle the Public Visibility on a Factorio Server

Last modified on Nov 3, 2022 in factorio

mc head By Dalton Whalen

Overview

When exploring the landscape of Factorio, teaming up with other players is a common experience. By default, your server will have its public visibility disabled, which can be difficult if you aim to attract new players. Luckily, Factorio dedicated servers allow you to use a game token to enable visibility on the in-game browser. The game token is attached to your Factorio profile and is used to validate ownership before the server appears publicly. This will make it easier for players to locate your server by name or simply search for your server tags. When using Apex Hosting, toggling the public visibility is as easy as adjusting a few settings, so we have written this tutorial to ease you through the setup instructions.
 

Receiving the Game Token

In order to set the server visibility to public, you must first add a game token into the game customization options. This will allow the server to fully start in public mode and appear on the server browser.

  1. Visit the Factorio Profile website.
  2. Log in or sign up with a new account.
  3. While on the profile page, locate the Token section.
    Factorio Visibility Token Reveal
  4. Press the Reveal button, then copy the full string of characters.

 

Activating the Token

  1. Navigate to the Apex Server Panel, then stop the server.
  2. In the left-hand menu, select the Customizations tab.
  3. Within the Token text field, paste the string of characters from earlier.
    Factorio Visibility Customization
  4. After, enter your Factorio username in the matching Username text field.

Once this is done, you are ready to proceed with modifying the server visibility.
 

Toggling Server Visibility

  1. While still on the server panel, ensure you are on the Customizations page.
  2. Locate the Public Server section with a dropdown.
    Factorio Visibility Dropdown
  3. Using the dropdown, change to either Enabled or Disabled.
  4. Once the visibility is set, return to the main panel page.
  5. Press the start or restart button to boot the server in the desired mode.
    Factorio Visibility Start

 

Server Changes

If the server is set to private mode, it will only allow connections using the server IP address. This is beneficial if you do not want to have random players try to join the server.

Factorio Visibility Server Status 1

When the server has the visibility set to public, the server will be available to find in the public server list. This is found in the “Multiplayer” tab, followed by the “Browse public games” menu. Here, you can use the search button to find your server.

Factorio Visibility Server Status 2

Once located, players will be able to see a variety of server information, such as the version, mods, tags, players, and more.
 

Conclusion

With that, you now know how to toggle the visibility for a Factorio server. Whether you use this to disable public visibility and keep your server private or to make it public, either of these options can be beneficial for your server. By having the server visibility set to public, it will be easier for players to join your server, as they will not need to memorize the server IP. Along with being easier to locate, the server list also allows you to display the server name, description, and various other important information such as mods or game tags. With this new information, you can now adjust the server visibility to however you desire and continue to expand your factory empire.
 

Helpful Links

Factorio Steam Page

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