Updating your Factorio server and managing savegames

A Factorio server needs little maintenance: the official headless server is extremely lightweight and stable. Still, there are two things you want to get right as an admin: updates and savegames. In this article we walk through both step by step via the game panel at panel.mc-node.net.

Why updating matters

Factorio clients and servers must run the same version, otherwise players cannot connect. As soon as your game receives an update via Steam, you'll usually want to update the server right away. Good news: update 2.1 (late summer 2026) is Factorio's last major update. After that, the developers will focus on stability, so updates will become smaller and less frequent.

Step 1: Create a backup first

Never update without a backup of your factory. Here's how to make one:

1. Log in at panel.mc-node.net and open your Factorio server.
2. Go to the Backups tab.
3. Click Create Backup and wait until the backup has finished.

Thanks to the NVMe storage, a backup is usually done in a matter of seconds. If something goes wrong later, you can restore the backup via the same tab with Restore.

Step 2: Run the update

1. On the Console tab, click Stop to shut the server down cleanly. This ensures the savegame is written correctly.
2. Run the server software update via the panel.
3. Click Start and check in the console that the server boots without error messages.
4. Connect to the server yourself to verify everything works.

Managing savegames

Your savegames are stored as files on the server and are managed via the Files tab in the panel:

• Downloading: click a savegame file and choose Download to keep a local copy.
• Uploading: use Upload to put an existing savegame (for example from your singleplayer world) on the server and continue playing there with friends.
• Cleaning up: delete old saves you no longer need to keep your storage tidy.

Tip: always stop the server first before replacing savegame files, so no file is in use.

No server yet?

At MC-Node you can run a Factorio server from €3.00 per month, online within 1 minute and cancellable monthly. View the packages at mc-node.net/store/factorio.