How to Add Mods to Your Terraria Server (Using tModLoader)

If you've played Terraria before, mods are a great way to change up the game experience and add cool new features that can help you enjoy the game even longer. tModLoader is our recommended Terraria-modding software since it works for both your client and server, which makes getting started simpler and faster.

Installing tModLoader on Your Computer

While tModLoader is a software designed for Terraria, it installs to your computer as a separate game. This means it will appear separately from Terraria in your Steam library.

Navigate to tModLoader's Steam Store page.
Download tModLoader onto your computer through Steam, following the prompts.

Once tModLoader is installed, you will need to open Terraria through tModLoader to play modded Terraria.

Installing Mods via tModLoader

Compared to many other games, modding Terraria has fewer steps. You can install mods directly through the in-game mod browser, rather than downloading external files.

Launch tModLoader from your Steam library.
Under Workshop in the main menu, select Download Mods.
Either browse through the mods or search for specific mods using the search bar in the top-right.
When you have located a mod you wish to use, select the Download With Dependencies option. This ensures the mod downloads its required files.
Install additional mods as you see fit. Once you are done selecting mods, return to the Workshop Hub and select Manage Mods.
Enable All of your mods.
Restart tModLoader.

We strongly recommend creating a new single-player world with your new mods before moving to the next stage to ensure your mods work together. If a single-player world doesn't load with these mods, you will need to disable them to determine which mod(s) are causing the problem.

Installing tModLoader onto Your Server

Just as your computer needs to have tModLoader to run Terraria mods, so does your server. Luckily, installing tModLoader on our servers is as easy as the click of a button!

On your control panel, Stop your server if it is currently running.
Select tModLoader from the server type dropdown.
Press Start, and let your server fully boot once to ensure the correct files are generated. Once done, press Stop again before proceeding.

Adding Mods to Your Server

Return to the Workshop Hub in tModLoader and select Manage Mods.
Scroll through your mod list and write down all of the mod names in a Notepad file.
Open a new tab and search for your mods' tModLoader Workshop pages. Copy their mod IDs and paste them next to their corresponding names in the Notepad file.
Open your server's control panel and navigate to Files > Config Files.
Select Terraria Server Settings.
Locate workshop_mods and enter your mods' IDs, separated by commas. Once you're done, click Save.
On your desktop - Navigate to \Documents\My Games\Terraria\tModLoader\Mods, this folder should contain a file named enabled.json.
Upload the enabled.json file to the /mods folder on your Terraria server via FTP. We have a tutorial for this here.
Start your server.

Adding Legacy Mods to Your Server

If you would like to upload Legacy (outdated) mods to your server, you will need the exact tModLoader mod version downloaded and available. Once you have acquired your desired .tmod file, you can upload it along with your enabled.json (refer to the relevant section above) to your server's /mods directory. This will install the mod and its specific version to your server manually.

Download your desired .tmod mod file.
Access your control panel and Stop your server.
Navigate to Files > FTP File Access.
Navigate to the /mods folder.
Click Upload and select your desired mods .tmod files and your enabled.json.
Return to your Multicraft dashboard and Start your server.

Depending on the mods you uploaded to your server, you may need a new world to get the most out of them. If you haven't done this before, we have you covered with our guide on How to Reset Your Terraria Server World.

If you require any further assistance, please contact our support at: https://shockbyte.com/billing/submitticket.php

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