Multiplayer

All Sandbox Games support both singleplayer and multiplayer, and can be played in Creative Mode or Survival Mode. Several Scenarios are even specifically designed for multiplayer.

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Multiplayer Scenarios

In addition to all Sandbox Games, the following Scenarios are designed for multiplayer:

• Never Surrender Scenario - cooperative space battle
• Lost Colony Scenario - exploration and story
• Frostbite Scenario - exploration and cooperative drone battle
• Sparks of the Future Scenario - exploration
• Uranium Heist Scenario - three-teams competitive shooter/challenge
• Space Standoff Scenario - two-teams competitive space battle
• Scrap Race Scenario - eight-player competitive car race

Before you host a game

Before you open up a local game for multiplayer, check the world settings:

• Consider whether you want to impose block limits or player limits to stabilize sim speed.
• Decide on an optimal spawn distance. If you play PvE, you may want your friends close by. In PvP, you may prefer respectful distance.

Opening up a game for multiplayer means it will be a peer-to-peer networked game where one of the players is the host.

Pros

• You don't have to rent a dedicated server.
• Space Engineers uses Steam / PSplus / Xbox Game Pass Ultimate / Xbox Live Gold matchmaking so you don't have to set that up.

Cons:

• While the host is offline or has closed the game, the game cannot be reached by your fellow players.
• The game's performance directly depends on the host's performance and internet bandwidth.

How to host a game

If you are to be the host:

1. Go to the main screen.
2. Click Load Game, and select the local game that you want to turn into a multiplayer game.
3. Click Edit Settings.
4. Under Online Mode, choose a Mode:
   • Private - Only players knowing your IP address can join
   • Friends - Uses Steam match making.
   • Public - Anyone can join — Not recommended, will attract griefers.
   • Offline - Singleplayer, select this option to switch multipayer off.

Alternatives: For longer running games, consider Setting up a Dedicated Server.

How to join a game

If you are not the host, wait for the host to tell you the server is ready.

1. Go to the Main Screen.
2. Click Join Game to open the Join Game screen where available multiplayer games are listed:
   • The Servers tab lists public dedicated server games. Search for "Keen" to find official vanilla servers for various regions.
     • Click the Steam/E toggle to choose between games via either Steam (PC-only games using Steam accounts) or EOS (PC, PlayStation, and Xbox crossplay hosted by Epic Online Services).
     • Select an entry and then click Server Details to view World Settings, mods, online players, and their uptime.
   • The Games tab contains public player-hosted games in your geographic region.
   • The LAN tab contains available local area network games (e.g. in your household).
   • The Friends tab makes it easier to find games that your friends have joined.
   • If you have been given the IP address of a private game, press the Direct Connect button to paste it in and connect to it.

If the world has mods installed, it will automatically download all required mods when you join; the first time round, this can take a long while.

Tip: If you use Steam matchmaking, it's often possible to right-click the host in your Steam friends list to join them in game. You can also click a Steam friend to invite them.

What do the icons mean?

• Lock Symbol: Multiplayer games can be password protected and can use Steam group whitelisting.
• Warning Symbol: If the hosted game uses experimental mode, you must also enable experimental mode to be able to join.

(Somebody please add what this means for console players?)

How to find the right kind of server

Use the Advanced button to filter by various criteria such as:

• Game mode: Creative or Survival.
  Creative games can also be open for multiplayer, but they are filtered out by default.
• Steam group whitelist
• Min/max ping
• Min/max number of mods
• Min/max number of players
• Min/max view distance
• Environment hostility (this means Meteors)
• compatible version
• Individual World Settings such as production multipliers or inventory size
• Steam/EOS filter toggle
  Use the Steam/E toggle to choose between PC only (Steam), and crossplay (EOS) for both PC and consoles.

Example: If you have a lower-end PC, you might prefer servers with low ping, zero or few mods, and a lower view distance. If you are on console, you prefer EOS servers and the current release, not the latest PC patch version.

How to return to favorite and recently visited servers

-click a server entry to add it to your Favorites tab. After you have joined a server it will also show up in the History tab.

Tip: If the server does not show up under History/Favorites, check whether you have unknowingly left a filter on (for example, EOS/Steam toggle, or required minimum ping). Lower the filters or click Defaults to reset these filters to standard values.

What to do after joining a game

As a newly joined player, open the Multiplayer Screen to see who is online. The host can also kick or promote players on this screen.

In Multiplayer games, you can:

• Trade with other players that you meet, or trade in your absence through a Store, or offer each other contracts.
• Chat and use Emotes with other players.
• Found or join player factions and declare war or peace on each other on the Factions screen.
• Press G key to check your free/available PCU and then build cool things!

In crossplay games, your fellow players' platforms are indicated by icons: PC, PlayStation, or Xbox.

How to log off safely

Before you log out or take a break in multiplayer, remember to visit a Cryo Chamber to save your engineer’s inventory and keep them alive!

Lacking a cryo chamber, store your inventory in an owned cargo container and sit the engineer down in a cockpit (or sear/bed in a room) that is pressurised and powered.

Depending how the server is configured, your Drop Pod is deleted after you log out. Rebuild Survival Kit and Battery on a grid that you own.

How to pause safely

When you press ESC key in multiplayer, you are just afk ("away from keyboard"), an online game does not pause! The game keeps running and your engineer could be attacked or have a crash. After a while, your engineer will run out of oxygen or power and die. When you die while afk and don't pick up your backpack, you will additionally lose your inventory. If you are afk longer it's better to fully log off safely.

Is Space Engineers PvP or PvE?

Space Engineers is a sandbox game. Sandbox games do not prescribe or enforce whether they are to be played "player versus player" (PvP) or "player versus environment" (PvE). On public servers, be prepared for either.

Factions can declare war or peace on each other, but this influences only in which colour their antenna signals appear and how AI controlled turrets or Automatons react to them. An enemy could choose to wave at you and let you go along your day -- just as any neutral or allied player could choose to shoot you. A sandbox game does not enforce one or the other.

Related tips:

• Voxel changes on planets, such as mining holes, are visible from far away, do not expect to conceal an underground base on public servers.
• Make sure your respawn points are owned by your faction and your faction does not auto-accept everyone.
• There used to be a bug that kept (potentially enemy) players respawning too close to another player, so griefers could triangulate another player's position.