Add tModLoader mods to your Terraria server

tModLoader is the free mod loader for Terraria: Calamity, Thorium, Magic Storage and thousands more run on it. Your server installs mods straight from the Steam Workshop in the Mods tab, with the mods each one needs, and players get the same set when they join.

Before you start

1. Run tModLoader, not TShock. A TShock server has no Mods tab: TShock takes plugins, not mods. To switch, open the Startup tab, pick tModLoader on the Server software card, press Switch to tModLoader and confirm with Back up and reinstall. Your worlds come with it, but tModLoader is still on Terraria 1.4.4 and can't open a world TShock saved on Terraria 1.4.5. If yours is one, the server starts on a new world named after it (ending in -tml), and the old world is kept for a switch back to TShock.
2. Take a backup of a world people have played, since a big content mod changes it for good. How to create and restore backups shows how.
3. Get the tModLoader app. Players join a tModLoader server from tModLoader, a separate free app on Steam, not from Terraria itself.

Install a mod from the Workshop

1. Open your server's Mods tab. It opens on Store.
2. Search by name in Search mods…, or narrow the list with Category and Sort by.
3. Press Install on the mod's card. A Needs N mods badge means it depends on others. A box lists them: press Install all so it can load.
4. Read the box, then press and hold Stop and install. The server stops and reinstalls tModLoader with the mod.
5. In Installed, the mod shows Downloading while the server reinstalls until it lands. The Console shows each one arrive, and Rescan on its row checks again.
6. When the Console says the install finished, start the server.

Already have the Workshop page open? Paste its link into the search box instead. The mod's card appears: press Install on it.

Server only, or players too

Each mod card says who runs it:

• Server and players: most content mods. Players need it too, and tModLoader downloads it for them when they join.
• Server only: runs on the server alone, such as a tool for admins.
• Players only: a client mod, such as a UI tweak or a texture pack. It can't be installed on a server, so each player adds it in their own tModLoader.

Upload a mod that isn't on the Workshop

1. Open Mods, then Installed, and press Add mod.
2. Drop the .tmod file on Drop a mod file here, or click to browse. The mod is turned on.
3. Restart the server.

A mod that needs another needs that one uploaded too. Uploaded mods go into the mods folder on your server, where you can also see them in the File Manager.

Turn mods on and off

Installed lists every mod. A mod from the store carries the Steam Workshop mark, and one you uploaded says Uploaded.

• Disable turns a mod off without deleting it, and Enable turns it back on. Both apply on the next restart.
• The red delete button removes a mod. Confirm with Delete.

When a mod can't load, because a mod it needs is missing or it doesn't suit this tModLoader version, tModLoader starts without it. The Console says why, and the mod shows Disabled.

Update your mods

When a Workshop mod has a newer version, its row offers Update and the toolbar shows Update all. Press either, then press and hold Stop and update. Like an install, it reinstalls tModLoader and fetches every Workshop mod again, so start the server once the Console says it has finished.

Players update their own mods in tModLoader. Someone on an older version gets the server's version when they join.

Join a modded server

1. Open tModLoader and pick Multiplayer, then Join via IP.
2. Type the IP from your panel's Server address, then the port (the number after the colon) when it asks.
3. tModLoader downloads any of the server's mods you're missing, as long as Download Mods From Servers is on in its settings. It reloads its mods, then joins.

The Join password from the panel's left rail goes in when the game asks for it.