Factorio Modding on OpenMods

A factory-builder with an officially-curated mod portal

Factorio (1.0 release 2020, expansion Space Age 2024) is Wube Software's factory automation game. The modding architecture is unusually clean: a single official mod portal (mods.factorio.com), an in-game mod browser, deterministic Lua scripting, and a multiplayer model that handles mod-set synchronisation gracefully.

The Factorio mod scene is one of the most engineering-disciplined in PC gaming. Major mods like Krastorio 2, Space Exploration, and Bob's & Angel's are years-long projects that effectively rewrite the game's tech tree and add hundreds of hours of content.

The toolchain

• mods.factorio.com: the official, curated mod portal. The single source of truth.
• In-game mod browser: Settings → Mods → Install. Pulls from the portal.
• Manual install: drop .zip mods into %AppData%/Factorio/mods/ (or equivalent on Linux/macOS).
• info.json: every mod declares its name, version, and dependencies. Factorio's mod system uses these for resolution.

What you'll find on OpenMods

Factorio mods live overwhelmingly on the official mod portal. GitHub-hosted mods are typically the largest collaborative projects (Space Exploration, Krastorio 2). OpenMods catalogues those.

Practical notes

• The mod portal is the canonical source. Most users never download from anywhere else.
• Mods declare dependencies in info.json. The mod portal auto-resolves these when installing. Manual installs sometimes miss dependencies; the in-game browser is preferred for that reason.
• Multiplayer mod-syncing is automatic. Joiners auto-download the host's mod set from the portal. Cleanest multiplayer modding experience in PC gaming.
• Save game compatibility. Removing a mod from a save with that mod's content (custom items, recipes) corrupts the save. Adding mods to existing saves is usually safe.
• Space Age (2024 expansion) reshaped the meta. Many mods released pre-Space-Age need updates for compatibility. Most major mods have been updated.