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's Mods tab says Mods need tModLoader: 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.
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 paste a Workshop link…, 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: they're installed with it, so it can load.
4. Read the box and press Stop and install. The server stops and reinstalls tModLoader with the mod.
5. Installing from the Steam Workshop shows while the mods download. The Console shows each one land.
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. A Workshop item 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.
2. Drop the .tmod file on Upload a mod that isn't on the Workshop, or click to browse.
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, with Steam Workshop or Uploaded beside it.

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

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 Off.

Update your mods

When a Workshop mod has a newer version, it shows Update available. Press Update Workshop mods in Installed, then Stop and update. Like an install, it reinstalls tModLoader with the mods, 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.