How to Install Steam Workshop Mods on Your Squad Server

Squad mods come from the Steam Workshop and are usually large, often several gigabytes. A modded server has to hold the mod files, list the mod's layers in its rotation, and have players who own the same mods.

Find the workshop IDs

Open the mod's Steam Workshop page. The ID is the numeric value at the end of the URL, for example 2837919117. Note the ID for every mod you want, including any dependency the mod page lists.

Get the mods onto the server

Squad downloads workshop mods with SteamCMD on start when it is told which IDs to fetch, and they end up in:

SquadGame/Plugins/Mods/

Set the workshop IDs your server should download in the mod list on your server's Startup Settings page, reachable from the server overview. If your server has no such field, upload the mod folder into SquadGame/Plugins/Mods/ yourself over SFTP, which is the practical route for multi gigabyte mods anyway.

Either way, the first start after adding a mod takes a long time. Watch the panel console rather than assuming the server has hung.

Put the mod layers into rotation

Installing a map mod does not make the server play it. Add its layer names to your rotation:

1. Stop the server.
2. Open Files and edit SquadGame/ServerConfig/Layers.cfg, or LayerRotation.cfg if you use the conditional format.
3. Add the mod's layer names exactly as the mod page lists them, one per line.
4. Save and start the server.

A misspelled layer is skipped silently in the rotation and reported in the console at startup.

Your players need the mods too

Anything that adds maps, factions or vehicles must be installed by every player. Ask them to subscribe to the same workshop items and let Steam finish downloading before they join. A player without the mod cannot load the layer and is dropped when the map changes to it.

Publish your mod list with links to the workshop items. This is the single biggest cause of a modded server losing players at layer change.

After a Squad update

Mods usually need updating after a game patch. If the server crashes on a modded layer after an update, remove that layer from the rotation until the mod author publishes a new version.

Removing a mod

1. Stop the server.
2. Remove its layers from Layers.cfg or LayerRotation.cfg first.
3. Delete the mod folder from SquadGame/Plugins/Mods/, and remove its ID from the mod list on the Startup Settings page so it is not downloaded again.
4. Start the server.

Deleting the files while a mod layer is still in the rotation gives you a server that fails at the next map change.