Insurgency: Sandstorm gets its mods from mod.io, not the Steam Workshop. The server downloads them itself once you give it an access token and a list of IDs.
1. Create a mod.io access token
- Create an account on mod.io and sign in.
- Open the API access section of your account.
- Under OAuth management, create a token with read access. Write access is not needed.
- Copy the token. It is long.
2. Give the token to the server
- Stop the server in the Game Panel.
- Open the Files tab and open
GameUserSettings.iniin the config folder underInsurgency/Saved/Config/. - Add the mod client section with your token and the terms acceptance flag:
[/Script/ModKit.ModIOClient]
bHasUserAcceptedTerms=True
AccessToken=your-token-here
3. List the mods
- Find each mod on mod.io and note its numeric ID.
- Open
Insurgency/Config/Server/Mods.txt, creating it if needed. - Put one mod ID per line.
- Save and start the server.
The Console shows each mod being downloaded during boot. A first start with a large mod takes a while.
4. Load a modded map
A mod that adds a map needs the server to travel to it once the download has finished. That is done with a launch parameter naming the scenario to travel to, set on the Startup page of your server, which you reach by adding /startup to the end of its panel address. Without it, the mod is downloaded but the server stays on the stock rotation.
5. What your players do
- Nothing in advance. Clients download the mods from mod.io when they join.
- The first join to a modded server is slow. Tell people to let it finish.
- After a mod update, restart the server so it takes the new version, or clients on the newer version can be refused.
Open a ticket from Support in the Client Area with the console output if a mod will not download.





