Frequently asked questions

Yes. Each server's profile gets activated with a key, just like a PC you play on, and GIANTS requires a separate license per dedicated server. You also can't play as a client with a key one of your servers is using.

So for three servers and you playing, that's four keys. Partner links are on Keys & DLC (code FSGAME).

Use the PC download from GIANTS, both on the server PC and for the server keys. The manager activates each server's profile with a GIANTS product key, and that's the version that has one.

GIANTS asks for a 3 GHz CPU, 4 GB of RAM and 50 GB of disk for one server, on Windows 11. That's the floor. In practice, plan on 3 to 6 GB of RAM per server with a normal mod list, more with big maps and mod packs. The manager's dashboard shows what each server really uses, so start with one or two and add more while watching the memory bar.

Put the server profiles on an SSD. Savegames and mods load from there, and it makes a big difference to start times.

The installer isn't code-signed yet, so SmartScreen doesn't recognise it. Click More info, then Run anyway. If you want to check the file first, the SHA-512 is on the download page.

Every server needs its own folder with its own dedicatedServer.exe. The usual layout is a numbered folder per server inside the game folder:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Farming Simulator 2025\2501
C:\Program Files (x86)\Farming Simulator 2025\2502
...

The manager makes these for you: in + Add server, click New folder next to the server folder. It creates the next numbered folder (for example 2502), copies dedicatedServer.exe, dedicatedServer.xml and web_data into it, links the game's data folder, writes x64\run.bat and gives the web admin ports no other server uses and its own random web admin password (shown under Edit › Game server settings). Then add the server and give it its own game port under Edit › Game server settings.

To do it by hand instead, using 2502 as the example:

1. Create the folder 2502 in the game folder.
2. Copy dedicatedServer.exe, dedicatedServer.xml and the web_data folder from the game folder into it.
3. Link the game's data folder instead of copying it (it's huge). In a Command Prompt run as administrator:

   mklink /J "C:\Program Files (x86)\Farming Simulator 2025\2502\data" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Farming Simulator 2025\data"

4. Create 2502\x64\run.bat with this in it (fix the path if your game is somewhere else):

   @ECHO OFF
   CD "C:\Program Files (x86)\Farming Simulator 2025"
   FarmingSimulator2025.exe -server

5. Open 2502\dedicatedServer.xml in Notepad. Set <webserver port="2502"> to a port no other server uses, and on the <game …> line set exe="run.bat".
6. In the manager, + Add server lists the new folder. Pick it, then give it its own game port under Edit › Game server settings.

Use the shared account (the default). All servers run under your Windows account, each with its own profile folder, and the manager handles activation and DLCs for you.

A Windows user per server is how many people set things up before. It still works, and you can bring those servers over with Import, but activation and DLCs then have to be done by signing in as each user.

Every router's menus look different, but the steps are the same:

1. Give the server PC a fixed address. In the router, find DHCP reservation (sometimes Static lease or Address reservation) and reserve the PC's current address. The manager shows it in SFTP › Port forwarding guide, or run ipconfig and look for IPv4 Address, something like 192.168.1.50.
2. Find the forwarding page. It's called Port forwarding, Virtual server, NAT or Applications & Gaming. Usually under Advanced, Firewall or NAT.
3. Add a rule per port. External port and internal port the same, protocol as in the table above (TCP and UDP for game ports; choose Both if offered, or make two rules), internal address = the PC's fixed address.
4. Save, and test from outside. Use a phone on mobile data, not your Wi-Fi. Many routers can't reach their own public address from inside the house, so a test from inside can fail even when everything is right.

The manager's Port forwarding guide (in the SFTP dialogs) lists the exact ports your servers use, the PC's address, your internet address, and whether Windows Firewall lets each one through. Copy port list gives you all of it as text.

Yes, for anything coming in from outside. The manager adds the rules for web admin ports and SFTP from the Port forwarding guide. For game ports, run this once in PowerShell as administrator, with your own port range:

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "FS25 game ports (TCP)" -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 22501-22508 -Action Allow
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "FS25 game ports (UDP)" -Direction Inbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 22501-22508 -Action Allow

• Check for CGNAT. Look up the WAN or internet address on your router's status page and compare it with what whatismyip.com shows. If they're different (or the router shows something starting with 100.64 to 100.127, 10., or 192.168.), your provider shares one address between customers and forwarding can't work. Ask them for a public IPv4 address. Some providers give one on request.
• Two routers? If your provider's modem is also a router and you have your own behind it, forward on both, or put the modem in bridge mode.
• The server isn't up. Forwarding to a port nothing listens on looks the same as broken forwarding. Check the server says Running in the manager.
• Wrong address. The PC's address changed because there's no DHCP reservation. Check ipconfig against the rule.
• Testing from inside. Test with mobile data, as above.

Use Cloudflare for DNS only (the grey cloud) for server addresses. GIANTS advises against proxies like Cloudflare's orange cloud for the dedicated server, because their short timeouts break large uploads such as mods and savegames. Game ports can't go through it at all.

What people type to reach the web admin from the internet: a host name like 2501.example.com, or your internet IP with the port, like 203.0.113.5:2501. Only add :port if people have to type it. Set it under Edit on the server. The docs explain what it changes.

Mods go in the server's own profile, in its mods folder:

<server's profile folder>\Documents\My Games\FarmingSimulator2025\mods

Three ways to get them there:

1. The web admin. Open it (the Web admin button on the card), go to the mods page and upload the mod .zip files.
2. SFTP. Turn on the server's SFTP login (the SFTP button) and upload into mods with TFC, WinSCP or FileZilla. Best for lots of mods or big files, and it works from anywhere.
3. Straight on the PC. Copy the .zip files into that folder. The server's details show where its profile folder is.

Leave the mods zipped. Don't unpack them.

Uploading only puts them on the server. Choose which mods a game uses in the web admin when you set up the game. Stop the game in the web admin to change the selection, then start it again. Mods a savegame was created with stay part of it.

Players are offered the mods they're missing when they join. A long mod list takes a while to download the first time, so let your players know before a new server opens.

Click Log on the server's card and look at the last errors. They usually name the mod. If not, do what GIANTS recommends: start without mods, then add them back a few at a time until the problem comes back. A mod that works fine in single player can still break multiplayer.

Remove a mod by deleting its .zip from the mods folder (server stopped), or in the web admin.

No, each profile has its own. That's deliberate: different servers usually run different mod lists, and a mod update on one can't break the others. Copy mods between servers with SFTP or Explorer.

Each server needs each DLC installed in its own profile, with its own key. In the manager, click DLC, then Install DLC… next to the server, pick the DLC installer and enter the key. Full steps are on Keys & DLC.

Usually, yes. One pass per server covers a year of DLCs for less than buying them separately. Remember the pass doesn't install the DLCs for you: download each one from the GIANTS download page with your pass key, and install each one on each server. Links on Keys & DLC.

From the GIANTS download page. Enter the DLC's key, or your season pass key, and download the installer. It's named like FarmingSimulator25_extraContent…_ESD.exe. Keep it: you run the same file once for every server.

• Restart the server. DLCs load when it starts.
• Open DLC in the manager. If the DLC isn't listed under that server, the installer put it somewhere else. Run it again from Install DLC… on that server and check the folder it shows.

No. Servers set to Background (the default) run from Windows Task Scheduler and keep going. Only alerts, auto-restart and the Discord bot pause until the manager is back. Turn on Settings › Open the manager when I log in so it always is.

The server program is up but the game isn't. That's normal right after a start while it loads, or when the game was stopped in the web admin. Start the game from the web admin. If it won't start, click Log and look at the last lines.

That server's profile hasn't been given a game key yet. Click Activate, enter the key in the GIANTS window and click Activate there. The manager closes the test server GIANTS starts afterwards, and then you can start yours.

The server stopped five times in 30 minutes, so the manager stopped restarting it. Something's wrong, usually a mod or a broken savegame. Check the log, fix it, then start the server by hand.

It tells you. A bar shows up at the top with Install now. Servers keep running while it updates. Details on the download page.

Stop all servers first (Stop all), run the GIANTS update, then start them again. The servers' activations and profiles don't change. GIANTS updates can replace web admin files; the manager puts its own changes back by itself.

Read the troubleshooting section in the docs. Then find us through farmsimgame.com. Include what the server card says and the last lines of its log.