[2.0.13] server-settings.json deleted on every update

[Drokido]

Every time I update Factorio Space Age using the setup file my server settings file is deleted causing the server to fail to load. I have always kept my server-settings.json in the factorio/data folder in the install with the server-settings.example file. I just moved my start.bat and server-settings.json file outside of my install folder which I expect will fix this issue for me. I am on Windows 10 using the installer from factorio.com/download.

I run a server on a spare pc for myself and some friends. This was frustrating the first time I updated to 2.0.9 and had to figure out why it wouldn't start. Luckily I have backups and easily recovered the file once I understood what was happening. I am not extremely savvy but am decent with this kind of stuff and I could see a newer user struggling and giving up when confronted with this issue. I kept my start.bat file in the factorio/bin/x64 folder and it was not affected which made me less likely to check on the server-settings.json file also kept within the Factorio install. Seems like it shouldn't be very difficult to exempt the serversettings.json file from being overwritten. Enjoying the expansion so far.

Thanks, Drokido

[posila]

Hello, thanks for the report.
What do you mean "update Factorio Space Age using the setup file"? There is in-game updater which doesn't touch files that are not part of the game package (as far as I know), but I don't know what you mean by the setup file.

[Drokido]

"I am on Windows 10 using the installer from factorio.com/download"

I login to factorio.com/download and use the "download space age for windows" button. I then extract the files from the .zip folder and run the Setup_FactorioSpaceAge_*Version_Number*.exe file. The game install is updated to the new version but if my server_settings.json file is located inside the install folders it gets deleted. I run it as a headless server and don't usually launch the gui on this computer. Are you saying there is an updater built into the gui? Running as a healdless server doesn't auto-update unless there is a setting or command I should be using.

[posila]

I see, yes there is updater in GUI. I don't think we have command line parameter to do the update.

Anyway, currently you are reinstalling the game, not updating it. I don't know if the installer clears destination directory by default or if we have it configured like that intentionally because leaving files from super old versions might cause problems, but I don't desire to mess with it. Just store the files that you want to preserve outside of the Factorio folder.

[Drokido]

I see, I just thought it odd that it doesn't touch my start.bat file or save files, but does delete the server_settings.json file. Like I said in the original post I figured it out and solved it for my own use case by moving the files outside of the install as you said.

A update command would be helpful but I can see how this is likely a low priority.

Currently when you google "factorio headless server update" the top result is a forum post from less than a month ago telling people to download the server archive to update. Maybe a note on the download page that running the gui will update for you could be helpful for people running a server.

Thanks for the help.