Sandustry Mods

Installing mods in Sandustry depends entirely on which build you run. The Steam Early Access version (appid 2764460) supports mods natively through Steam Workshop: browse the Workshop, click Subscribe on any mod, and Steam downloads and enables it automatically — there are 72 mods there as of 2026-08-20. The free demo build on itch.io has no official mod channel, so demo players use a community loader called Fluxloader: close the game, extract Fluxloader into the game directory, drop mod files into the Mods folder, and launch through Steam. This page covers both paths and what the current mod scene looks like.

Installing Workshop mods (Early Access build)

The Early Access build has official Workshop support. The Steam store listing includes Steam Workshop among its categories, and the official description says the game was "built with modding in mind," letting you "explore everything from visual tweaks and hand-crafted maps to entirely new buildings and processes." It also promises "dedicated modding tools" for customizing and sharing content.

• Open the Workshop at steamcommunity.com/app/2764460/workshop/ and sort by total subscribers or "ready to use" items.
• Click Subscribe on any mod. Steam downloads and enables it automatically — no file editing required.
• Launch the game and the mod loads on its own. To remove a mod, click Unsubscribe from the same page.

As of 2026-08-20 the Workshop held 72 mods, every one created or updated between 2026-08-13 and 2026-08-20 — the first week after Early Access launched. It is a very new ecosystem, so expect rapid iteration.

Installing Fluxloader mods (demo build)

The free demo on itch.io has no official mod support — its page never mentions mods at all — so demo modding is entirely community-run. The standard tool is Fluxloader (formerly called "modloader"), a community loader distributed through the official Discord or the author's GitHub. The community install guide on sandustry.wiki breaks it into a short sequence:

1. Fully close the game.
2. Download Fluxloader and extract it to the game directory, or to the path its documentation specifies — the location varies by version, often next to the game executable or in a dedicated Mods folder.
3. Put your mod files (.dll or packed files) into the Mods folder.
4. Launch the game through Steam, and when troubleshooting crashes, enable only one mod at a time.
5. If the readme mentions a BepInEx-style directory structure, follow it exactly.

After a game update, confirm your game version, wait for a Fluxloader compatibility patch, then update the loader first and your mods one by one. For custom maps on the demo, the community uses the Electric131 Map Loader, with maps shared through the Discord server.

The current Workshop scene

The Workshop is young but active. The top subscription counts are modest — the leader sits at roughly 1,742 subscribers — which is typical for a game one week past launch. Subscription figures below were pulled from the Steamworks API on 2026-08-20. The current top 10:

• Laser Overcharge (Steejo) — 1,742 subs
• Infinity Generator — 966 subs
• Vertical Conveyor Portal (Kingcub) — 912 subs
• Trim's Infinite Factory (TrimBarktree) — 745 subs
• Steam Turbine Mk2 (uolkx) — 575 subs
• Multiple Action Bars — 451 subs
• Electric Thermal Buffers UPDATED (uolkx) — 448 subs
• Mod Inspector (uolkx) — 437 subs
• Critter Locator (Steejo) — 435 subs
• Infinite Laser — 431 subs

Ranks 11–30 span 138 to 380 subscribers and include Trim's Rocket Dispenser, Steam Pipes, Drilling Expanded, Wired Pyro, Gold Safe, Quickbars, Distributor, and SandTogether, a co-op mod by Iron still being updated on 08-20. Worth noting: more than three cheat-tagged mods sit in the top 30, so "cheat" and "mod" searches overlap naturally.

Mod categories worth knowing

The 72-mod Workshop sorts into a handful of useful categories. Knowing the category helps you judge what you are installing before you subscribe:

• Quality of life — Quickbars, Multiple Action Bars, IO mods, OBS Video Fix. UI, controls, and streaming conveniences.
• Machine and throughput expansions — Steam Turbine Mk2, Steam Pipes, Drilling Expanded, Universal Vacuum. New machines and ways to move more material.
• Cheats and infinite-resource mods — Infinite Fluxite (tagged "Cheat"), Infinite Laser, Cheat Faster Rocket Reload.
• Multiplayer — SandTogether, which adds co-op to the game.
• Map editing — Map Studio, Sandustry Map Editor, SandForge Loader/Companion.
• Visual and cosmetic — Player Skins, Dark Sky.
• Debug and inspection — Mod Inspector, Debug Toggle.

Top Workshop authors

A few creators keep showing up across the Workshop, and following them is a good way to find consistent content. By mod count, the leaders are uolkx (7 mods), Kingcub (4), Steejo (3), and TrimBarktree (2), plus Iron, the author of the SandTogether co-op mod. uolkx's 7 mods alone span Steam Turbine Mk2, Electric Thermal Buffers, Mod Inspector, and Debug Toggle.

Caveat: the authors of three top-30 mods (Infinity Generator, Multiple Action Bars, Infinite Laser) could not be confirmed from public profile data when this page was written (verify in the current build).

Demo mods and the Early Access build

The biggest compatibility trap is assuming a demo mod just works in the paid build. sandustry.org's demo-mods archive carries an explicit warning: it is a historical demo-era reference, and you should "not assume a Demo mod, path, loader, map, or multiplayer experiment works with the current paid build." Demo mods were built against an older game version.

• Popular demo-era mods included Custom Map Loader, New Game+ Mod, and Sandustry Together (an experimental multiplayer mod from the demo period).
• Demo mods were distributed through the official Discord, Reddit, and community wikis — there was no Workshop.
• Fluxloader's current support for the Early Access build is unconfirmed: some sites phrase it as fixing "crashes after demo or Early Access updates," but this has not been verified against a first-hand Discord or GitHub source (verify in the current build).

When in doubt, prefer the Workshop: EA mods are built for the current game version and update through Steam, sidestepping the compatibility question.

FAQ

Q: How do I install mods in Sandustry? A: On the Steam Early Access build, subscribe via Steam Workshop and Steam installs the mod for you. On the demo build, use the community Fluxloader and drop mod files into a Mods folder, then launch through Steam.

Q: Does the Sandustry demo support mods? A: Not officially. The itch.io demo page has no mod channel, so demo modding is entirely community-driven through Fluxloader, the official Discord, and GitHub.

Q: Do demo mods work in the Early Access build? A: Not guaranteed. sandustry.org's demo archive warns that no demo mod, path, loader, map, or multiplayer experiment should be assumed to work with the paid build — test each mod individually in the current version.

Q: What are the most popular Sandustry mods? A: As of 2026-08-20, Laser Overcharge is the top Workshop mod at about 1,742 subscribers, followed by Infinity Generator, Vertical Conveyor Portal, and Trim's Infinite Factory.

Q: Is there a co-op mod for Sandustry? A: SandTogether by Iron adds co-op multiplayer on the Workshop, with an experimental demo-era version; verify reliability per build.