A plugin and mod loader for the Space Engineers (SE1) Dedicated Server,
built on Pulsar — the game-client plugin
loader — which is vendored as a git submodule. Pulsar provides the plugin
model, configuration, network and compiler infrastructure; Magnetar adds the
server host: headless launch of the dedicated server, daemon mode, lifecycle
control, chat commands, and the PluginSdk server plugins compile against.
Magnetar ships two launchers that drop in for SpaceEngineersDedicated.exe:
| Launcher | Runtime | Platforms |
|---|---|---|
MagnetarLegacy |
.NET Framework 4.8 | Windows only |
MagnetarInterim |
.NET 10 (via dotnet-compat) | Windows + Linux |
On Windows both launchers are built; on Linux only MagnetarInterim
(.NET 10).
Compatibility plugins are loaded implicitly:
- dotnet-compat for .NET 10 compatibility
- linux-compat for Linux compatibility
Command-line flags are unified with Pulsar: the plugin-loader flags are
Pulsar's own, plus Magnetar's server-specific flags (-daemon, -config,
-ds64, consent control, …); client-only options do not apply. Configuration,
profile and source files use Pulsar's current formats.
You can register new plugins by making PRs to the MagnetarHub.
Quasar is a separate control plane with a Web UI that can manage and control multiple Magnetar instances from one place. Each Magnetar reports structured status and logs; Quasar orchestrates them.
MagnetarConfig is a cross-platform terminal UI (Terminal.Gui, Turbo Vision
look) that configures and operates one Magnetar-managed Dedicated Server
instance: edit the global SpaceEngineers-Dedicated.cfg, per-world session
settings and mod lists, create/delete/activate worlds, manage plugins and
profiles, start/stop/reload the daemonized server (PID-file status), and read
the game and Magnetar logs. It ships in both bundles as MagnetarConfig.exe
(Windows) / MagnetarConfig.bin (Linux) next to the launchers. See the
Config tool user manual.
Magnetar's version is the vendored Pulsar version plus a build component:
2.3.3.0 is the first Magnetar build on Pulsar 2.3.3, and 2.3.3.1 would be a
Magnetar-only release on the same Pulsar base. Release tags and bundle names use
all four components; -version prints the first three.
Clone with the Pulsar submodule and build the solution:
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/CometWorks/magnetar
cd magnetar
dotnet build -c Release Magnetar.slnxEvery build deploys a portable install tree (default: %APPDATA%\Magnetar
on Windows, ~/.config/Magnetar on Linux). Magnetar itself is portable:
its configuration lives next to the binaries and the install folder can be
moved anywhere. On Linux the native runtime libraries are downloaded by the
linux-compat plugin on first launch.
See Building for details.
| Page | What's in it |
|---|---|
| Install & Releases | Prebuilt bundles, what to download, installing. |
| Usage | Running the launcher, daemon mode, handoff to the DS. |
| Configuration | Config/install dirs, DS detection, environment variables. |
| Config tool | MagnetarConfig user manual: edit config/worlds/mods/plugins, start/stop, logs. |
| Config tool internals | Design and implementation of MagnetarConfig: file formats, architecture, state machines, testing. |
| Plugins | Plugin hubs and the trust boundary. |
| Building | Per-platform build, dependency staging, packaging, releases. |
| Repository layout | What lives where in the source tree. |
Discord for support and developer discussion. GitHub issues and PRs for bug reports and contributions.