How Beltworks imports and credits FactorioPrints

Beltworks is not a scrape-and-forget mirror. A large share of the catalog started as public FactorioPrints / Factorio School listings so older community designs stay searchable in one place—with clearer entity filters, Space Age tagging, and original guides written for this site. This page explains what that import means for players and authors.

Why import an existing archive?

Factorio players already published tens of thousands of blueprints on FactorioPrints and Factorio School. Those sites remain important. Beltworks imports public catalog entries so you can:

Find designs with Beltworks search (title, tags, entities, recipes, game version).

Open a print page that still links back to the original FactorioPrints / Factorio School URL.

Compare imported designs next to native uploads created on Beltworks.

Importing preserves discovery; it does not claim authorship. Author names and source links travel with the listing whenever the public archive provided them.

What we store

For each imported print we typically keep:

Title, description, and tags from the public listing.

The blueprint string (or book) needed to import into Factorio.

Author display name / identity as published on the source.

A source URL (and source key) back to FactorioPrints / Factorio School.

Optional screenshots when the archive included an Imgur (or similar) image.

We do not rewrite someone else’s write-up as if Beltworks authored it. Imported pages show an Imported badge and an attribution box with outbound links.

What “thin” imports mean

Some historical listings have almost no description, no screenshot, and little community engagement. Those pages remain browsable on Beltworks so the string is not lost, but we treat them as thin catalog pages: they are less likely to appear in sitemaps / Google indexes, and they are not a place we run ads. Richer native uploads and well-documented imports are the pages we invest in.

Native uploads vs imported entries

Anyone with a Beltworks account can upload a new blueprint. Native uploads are first-class Beltworks content—you control the title, description, tags, and revisions here. Imported entries are historical public catalog rows with source links. Both types can appear in search; filters and badges make the difference visible.

Removals and corrections

If you are the author of an imported design and want it hidden or removed, use Contact and include:

1. The Beltworks print URL.

2. The original FactorioPrints / Factorio School URL if you have it.

3. Proof you control the original listing (account name, matching author string, or other evidence).

We also remove spam, malware-like strings, and policy-violating material. Every print page has a Report action that prefills the contact form.

How this relates to AdSense and “thin content”

A blueprint archive alone is easy for ad networks to dismiss as low-value. That is why Beltworks pairs the catalog with original field guides (import walkthroughs, Space Age planet prep, quality loops, console commands, modding). The import layer is infrastructure; the guides and native community uploads are the editorial product.

Related reading

See How Beltworks search works, How to upload a blueprint on Beltworks, and Beltworks vs Factorio School for the player-facing workflow around this catalog.