SylenThunder

What is EAC, and why do I want it? EAC is an anti-cheat engine. It's primarily used my dedicated servers to prevent hackers from joining and causing problems. The system isn't 100% effective, because hackers can be darn smart, but it does keep most of the riff-raff out. If you are planning on joining a server that has the EAc client protection turned on, you will need to launch the game with EAC. One thing to be aware of, is that when launching with EAC, the game will take considerably longer to load as EAC must check and verify the integrity of the client files to ensure that they meet the checksums. On an average system, this can change the client startup time from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes. Also I should mention, EAC will use more system resources and may impact your performance if you are on a moderate or low-end system. If you wish to disable it, simply follow the above instructions and un-tick the option for EAC.

How to install and use the 32-bit client for low-end PC's NOTE: Only valid for builds before Alpha 15. For Windows user running a 64 bit version of the system. You can use the game launcher to try downloading the 32 bit version of the game and check if that runs any different. This is also very helpful for those with less than 12GB RAM, dual-core or low-end CPU's, or if you are using a GPU rated below a GTX650/Radeon 7790. NOTE: The minimum requirement is 6GB RAM as of a16. If you have less, you need to upgrade. Right-click the game in your Steam Library Select Show Game Launcher from the menu When the launcher opens select Switch to 32-bit Select Run & Save as default

Why do I get such low FPS on this when I can play _______ just fine at full settings? There are two very big reasons behind this. The first is the very nature of Voxel games. Rather than just displaying 2D images onto 3D planes that are fixed and don't require any additional calculations; the voxel game is constantly keeping track of position, texture, and stats for every single block in your range of view. The second is simply optimization. This game is still in the Alpha state. Optimization is something that is incomplete, and still being worked on. As features get added, changed, or removed, it changes the overall balance, and then things have to be optimized all over again. As the game gets closer to a final release, you will see a lot more work being put into overall optimization, and performance will very likely improve significantly.

What is the difference between a Voxel game, and all the other games I play? Before Voxel games, just about everything out there is just polygons on vertexes. Polygons are easy to lay out, and overall the only real overhead you have with it depends on the size and resolution of the textures. Polygon technology (Most non-voxel games) Imagine three points in space. Join them up with lines to form a triangle, then fill that triangle in red. Congratulations, you've just rendered a polygon in the same way a graphics card does! Essentially, this is how polygon graphics work: joining lots of points in space (vertexes) together, and filling the space between them (polygons) with colors (textures). If we were to make a cube, we'd need 8 vertexes (the corners), and fill the space between them with six four-sided polygons. We never "see" vertexes – they're just the points in space, we only see the polygons between them. Here's a video of how texture painting on vertexes/polygons works: Polygon meshes are the most flexible and precise way of storing and rendering terrain. They are often used in games where precise control or advanced terrain features are needed. Pros: Very fast: You only have to do the usual projection calculation in the vertex shader. A geometry shader isn't needed. Very precise: All coordinates are store individually for each vertex, so it's possible to move them horizontally and increase mesh density in places with finer details. Low memory impact: This also means the mesh will usually need less memory than a heightmap, because vertices can be more sparse in areas with less small features. No artifacts: The mesh is rendered as-is, so there won't be any glitches or strange-looking borders. Advanced terrain features: It's possible to leave holes and create overhangs. Tunnels are seamless. Cons: Poor dynamic LOD: Only possible with pre-computed meshes. This will cause "jumps" when switching without additional data to map old to new vertices. Not easy to modify: Finding vertices that correspond to an area that should be modified is slow. Not very efficient for collision detection: Unlike in heightmaps and voxel data, the memory address for a certain location usually can't be calculated directly. This means physics and game logic that depend on the exact surface geometry will most likely run slower than with the other storage formats. Voxel technology (7DTD, Landmark, Minecraft, ect.) Voxel technology basically says: we want points in space that we can see. Voxels can be thought of as being visible points in 3d space, and are somewhat analgous to a 2-dimensional pixel. Additionally, voxels can contain properties in much the way vertexes do and (depending on the engine and environment) can serve to decrease graphics acceleration requirements. These advantages aren't free, though. Voxel terrain stores terrain data for each point in a 3D grid. This method always uses the most storage per meaningful surface detail, even if you use compression methods like sparse octrees. (The term "voxel engine" was often used to describe a method of ray marching terrain heightmaps common in older 3D games. This section applies only to terrain stored as voxel data.) Pros: Continuous 3D data: Voxels are pretty much the only efficient way to store continuous data about hidden terrain features like ore veins. Easy to modify: Uncompressed voxel data can be changed easily. Advanced terrain features: It's possible to create overhangs. Tunnels are seamless. Interesting terrain generation: Minecraft does this by overlaying noise functions and gradients with predefined terrain features (trees, dungeons). Cons: Slow: To render voxel data, you either have to use a ray tracer or compute a mesh, for example with marching cubes (There will be artifacts). Neighboring voxel aren't independent for mesh generation and the shaders are more complicated and usually produce more complex geometry. Rendering voxel data with high LOD can be very slow. Huge storage requirements: Storing voxel data uses lots of memory. It's often not practicable to load the voxel data into VRAM for this reason, as you'd have to use smaller textures to compensate for it, even on modern hardware. ~Source1 ~Source2

What effect does each video option have? Display Resolution: Sets the screen resolution at which the game is displayed. Performance Impact: Very High Larger resolutions will decrease your performance. Fullscreen: Run the game in fullscreen or windowed mode. Performance Impact: Medium Windowed mode will have a negative impact on performance in most operating systems. Vertical Synchronization: Combats screen tearing by synchronizing the game to the monitors refresh rate. Performance Impact: Low This is a great option to cap the FPS of the game at the FPS for your monitor. Anti- Aliasing: Removes jagged edges from objects. Performance Impact: Medium I would only recommend using this options on a higher-end card. Texture Quality: Saves video memory and performance by setting the texture resolution. Performance Impact: Medium Reflection Quality: How clear reflections are. Provides more realistic lighting. Performance Impact: Very High At the time of this writing, "Very High" is a bit of an understatement. This feature still needs to be optimized better. Reflected Shadows: Shadows are processed and displayed inside reflections. Performance Impact: High Water Quality: Layers and effects occurring on surface of water planes. Performance Impact: Low Low quality water is very dark and difficult to see through. Gamma: How bright the game is. Performance Impact: Low View Distance: How far the world can me viewed. Performance Impact: High Field of View: How wide your view angle is. Performance Impact: Low Higher settings can cause a "fisheye" look with curving at the outer edges of the screen. Level of Detail: The overall maximum level of detail at which the world is displayed. As you move further away from an object, it switches to a lower quality version of the mesh Performance Impact: High Lower values decrease quality of distanced textures and improve performance. Shadow Distance: Quality and distance of object shadows. Performance Impact: High This is the second largest item that affects overall performance on most mid/low-range cards. Tree Quality: Overall quality of the trees based on how far away they are. Performance Impact: High Setting this lower than high will cause distant trees to render as stick poles until you get into closer range. (Like LOD for trees) Grass Distance: The maximum distance at which you can see grass. Performance Impact: Medium Motion Blur: Quality level of motion blur (more pixel samples & smoothing). Performance Impact: High UI Background Opacity: UI wallpaper / background opacity / transparency. Performance Impact: Very Low UI Foreground Opacity: UI outlines and text opacity / transparency. Performance Impact: Very Low SSAO (Screen Space Ambient Occlusion): Use the image effect SSAO which draws more detailed shadows on objects. Performance Impact: Medium DOF (Depth of Field): Distant objects get blurred. Performance impact: Medium Can help to obfuscate a low LOD setting without as large of an impact on performance as a high LOD. Sun Shafts: A.K.A. "God Rays". Shines rays of light from the sun past obstructing objects. Performance Impact: Medium Author's note: With the above settings I get a very solid 60 FPS with an i7 3930k, and a GTX 660 Ti.

What are the system requirements for a dedicated server? They are basically the same as the client, but you don't need a GPU for it. Also, I think the hardware differences don't really matter as much since any server-level platform is going to be similarly geared. Minimum Processor: 2.8 Ghz Quad Core Cpu Memory: 8GB RAM Network: Broadband internet connection (minimum upload bandwidth of 2.5Mbps recommended) Hard Drive: 20 GB available space Recommended Processor: 3.2 Ghz Quad Core CPU or faster Memory: 16 GB RAM Network: Broadband internet connection (minimum upload bandwidth of 10Mbps recommended) Hard Drive: 20 GB available space NOTE: The more people you have connecting to your server, the more bandwidth and RAM you will need available. Also note that you may need up to 15GB of drive space for a large RWG map, the client, and a large amount of player data. The server setting for players downloading the map has a max of 1300KiB. This is roughly equivalent to 10Mbps. Additionally, you will need to open the following ports in your firewall. TCP 8080-8081 (ONLY if you plan to administer your server remotely.) 8082 (If you are using Alloc's mods, this is for the web map.) 26900 UDP 26900-26903 Required Ports for Steam To log into Steam and download content: HTTP (TCP port 80) and HTTPS (443) UDP 27015 through 27030 TCP 27015 through 27030 [*]Steam Client UDP 27000 to 27015 inclusive (Game client traffic) UDP 27015 to 27030 inclusive (Typically Matchmaking and HLTV) UDP 27031 and 27036 (incoming, for In-Home Streaming) TCP 27036 and 27037 (incoming, for In-Home Streaming) UDP 4380 [*]Dedicated or Listen Servers TCP 27015 (SRCDS Rcon port) [*]Steamworks P2P Networking and Steam Voice Chat UDP 3478 (Outbound) UDP 4379 (Outbound) UDP 4380 (Outbound) Lastly, don't forget to set up port forwarding on your router. Don't know how to port forward? follow these instructions: Go to this Site. Select your router brand Select your router version. (If your version is not there, pick the one closest to your version.) Select 7 Days to Die. Follow the instructions on the site. Port Default Protocol Direction Used for BasePort 26900 TCP In Game (Game details query port) BasePort+0 26900 UDP In Game (Steam's master server list interface) BasePort+1 26901 UDP In Game (Steam communication) BasePort+2 26902 UDP In Game (networking via LiteNetLib) BasePort+3 26903 UDP In Currently unused, but not opening may block joining the server. WebDashboardPort 8080 TCP In Web based control panel TelnetPort 8081 TCP In "Telnet" control interface - Use RAW connection WebControlPort+2 8082 TCP In Web Panel of the Server fixes

What are the system requirements for the game? Currently minimum and recommended system requirements are as follows (though subject to change): NOTE: This is usually a little more up-to-date than what is listed on the Support page. Windows Minimum (It should play, but it may not be very enjoyable.) OS: Windows 7 (64-bit) (Note that Windows 7/8 support is ending in 2024 for Steam) Processor: 2.8 Ghz Quad Core CPU Memory: 8GB RAM Graphics: 2GB Dedicated Memory* Direct X: Version 11 Network: Broadband internet connection Hard Drive: 18 GB available space Sound Card: Direct X compatible Windows Recommended OS: Windows 7 or Higher (64-bit) (Note that Windows 7/8 support is ending in 2024 for Steam) Processor: 3.2 Ghz Quad Core CPU or faster Memory: 12 GB RAM Graphics: 4 GB Dedicated Memory* Direct X: Version 11 Network: Broadband internet connection Hard Drive: 18 GB available space Sound Card: Direct X compatible Mac Minimum OS: 10.13 Processor: 2.8 Ghz Quad Core Cpu Memory: 8GB RAM Graphics: 2GB Dedicated Memory Network: Broadband internet connection Hard Drive: 18 GB available space Mac Recommended OS: 10.13 Processor: 3.2 Ghz Quad Core CPU or faster Memory: 12 GB RAM Graphics: 4 GB Dedicated Memory Network: Broadband internet connection Hard Drive: 18 GB available space Linux/Steam OS Minimum OS: Ubuntu 16.04 Processor: 2.8 Ghz Dual Core Cpu Memory: 8GB RAM Graphics: 2GB Dedicated Memory Network: Broadband internet connection Hard Drive: 18 GB available space Linux/Steam OS Recommended OS: Ubuntu 18.04 Processor: 3.2 Ghz Quad Core CPU or faster Memory: 12 GB RAM Graphics: 4 GB Dedicated Memory* Network: Broadband internet connection Hard Drive: 18 GB available space Additional Notes Running the Dedicated Server and Client on the same computer will double ram requirements and put a heavier load on your CPU. Also, future releases may require more hard drive space.

Please Read This First I'd like to start this with a little note. While most of this data is correct, and I try to keep it updated as best as I can, the game is still in the Alpha stages. Things may change. Sometimes they can change drastically before I have a chance to get out here and make updates. Just keep that in mind please. This is a collection of data that is designed to assist you as a whole. Whether trying to figure out why you're having an issue, or looking for some general information. It has been kind of tossed together, and I do have plans to get it better organized. That just requires a lot of free time I haven't had yet. If you see something off, or it is horribly wrong, feel free to shoot me a PM and I will take a look into it. Oh, and a final note... The order is a bit jumbled at the moment. I need to clean it up and re-organize things.

This is a small guide to some of the basics for information and troubleshooting purposes. As I discover new common issues, and solutions, I will be adding to this. Please Read This First What are the system requirements for the game? What are the system requirements for a dedicated server? What effect does each video option have? What is the difference between a Voxel game, and all the other games I play? Why do I get such low FPS on this when I can play _______ just fine at full settings? How to install and use the 32-bit client for low-end PC's (depreciated) What is EAC, and why do I want it? EAC: Basic Troubleshooting Steps Why are you telling me to exclude the program from my Antivirus software? How to exclude the program from your Antivirus software. [DEDI] How to fix issue with "IOException: Too many open files" [sP] Where are my saves at? A guide to migrating save files. Installing and Running a Dedicated Server Why are only 8 players supported? When can we have more? How Much RAM Does the Game Use? Possible fix for restoring a corrupted save Why All This Lag? Red console errors when trying to join a game common solution

Yep. I've been eyeing some new hardware anyway. Just need funds to throw into a purchase. I'll probably turn this box into a Minecraft server or something then. I have a couple of newer PC's I could use, but they don't have the RAM I need for it to run smooth with 10 people on each server.

Finally tracked it down. Latest Unity 64-bit uses SSE4, and my CPU only supports SSE3. If I could find a way to force it to use SSE3 instead, I could get it working. Can't really afford to drop money on new hardware so I'm living with 32-bit and some hard limitations for a while it looks like. EDIT: Further digging shows that though the CPU's support SSE3, my cpuinfo file is only showing up to SSE2 support.

That's correct. a14.4 was a pretty small amount of changes, and most of them were directed at SP and P2P games. The dedi server patch was right about 8.5MB.

Yes, and yes. But, you can edit it in, restart the server, remove the offending blocks, remove the xml edit, and restart the server again.

*Sigh* I wiped it again, installed Ubuntu 15.10, did a clean install, no change.

Server Specs Operating System Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS 64-bit CPU 2x Dual Core AMD Opteron Processor 275 @ 2.20GHz RAM 16.0GB DDR1/333 SDRAM Motherboard SunFire V20z system board Graphics N/A Storage Two 73GB Ultra320 SCSI disk drives in RAID1 It's really weird that it started having issues with the 64-bit reading blocks.xml in a13.8, and now just crashes when starting 64-bit in a14. It runs one Navezgane map fine in 32-bit, but I know if I'm going to use RWG for a number of players, I'll want to use 64-bit. Not certain that I can (or would want to) run Windows on this old web server. Last time I tried to install Server 2008, it didn't end well. I was wondering if installing an old 512MB PCI video card would help at all LOL. I think I have one laying around on my desk somewhere.

That give me "Illegal instruction (core dumped) no new logs - - - Updated - - - Yes, triple-checked. All are installed and updated.

No, zero logs, which is super annoying. It's like it dies before it can create them. I get one file stdout.log, and it's empty. Did some further poking, and commented out the 64-bit options in /usr/local/lib/7dtd/commands/start.sh. (lines 60, 61, 62) Now it will start in 32-bit without any issues. Log shows 64-bit OS though... 2016-03-27T11:24:56 0.167 INF Version: Alpha 14 (b92) Compatibility Version: Alpha 14, Build: Linux 32 Bit 2016-03-27T11:24:56 0.168 INF System information: 2016-03-27T11:24:56 0.303 INF OS: Linux 3.13 Ubuntu 14.04 64bit I really really don't want to be stuck in 32-bit again, and I have no idea why my server is doing this. I helped a buddy get his up and running with absolutely no issues at all, and it's running 64-bit just fine. Something's got to be missing is the only thing I can think of, but I've installed all the prerequisites, double-checked all the updates, and it simply will not launch.

From my first post on the issue I'm still tinkering, but it's still not making any progress. If it would load enough to create some kind of log, that would be really helpful. >.<

yeah, it's there. ran all of the commands before starting, just to make sure everything was updated. no dice. And no log is generated since it takes maybe 2 seconds to fail.

I am at a complete loss here. I do not understand what has gone wrong at all. I updated everything, I re-created my world. I get... root@7DTD:~# 7dtd.sh start Home Failed! root@7DTD:~# SO I figure it's something in the much tinkering I did with 64-bit or Ubuntu 15 when I was playing with a13.8. I wipe the server completely. Install Ubuntu server 14 LTS. Install the server using Alloc's scripts. Create the instance. Edit the config.xml in /home/sdtd/instances/Home/config.xml to remove the loot and craft timer lines. Start the server. root@7DTD:~# 7dtd.sh start Home Failed! root@7DTD:~# We're as vanilla as it gets here, and I cannot for the life of me get this thing to start. Any ideas?

Sure thing. 32-bit First Run http://pastebin.com/zKc0J3eP Second Run http://pastebin.com/tNqwF0Ar (Removed some of the CBSM queries to shrink the size for pastebin.) 64-bit http://pastebin.com/HRrNMNCW I posted both 32-bit runs because the first one I started, saw in the log it loaded 32-bit, and then shut it down. The second run was after the attempt to run 64-bit and getting the error. It's really strange because no changes were made to any of the xml files at all, and I was successfully running this on 64-bit before I wiped my system.

Ok, this is for Alloc, or anyone else who has some idea of what in the world is going on. Wiped my server. Installed Ubuntu 15.10 Server Installed the Pre-requisites. Installed the server. Ran the updateengine, updatescripts, and updatefixes. Created the instance, started the server. It's peachy. Shut server down, and edit usr/local/lib/7dtd/commands/start.sh to make it run in 64-bit. Start server, it crashes. Gives the following error... 2016-03-17T13:13:27 21.110 INF StartAsServer2016-03-17T13:13:27 21.118 INF createWorld: Navezgane, Navezgane, GameModeSurvivalMP Exception: Block with name 'rockResource02' not found! at WorldBiomes.E (System.String ) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at WorldBiomes.D (Byte , System.String , System.Xml.XmlElement , Boolean ) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at WorldBiomes.D (Byte , System.String , System.Xml.XmlElement , Boolean ) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at WorldBiomes.G (System.Xml.XmlDocument , Boolean ) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at WorldBiomes..ctor (System.Xml.XmlDocument _genxml, Boolean _instantiateReferences) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at GameManager.WH (System.String , System.String ) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at GameManager.ON () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at GameManager.StartGame () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at ConnectionManager.Net_ServerInitialized () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at NetworkCommon.StartServers (System.String _password) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at MainMenuMono.Start () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 (Filename: Line: -1) Switch it back to 32-bit. Start server, and it runs just peachy. Any clues why I'm getting a blocks.xml error when running 64-bit?

It's not like you cannot mod it to be a bigger, or infinite map.

Editing startserver.sh always worked before without issues to put it in 64-bit. (Since a12, I've run more stable on the 64-bit than 32.) Tested with editing line 60 in /usr/local/lib/7dtd/commands/start.sh. It does load the 64-bit version. So the real question is, what changed? Because I never had to edit this file to run the 64-bit with Alloc's scripts before.

Yeah, I'm certain something is goofy. Yes it broke the line breaks in the copy. I can't figure out why it's doing this on two different systems though. Sadly, by newly-created test platform crashed the kernel today and I cannot get it back up. Either the hardware is fried, or I dunno. don't feel like messing with it. I think I'll just copy the 64-bit file and rename it to the 32-bit file for now. LOL. Edit: Nope. that didn't work. I start it now, and it says "Failed!". Even tried flipping the comments around in startserver.sh. I've got a real case of weird going on here. Ok, I'm stupid. permissions issue. It's up again, but I can still only get 32-bit for some stupid reason.