Regarding the Blood Moons...

[tangis]

I often play the game with steam friends I invite.  The first three Blood Moons we've defended my base from the horde.  If one of my friends established another base, would we each face a Blood Moon horde or would they just come to my base, as I am the host?

 

Cheers.

[Liesel Weppen]

They will split up. Every player gets his own spawns. Who is the host doesn't matter at all (you should prefer using a dedicated server anyway).

[tangis]

What makes a dedicated server preferable?

[JCrook1028]

4 hours ago, tangis said:

What makes a dedicated server preferable?

Performance

[Ti2xGr]

50 minutes ago, JCrook1028 said:

Performance

Much better performance - Let the server handle all the spawning, tracking and such so your computer can just focus on making it look better. I went from single digit frame rates on horde night to an occasionally dipping into the 30's on really bad horde nights. It doesn't require a computer with a heavy duty graphics card, just some decent RAM (16GB or better) and a processor. You can host your own for free (don't have to purchase another license). You just start the dedicated server from a command line. There is a bit of port fowarding that will need to be setup, but that's about it.

[Boidster]

Dedicated server is more easily customized too. You want 147-minute days, 3 land claim blocks per player, and 117% AI block damage? You can set all of that and more easily in the serverconfig.xml file.

[tangis]

I see.  My performance so far has been fine; during the Blood Moons the fps dipped into the 30-60 range. 

 

Incidentally, is there something in the game which prevents me from operating power and turrets near other players' beds?  Long story short, I have a super base and two friends who play with me have their beds in a small house nearby.  During the Blood Moon they may die and spawn there; I wanted to extend the belt of turret defenses to give them a better chance of returning to the base without getting wrecked by the zombies.  However, when I set up banks and turrets there, I could not change the turrets' views nor pick the up again.  What's up here?  

[Liesel Weppen]

9 hours ago, tangis said:

I see.  My performance so far has been fine; during the Blood Moons the fps dipped into the 30-60 range. 

Depends on your system. On my 8c/16t CPU with 32GB RAM i can easily host a game of course. But not everybody has such a strong system. Additionally a dedicated server usually is running 24/7 so the other players don't rely on you (to host) to continue playing. Of course this is not a must, you can also shutdown a dedicated and start it if your group wants to play.

Nevertheless a dedicated server should have some cpu-power. It will not run on a potato. As a rule of thumb 4c/4t 3.5Ghz is fine for few players but also may drop to low fps in later gamestage hordes. Of course a faster CPU is better, but oversizing it will also have no effort. From what i observed there are still some single-thread bottlenecks in 7d2d, so many cores will not necessarily make the game faster.

 

 

9 hours ago, tangis said:

Incidentally, is there something in the game which prevents me from operating power and turrets near other players' beds?  Long story short, I have a super base and two friends who play with me have their beds in a small house nearby. 

Bedrolls do not to that, but a landclaim block will. And if another player placed that LCB, you need to be in a party with him, to place or pickup turrets there.

[Ti2xGr]

3 hours ago, Liesel Weppen said:

Depends on your system. On my 8c/16t CPU with 32GB RAM i can easily host a game of course. But not everybody has such a strong system. Additionally a dedicated server usually is running 24/7 so the other players don't rely on you (to host) to continue playing. Of course this is not a must, you can also shutdown a dedicated and start it if your group wants to play.

Nevertheless a dedicated server should have some cpu-power. It will not run on a potato. As a rule of thumb 4c/4t 3.5Ghz is fine for few players but also may drop to low fps in later gamestage hordes. Of course a faster CPU is better, but oversizing it will also have no effort. From what i observed there are still some single-thread bottlenecks in 7d2d, so many cores will not necessarily make the game faster.

 

 

Bedrolls do not to that, but a landclaim block will. And if another player placed that LCB, you need to be in a party with him, to place or pickup turrets there.

I host 16 people regularly on a 12K map with a 3.6Ghz I-7 proc and 16GB of RAM. My RAM usage rarely goes above 50% and my Proc sits at about 8-10% useage at any given time. We just passed day 300. 

 

You can adjust the landclaim size and also allow more landclaim blocks in the Serverconfig.xml -

 

<property name="LandClaimCount"                    value="1"/>                    <!-- Maximum allowed land claims per player. -->
<property name="LandClaimSize"                    value="41"/>                <!-- Size in blocks that is protected by a keystone --> 

[Liesel Weppen]

2 hours ago, Ti2xGr said:

I host 16 people regularly on a 12K map with a 3.6Ghz I-7 proc and 16GB of RAM. My RAM usage rarely goes above 50% and my Proc sits at about 8-10% useage at any given time. We just passed day 300. 

"3,6Ghz i7" says not that much, that could be anything from an i7-2700 up to an i7-9700. Last one is at least 50% faster. Even if it is the last one, i don't believe you it just uses 8-10% "every" time. Maybe you haven't looked it up during a bloodmoon. It should be much higher then, especially on day 300 with high gamestage (on default zombie count settings).

RAM usage mostly depends on the mapsize, so as far as you have "enough" it will affect perfomance not that much.

 

 

[Ti2xGr]

9 hours ago, Liesel Weppen said:

"3,6Ghz i7" says not that much, that could be anything from an i7-2700 up to an i7-9700. Last one is at least 50% faster. Even if it is the last one, i don't believe you it just uses 8-10% "every" time. Maybe you haven't looked it up during a bloodmoon. It should be much higher then, especially on day 300 with high gamestage (on default zombie count settings).

RAM usage mostly depends on the mapsize, so as far as you have "enough" it will affect perfomance not that much.

 

 

My point was that you don't need some major system to host a server. I am running an I-7  7700 for the record. I also host an Ark server on occasion simultaneously and still don't push the system to the max. 

[Liesel Weppen]

3 hours ago, Ti2xGr said:

My point was that you don't need some major system to host a server. I am running an I-7  7700 for the record.

Depends on the game and the situation. During normal, daily gameplay the 7d2d server doesn't require that much, but it nearly explodes on bloodmoon, or as i already said when you let collapse a structure. That causes heavy SI recalculations and even brought my Ryzen 2700X to 100% ALL CORES!

Bloodmoon is similar, usually you have 8 Zs per player maximium. On bloodmoon this is exceeded and you may have 30 Zs per player. And they are all in "rage mode" and require e.g. pathing calculation. And if they destroy a block of your base, that causes SI to be recalculated! So large base may also reduce perfomance additionally. (that afaik is also the reason for the "stutter" after a cop or demolitioner explodes. They nearly always destroy some blocks and that makes SI recalculate and that is a huge peak in performance).

 

 

Quote

I also host an Ark server on occasion simultaneously and still don't push the system to the max. 

The Ark-server is basically nothing compared to the cpu requirements of the 7d2d server on bloodmoon. Stuff like SI is not even existent in Ark, as it has no voxel engine!

I'm also hosting an Empyrion server and it is also far less then 7d2d, since there are no enemy hordes. It's still much more demanding then an Ark server, as Empyrion has a voxel engine and also implements structural integrity.

[canadianbluebeer]

If you are playing and hosting, you can also change the landclaim number before starting the game for the first time.

 

In the main menu, bring down the console and just type   sg landclaimcount 10      as an example.

I do that so I can put a claim on production base, first horde base, then the big sucker I build later.

 

 

[Ti2xGr]

8 hours ago, Liesel Weppen said:

Depends on the game and the situation. During normal, daily gameplay the 7d2d server doesn't require that much, but it nearly explodes on bloodmoon, or as i already said when you let collapse a structure. That causes heavy SI recalculations and even brought my Ryzen 2700X to 100% ALL CORES!

Bloodmoon is similar, usually you have 8 Zs per player maximium. On bloodmoon this is exceeded and you may have 30 Zs per player. And they are all in "rage mode" and require e.g. pathing calculation. And if they destroy a block of your base, that causes SI to be recalculated! So large base may also reduce perfomance additionally. (that afaik is also the reason for the "stutter" after a cop or demolitioner explodes. They nearly always destroy some blocks and that makes SI recalculate and that is a huge peak in performance).

 

 

The Ark-server is basically nothing compared to the cpu requirements of the 7d2d server on bloodmoon. Stuff like SI is not even existent in Ark, as it has no voxel engine!

I'm also hosting an Empyrion server and it is also far less then 7d2d, since there are no enemy hordes. It's still much more demanding then an Ark server, as Empyrion has a voxel engine and also implements structural integrity.

You originally stated you need a monster system to host a server. I clearly have shown that is not necessary with evidence. That was my whole point. I am often hosting 16 players on bloodmoon while hosting another game in the background with no major stress on my system (proc or RAM).  I'm an IT Professional and owner of a PC Consulting firm. I know how to monitor system specs. I took a leftover computer I had laying around, slapped an SSD drive in it and have been hosting games on it for several years. Your CAPS aren't going to change the observed experience I have. I currently run 27 modlets, cranked up the amount of zombies that spawn to relatively insane numbers. Our server isn't magic and doesn't explode on Bloodmoon and rarely is pushed beyond 50% CPU useage on bloodmoon. You're welcome to dissect my words, but I'm just laying out my observations. Here's my server. You're welcome to check it out anytime. It's on 24/7 short of daily reboots and updates. Once again...You don't need anything special to host a 7 days to die server.

 

[Boidster]

9 hours ago, Liesel Weppen said:

On bloodmoon this is exceeded and you may have 30 Zs per player.

For what it is worth, I just tested this yesterday and it's only true if you set your server up like that. The BloodMoonEnemyCount setting constrains how many per-player zombies there will be for horde night (in conjunction with the game stage-based spawn limits). Of course if you set it to 30 then you could get 30 per player. But by default it's set to 8 per player.

 

There is no "normal" 8-per-player maximum. During non-BM times the # of zombies is limited to MaxSpawnedZombies (a server-wide setting, not per-player). At least that is what my testing showed. The other blood moon thread has the details.

[Liesel Weppen]

16 hours ago, Ti2xGr said:

 Once again...You don't need anything special to host a 7 days to die server.

Once again, i didn't say that you need anything special nor did a say that a monster system is needed!

I just said a 4c/4t 3,5Ghz is a good start. That is a 6-7 year old middleclass cpu!

You i7-7700 is a pretty good system, most people don't have such recent system as server, most people don't even have such a powerfull system to play the game! And its FAR AHEAD of my 4c/4t 3,5Ghz recommendation.

 

As seen from other threads even recently people try to run dedicateds on dual core cpus with 2,5ghz and then wonder why the get bad framerates on bloodmoon.

 

Read my first post in this thread again, but now read the complete Post! I already covered all your complaints there. Don't just pick some numbers out of context and then start a useless discussion.

[Liesel Weppen]

15 hours ago, Boidster said:

The other blood moon thread has the details.

In the other bm-thread even TFP staff is discussing how it actually works.

Only definite point i got from there is that there is an hardcoded limit of 64 Zs overall. I guess we hit this limit and that matches my observation that at some point performance seems not to get worse anymore. Anyway at this limit my 4c/4t 3,6Ghz server reaches its limits. During BM it is on 100% cpu usage and performance drops to like 35-40fps. Of course still playable, but there is still a drop in performance and with weaker cpus this drop will be heavier.

 

And 100% on my 4c/4t 3,6Ghz  (3,2Ghz without turbo) systems also matches the observation of Ti2xGr that his 4c/8t 3,6Ghz (4,2Ghz turbo) only hits 50% cpu load.

[meganoth]

4 hours ago, Liesel Weppen said:

In the other bm-thread even TFP staff is discussing how it actually works.

Only definite point i got from there is that there is an hardcoded limit of 64 Zs overall. I guess we hit this limit and that matches my observation that at some point performance seems not to get worse anymore. Anyway at this limit my 4c/4t 3,6Ghz server reaches its limits. During BM it is on 100% cpu usage and performance drops to like 35-40fps. Of course still playable, but there is still a drop in performance and with weaker cpus this drop will be heavier.

 

And 100% on my 4c/4t 3,6Ghz  (3,2Ghz without turbo) systems also matches the observation of Ti2xGr that his 4c/8t 3,6Ghz (4,2Ghz turbo) only hits 50% cpu load.

 

There is no TFP staff in that thread. Moderators are just normal forum users with the official power to harass others 😉. 

 

The best summary of BM zombie count is in this post

 

And like boidster mentions in a later post, the limit of 64 zombies overall IS changeable in serverconfig.xml.

 

If you want a tl;dr: There are 4 values of zombie-limits and on BM the lowest value of all 4 is the limit

 

[Boidster]

And now there's an up-to-date-for-18.4 Wiki page. Guaranteed to be 100% correct, 80% of the time.