Setting up dedicated server on its own machine - tell me like I’m three

[Beelzybub]

If you can't figure out your forwarding, then try enableing SteamNetworking to help bypass those issues.

If you are trying to connect from your LAN, then you have to use the local ip of the server. Connecting via

local ip should work regardleess of if your router is correctly configured.

[Prydonian]

13 minutes ago, Beelzybub said:

If you can't figure out your forwarding, then try enableing SteamNetworking to help bypass those issues.

If you are trying to connect from your LAN, then you have to use the local ip of the server. Connecting via

local ip should work regardleess of if your router is correctly configured.

I’ll Google SteamNetworking and keep it in mind if PF can’t sort it out.  
 

As for connecting via local IP, web searches haven’t helped me on that one; I’m not having any luck finding what that would entail.  If LAN in this context (man, that acronym takes me back) refers to my home network, then I imagine I must be connecting from it by necessity.  If I can discern my local IP, though, where/how would I use that information?

[Beelzybub]

Just read your serverconfig.xml file.

 

Enable steamnetworking by removing it from this line in your serverconfig.

<property name="ServerDisabledNetworkProtocols"    value="SteamNetworking"/>

So you would change that to:

<property name="ServerDisabledNetworkProtocols"    value=""/>

 

 

5 minutes ago, Prydonian said:

where/how would I use that information?

Select "Join Game", then "Start Search" then "Connect To IP..."

[Prydonian]

45 minutes ago, Beelzybub said:

Just read your serverconfig.xml file.

 

Enable steamnetworking by removing it from this line in your serverconfig.

<property name="ServerDisabledNetworkProtocols"    value="SteamNetworking"/>

So you would change that to:

<property name="ServerDisabledNetworkProtocols"    value=""/>

 

 

Select "Join Game", then "Start Search" then "Connect To IP..."

Aha!  I was going to ask about the “connect to IP” button, but I had completely forgotten.  Excellent!  I’ll give it a try.

[Prydonian]

10 hours ago, Beelzybub said:

Just read your serverconfig.xml file.

 

Enable steamnetworking by removing it from this line in your serverconfig.

<property name="ServerDisabledNetworkProtocols"    value="SteamNetworking"/>

So you would change that to:

<property name="ServerDisabledNetworkProtocols"    value=""/>

 

 

Select "Join Game", then "Start Search" then "Connect To IP..."

Well, I was able to join the game by connecting to the IP directly.  Progress!

 

Now I just have to figure out why I can’t join the customary way.  I suppose we could just connect this way, but I would like to solve this problem, if only to justify having bought the PF software.  I did some research into extenders and subnets, but I didn’t find anything actionable.

 

I haven’t enabled Steam Networking yet, that’s the next step.  Then the secondary challenge of importing the world begins.  

Edited September 5, 2022 by Prydonian (see edit history)

[Star69]

What router are you using? Did you buy it or did your isp provide it?

[Beelzybub]

14 minutes ago, Prydonian said:

Now I just have to figure out why I can’t join the customary way.  I suppose we could just connect this way, but I would like to solve this problem

It's not a problem you can solve, it's just the state of things right now. If you're trying to connect from within your own LAN, you need to use the local ip.

You just need to do this once, as it will be in your favorites after.

 

 

 

 

21 minutes ago, Prydonian said:

I suppose we could just connect this way

Only if you are all in your LAN. To connect from outside your location, you need the router set up correctly with ports forwarded to your server.

Or use SteamNetworking, which can bypass some of those problems. The reason SteamNetworking is disabled by default is that it is a

slower connection than LiteNetLib, so can be laggy.

 

 

 

16 minutes ago, Prydonian said:

if only to justify having bought the PF software.

It's unfortunate that you bought that software. The recommendation for  using that site is that they have all the information necessary for you to do the port forwarding. I think future recommendations should point that out and dissuade a user from possibly wasting money on the software.

[Prydonian]

29 minutes ago, Star69 said:

What router are you using? Did you buy it or did your isp provide it?

It’s an Arris BGW210-700 3.18.5 provided by my isp.  The extender is a TP-Link AX1800 (aka RE605X), if that affects anything.

27 minutes ago, Beelzybub said:

It's not a problem you can solve, it's just the state of things right now. If you're trying to connect from within your own LAN, you need to use the local ip.

You just need to do this once, as it will be in your favorites after.

 

 

 

 

Only if you are all in your LAN. To connect from outside your location, you need the router set up correctly with ports forwarded to your server.

Or use SteamNetworking, which can bypass some of those problems. The reason SteamNetworking is disabled by default is that it is a

slower connection than LiteNetLib, so can be laggy.

 

 

 

It's unfortunate that you bought that software. The recommendation for  using that site is that they have all the information necessary for you to do the port forwarding. I think future recommendations should point that out and dissuade a user from possibly wasting money on the software.

Ah, I see.  The other player isn’t on the same LAN, so should he be able connect normally as-is or is that what SteamNetworking is for?

 

Yeah, I’m certainly regretting the purchase, but to be fair, I did see they had the necessary info to perform the process without purchasing.  I read through it a few times and it was just overwhelming.  This sort of thing, as you may have noticed, isn’t my forté, and the idea of sorting it out was just too much at the time. 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2022 by Prydonian (see edit history)

[Beelzybub]

29 minutes ago, Prydonian said:

The other player isn’t on the same LAN, so should he be able connect normally as-is or is that what SteamNetworking is for?

They may be able to connect normally if your port forwarding is set up correctly. If not, SteamNetworking may help, or put the

work in to get your ports right.

If you want to pm me the server info, I'll see if I can connect, and check my log for errors.

[Prydonian]

22 minutes ago, Beelzybub said:

They may be able to connect normally if your port forwarding is set up correctly. If not, SteamNetworking may help, or put the

work in to get your ports right.

If you want to pm me the server info, I'll see if I can connect, and check my log for errors.

I really appreciate that.  I’ll PM you now.

[Beelzybub]

I tried to connect, the server shows in the server browser, I was prompted for a pw, but connection failed after that.

Both LiteNetLib failed and SteamNetworking failed.

Port scan showed that the ports are not open.

[Beelzybub]

I pm'd you the details.

[Prydonian]

21 minutes ago, Beelzybub said:

I pm'd you the details.

Now that I’ve been doing this for a few days, the port forwarding process seems significantly less overwhelming.  I’m going to give it a try this evening.  Perhaps I can get a refund for the software.

[Beelzybub]

21 minutes ago, Prydonian said:

Perhaps I can get a refund for the software.

Hope you can, for the price of that software you could've rented a 7D2D server for 6 months.

#cost-benefit-analysis

[Prydonian]

10 hours ago, Beelzybub said:

I tried to connect, the server shows in the server browser, I was prompted for a pw, but connection failed after that.

Both LiteNetLib failed and SteamNetworking failed.

Port scan showed that the ports are not open.

Well, I’m stumped.  Now that I have some grasp of the terminology, the port forwarding instructions seem perfectly simple.  I’ve done it to the letter, and… port checker still says the ports aren’t open.  I created a custom NAT/Gaming service entry, sent it to the router, but still nothing.  
 

EDIT: Er, it’s open now.  I did nothing, just checked in desperate hope half an hour later and suddenly it’s open.  MAGIC COMPUTER PROGRESS!  

 

I may be going a bit strange.

 

 

Edited September 6, 2022 by Prydonian (see edit history)

[Star69]

I hope it works for you. My next suggestion for you would be to contact your isp. There are isp’s that refuse to allow people to forward ports on their own, requiring a call to the isp in order to get the the ports forwarded……I’m talking about you Spectrum Business!! So if you’re still having issues, contact your isp.

[Prydonian]

So, now that it seems to be working, a question.  The computer I’m setting this up on belongs to the other player, and he’s a bit paranoid about port forwarding.  I’ve been reading up on it and reassuring him, but he wants to know what the harm would be in simply running the game using a third Steam account, locking that character safely in a bunker, and only running it for the few hours a day we’ll be on.  It occurs to me that I don’t really know why that wouldn’t be effective.  Anyone?

[FinkPloyd]

  

4 hours ago, Prydonian said:

So, now that it seems to be working, a question.  The computer I’m setting this up on belongs to the other player, and he’s a bit paranoid about port forwarding.  I’ve been reading up on it and reassuring him, but he wants to know what the harm would be in simply running the game using a third Steam account, locking that character safely in a bunker, and only running it for the few hours a day we’ll be on.  It occurs to me that I don’t really know why that wouldn’t be effective.  Anyone?

 

Don't be too concerned about open ports.

 

I have had ports forwarded for many games for many years without any issues.

Takes a great deal of skill to use a open gaming port to get any kind of access.

 

If your friend is worried can they turn the server off when not in use?

All the port forwarding does is tell the router to send the traffic on that port to the server, so if the server is off then the port forwarding will do nothing.

 

To run the server in a 3rd account would require a more powerful PC (as graphics becomes an issue), an extra 7D2D licence and run the same risk (as the 7D2D client opens the same ports).

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by FinkPloyd
opps, I should read all the responses before posting... (see edit history)

[Beelzybub]

15 hours ago, Prydonian said:

and only running it for the few hours a day we’ll be on.

If you're only going to run it when you are both on, then just use a P2P game. No server required.

Or, alternatively, don't forward the ports and let SteamNetworking handle it. You'll have higher ping and lag, but maybe it's not enough to bother you.

[Prydonian]

Interesting.  Having done all this work, and if going through a P2P game would cause any performance issues at all, I'd much rather make use of the dedicated server I just set up.  Knowing that playing 72D2 under any circumstances opens the same ports (I wondered about that) should be enough to ease his mind.

[FinkPloyd]

On 9/9/2022 at 10:01 AM, Prydonian said:

Interesting.  Having done all this work, and if going through a P2P game would cause any performance issues at all, I'd much rather make use of the dedicated server I just set up.  Knowing that playing 72D2 under any circumstances opens the same ports (I wondered about that) should be enough to ease his mind.

 

A dedicated server 'should' reduce the load on the client PCs, as the server does a lot of the calcs (ie load is spread over 3 PCs instead of 2) .

 

If one of you hosts then their PC has to do all the calcs for both of you, in addition to the normal load of running 7D2D.

This may not be 'much' of an issue if one of you has a very powerful PC and there is only 2 of you.

 

Also once you know how to setup a 7D2D dedicated server it is easier to create dedicated servers for other games (which may not have P2P).

 

Remember to backup the save files each time you stop playing!

 

[meganoth]

I have my (private) server only running when we are playing. Since we always play at the same time I even automated startup and shutdown so I don't have to do anything myself.

 

Having the server not run for days on end is advisable anyway, AFAIK the server gets unstable after running for a long time, how long may depend on the specific alpha.

 

 

Edited September 12, 2022 by meganoth (see edit history)

[Prydonian]

Okay, guys, I've finally gotten the world and save data from my fellow player, and I'm trying to migrate it to the server.  I was really hoping I'd be able to post here saying, "Yay, I did it," but, unsurprisingly, I haven't.  Here's where I am:

I understand that I need to copy the entire Generated Worlds folder to the server.  Where do I put it?  In the steamcmd folder, or in steamcmd/7dasystodieserver, or in steamcmd/7daystodieserver/7DaysToDieServer_Data?

I gather I'm supposed to copy the Region and Player folders from 7DaysToDie/Saves/<world name>/<game name> folder.  Same question: copy them to what location?

 

Do I do anything with the contents of 7DaysToDie/SavesLocal?

I'm supposed to edit the server's serverconfig.xml to match the data from the one belonging to the world being migrated, but there isn't a serverconfig.xml file with the migrated world to get data from.

Is there anything else I need to do?

Thanks once again, guys.

[Prydonian]

Okay, so, some progress.  I created a Generated Worlds folder, Saves folder, and SavesLocal folder in my server folder, and changed the world name in serverconfig to match the imported world name.  And it’s working… but it’s loading to an old, old save.  I’ve been trying isolate the specific file it should be loading and the one it *is* loading, but I’m not having a lot of luck, partly because I don’t know what file type I’m looking for or which of the two Saves folders it would be in.

If it makes a difference, the PC I’m using to log on to the server is the same one I’ve been using to join this world on my friend’s machine.  Could there be some local files that are causing confusion?

Edited September 20, 2022 by Prydonian (see edit history)

[meganoth]

7 hours ago, Prydonian said:

Okay, so, some progress.  I created a Generated Worlds folder, Saves folder, and SavesLocal folder in my server folder, and changed the world name in serverconfig to match the imported world name.  And it’s working… but it’s loading to an old, old save.  I’ve been trying isolate the specific file it should be loading and the one it *is* loading, but I’m not having a lot of luck, partly because I don’t know what file type I’m looking for or which of the two Saves folders it would be in.

If it makes a difference, the PC I’m using to log on to the server is the same one I’ve been using to join this world on my friend’s machine.  Could there be some local files that are causing confusion?

 

Learn to read the logfiles, as a server operator your first look with any problems should always be the logfile. Everything the game does is in there, including the full paths it reads savegames and config files from. Logfiles are in 7DaysToDie_Data/

 

If you are still 3 years old, you could also post the last logifle into pastebin and a link to it here and then we will tell you 😉. But it will save you losts of time later if you acquire the skill to read logfiles yourself. Reading a few logfiles posted here in general support and reading what experienced users say about the contents can also help you notice what is important in there and what isn't.

 

Edited September 20, 2022 by meganoth (see edit history)