[Dedicated Server] Huge RAM usage after clean Virtual Private Server setup! Crashes! Memory leak!

[BoQsc]

Huge RAM usage after clean migration from a hosting to VPS! Crashes!

 

With the previous hosting provider I've had no problems it used around 3GB of RAM for 9 very active players. It's been

alright for a whole month.

 

After migration to a real Linux Ubuntu VPS and using SteamCMD to setup a 7dtd dedicated server
Now it's 5GB RAM usage and server crashes on 3 players!

 

The server have abnormal RAM usage and crashed today not even a day uptime with less than 3 players.

 

Also gives nonsensical GPU errors that never happened at previous hosting provider.
Like this https://steamcommunity.com/app/251570/discussions/1/3196991412353907318/

 

Why SteamCMD 7dtd dedicated server setup is so horrible and what to do to make a stable 7DTD server again?

 

The map is just Navezgane from previous hosting provider and I have a feeling that this abnormal RAM consumption

happened even before I uploaded and loaded the map.

 

The modlets I use in the server do not have any serious affect to cause this and were on the previous hosting for a month without any problems.

Never reaching more than 4.1GB of RAM, ever, even with 9-10 players, all smoothly! 

 

### Noticed

Some observation:

I was in the server with two other players on a 5GB VPS 7dtd server.

After someone joined the server as a player the RAM went straight to the moon: +2GB RAM were occupied instantly. (Should have been ~100MB instead)

https://7dtd-community.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/monthly_2024_02/tttt.png.03550cc5326e9b4013c9b2d0421bfbab.png

 

After I disconnected as a player: the RAM were never deallocated.

I rejoied the server and server crashed, due to reaching maximum RAM available on the whole Virtual Private Server.

 

On the previous provider it was barely 100mb of RAM per player joined and I've red somewhere that it's normal amount,
in the current situation it seems that 7dtd overallocates memory and do not deallocate when a player leaves.
 

This is not singular case there are many reports and I find this all very strange, feels like very like a memory leak.

 

Edited February 16 by BoQsc (see edit history)

[SylenThunder]

15 hours ago, BoQsc said:

With the previous hosting provider I've had no problems it used around 3GB of RAM for 9 very active players. It's been alright for a whole month.

That is abnormally low RAM usage.

 

15 hours ago, BoQsc said:

Now it's 5GB RAM usage and server crashes on 3 players!

This seems a bit high for Vanilla, but depending on the world data and player activity it is not improbable. 

 

The Min spec is 8GB RAM. Recommended in 12-16GB.

 

15 hours ago, BoQsc said:

Also gives nonsensical GPU errors that never happened at previous hosting provider.
Like this https://steamcommunity.com/app/251570/discussions/1/3196991412353907318/

These have existed for years. If they never happened before, you either were not running a modern client version, or it was configured incorrectly. As noted in the thread you referenced, they can be ignored completely. This is simply filtering not being applied to the log output.

 

In any case, you failed to provide any really useful details on your setup. No logs are presented either. I would imagine the issue is more with your configuration than anything else. Again, your previous "experience" does not match with the way the server has been running for almost a decade. So either you were using a mod that applied additional log filtering, or you had a really strange setup. At one point you needed to allocate almost 1GB RAM for each additional player joining the server. It is much better now than it has ever been, but I have serious doubt that you actually had those numbers without using 3rd-Party tools or modifying client behavior.

 

And I'll be very clear on this. The dedicated server does run very stable. When it has the proper resources available to it, and you aren't exceeding known stable values.

 

Post your setup and logs. If you have logs from your previous configuration, that would be interesting to see and compare with.

Keep in mind that I am not some Fanboi towing the company line and spouting nonsense. I have been supporting and testing on a large variety of hardware configurations for over a decade just for this title alone. I have over 35 years of industry experience, and currently manage over 25 servers for a variety of different games.

I say this because what usually happens next is you posting that I am full of crap, and don't know any better. That you for sure are having this abnormally golden experience previously. I will take most of your previous statements with a grain of salt because there is no data provided to any of it.

 

Do the needful.

 

[BoQsc]

I'm back at the previous provider and I have various mods to increase zombies overall. The server kinda active as of recent and reached 6-7 players.

 

2024-02-17T22:34:51 40826.900 INF Time: 676.73m FPS: 19.29 Heap: 2416.0MB Max: 2725.3MB Chunks: 1323 CGO: 237 Ply: 6 Zom: 51 Ent: 80 (815) Items: 8 CO: 11 RSS: 4253.4MB

 

 

Here is latest log: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/publicdomain-nocopyright/7dtd-temporary-information/main/share/latest-log/server.stdout.log

 

I recommend searching for RSS and look around the Ply and Zom in the log.

 

 

I can try to send you in private the provider name as you think I'm some kind of sponsor, but I'm not, just interested why it works so well, is stable, low ram and without downsides to the gameplay in comparison to what SteamCMD provides.

 

And I think I can provide you even all the files of the server if you are interested in detecting some difference between latest SteamCMD setup and this. You just have to tell me where can I upload ~20GB somewhere to share it with you.

 

 

Update: after looking at the log and comparing to what the hosting provider shows, yeah it seems that the usual gpu errors appear to be filtered out.

 

Still unable to explain the stability and low RAM usage.

 

Edited February 18 by BoQsc (see edit history)