Dedicated Server on Linux via Docker

[Manu]

Hey everyone,

I just built a docker image that allows you to run an ARK: Survival Ascended dedicated server on a Linux VPS in the Cloud.

In case you are a Linux administrator and want to run your own server without going through setting up Wine or Proton, feel free to pull my docker image and have a look at the README of my GitHub repository:

https://github.com/mschnitzer/ark-survival-ascended-linux-container-image

If you need help, feel free to create an issue on GitHub or ask here.

[Goddamn Lethal]

ok ty

[Goddamn Lethal]

any idea for the gameusersetting problem?

[> GayCookie 🌈]

Finally a discussion/topic on ARK: SA that has some IQ and is not just a brain fart about how trash the game is!

[BumpInTheNight]

Darn, same behavior as last server attempt.
I can see the server listed in the client server browser, I attempt to connect and it sits there before timing out after 30 seconds or so. But if I use the console open and reference the host's LAN IP and the right port I connect no problem.

Originally posted by Manuel:

Nevertheless, could please do me a favor an compare the IP address the container is using to communicate with external services by following these steps?

1. Connect to the container using `docker exec -ti -u root asa-server bash` (`-u root` is important)
2. Run `zypper --no-gpg-checks ref`
3. Install curl `zypper in -y curl`
4. Run `curl icanhazip.com`

(icanhazip.com just reports what IP address is being used for external communication)

Please let me know whether that is the address you are using in `open` as well.

For me that outputs my WAN IP of the router.

[BumpInTheNight]

Wait I did find a little improvement after rechecking my router: It only forwarding TCP on port 7777, I switched it to allow both TCP and UDP and now I get that funny long error associated with time zone deltas immediately when connecting, I think that's progress for me.

So my god, it was a forwarding rule for port 7777 that was different then all the others and I didn't notice that.

Now to trouble shoot this mess of an error:

UNETConnection::Tick: Connection TIMED OUT. Closing connection..Elapsed: 2.02, Real: 2.02, Good: 2.02, DriverTime: 2.03, Threshold: 2.00, [UNetConnection] RemoteAddr: (MY WAN IP):7777, Name: EOSIpNetConnection_2147480093,Driver. PendingNetDriver EOSNetDriver_2147480094, IsServer. NO, PC: NULL, Owner: NULL, UniqueId: INVALID

I'll be back in a while though, been ignoring other stuff I gotta do too much.

[Goddamn Lethal]

i had an answer for that try without battleeye worked for me now i can join with browser

[BumpInTheNight]

Added -NoBattlEye to the start-parameters but still no joy.
Reading up on that error it seems to be heavily related to Ark's time zone enforcement for joining servers. When the container comes up its in UTC (I'm in EST), it has the correct time delta between the two zones.

I tried a few things in the docker compose .yml but all I've been able to accomplish is to make the container think its in "America" time zone but it keeps the UTC's original time of day, ie for me right now it will show as America at 19:42, where its really 3:43pm.

As before I can still successfully open the client console and 'open (local host IP):7777' and join it no problem.

I guess this is a little better then silent time outs still.

[BumpInTheNight]

So I tried the VPN again on my desktop, I connected to a local spot in the same time zone and I can reach my server through the client server browser interface. I don't get it, I can power up a win10 host using the same local IP and reach it no problem, but I can't reach the Ubuntu 22.04 hosted container unless I'm running through a VPN?

[Sidrus]

Originally posted by ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Lethal:

any idea for the gameusersetting problem?

I've not had any issue updating my GUS with values that are then reflected in the game. The only thing I had an issue with was the MaxPlayers setting, but that's because it's being overwritten by the start-parameters file.

:(

[Manu]

Let me build a test container image for you to see whether it addresses this issue. Bumping this thread once done. ~20-30 mins

[Manu]

Originally posted by Sidrus:

Originally posted by ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Lethal:

any idea for the gameusersetting problem?

I've not had any issue updating my GUS with values that are then reflected in the game. The only thing I had an issue with was the MaxPlayers setting, but that's because it's being overwritten by the start-parameters file.

:(

MaxPlayers is deprecated and not working in ASA. Use -WinLiveMaxPlayers as described here:

https://github.com/mschnitzer/ark-survival-ascended-linux-container-image#7-changing-the-start-parameters-and-the-player-limit

[Sidrus]

Originally posted by Manuel:

MaxPlayers is deprecated and not working in ASA. Use -WinLiveMaxPlayers as described here:

https://github.com/mschnitzer/ark-survival-ascended-linux-container-image#7-changing-the-start-parameters-and-the-player-limit

Yeah, I got it working after I RTFM. I didn't realize it was deprecated in GUS. Good to know! Thanks for putting this together, btw.

[Manu]

Originally posted by BumpInTheNight:

So I tried the VPN again on my desktop, I connected to a local spot in the same time zone and I can reach my server through the client server browser interface. I don't get it, I can power up a win10 host using the same local IP and reach it no problem, but I can't reach the Ubuntu 22.04 hosted container unless I'm running through a VPN?

I built a docker image for you to test. Please follow these steps:

Open up your docker-compose.yml and replace:

image: "mschnitzer/asa-linux-server"

with:

image: "mschnitzer/asa-linux-server:timezone-test"

Once that is done, run "docker-compose up -d" und it will pull this image and starts the container.

Let's see whether it fixes it.

Additionally you can check the timezone inside the container by running:
docker exec asa-server date

[BumpInTheNight]

Originally posted by Manuel:

Let me build a test container image for you to see whether it addresses this issue. Bumping this thread once done. ~20-30 mins

I appreciate it, btw I was playing around with the VPN origins a bit and even from France I was fine, its only when I go far far like Malaysia the ark client picks up on that and won't let me even see my own server.

[Manu]

Originally posted by BumpInTheNight:

Originally posted by Manuel:

Let me build a test container image for you to see whether it addresses this issue. Bumping this thread once done. ~20-30 mins

I appreciate it, btw I was playing around with the VPN origins a bit and even from France I was fine, its only when I go far far like Malaysia the ark client picks up on that and won't let me even see my own server.

Probably they want to promote only servers close (relatively speaking) to you.