Cannot get Dedicated Server to start

[Drop Bear]

Hi all,

I used to run a dedicated server a few years ago for 7 Days to Die. I thought I would fire it up again to see what has changed and have some fun. I am hosting the server on a server PC at home. However I cannot get the server to start. I ran the steam CMD to update the game files and tried to run the server. The console popped up the green text for a second and it looked good, but then it vanished and the task manager shows nothing running. I figured that there must be some left over garbage from the old version, so I removed the entire folder and ran the steam CMD again and downloaded the entire dedicated server once more. Once that was done I edit the serverconfig.xml file and changed the name of the server and the the game name so they would be unique. When I launched the dedicated server again (using the startdedicated.bat file) same thing happened. I get first dos box appear saying that the server is starting and counting down. Then the second box appears and some green text pops up, and then vanishes. Nothing again the the task manager.

I did a screen grab as the text flew by and found it was using files in the C:\Users\Hosting\AppData\Roaming\7DaystoDie folder, so I thought maybe that had something to do with it, and removed that folder. Tried once more and same thing. The folder was recreated as expected, but the server still failed to start. The output of the log file is below. Not sure what to make of it. Any help would be appreciated.

I can't attach the log file to this post, and I can't paste it in as it's too long. Any idea what I should be looking for in the logs as to why it would fail?

This is the end of the log file

2021-12-26T16:05:20 2.129 INF Reloading serveradmin.xml
2021-12-26T16:05:20 2.130 INF Loading permissions file at 'C:\Users\Hosting\AppData\Roaming/7DaysToDie/Saves/serveradmin.xml'
2021-12-26T16:05:20 2.130 INF Loaded (local): rwgmixer
2021-12-26T16:05:20 2.131 INF Loading permissions file done.
2021-12-26T16:05:20 2.213 INF Loaded (local): archetypes
2021-12-26T16:05:20 2.217 INF Loaded (local): color_mappings
2021-12-26T16:05:20 2.219 INF Loaded (local): loadingscreen
2021-12-26T16:05:20 2.220 INF WorldStaticData.Init() needed 0.000s
2021-12-26T16:05:20 2.233 INF Started Telnet on 8081
2021-12-26T16:05:20 2.253 INF Awake done in 1652 ms
2021-12-26T16:05:20 2.274 INF Terminating threads
2021-12-26T16:05:20 2.275 INF Closing Terminal Window
2021-12-26T16:05:20 2.290 INF WinThread ended
2021-12-26T16:05:20 2.291 INF Ended Terminal Window
2021-12-26T16:05:20 2.293 INF OnApplicationQuit
2021-12-26T16:05:20 2.294 INF Terminating threads
2021-12-26T16:05:20 2.294 INF OnApplicationQuit
Setting up 4 worker threads for Enlighten.
  Thread -> id: 3278 -> priority: 1 
  Thread -> id: 471c -> priority: 1 
  Thread -> id: 2644 -> priority: 1 
  Thread -> id: 664 -> priority: 1 

[Drop Bear]

Hi again,

I have had another dig through the logs files and I am seeing these lines that make me think there is a problem with the install.

Fallback handler could not load library D:/GameServers/7DaysServer/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/EOSSDK-Win64-Shipping
Fallback handler could not load library D:/GameServers/7DaysServer/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/EOSSDK-Win64-Shipping.dll
Fallback handler could not load library D:/GameServers/7DaysServer/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/EOSSDK-Win64-Shipping
Fallback handler could not load library D:/GameServers/7DaysServer/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/libEOSSDK-Win64-Shipping
Fallback handler could not load library D:/GameServers/7DaysServer/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/libEOSSDK-Win64-Shipping.dll
Fallback handler could not load library D:/GameServers/7DaysServer/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/libEOSSDK-Win64-Shipping
Fallback handler could not load library D:/GameServers/7DaysServer/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/EOSSDK-Win64-Shipping
Fallback handler could not load library D:/GameServers/7DaysServer/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/EOSSDK-Win64-Shipping.dll
Fallback handler could not load library D:/GameServers/7DaysServer/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/EOSSDK-Win64-Shipping
Fallback handler could not load library D:/GameServers/7DaysServer/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/libEOSSDK-Win64-Shipping
Fallback handler could not load library D:/GameServers/7DaysServer/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/libEOSSDK-Win64-Shipping.dll
Fallback handler could not load library D:/GameServers/7DaysServer/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/libEOSSDK-Win64-Shipping
Fallback handler could not load library D:/GameServers/7DaysServer/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/EOSSDK-Win64-Shipping
Fallback handler could not load library D:/GameServers/7DaysServer/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/EOSSDK-Win64-Shipping.dll
Fallback handler could not load library D:/GameServers/7DaysServer/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/EOSSDK-Win64-Shipping
Fallback handler could not load library D:/GameServers/7DaysServer/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/libEOSSDK-Win64-Shipping
Fallback handler could not load library D:/GameServers/7DaysServer/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/libEOSSDK-Win64-Shipping.dll
Fallback handler could not load library D:/GameServers/7DaysServer/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/libEOSSDK-Win64-Shipping

Is this normal or would it be the reason that the server won't launch? If it is the problem, any ideas on how to fix it?

Thanks,

Drop Bear

[Drop Bear]

Hi again. I figured it out. It looks like there are new VC dependencies that aren't installed when only the dedicated server is installed. I had to install the game itself on the server and run that to get the requires prerequisite installs completed. After that the server worked OK. If anyone else has the same problem, that is the solution.

Cheers,

Drop Bear.

[Skullzbear]

Hi, so i need an extra copy of the game if i run the server on an extra account?

Cheers,

Skullzbear

[Drop Bear]

You do if you run on another account. My server isn't using another account. You can download and run the dedicated server anonymously. Google how to setup up your own 7 days server and you will find guides on installing SteamCMD and downloading the dedicated server files. From there it's pretty simple. The problem I had was some Visual C++ dependencies were missing. I only used my account on that PC to install the client to get those dependencies fixed.

[Slokav]

+1 to Drop Bear!
Had the exact same issue and found this while digging. Thank you for updating the solution!