Multiplayer Dedicated Server Hosting

[Malkere]

Dedicated servers are still very much a work in progress, though I have been successfully running a dedicated server on an Amazon EC2 instance for about a month now.

This process will be migrated to the official Steam Dedicated Server system when things are working better. For now, to download the dedicated server files you only need to opt into the "betamp" beta. This will install the dedicated server files in place of the normal Solace Crafting.exe. You can then copy the Solace Crafting folder (with the dedicated server files) out to somewhere else and opt back in to "beta" to reinstall the beta client.

By default the dedicated server uses the save game folder "MultiplayerWorld". If there is no save named "MultiplayerWorld" it will create a new one with the default settings. In other words, you can start the normal client up, fine tune the settings of a new world to your liking, save it as whatever, exit the client, and rename the world folder to "MultiplayerWorld" and the dedicated server will make use of it.

World save files are located at:
C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\LocalLow\Big Kitty Games\Solace Crafting\Worlds

The servercfg.dat file is what the server will load for server specific settings. If the game has been launched at least once, the file can be located by default at:
C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\LocalLow\Big Kitty Games\Solace Crafting

Or you can place one there yourself. It should look like this:

{
"name": "Malkere's Home Server",
"description": "A most fancy server",
"port": 27015,
"steamQueryPort": 27016,
"isPrivate": false,
"password": "",
"maxPlayers": 12,
"allowAdmin": false,
"adminPassword": "password",
"allowModerator": false,
"moderatorPassword": "password",
"worldSaveToUse": "MultiplayerWorld"
}

This is a format known as JSON. If any of the quotes, colons, or commas are misplaced the file will become unreadable.

Currently the following settings are not yet enabled:
password
allowAdmin
adminPassword
allowModerator
moderatorPassword

The port will decide which port users will use to connect to your server, the default being
27015 (TCP)
There is also a port that Steam will use for queries to your server on
27016 (UDP)
Both ports you specify need to be forwarded on your router, and opened in your firewall/security systems. Each router is different, but searching on Google you should be able to find a walkthrough of how to forward a port on your router if you don't know how.

When you start the server it should go through the loading process during which you should see "Steam Client Started" after a few seconds, and then "<Your server name> started" after the game loads. If the Steam Client does not start this means you are not connected to Steam. If the server is unable to start it is most likely a port issue. If all goes well you should be able to see your server on the Steam Solace Crafting internet server list after a few seconds.

(updated June 19th, 2019)

[Tarc Novar]

Hi there, just looking for an update on the Steam dedicated server. What news do you have on this?

[Malkere]

There is currently the dedicated server branch which downloads and installs to the local game directory the dedicated server files. Or the betamp branch which is the beta dedicated server files. I do not yet have a Steam dedicated server uploaded, though I do have the permissions etc., setup to do so. There was a problem with the current build that requires Steam to be logged in to host, which is unacceptable for true dedicated server. Today's patch fixes that, with an updated Steamworks wrapper. I will look into uploaded and turning on the Steam dedicated server files. I think I just have to upload it.

[Tarc Novar]

Originally posted by Malkere:

There is currently the dedicated server branch which downloads and installs to the local game directory the dedicated server files. Or the betamp branch which is the beta dedicated server files. I do not yet have a Steam dedicated server uploaded, though I do have the permissions etc., setup to do so. There was a problem with the current build that requires Steam to be logged in to host, which is unacceptable for true dedicated server. Today's patch fixes that, with an updated Steamworks wrapper. I will look into uploaded and turning on the Steam dedicated server files. I think I just have to upload it.

Thank you very much!

[Fleche]

I loaded up the dedicated server on a second system and got it running. It shows up in the list and is running. However, when I try to join, it goes through the load and then drop me back to the Solace game select page.

Any ideas or is there a debug/log?

[Malkere]

Sorry for the slow reply. There are debug logs at:
C:\Users\YOU\AppData\LocalLow\Big Kitty Games\Solace Crafting\output_log.txt
The server should also print something to the console. Most likely it's either a port problem, but it's hard to say without looking at it.
If you see on the server that someone is connecting but then being kicked, there should be a reason given such as they're not connected to Steam but you are requiring them to (in the server settings file). If there is no notification of someone even trying to connect on the server then it's just not even getting to the game itself. That would indicate firewall, security, port problems, etc.

[Fleche]

It started working with the last update.

Any idea on when there will be an actual server install/download option? I can't use "steamcmd +login anonymous +force_install_dir "C:\Solace Crafting" +app_update 670260 +quit" since that's the main game and it requires an account.

Getting this error. May wipe the world and restart it. Once I get this one fixed I'll leave the server up for an East coast option.

-------------------------------------------------------
Requesting world data save

(Filename: C:\buildslave\unity\build\Runtime/Export/Debug.bindings.h Line: 45)

Out of order WorldData save attempt detected. Cancelling save to preserve data. Suggest restart.

(Filename: C:\buildslave\unity\build\Runtime/Export/Debug.bindings.h Line: 45)

[Malkere]

I have submitted the latest Win64 & Linux64 dedicated server builds to Steam for approval of official dedicated server public release.

[Fleche]

Nice!

[Fenrisulfr72]

i want to play this game privat with my wife, will there be an option for password when the steam server build is up?
Loved the game and have put a few hours into it, now i just wait for a privat server option :)

[Malkere]

Will definitely be adding passwords at some point. For now, you can make the server private so that it does not publish to the Steam server list, and then pass your wife the IP and port, she should be able to connect to it as normal.

[Fenrisulfr72]

ok, thanks for the replay, no idea how i do anything of this but guess i will figure it out eventualy, is the server setup on this post still the only way to do it ? cant seem to find any dedicated server to just download in the download manager as is with alot of other game servers on steam.

[Fenrisulfr72]

Well i got the server up and running and i can join it using my local ip, but i cant get my wife to join, with either local ip or the ip the server tells me is the ip to use, any advice? her game starts to load but there is no world loading it just goes back to login screen.

[Fenrisulfr72]

When i turn off the game but the dedicated server is still running, i get game music is running as long as the server is running,and when i have the game and server on and is in the game i hear music from server and game, kinda annoying :) this i have never experienced with any other games, any way to turn that off ?

[Fleche]

Originally posted by Fenrisulfr:

Well i got the server up and running and i can join it using my local ip, but i cant get my wife to join, with either local ip or the ip the server tells me is the ip to use, any advice? her game starts to load but there is no world loading it just goes back to login screen.

I had that for a while too. I wiped all of SC (including the directories in USER) and reinstalled and it worked.
If you are running a dedicated on the same machine as your play system, the routing will get confused and it probably won't work.
IF running a dedicated game on a dedicated machine, I had better luck with the install using STEAMCMD and a .Bat.

@echo off
C:
cd\
cd steamcmd
steamcmd +login YOURSTEAMID +force_install_dir "C:\Solace Crafting" +app_update 670260 -beta betamp +quit
pause

[Fleche]

Originally posted by Fenrisulfr:

When i turn off the game but the dedicated server is still running, i get game music is running as long as the server is running,and when i have the game and server on and is in the game i hear music from server and game, kinda annoying :) this i have never experienced with any other games, any way to turn that off ?

Currently just use the sound mixer.
The dedicated server is just a hidden player and no input game. Hopefully it'll get a config file or screen and console at some point.