Though I do like the current Server Monitor / Dedicated Server GUI, I have some suggestions for its improvement and will provide the reasoning for it.
- Console version, essentially, I would like to be able to use a non-GUI version or simple console version of the Dedicated Server, I see little to no need to have a monitor running such as this one, especially not one that requires graphics capabilities and a noticeable amount of system resources, just to launch the server. A Dedicated Server should surely be minimalist, and provide resources to the processes of managing the connections and data, rather than using some of the system to simply monitor the server in a highly user-friendly way. Basically, system resources priorities seem out of order, user-friendly is fine, but surely the user-friendly way should be via the multiplayer in-game menus. Moreover, keeping in mind that the majority if not all server hosts, are seeking to run systems without graphics capabilities, rather, server resources dedicated to server programs, in environments not often suited to a graphically dependent server interface.
- The current GUI, does little more than provide an on/off switch, and show players connecting / disconnecting, and chat in-game. Though these features are fine, and I understand it is an early version, it is found vastly lacking in things that should really be there, noticeably - there is no total online players count to be seen, making it very hard and awkward to actually monitor online player activity (only in-game chat really) and there is no network usage indication to be seen, so I can't monitor that with the app either! These things are far more important to me in a dedicated server program, than it being graphically pleasing. Further, these are the things I would actually like to monitor! I would be just fine with black and white with text on status, such as the above mentioned console version. I would like to monitor server events, things happening behind the scenes on the server that are relevant, and for example, when someone dies or re-spawns, the in-game time, any errors etc as well. It could vastly help development in narrowing down bugs and issues as well, if the server informs the host of what it is actually doing, what it is loading, what it is processing and what it tries but fails to do, where applicable etc etc.
- Server variables / settings, I would love to see the ability to send the above mentioned console version, server variables and settings for the world on launch, or while it is online, things like max players, server name, descriptions, server websites or banner support etc etc, there is many examples of this on other games that can be found. The below console example uses a batch file to launch the server with the predetermined settings to be applied.
- Separate server executable / process, I would like to see a separate program being used for the dedicated server, rather than having the Ylands.exe in use by the server, as it currently means that a Dedicated Server, and Game Client cannot be ran on the same machine. I think I've not had this issue with any other server / client combination, indeed the majority of the time, I test dedicated servers / clients locally on the same machine, prior to moving them over to a host, and in this instance it caused me a day or so's grief in isolating where I was going wrong with the server setup. Thus it would seem logical to have a Game executable and a Server executable and avoid these issues entirely.
- Server output, I would love to be able to fetch the online count for the server, in-game chat messages, and / or anything else of value, to be able to display this information on a website or web application etc. This would be highly beneficial in the days to come for server hosts.
Here is an example of another Dedicated Server that I use via Steam, worth taking note is how simplistic it is, yet how efficient and also that it provides the information required for a server host, and has the capabilities as mentioned above -
@Aleš Ulm
Though I do like the current Server Monitor / Dedicated Server GUI, I have some suggestions for its improvement and will provide the reasoning for it.
- Console version, essentially, I would like to be able to use a non-GUI version or simple console version of the Dedicated Server, I see little to no need to have a monitor running such as this one, especially not one that requires graphics capabilities and a noticeable amount of system resources, just to launch the server. A Dedicated Server should surely be minimalist, and provide resources to the processes of managing the connections and data, rather than using some of the system to simply monitor the server in a highly user-friendly way. Basically, system resources priorities seem out of order, user-friendly is fine, but surely the user-friendly way should be via the multiplayer in-game menus. Moreover, keeping in mind that the majority if not all server hosts, are seeking to run systems without graphics capabilities, rather, server resources dedicated to server programs, in environments not often suited to a graphically dependent server interface.
- The current GUI, does little more than provide an on/off switch, and show players connecting / disconnecting, and chat in-game. Though these features are fine, and I understand it is an early version, it is found vastly lacking in things that should really be there, noticeably - there is no total online players count to be seen, making it very hard and awkward to actually monitor online player activity (only in-game chat really) and there is no network usage indication to be seen, so I can't monitor that with the app either! These things are far more important to me in a dedicated server program, than it being graphically pleasing. Further, these are the things I would actually like to monitor! I would be just fine with black and white with text on status, such as the above mentioned console version. I would like to monitor server events, things happening behind the scenes on the server that are relevant, and for example, when someone dies or re-spawns, the in-game time, any errors etc as well. It could vastly help development in narrowing down bugs and issues as well, if the server informs the host of what it is actually doing, what it is loading, what it is processing and what it tries but fails to do, where applicable etc etc.
- Server variables / settings, I would love to see the ability to send the above mentioned console version, server variables and settings for the world on launch, or while it is online, things like max players, server name, descriptions, server websites or banner support etc etc, there is many examples of this on other games that can be found. The below console example uses a batch file to launch the server with the predetermined settings to be applied.
- Separate server executable / process, I would like to see a separate program being used for the dedicated server, rather than having the Ylands.exe in use by the server, as it currently means that a Dedicated Server, and Game Client cannot be ran on the same machine. I think I've not had this issue with any other server / client combination, indeed the majority of the time, I test dedicated servers / clients locally on the same machine, prior to moving them over to a host, and in this instance it caused me a day or so's grief in isolating where I was going wrong with the server setup. Thus it would seem logical to have a Game executable and a Server executable and avoid these issues entirely.
- Server output, I would love to be able to fetch the online count for the server, in-game chat messages, and / or anything else of value, to be able to display this information on a website or web application etc. This would be highly beneficial in the days to come for server hosts.
Here is an example of another Dedicated Server that I use via Steam, worth taking note is how simplistic it is, yet how efficient and also that it provides the information required for a server host, and has the capabilities as mentioned above -
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