[OBSOLETE] How to: the dedicated servers

[Ane 1213]

Hi!

There are a couple of things you should know about the dedicated servers, so, without further ado...

When it comes to dedicated server, we need to set up proper terminology:

• Dedicated server: An instance of Ylands running in no-graphics mode (i.e. users should see this instance only if they look for it in Task Manager). This is the instance that players will see in their server lists after a game has been hosted on the server.
• Server monitor: A standalone application used to control and monitor the dedicated server. A dedicated server is run and maintained through this application.

 

In the Server monitor, users are able to do the following:

• Watch server status (running/stopped)
• Control the server (start/restart/stop)
• Host a game instance on selected server (start a new scenario/load an existing save).
• Change game parameters (max number of players, server password...)
• Use a server console with admin privileges:
  • Kick and ban players, promote/demote them (to make them admins or to take that privilege away from them).
• Watch and log whatever is happening in the console/chat (to see what players are talking about or whether they are saying some profanities and/or griefing).

How to use Server Monitor:
To launch Server Monitor, you have to run Ylands Launcher with "–servermonitor" (two dashes) parameter. Then, upon clicking Play, the launcher will run a Server Monitor instance instead of the game. The launcher step is necessary as it is the only way to renew player's access token.

To create a new dedicated server, click New just under the Servers dropdown. Remote port is used for communication between the dedicated server and players, local port is used for communication between the dedicated server and the server monitor instance. All servers are saved into a file that can be found in Documents\Ylands\ServerMonitor\Servers.

Once you hit Start button, the server monitor will silently launch a -nographics -batchmode instance of Ylands that, after being loaded, is set to communicate with the server monitor instance. The game then sends a list of scenarios and saves available to start.

To host a game, select a scenario and, if you want, a save from the Host a game menu. After an information about the played scenario and maximum number of players appears in the server console, the server is ready for players. Selecting a new Create scenario will make new UI fields for Create mode settings appear.

Server console displays everything that happens in console in the game. It also saves all logs into a file that can be found in Documents\Ylands\ServerMonitor\ServerLogs. The input field under the server console can be used to send messages (notifications) to players, as well as execute all commands that can be normally executed while in-game.

Promoting a player puts him into admin role, allowing him to use restricted commands (such as /kick, /ban, /additem etc.). Demoting does the opposite - puts an admin into the normal user role. Banning a player kicks them and adds a line "PlayerName (Bohemia ID)" into Documents\Ylands\banlist.txt. To unban a player, an admin has to manually remove the player's line from the file.

Also, note that when the Server Monitor application is shut down, all Ylands instances launched through it will be automatically shut down as well (unless the application is quit in an abnormal way, in which case there might be some Ylands.exe processes left hanging).

If you want to post logs in case something goes wrong:
 
1/ The game log is in Ylands_Data\output_log.txt. That goes both for games running with visible window or for dedicated server.
2/ The server monitor log is ServerMonitor_Data\output_log.txt

Also note that multiple Ylands instances ran from the same directory (ie the basic installation) write to the same log file, making that log useless. For that reason, please avoid running multiple Yland games from the basic installation on the same machine at once if you then want to post logs. 
Also, sometimes the dedicated server stops working when being run on the same PC as another Ylands instance. We're currently looking into that issue.

 

And that should be all!

Ane

[LudicrousReaper 0]

Awesome update ! however could you explain a bit more on the steps needed to host a server? are there specific ports we need, if so can you list them? I've run thru the process with effectively a made up set for the local and remote ports since i dont know what to use and my server doesnt show up in the list when i run Ylands, also as far as running thee "--servermonitor" where would we put that inside the launcher? I used steams "set launch properties" to get this step, I'm not sure if that might cause an issue, thanks for any information. 

[Black Marx 12]

@LudicrousReaper if you find your Ylands folder in your computer, you have to do that:

Ylands --> Game --> ServerMonitor

that's it

[Ane 1213]

On 2/11/2017 at 0:29 AM, LudicrousReaper said:

Awesome update ! however could you explain a bit more on the steps needed to host a server? are there specific ports we need, if so can you list them? I've run thru the process with effectively a made up set for the local and remote ports since i dont know what to use and my server doesnt show up in the list when i run Ylands, also as far as running thee "--servermonitor" where would we put that inside the launcher? I used steams "set launch properties" to get this step, I'm not sure if that might cause an issue, thanks for any information. 

You need to add the "––servermonitor" parameter in the launcher (since we are not on Steam yet) - if you right click on the Ylands shortcut and open Properties, you will see this:

You need to add the parameter in the field "Target" (without deleting what's already written there).

As for the ports, it doesn't have to be any specific port, as long as it's a free port, it's fine. It should probably be something between 1000 and 65535. 

[No-Half-Measures 16]

Do you plan on supporting linux for dedicated servers?

[Ane 1213]

19 hours ago, nohalfmeasures said:

Do you plan on supporting linux for dedicated servers?

We are looking into it and we'd like to include it in our plans - for now we are checking how doable this could be. We'll let you know once we have more info  

[YellerBelly 0]

Not sure what I'm doing wrong. In servermonitor I selected new game. After hitting OK, console displays and log records "Starting server...". Doesn't seem to go online. I noted that Ylands opened all ports to itself in firewall settings. I additionally opened local and remote TCP ports. Running on Windows Server 2012 R2.

[Berzeger 68]

Hi, sorry for the inconvenience. We managed to pinpoint the issue and it should be resolved in the upcoming update.

[YellerBelly 0]

Fantastic! Thank you.

[Keith Malcomson 0]

Hi guys, So i setup the server monitor and it says running and then when i try and start the game i can hear the music but i get a blank screen?

I am running the game and server on same PC.

Any ideas?

 

Thanks

[Berzeger 68]

Hi, can you describe precisely what you run and when? Also could you send us your logs from both Server Monitor and Ylands (both can be found in your Ylands installation dir - ServerMonitor_Data\output_log.txt and Ylands_Data\output_log.txt)? That'd help us a lot. Thanks!

[octanen 0]

Hi @Berzeger well I ran into the same issue, so thought I would post both logs here

Seems to me like the Client, just registers that "Woops Dedicated is running I do the same then" My programming understanding is limited, but at least thats how I understand it anyways.
So me and the guys and gals are gonna stick to "hosting" it through ingame for now  Output logs renamed and attached to this post.

Hope you guys get it sorted out, and... thanks for a truely amazing game so far!

Server_Monitor_output_log.txt

Ylands_Data_output_log.txt

[WijkagentAdrie 384]

I've hosted a dedicated server on a VPS. When connecting to it (from the same account) It keeps hanging on Recalling buildings 100%, both when I use a new map or a map I already played on singleplayer. The map type is "Explore", if I use any of the premade other maps the server won't even show up in the serverlist somehow.

I'm running Windows Server 2012 R2.

Attached are both output logs from the server and client side

EDIT: Tried the "Create" map, it did show in the list like the explore maps do but it didn't get anywhere past "Recalling buildings" either.

 

I've tried to test the dedicated server from my own machine as well, but when I launch the game it will stay black but the sound will play.

CLIENT output_log ServerMonitor_Data.txt

CLIENT output_log Ylands_Data.txt

SERVER output_log ServerMonitor_Data.txt

SERVER output_log Ylands_Data.txt

Edited May 29, 2017 by WijkagentAdrie

[John - NEXFER 111]

2 hours ago, WijkagentAdrie said:

I've hosted a dedicated server on a VPS. When connecting to it (from the same account) It keeps hanging on Recalling buildings 100%, both when I use a new map or a map I already played on singleplayer. The map type is "Explore", if I use any of the premade other maps the server won't even show up in the serverlist somehow.

I'm running Windows Server 2012 R2.

Attached are both output logs from the server and client side

EDIT: Tried the "Create" map, it did show in the list like the explore maps do but it didn't get anywhere past "Recalling buildings" either.

 

I've tried to test the dedicated server from my own machine as well, but when I launch the game it will stay black but the sound will play.

CLIENT output_log ServerMonitor_Data.txt

CLIENT output_log Ylands_Data.txt

SERVER output_log ServerMonitor_Data.txt

SERVER output_log Ylands_Data.txt

Hi there,

I've encountered this same issue and got a response already over on THIS thread.

They reckon it should be fixed in the upcoming 0.4 update, fingers crossed.

[WijkagentAdrie 384]

9 hours ago, hermetics said:

Hi there,

I've encountered this same issue and got a response already over on THIS thread.

They reckon it should be fixed in the upcoming 0.4 update, fingers crossed.

Thanks for pointing out, I completely missed it! Can't wait to finally have a go at multiplayer  

[Shylar 0]

Hello! I just launch my dedicated server in order to play with a friend.

How is he supposed to join me? By the ingame server browser? Seems a bit impossible until the list is fixed.

[ghetta82 0]

Hi, i just launch the Server Monitor, but after i start server remain stuck on "Starting" without do something. What did i do wrong?

[poopgirl 0]

Hello!! I seem to be having a bit of an issue. If I run server monitor first, it starts up fine and is able to run, but my game doesn't load. When I start it up the screen is black and never loads. When I run the game first, it starts up fine but when I go to start my server it gets stuck in "starting". It seems like the above person is having a similar issue as well.

[John - NEXFER 111]

12 hours ago, poopgirl said:

Hello!! I seem to be having a bit of an issue. If I run server monitor first, it starts up fine and is able to run, but my game doesn't load. When I start it up the screen is black and never loads. When I run the game first, it starts up fine but when I go to start my server it gets stuck in "starting". It seems like the above person is having a similar issue as well.

Hi there, yes at the moment, it seems impossible to host a dedicated server and play the game on that same machine, as they are both using the Ylands.exe for server / game.

If you are hosting from your game machine, the only current way is via the in-game multiplayer options - though the server will shutdown when you exit game.

They may change this at some point, I'd guess when it hits Steam, but I don't know.

At the moment at least, the dedicated server requires a separate machine to host from, a VPS, Dedicated Server or your own second PC / Laptop.

If you try to run them both on the same machine, you will encounter the black screen with sound only. I have no idea if this is intentional or a bug though.

[Maihopawango 0]

I cant start the ServerMonitor on my root. D:

[Berzeger 68]

Hi, can you send us your dxdiag, please? Thanks!

[Maihopawango 0]

Sure.

DxDiag.txt

[Berzeger 68]

Thanks! First of all, you shouldn't be running ServerMonitor.exe directly, it is launched via Launcher with --servermonitor parameter. Also, is that a virtual PC? You'll need to enable 3D graphics support/3D acceleration somewhere in GFX settings, if that is possible in the software that you're using. That should solve this issue. Please let us know if you need further help.

[Maihopawango 0]

I'am using Proxmox and tryed to use SPICE (qxl), but that doesnt work aswell. 

Edited June 19, 2017 by Maihopawango

[Berzeger 68]

I'm very sorry for the issue. That's a mistake on our part - the Server Monitor application should not need Direct3D in order to properly run. We'll try to fix it in the next update.