[HELP] 1000 days dedicated server won't start after reboot.

[Spicy-Wolf]

While i was playing recently, the game became lagging. I opened the scoreboard (TAB) and see the game reported poor host performance. I am sure it was not hardware problem because we've been playing on the server (Google cloud VPS) for a long time, and my server hardware is kinda overkill for a DST server. I stopped my don't starve dedicated server, and tried hard rebooting my google cloud instance.

After the instance is back online and I ran my dst server again, it started and did it preparation (loading files, mods, etc...) up until certain point (server-log at the end of thread) then stop itself. Could anyone help me make any sense of the log, and help me save the server would be gods send.

I've been playing this server with my friends for 4 months and we built a massive mega base covering a third of the over world (huge world gen size). I really really do not want to lose it.  All of us are freaking out right now.

Below are the mods we are using, I've tried temporarily removed each and all of the mods then restart the server but the same problem persists.

Global Positions ,  Health Info ,  Extra Equip Slots ,  Increased Stack size ,  Wormhole Marks [DST] ,  Simple Health Bar DST

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[00:00:06]: Mod: workshop-1207269058 ( Simple Health Bar DST)	Loading modmain.lua	
[00:00:06]: Event data unavailable: lavaarena_event_server/lavaarena_achievement_quest_defs
[00:00:06]: LOADING LUA SUCCESS
[00:00:06]: Registering mod namespace "workshop-1207269058"
[00:00:06]: Registering mod namespace "workshop-378160973"
[00:00:06]: Registering mod namespace "showmehint"
[00:00:06]: PlayerDeaths could not load morgue	
[00:00:06]: PlayerHistory could not load player_history	
[00:00:06]: ServerPreferences could not load server_preferences	
[00:00:06]: bloom_enabled	false	
[00:00:06]: loaded saveindex	
[00:00:06]: OnFilesLoaded()	
[00:00:06]: OnUpdatePurchaseStateComplete	
[00:00:06]: [string "scripts/saveindex.lua"]:303: SaveIndex:GetSaveData: Encoded Savedata is empty on load [session/63CC82C87DB27D8E/0000000886]
LUA ERROR stack traceback:
=[C]:-1 in (global) assert (C) <-1--1>
scripts/saveindex.lua:303 in (upvalue) OnLoadSaveDataFile (Lua) <294-313>
   file = session/63CC82C87DB27D8E/0000000886
   cb = function - scripts/gamelogic.lua:906
   load_success = true
   str = 
scripts/saveindex.lua:317 in () ? (Lua) <316-318>
   load_success = true
   str = 
=[C]:-1 in (method) GetPersistentString (C) <-1--1>
scripts/saveindex.lua:316 in (method) GetSaveDataFile (Lua) <315-319>
   self =
      data = table: 0xcba28a0
      current_slot = 1
   file = session/63CC82C87DB27D8E/0000000886
   cb = function - scripts/gamelogic.lua:906
scripts/saveindex.lua:335 in (method) GetSaveData (Lua) <321-340>
   self =
      data = table: 0xcba28a0
      current_slot = 1
   slotnum = 1
   cb = function - scripts/gamelogic.lua:906
   file = session/63CC82C87DB27D8E/0000000886
scripts/gamelogic.lua:914 in (upvalue) DoLoadWorld (Lua) <905-915>
   saveslot = 1
   onload = function - scripts/gamelogic.lua:906
scripts/gamelogic.lua:957 in (upvalue) LoadSlot (Lua) <951-963>
   slot = 1
scripts/gamelogic.lua:1026 in (upvalue) DoResetAction (Lua) <974-1066>
scripts/gamelogic.lua:1076 in (local) complete_callback (Lua) <1068-1077>
scripts/upsell.lua:13 in (global) UpdateGamePurchasedState (Lua) <11-15>
   complete_callback = function - scripts/gamelogic.lua:1068
scripts/gamelogic.lua:1100 in (local) callback (Lua) <1079-1101>

[00:00:06]: [string "scripts/saveindex.lua"]:303: SaveIndex:GetSaveData: Encoded Savedata is empty on load [session/63CC82C87DB27D8E/0000000886]
LUA ERROR stack traceback:
    =[C]:-1 in (global) assert (C) <-1--1>
    scripts/saveindex.lua:303 in (upvalue) OnLoadSaveDataFile (Lua) <294-313>
    scripts/saveindex.lua:317 in () ? (Lua) <316-318>
    =[C]:-1 in (method) GetPersistentString (C) <-1--1>
    scripts/saveindex.lua:316 in (method) GetSaveDataFile (Lua) <315-319>
    scripts/saveindex.lua:335 in (method) GetSaveData (Lua) <321-340>
    scripts/gamelogic.lua:914 in (upvalue) DoLoadWorld (Lua) <905-915>
    scripts/gamelogic.lua:957 in (upvalue) LoadSlot (Lua) <951-963>
    scripts/gamelogic.lua:1026 in (upvalue) DoResetAction (Lua) <974-1066>
    scripts/gamelogic.lua:1076 in (local) complete_callback (Lua) <1068-1077>
    scripts/upsell.lua:13 in (global) UpdateGamePurchasedState (Lua) <11-15>
    scripts/gamelogic.lua:1100 in (local) callback (Lua) <1079-1101>
	
[00:00:06]: Check for write access: TRUE
[00:00:06]: Check for read access: TRUE
[00:00:06]: ModIndex: Load sequence finished successfully.	
[00:00:06]: Reset() returning
[00:00:06]: Warning: Widget:SetFocusFromChild is happening on a widget outside of the screen/widget hierachy. This will cause focus moves to fail. Is 	ScriptErrorWidget	not a screen?	
[00:00:06]: stack traceback:
	scripts/widgets/widget.lua:605 in (method) SetFocusFromChild (Lua) <602-627>
	scripts/widgets/widget.lua:624 in (method) SetFocusFromChild (Lua) <602-627>
	scripts/widgets/widget.lua:624 in (method) SetFocusFromChild (Lua) <602-627>
	scripts/widgets/widget.lua:656 in (method) SetFocus (Lua) <629-665>
	scripts/widgets/menu.lua:83 in (method) SetFocus (Lua) <74-85>
	scripts/widgets/scripterrorwidget.lua:109 in (method) OnUpdate (Lua) <102-119>
	scripts/update.lua:90 in () ? (Lua) <33-129>	

 

[Spicy-Wolf]

The problem was solved. According to the below line in the server-log, it seems my lasted save (before i attempted to reboot the server) somehow created an empty save file in the session folder (886). After i manually deleted the 886 file, the server load the 885 save file and run just fine.

[00:00:06]: [string "scripts/saveindex.lua"]:303: SaveIndex:GetSaveData: Encoded Savedata is empty on load [session/63CC82C87DB27D8E/0000000886]

Although the problem is solved while the thread hasn't even been approved by mods, please keep this one. I had been looking up the problem on Klei and Steam forum for half a day before couldn't find any thread with this problem. This thread might be of use to someone else in the future.

[I Heart Popcorn]

Pro tip:  backup your server files on a regular basis.