What makes a dedicated server better?

[Banbo]

Hello beautiful people!

I was thinking, what is necessary and what make a dedicated server better? More ram? A better CPU? A Better GPU? A better internet(upload or download speed)? Nothing, just a simple notebook? 

There is something that is so important to a dedicated server that you could increase in you pc to make your server better or able to have more players?

I know how to setup a dedicated server, but i don't understand a lot about it.

Someone could  help-me priss :)?

[dread3ddie]

This is what I learned so far about dedicated servers. Some things might be off, so if anyone knows it better please do point it out. 

Rule of thumb is to have an actual dedicated machine for the server. If you play in the same computer as the server, your game client will end up “fighting” your server for resources eventually.

CPU

A regular world consists of two shards: Forest + Caves. The shards themselves won’t multithread, so having many CPU cores won’t matter. It’s best to have better CPU power per core, and one CPU core available for each shard (usually 2).

If you’re playing on the same computer as the server, obviusly you’ll need more processing power for the game client. 

RAM

At the very least 1Gb per shard in an early world. The amount should grow with the number of users and “world age” (how many days have passed). 

Think that 2Gb per shard is a decent amount generally, not sure if the usage would go way above that. 

Network

Yes, that’s super important. The lower the ping the better the player experience. To have a good and stable connection is a must. 

If you have players from different locations, you should consider a cloud VPS that is “central” to most people. 

Also you may tweak the tick_rate option in your cluster.ini (or server.ini). By increasing its value the users will experience a smoother gameplay. HOWEVER do bear in mind that this increases network traffic considerably, escalating with the more players you have. 

SSD

I believe the only performance gain on an SSD over a HDD would be when starting up the server and the daily autosave. Might be worth it if the users experience lag every new day when the game saves. 

GPU

Shouldn’t matter for the server as there’s no rendering on that part; matters only for the game client. 

[Daniel86268]

Pretty much exactly what machete_kills said.

I'd also like to add that it always also depends on your OS. Windows generally needs more RAM than Linux, and doesn't run as well as Linux in these applications. I'd say calculate at least one more gb of RAM on Windows than on Linux. Also you might need a bit more powerful CPU for the same Performance on Windows as on Linux.

Leave the GUI away if you decide to run a Linux Server and if you know how to use Bash. That saves you a few more hundred of megabytes RAM and leaves your Gameserver more CPU time.

Also I would recommend against messing with the tickrate, unless everyone on the server is sitting right next to the server in the same Network. Otherwise you'd never feel a difference anyways. Lowering the tickrate usually worsens the performance as well, since the default actually uses just that bit of bandwidth, that even people with really crappy internet feel a worse performance on lower tickrates.

[Banbo]

On 11/23/2017 at 8:28 AM, machete_kills said:

This is what I learned so far about dedicated servers. Some things might be off, so if anyone knows it better please do point it out. 

Rule of thumb is to have an actual dedicated machine for the server. If you play in the same computer as the server, your game client will end up “fighting” your server for resources eventually.

CPU

A regular world consists of two shards: Forest + Caves. The shards themselves won’t multithread, so having many CPU cores won’t matter. It’s best to have better CPU power per core, and one CPU core available for each shard (usually 2).

If you’re playing on the same computer as the server, obviusly you’ll need more processing power for the game client. 

RAM

At the very least 1Gb per shard in an early world. The amount should grow with the number of users and “world age” (how many days have passed). 

Think that 2Gb per shard is a decent amount generally, not sure if the usage would go way above that. 

Network

Yes, that’s super important. The lower the ping the better the player experience. To have a good and stable connection is a must. 

If you have players from different locations, you should consider a cloud VPS that is “central” to most people. 

Also you may tweak the tick_rate option in your cluster.ini (or server.ini). By increasing its value the users will experience a smoother gameplay. HOWEVER do bear in mind that this increases network traffic considerably, escalating with the more players you have. 

SSD

I believe the only performance gain on an SSD over a HDD would be when starting up the server and the daily autosave. Might be worth it if the users experience lag every new day when the game saves. 

GPU

Shouldn’t matter for the server as there’s no rendering on that part; matters only for the game client. 

 

On 11/23/2017 at 7:10 PM, Daniel86268 said:

Pretty much exactly what machete_kills said.

I'd also like to add that it always also depends on your OS. Windows generally needs more RAM than Linux, and doesn't run as well as Linux in these applications. I'd say calculate at least one more gb of RAM on Windows than on Linux. Also you might need a bit more powerful CPU for the same Performance on Windows as on Linux.

Leave the GUI away if you decide to run a Linux Server and if you know how to use Bash. That saves you a few more hundred of megabytes RAM and leaves your Gameserver more CPU time.

Also I would recommend against messing with the tickrate, unless everyone on the server is sitting right next to the server in the same Network. Otherwise you'd never feel a difference anyways. Lowering the tickrate usually worsens the performance as well, since the default actually uses just that bit of bandwidth, that even people with really crappy internet feel a worse performance on lower tickrates.

Thank you so much guys! I intend to build a small server in the game cc.