Dedicated (Service) Server DOES NOT SAVE.

Ahoy everyone!

Experienced server admin but new to Space engineers hosting here.

I have previously been running a listed server just for us to test stuff out befor i use up hardware from my racks for hosting a SE server.

Ive now yesterday set up a dedicated host on a windows server 2012R2 as a service.

We played more or less all night through having fun and building a huge base in survival.

Woke up today and noticed that there was a hotfix patch so i patched the server and started the same save.

As i came into the server i saw it was the very same map just as it was when we originally started it. I went into the save files of the host and noticed none of them had been edited since i started the server.

INb4 "enable auto save", It is on. It is just not doing anything.

Here comes full config.

(Currently set to creative to rebuild the base in creative to later switch to survival again)

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<MyConfigDedicated xmlns:xsd="https://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="https://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<SessionSettings>
<GameMode>Creative</GameMode>
<InventorySizeMultiplier>3</InventorySizeMultiplier>
<AssemblerSpeedMultiplier>3</AssemblerSpeedMultiplier>
<AssemblerEfficiencyMultiplier>1</AssemblerEfficiencyMultiplier>
<RefinerySpeedMultiplier>5</RefinerySpeedMultiplier>
<OnlineMode>PUBLIC</OnlineMode>
<MaxPlayers>10</MaxPlayers>
<MaxFloatingObjects>256</MaxFloatingObjects>
<EnvironmentHostility>SAFE</EnvironmentHostility>
<AutoHealing>false</AutoHealing>
<EnableCopyPaste>true</EnableCopyPaste>
<AutoSave>true</AutoSave>
<WeaponsEnabled>true</WeaponsEnabled>
<ShowPlayerNamesOnHud>false</ShowPlayerNamesOnHud>
<ThrusterDamage>true</ThrusterDamage>
<CargoShipsEnabled>false</CargoShipsEnabled>
<EnableSpectator>false</EnableSpectator>
<RemoveTrash>true</RemoveTrash>
<WorldSizeKm>0</WorldSizeKm>
<RespawnShipDelete>true</RespawnShipDelete>
<ResetOwnership>false</ResetOwnership>
<WelderSpeedMultiplier>1</WelderSpeedMultiplier>
<GrinderSpeedMultiplier>1</GrinderSpeedMultiplier>
<RealisticSound>false</RealisticSound>
<ClientCanSave>false</ClientCanSave>
<HackSpeedMultiplier>0.33</HackSpeedMultiplier>
<PermanentDeath>true</PermanentDeath>
</SessionSettings>
<Scenario>
<TypeId>MyObjectBuilder_ScenarioDefinition</TypeId>
<SubtypeId>Asteroids</SubtypeId>
</Scenario>
<LoadWorld>C:\ProgramData\SpaceEngineersDedicated\bhdserv01\Saves\Created 2014-08-01 1945</LoadWorld>
<IP>0.0.0.0</IP>
<SteamPort>8766</SteamPort>
<ServerPort>27016</ServerPort>
<AsteroidAmount>16</AsteroidAmount>
<Administrators>
<unsignedLong>76561197986112261</unsignedLong>
</Administrators>
<Banned />
<GroupID>103582791431125575</GroupID>
<ServerName>B`haxed Community Server</ServerName>
<PauseGameWhenEmpty>false</PauseGameWhenEmpty>
</MyConfigDedicated>

 

Update: It appears the only work arround for now is to run the server as a console using SEServer since this solves my server saving.. This is however for me not a permanent fix as the server is located on my own hosting company server and i need to be able to run it as an service for monitoring and more admins being able to administer it.

Since it is Server Extender that saves and not the vanilla console, the taskkill /IM method for closing safe and saving doesnt work either.


This is an crittical flaw in terms of server hosting and needs to be looked into.

 

Hi Haxxxor,

It seems you have found a workaround, we have seen some issues like these with some customers. Sometimes after the patch saving to an old world does not work. Have you tried to use a new world?

I would suggest creating a new world, make something simple, disconnect, shut down the space engineers server process and start it back up, if it saves normally something might be wrong with the old world folder.

If your running the server from the command line are you passing in the path directive?

Let us know if this helps at all.

 

Hello Bluefang:

Im trying it out now by setting up a whole new instance and service with a new save. See if that solves it.

I will get back to you with results, we might be competitors but that doesnt mean we cant work together to make the whole community a Better place

Edit: All my windows servers run game servers as services wich are then managed from a central 2012R2 server using the server manager.

 

This is a known issue since Thursday. It has been reported in no less then 5 threads already. Not that I'm complaining about your post, three hotfixes and no fix yet. I'd like to see the entire forum with posts like this.

 

I can verify now that it does NOT work with setting up a whole new instance and service all together either.

It is related to the application itself it seems, not the save files.

For now my company will be rolling with setting up shared account on the domain for all SE servers that are managed by us and then run with the ServerExtender.

Not an optimal sollution but appears it is the only sollution untill and official fix.

 

Hi Haxxor,

This is interesting. From what I read you are saying -console option fixes the issue?

If that is the case can your server manager suppress the window from showing so you can continue to run it as a service? Our server manager software forces these windows not visible so we are able to continue to operate as a service.

I believe the dwFlags are STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW and SW_HIDE to make sure the process shows no windows.

I wish I could be of more help.

(Our system is custom and cross platform so we usually have to contend with weird things happening UI wise in a headless systems, specially with gaming server software. Some like to spawn consoles detached from the main process, fun stuff!! We run Windows and Linux but SE is running exclusively on windows machines for the moment)

 

Unfortually no -console did not solve the issue.
The only way we have been able to solve the issue is by using the "ServerExtender" tool and set that up to run everything as a service wich is a major pain.

 

I can confirm as well the service mode for dedicated servers is not working either, been running mine for over an hour and no saves......back to SEServerExtender.....

 

I too was having problems with my dedicated server not saving but if I hit ctl+C to shut the server down instead of just clicking the X it saves just fine. Start a new game with your DS and place one block then exit game and try using ctl+C to close the DS. then relaunch DS, rejoin and see if your block is still there. Mine doesn't save the block unless I use ctl+c to shut it down.

 

Hi Souper07,

Our stop process command on our console is set to send a forceful end, this is probably why we are unaffected by the problem. Thank you for taking the time to post your observations.

 

How do you do that when the game is running as a service? Is there a way to open a console for the service?

 

This seems like you are running console mode and not service mode.

 

I'm glad i'm not the only one, I don't run a hosting company like Haxxxor or BlueFangServers, but I host one for some friends. I haven't gotten around to using SEServerExtender but the dedicated service is not saving for me either. It gets to

Code:

2014-08-04 18:56:21.017 - Thread:   6 ->  Exiting..
2014-08-04 18:56:21.031 - Thread:   6 ->  Autosave in unload
2014-08-04 18:56:21.033 - Thread:   6 ->  Saving world - START
2014-08-04 18:56:21.033 - Thread:   6 ->     Making world state snapshot.
2014-08-04 18:56:21.033 - Thread:   6 ->     Before snapshot.: GC Memory: 526,458,904 B

Then the log ends, when I start the service again everything is reset to the previous save.

I like the new features, but this breaks the game for me and my friends, we only play on the server and right now anything we do is lost.

I hate to goto using SEServerExtender because I don't know how much resources the new wrapper will take and since the dedicated server is only running on one thread I really dont want to try to find a way to start them on different cores so the wrapper doesn't take away from the server.

 

SEServerExtender is VERY lighweight and allows for some impressive plugins like bukkit for minecraft. But it is a hassle to set up as a service unfortually, even tho possible it still requires more knowledge.

*edit* Stupid phone keyboard.....

 

We are very close to getting SEServerExtender running with Space engineers as a service but it is a massive pain to set up (the creator of the mod probably hates us by now) If we manage to get it working to a point where its easy for a customer to install and use the mod without having to ask how to do it all I will share our findings.

However we were informed today that autosave for the game should be fixed on Thursday

 

PingPerfect If you get something easy setup I would love to hear. Haxxxor, I am glad to hear that it is lightweight. I would go towards setting SEServerExtender as a service myself with my limited knowledge, but that is more work than I want to spend on a game that provides me no income. For awhile I was a computer networking major but switched what I wanted to do with my life completely 180. I really appreciate what you guys are working on, and I can only hope that you get it working without too much hassle.

Edit: I just read the last part of your post, I can make my friends wait two days. I would be interested in hearing about what you guys do specifically. Are your jobs to troubleshoot problems or help setup servers for people?

 

Me personally its all of the above and more I am the Technical director for Pingperfect so anything that cant be fixed by the support staff comes to me as does any hardware issues, new games, business etc etc
You could say I do a bit of everything