[Guide] Setting up a dedicated server on Windows

Hey guys.

So I've been toiling away with the dedicated server, have had some issues, finally gotten it to work with info from the official guide, these forums and stuff I've discovered myself. So now I figured I'd throw up a guide with what I've learned, there are some pictures, too. To help explain things a bit.

To start off with, this guide assumes that you've installed the dedicated server files and the .NET framework. This guide deals solely with configuring the server as a service and how to change settings on existing worlds.


Step 1: Creating the service.
So once you've got things installed, go ahead and open up SpaceEngineersDedicated.exe from the DedicatedServer64 folder. Make sure to launch it as Administrator.
Hint: Right-click on SpaceEngineersDedicated.exe and select 'Create Shortcut'. Then right-click the new shortcut and select 'Properties'. Now edit the compatibility settings to always run as administrator. This saves you the effort of manually running as administrator every time. Additionally, you can place the shortcut anywhere for easy access.

After launching, you'll be greeted by the instance selection screen, go ahead and click on 'Add new instance'. Once created, select the new instance from the list and click on 'Continue to server configuration'.

By creating this instance as we've just done, you have created the server as a service. It will now start automatically whenever the computer boots up, no user needs to be logged in for it to start. To uninstall the service again, simply remove the corresponding instance from the instance list.


Step 2: Configuring the server.
Now you've arrived at the Dedicated server configuration page, and before we move on, I'm going to explain a few things about this window. Consult with the picture below.

All the values inside the blue boxes are global server values and will be applied to all worlds.
All the values inside the red boxes are local world values and will only be applied to the world currently selected.
All the values inside the purple box are only used when creating a new world.


Now that we have that cleared up, we can proceed.

Step 2.1: Server Settings.

Go ahead and leave the Listen IP and Port as they are, unless you have reasons to change them.
Then give the server a name.​

Step 2.1.1: Server Admins / Banned Users.
To make a user a server administrator, or to ban a user. You need to enter the users Steam64 ID number, to get
that, you open up steam and navigate here:


As you can see, there's a link there under Store/Library. That's your profile link, copy that URL and go to https://steamid.co/. Paste your profile link into the search field and hit 'Submit'. Grab the Steam64 ID and paste it into the Server Admins field.
Hint: You may only put one Steam64 ID per line.

There are many other ways to get the Steam64 ID and I will of course not explain them all. You can easily find other peoples Steam64 ID to add them as admins or banned users. In particular for banning, the Steam64 ID will show up in the server connection logs.

Step 2.1.2: Server Group
To make the server private, you need to use the ID64 Steam Group ID. To find it, open up Steam and navigate here:


A list of the groups you're in will show up after clicking on Groups, select the group in the list that you want to use for Space Engineers and you will see the group URL underneath Store/Library. Copy that URL and paste it into your browser, now add "/memberslistxml/?xml=1" to it, so that it looks like this:

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/YOURGROUPNAMEHERE/memberslistxml/?xml=1

Go to the link and near the top, it will show you something along the lines of:
<groupID64>103582791435609123</groupID64>

Grab that number (the number you see on the page, not this one here!), and paste it into the Server Group field. Now your server will only show in the server list for members of that group.​

Step 2.2: World Settings.
Now, let's get on to editing the world settings. If you are creating a new world, then you start out by selecting the Scenario and amount of asteroids that you want, outlined in the purple box in the image I posted a little further up.​

Once that's done, configure the other settings to your liking. I won't go over them as they are fairly self explanatory.

If you will not be running any mods, then you're done. Go ahead and click 'Save Config and Start'. Enjoy your new server!
If on the other hand, you will be running mods, go on to the next section before starting the server.​

Step 2.3: Mods.
Installing mods on a server is surprisingly simple, all you need is the mods number. Browse through the steam workshop and find a mod that you you and you will give be able to see a URL that looks like this:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=384122444&searchtext=

In this case, Midspace's Speed 250L / 350S Mod. What you want, is that ID number, 384122444. Copy that, and paste it into the mods box in the server configuration tool. Do this for every mod that you want on your server, remember, only one ID number per line.

It's worth mentioning, a general best practice if you have a speed mod, is to add the speed mod on the first line.
And if you have skybox mod, add it on the second line. Then add any other mods that you want on your server.

Once you've added all the mods that you want, click 'Save Config and Start'. And there you go, your server is now looking up the mods, downloading them and then starting the server. It can take a few minutes, depending on how many mods you added, so just be patient.

​

Step 3: Changing settings
If you remember from Step 2, some settings are global server settings, and others are local world settings, just as a reminder, he's another picture, with some worlds created.

All the entries in the green box are your created worlds on the server.
All the options inside the blue boxes are global server values.
All the options inside the red boxes are local world values.



First of all, make sure to stop the server before changing anything, just click on the 'Stop' and wait for the 'Service status: running' to say 'Service status: stopped' like in the picture above.

Server settings:
These are shown in the blue boxes and applies to all maps on this instance.
You are free to add new server administrators and change IP/Port, just make the changes you want to and click 'Save config and start' and you're good to go!

World settings:
These are shown in the red boxes. Make sure the server is stopped and select the world you want to edit in the list. It'll load up and once you've made the changes that you want, or added any new mods. Click Save config and start.
Hint: If you're editing multiple worlds, for example if you're adding a new mod to all of them, it is advised that you add the mod to the first world, then click 'Save Config and Start', wait for it to finish loading, then click 'Stop' before making changes to the other world. This is to ensure that the worlds local config file is properly saved.



Boom. That's it! You're done.
And this tutorial is done. If you have any questions, post away and I'll do my best to help
I hope this has been/will be of help to some of you!


Regards,
Vaporific

 

Edits:
1.1 Typos and some clarifications in Step 1: Creating the Service.
1.2 Removed the command prompt part, further testing revealed it was not necessary.

Coming soon:
Expanded section on Privacy.
How to import existing maps.
Firewall rules.

 

Pin this post. Bravo!

 

I've read this over, and everything looks perfectly sound. Excellent job Vapor.

 

Excellent post, very detailed and accurate, seems you put alot of work in to this nicely done dude.

and if there's a mod about this could really do with some glue its a much easier guide to follow than the official guide.

 

Adding some info for Server 2012. Should help other Windows Server users.

1) I wasn't sure where to install the DedicatedServer.zip, so I extracted it on my desktop for testing and ran it there. Mileage may vary, but you need rights to the folder which limits where you can put it in a server. I figure if you run a server, this part you can figure out.

2) How you add the '[SIZE= 10pt]SpaceEngineersDedicated.exe' to the Windows Firewall seemed to matter on Server 2012. I first added it directly as an inbound exception in the 'Windows Firewall with Advanced Security' program and this did not work at all. I have set up many other programs this way (Minecraft server anyone) and this worked fine, but not here. I had to run the 'Windows Firewall' from the Control Panel and choose the 'Allow an app or feature through Windows Firewall' option and select the executable that way for it to work. I will research further why this is, but really I'm just glad it did.

[/SIZE]3) I have not yet had to use the command line to stop or start the service. The Dedicated server app seems to handle it fine so far. There are still the issues with the options not saving to the file, but I found that I can consistently change the file in the GUI if I:
a) Press 'Stop' to stop the service
b) Press 'Edit config'
c) Make changes, saving the config in the editor, and then exit the editor
d) Press 'Save config and start'

4) Through the forums and local testing I found you will not see the server in the 'Servers' list if you are on the same network as the server, it will be in 'LAN', which makes sense as you are local.

I hope this helps!
-Kraethor

 

Running a Windows Server 2012 means you're 99% sure to have admin rights and can thus write everywhere, so this isn't likely to cause any issues. I'm writing a quick install guide.

Some people have had issues, yes. I've allowed it through with advanced security, defined local ports as well as which program to apply it to. There's a section on that coming.[/QUOTE]


[/SIZE]

You are quite right, this step seems redundant, I'll be removing it with the next set of edits after doing some more confirming on it

 

I'm a security guy, so my user is not in the local administrator group.

 

hi
Just a note for dedicated box from providers, when you unzip the folder make sure you don't have 1 copy on desk top and 1 copy in a gamefolder. When you start the service from the game folder, it actually starts the 2 servers from 1 from the desktop copy also. so when you try to edit or stop the service, you get errors or it says service not running.

 

That approach has certain merits, however the guide above explains how to install and run the server as a service. For which the GUI needs administrator access and the service is run under the local system account which gives it unlimited access to everything. So it's not really a concern

Regards,
Vaporific

 

For whatever reason, I can now see my server in the Servers list as well as from the LAN tab. Just thought I'd share the accidental win!

 

It's important to know when to stop asking questions and just accept the fact that it works

 

Hi, This was VERY Helpfull The only thing i still am unable to get working. is
Joining my on server while on the same computer. unless i am missing something. Others can now see and join my server but i am unable to connect or see it in the LAN List. i cant even join when a friend invites me from within the game.
any help or guidence on this would be VERY Gratly recived. i have spent the last 24 hours going over port forwarding websites and bugging Virgin to help me with this. and relised the problem could be as simple as:
Your ment to host on a diffrent computer! and play on your own.
Either way thanks in advance for any help given.

 

Can you post the images to a permanent link/website so they are actually available?
imageshack or something?

 

I wish the original post had working images, I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out why procedural asteroids won't generate.

 

I'm having the procedural generator issue myself. I have have the seed and random number in there, it works fine on my local box when I run the dedicated server, but when I upload it to my Vilayer server the log says "skip procedural world generator" and later it show's Zero's for the density and seed number.

0.35 seed.

I'm getting a bald spot! I have a ticket in with Vilayer also, maybe they know.

 

Update, I disabled "cargo ships" and the procedural generator loaded.

 

I run cargo ships and procedural roids. It's a complete nightmare. The easy answer is disable cargo ships. If you want to run both cargo ships and procedural roids .... I'll need to write something up after work

 

Having recently returned to Space Engineers, I've updated this guide with new images and new explanations.

 

Great guide. If this is for a dedicated server, may I recommend a section on STEAMCMD for updating the dedicated server install? It's a little simpler than coping the zip file to your environment.

 

Hey, not sure if anyone is still on this post. Can someone help me launch a game on my server, I have tried all of the steps. Not sure if its my port forwarding set up or what I am doing wrong. Thanks