Today we released an early version of dedicated servers for Space Engineers and we also added multiple fixes and performance improvements for multi-player.
We kept testing dedicated servers during the last 7 days, but we still consider them to be in an early stage: only large-scale testing can prove them to be working correctly and also they will need some additional functionality (better user rights, remote control, integration with game hosting companies, etc.).
The dedicated server is a new application in your Space Engineer’s folder; but it’s built on the same code base as the client version of Space Engineers. The difference between them is that the dedicated server has disabled graphics – no rendering and no texture loading. You can launch the server either in the command line mode
or with our config application
or as a windows service
If you plan to host your dedicated server at a data center, we recommend running it as a service (you can control auto-restarts, etc.)
Dedicated servers are available for everyone who owns Space Engineers. You don’t need to purchase a second copy to host a dedicated server. Dedicated servers are currently allowed only for non-commercial use, so companies that host game servers or everyone who wants to host his server at such company, please wait a few days. We will be working on making this possible.
Multiple instances of a dedicated server may run on a single machine when each instance is configured to use different port. The dedicated server comes with a configuration tool which can be used to define what world will run on the server and what port will be used by the server. The server may run on the same machine as the game.
Dedicated servers manual: http://www.SpaceEngineersGame.com/dedicated-servers.html
Together with the dedicated servers, we also released a major multi-player overhaul. Ondrej has spent the last two months with networking optimizations that are specific to our fully destructible and dynamic environment. If you consider that in Space Engineers you have a vast number of objects that can be instantly created, moved, accelerated, deleted and changed their shape– all this generating tons of data packets where events have to be predicted and/or interpolated, yet still maintaining proper object ownership and server authority - you will understand that he didn't have an easy task.
We also hope that multi-player lags are history, except in situations when there are too many dynamic objects that need to be synchronized between server and clients, generating large data packets that may not get easily through servers with slow up-link.
Hopefully, the following weeks will show that we were successful. We need your feedback too: if you encounter weird multi-player situations (crazy spinning objects, disappearing objects, strange movements, wrong synchronization between clients and server, etc.) – please send us an email: support@keenswh.com
We want to give you a 100% operational and bulletproof multi-player - once and for all.
Please let me know your opinions in the comments below. Thank you.
We kept testing dedicated servers during the last 7 days, but we still consider them to be in an early stage: only large-scale testing can prove them to be working correctly and also they will need some additional functionality (better user rights, remote control, integration with game hosting companies, etc.).
The dedicated server is a new application in your Space Engineer’s folder; but it’s built on the same code base as the client version of Space Engineers. The difference between them is that the dedicated server has disabled graphics – no rendering and no texture loading. You can launch the server either in the command line mode
Multiple instances of a dedicated server may run on a single machine when each instance is configured to use different port. The dedicated server comes with a configuration tool which can be used to define what world will run on the server and what port will be used by the server. The server may run on the same machine as the game.
Dedicated servers manual: http://www.SpaceEngineersGame.com/dedicated-servers.html
Together with the dedicated servers, we also released a major multi-player overhaul. Ondrej has spent the last two months with networking optimizations that are specific to our fully destructible and dynamic environment. If you consider that in Space Engineers you have a vast number of objects that can be instantly created, moved, accelerated, deleted and changed their shape– all this generating tons of data packets where events have to be predicted and/or interpolated, yet still maintaining proper object ownership and server authority - you will understand that he didn't have an easy task.
We also hope that multi-player lags are history, except in situations when there are too many dynamic objects that need to be synchronized between server and clients, generating large data packets that may not get easily through servers with slow up-link.
Hopefully, the following weeks will show that we were successful. We need your feedback too: if you encounter weird multi-player situations (crazy spinning objects, disappearing objects, strange movements, wrong synchronization between clients and server, etc.) – please send us an email: support@keenswh.com
We want to give you a 100% operational and bulletproof multi-player - once and for all.
Please let me know your opinions in the comments below. Thank you.
