Dedicated Server installation in Windows Server 2016 Core

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Refugee
Hello,

I'm having problems executing "startdedicated.bat" file to run the Dedicated Server under Windows Server 2016 Core.

The server itself does not show any error and the server is not generating any log in "7DaysToDieServer_DATA\*.log" so I'm guessing here that the executable is not running at all.

There's any library requirements to run the server properly? By library requirements I mean, for instance...

Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015

Can I debug this from any other way?

Thanks.

Regards,

Alex Torregrosa

Screenshot_1.jpg

 
Thanks to the forum, I can't even see your image. Might try linking it externally since the forum just makes a thumbnail, but never gives us the actual file.

If I could see your config.xml, and startdedicated.bat startup string along with details on your installation, I could likely figure it out. Most likely something just isn't matching up.

 
Hello @SylenThunder, I hope I deleted any brand information on all fields!

The attached image just says "File not found" and it start the 15 second countdown.

On the taskmgr shows no instance of 7DTD Server running, no process, no service, nothing.

https://we.tl/t-JKnDXDg7Hp

There's attached the Screenshot, dedicatedserver.bat, serverconfig.xml and WindowsInfo.txt with a bunch of powershell commands getting the System's Information.

As I'm running Windows Server 2016 Standard Core Edition, the installation went through SteamCMD logged with anonymous account and executing "app_update ... validate" command.

Thank you!

Regards,

Alex Torregrosa

 
ok, so from what I can see, it's mostly default. As long as you have all the client files in the default folder, and the config file is right there with the batch file, it should start up.

With the file not found error, I was thinking there may be a pathing issue, but everything is vanilla config.

Aaand without a client log, it's hard to say what file it's not finding. The assumption would be the config file though.

After starting it, do you see the process running?

 
Hello,

(Windows Server 2016 Standard Core Edition as WS16SC)
Click to expand...
Nothing, as I said, no process started when I executed the .bat file.

That is why I asked if there was any requirement for launching the server as WS16SC are bare metal when it comes to installed libraries and dependencies.

I have quickly installed CentOs 7 and mostly followed the next Knowledge Base I'm having the desirable experience.

https://7daystodie.gamepedia.com/Linux_Server_with_Amazon_Linux_AMI#Starting_7Days_on_boot

Everything is running fine and the performance level is within the expected, it is just that I wanted to test this under WS16SC as I have seen a great performance increase running there with the same hardware specs.

I know its feared to face WS16SC installations and I find very little information in any software, but understand that it is a must when it is needed to deploy a massive virtualized server instances for clients saving 1.5 Gig of RAM from each server instance as:

Windows Server GUI 64 bit Editions I must reserve 2 Gig of RAM for the OS.

Windows Server Core 64 bit Editions uses 0.5 Gig of RAM for the OS.

Also, minimal installation uses less bandwith with no extra services installed (aside from Windows Update :mad: )

If there is any piece of information to try, I will gladly test, otherwise, the Thread can be closed.

Thank you.

Regards,

Alex Torregrosa

 
Yeah, I am not immediately aware of what other requirements there are to the Windows standard builds that may not be included in SC. It's food for thought though, and does bear some looking into. The only things I can think of offhand would be Visual C++ redist package, Visual Studio, and maybe DirectX.

I know my Linux dedi runs about 10% quicker than it would on Win7/10/2013. (Have not played with 2016 because money.)

If SC would run even faster, that would allow me to do even more per blade than I am now.

Food for thought.

 
Sure,

I have got enough for today, but I will try tomorrow to install redists one per one, Visual Studio... (weird) and DirectX (GUI package?).

It was not generating any log and no process was running so, as I was suggesting, the program is not even launching.

When doing performance tests and choosing OS for a software, it is always 50/50, some likes how Windows do, and some likes how Linux do, but Microsoft had always this bottleneck when it came to non-GUI (no resource eater) OS. Even though Core has GUI, it kills half of the services from a GUI installation.

It is up to me then to do the tests for the companies...

Anyway, I will post any update tomorrow.

Regards,

Alex Torregrosa

 
Did you ever find a fix to this? I'm trying to spin up a SC 2019 dedicated server. I have everything configured but when I run the batch file or the exe for the server, I get the following error "The code execution cannot proceed because OPENGL32.dll was not found" I'm imagining this has to do with the OS being SC, anyone know of a fix?

 
Working running copy of 7DTD Dedicated Server on WS2019SC

Did you ever find a fix to this? I'm trying to spin up a SC 2019 dedicated server. I have everything configured but when I run the batch file or the exe for the server, I get the following error "The code execution cannot proceed because OPENGL32.dll was not found" I'm imagining this has to do with the OS being SC, anyone know of a fix?
Click to expand...

Hello,

Sorry for holding off the post, but I had no solution for WS2016SC, but I have it for WS2019SC. Do not be afraid of how much information is here, I was writing down on the Notepad++ step by step what I was doing, no hiding any information at all, everything is public even IPs and Domain Names. So you can have it as an example and debug your problem...

Just letting you know that you can skip till "Now the fun begins" where I start installing the server:

Code: 
From zero installation procedure.

Creating Virtual Machine:
	Name: 7dtd-cl01
	ISO IMAGE: Windows Server 2019 Evaluation (Oficial ISO)
	Disk IDE 0: 20 GB
	CPU: 4 vCores
	RAM: 4096 MBs
	Network: Bridged Interface (Behind Cisco Firewall)
	== CREATE ==

Installing Operating System:
	Start "7dtd-cl01" Virtual Machine
	Connect to noVNC Console
	Language Settings: en_US / en_GB / en_ES
	"Install Now"
	Selecting: Windows Server 2019 Standard Evaluation ... (Core Version) 12/3/2019
	Install to Drive 0 (Unallocated)
	... waiting ... not so much with an SSD ...
	Once fully installed, changing Administrator password





So before keep going, as this server is behind a Cisco Firewall, I am making this machine "public".
We are going to make it like the server is physical and connected to a dedicated Internet Service.

Cisco Firewall:
	DHCP Server (Getting VM's MAC Address) Static IP Reservation (NAT IP)
	NAT 1:1 Public IP (54.37.187.73) to NAT IP (172.25.10.2)
	NAT Rule redirect 54.37.187.73:ICMP to 172.25.10.2:ICMP
	NAT Rule redirect 54.37.187.73:3389/TCP to 172.25.10.2:3389/TCP

Virtual Machine Command Line:
	ipconfig /renew (so we get the right NAT IP)
		IPv4 Address....: 172.25.10.1
	netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state off
		OK
	reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server" /v fDenyTSConnections /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
		The operation completed sucessfully.

DNS Service Provider:
	Type: A Record
	Host: 7dtd-cl01
	Value: 54.37.187.73
	TTL: Automatic





I'm just verifying everything is in order now before we start doing some work.

From my own Windows machine:
	ping 7dtd-cl01.theuniquepoint.com
		Pinging 7dtd-cl01.theuniquepoint.com [54.37.187.73] with 32 bytes of data:
		Reply from 54.37.187.73: bytes=32 time=33ms TTL=114
		Reply from 54.37.187.73: bytes=32 time=34ms TTL=114
		Reply from 54.37.187.73: bytes=32 time=33ms TTL=114
		Reply from 54.37.187.73: bytes=32 time=34ms TTL=114

		Ping statistics for 54.37.187.73:
			Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
		Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
			Minimum = 33ms, Maximum = 34ms, Average = 33ms

	Remote Desktop Connection:
		Server: 7dtd-cl01.theuniquepoint.com
			It Answers and...
		Use a different account:
			Administrator
			******* ()
		Certificate Issues... All ok... "Yes"
			Connects!





So now, I have like a physical machine with a dedicated IP answering only to PINGs and RDPs. All good until now.
The following steps will require me to update the Windows Server 2019 Server Standard Evaluation to Full.

From 7dtd-cl01 connected through RDP and Command Line:
	DISM /online /Get-CurrentEdition
		Current Edition: StandardEvaluation
	DISM /online /Get-TargetEditions
		Target Edition: ServerDatacenterCor
	DISM /online /Set-Edition:ServerDatacenterCor /ProductKey:WMDGN-G9PQG-XVVXX-R3X43-63DFG /AcceptEula
		Using a Generic Key Provided Publicly on Microsoft Docs
		...
		Y (Yes to restart the Server and Apply Changes)
	DISM /online /Get-CurrentEdition
		Current Edition: ServerDatacenterCor





Finally, I have the desired system and we will start building the server from here. To sum up everything form before,
I write down the specs of the virtual machine we are going to work with:

Virtual Machine Specs:
	OS: Windows Server 2019 Server Datacenter Core
	HostName: 7dtd-cl01.theuniquepoint.com
	Public IP: 54.37.187.73

From 7dtd-cl01 connected through RDP and PowerShell:
	Create SteamCMD Folder, Download SteamCMD, Initialize SteamCMD
		PS C:\Users\Administrator> cd C:\
		PS C:\> mkdir SteamCMD
		PS C:\> cd SteamCMD
		PS C:\SteamCMD> (New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile("https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steamcmd.zip", "C:\SteamCMD\steamcmd.zip")
		PS C:\SteamCMD> Expand-Archive -Path "C:\SteamCMD\steamcmd.zip" -DestinationPath "C:\SteamCMD"
		PS C:\SteamCMD> del .\steamcmd.zip
		PS C:\SteamCMD> .\steamcmd.exe
		...
		Loading Steam API...OK.
		Steam> exit
		PS C:\SteamCMD>

	Download 7 Days to Die Dedicated Server Application:
		PS C:\SteamCMD> .\steamcmd.exe
		Steam> login anonymous
		Steam> app_update 294420 validate
		... this will take a while ...
		Success! App '294420' fully installed.





So now, I was quite surprised with the size of the dedicated server, had to check its free space and checking the installation folder.

From 7dtd-cl01 connected through RDP and PowerShell:
	PS C:\SteamCMD> ls C:\SteamCMD\steamapps\common\
		Mode		LastWriteTime	Length	Name
		----		-------------	------	----
		d-----	30/10/2019	17:40			7 Days to Die Dedicated Server

	PS C:\SteamCMD> Get-WmiObject win32_logicaldisk
		FreeSpace    : 1131393024		(Around 1GB, Close!)
		Size         : 20897067008





Now the fun begins, this is the point were everyone will start going mad and crazy. Just because I knew this is going to start to become messy,
I did took the chance to fully stop the Virtual Machine and I did a stopped full backup so I could go to this point as many times as I wanted.
We are going to aim for the cleanest installation ever and everything installed that is no need I am going to revert and go back to this point.
Just mentioning I am installing 7dtd on my Windows machine as I had it uninstalled since a16.4, nice time to install it as a18 is now published.

From 7dtd-cl01 connected through RDP and PowerShell:
	PS C:\Users\Administrator> cd "C:\SteamCMD\steamapps\common\7 Days to Die Dedicated Server"
	PS C:\SteamCMD\steamapps\common\7 Days to Die Dedicated Server> .\startdedicated.bat

	So here there are a couple of errors, let's solve one by one. 
	The missing OPENGL32.dll and GLU32.dll library files, the safest way of solving 
	this is installing the OS with GUI and copying the library from C:\Windows\System32.
	I did uploaded the files to a HTTP server and...

	PS C:\SteamCMD\steamapps\common\7 Days to Die Dedicated Server> (New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile("<SOME URL WENT HERE>", "C:\Windows\System32\opengl32.dll")
	PS C:\SteamCMD\steamapps\common\7 Days to Die Dedicated Server> (New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile("<SOME URL WENT HERE>", "C:\Windows\System32\glu32.dll")
	PS C:\SteamCMD\steamapps\common\7 Days to Die Dedicated Server> ls C:\Windows\System32\*gl*32.*
	-a----       30/10/2019     20:28         163328 glu32.dll
	-a----       30/10/2019     20:24        1071616 opengl32.dll

	Then, we try again...

	PS C:\SteamCMD\steamapps\common\7 Days to Die Dedicated Server> .\startdedicated.bat
	File Not Found
	Writing log file to: C:\SteamCMD\steamapps\common\7 Days to Die Dedicated Server\\7DaysToDieServer_Data\output_log_dedi__2019-10-30__20-34-02.txt
	Starting server ...

	Now it runs, it does "something" and it opens a crashed Dedicated Server Window... Do NOT worry about the "File Not Found" message, it only means
	that it didn't find any previous ".txt" log files. To check what I am saying...

	PS C:\SteamCMD\steamapps\common\7 Days to Die Dedicated Server> taskmgr
	Go to Details and kill 7DaysToDieServer.exe Process, then go again...

	PS C:\SteamCMD\steamapps\common\7 Days to Die Dedicated Server> .\startdedicated.bat
	Writing log file to: C:\SteamCMD\steamapps\common\7 Days to Die Dedicated Server\\7DaysToDieServer_Data\output_log_dedi__2019-10-30__20-56-43.txt
	Starting server ...

	OK, all good! No errors... well not so fast...
	Good news? It runs and it writes logs, so lets go and check them all! (Remember to kill 7DaysToDieServer.exe Process every time)

	PS C:\SteamCMD\steamapps\common\7 Days to Die Dedicated Server> notepad.exe .\7DaysToDieServer_Data\output_log_dedi__2019-10-30__20-56-43.txt
	2019-10-30T20:58:03 77.650 INF [steamworks.NET] Making server public
	2019-10-30T20:58:05 79.175 INF [steamworks.NET] GameServer.LogOn successful, SteamID=90130131006379010, public IP=54.37.187.73

	To my suprise, the server was starting, and it was working nicely. I even couldn't believe it so I had to launch the game and check it myself...
	Not after opening the remaining ports on the firewall 
		NAT Rule redirect 54.37.187.73:8080-8082/TCP to 172.25.10.2:8080-8082/TCP
		NAT Rule redirect 54.37.187.73:26900/TCP to 172.25.10.2:26900/TCP
		NAT Rule redirect 54.37.187.73:26900-26902/UDP to 172.25.10.2:26900-26902/UDP
	So I did and...
		IT IS WORKING
	BUT... looking into the logs I could tell you there were things not really good going into it...
		Fallback handler could not load library C:/SteamCMD/steamapps/common/7 Days to Die Dedicated Server/7DaysToDieServer_Data/Mono/...
			This folder does not even exists!
		WARNING: Shader Unsupported: 'Autodesk Interactive' -
			No idea what this is right now...
I hope it does some help to you. I did no dedicated any time to review the WARNINGS and so, but the server works fine.

 
Thanks for this write up, Ill have to test this out.

My next question I guess is do you even think its worth it to run in SC? I'm personally not restricted by any resources (two server HV cluster each running 32 cores and 128gb ram), I'm just trying to get the best performance possible for my server vm's. I'm way more comfortable with Windows vs Linux and don't really feel like diving into Linux for the game servers, I'd rather play the game ;) lol. For now I just loaded them up on Server 2019 w/GUI in the mean time to get playing.

Snow

 
Thanks for this write up, Ill have to test this out.
My next question I guess is do you even think its worth it to run in SC? I'm personally not restricted by any resources (two server HV cluster each running 32 cores and 128gb ram), I'm just trying to get the best performance possible for my server vm's. I'm way more comfortable with Windows vs Linux and don't really feel like diving into Linux for the game servers, I'd rather play the game ;) lol. For now I just loaded them up on Server 2019 w/GUI in the mean time to get playing.

Snow
Click to expand...

Snow,

There's no a good answer for that question. Usually my costumers want to take profit as much as they can without killing too much performance, and Server Core is great for scalability.

So here's what I think, but this is just my own opinion based on my experiences with servers and 7dtd requirements:

So first of all, before I make any decision on where to build or buy the hardware, I do the following tests:

- Build the server on any developing platform.
- Get the data of the loading.
- Now try to fill the server with many users as you can (this can be hard for server games).
- Analyze the increment of the loading and make conclusions.
Once done, make an statement, for me and for 7dtd, the recommended hardware for deploying some amount of servers are:

- OS: Window Server 2019 Server Core
- CPU: 2 vCores (4 vCores if HT enabled and ONLY with VMWare, Hyper-V or Xen Server)
- RAM: 8 GB
- HDD: 40 GB
OS goes because with Windows Server 2019 Server Core, I save from 1 GB to 2 GB of RAM. For a 16-Server deploy, for instance, I'll save from 16 to 32 GB of RAM.

Just to clarify, I wouldn't do something like "I'll deploy all 16 servers in a single Windows Server GUI", that would kill your network management as Windows is not made for managing Internet, you want your server to fully dedicate to one task if you want to maximize server performance on large deployments.

CPU: The server doesn't seem to be built to balance the load with multiple threads (and so it helps with multi-core CPUs) so a 2 Core Server with frequency as high as possible will be better than having 8 cores. I would assign 4 vCores if the CPU is Hyper-Threaded. This is the main reason why companies seems to buy i7 and i9 for game servers than Xeon or AMD counterpart.

RAM: 8 Players (maximum recommended by the game developers) fills 5 GB of RAM with Windows Server Core. RAM just goes as more players more memory consumption.

HDD: I did the test installation with 20 GB but gives you no room for game saves (Worlds and Player data). Go as much as Worlds you would have to generate and store.

Now, remember the 16-server deployment? I just figured out how many servers I would be able to allocate, without killing performance, on one of your mentioned servers, and the numbers are:

For a 16-Server Deployment:
CPU: 2 vCores x 16 = 32 Cores / 4 vCores x 16 = 64 Threads (If HT enabled)


RAM: 8 GB x 16 = 128 GB


HDD: 40 GB x 16 = 640 GB (a 2x 1.2TB NVMe RAID 1 ie)



Extra: A Cisco Firewall, ISP with a 1 Gbit Dedicated Network, and a 16 IP block
That said, that's just a commercial view of point of deploying a good amount of servers. Others doesn't deploy the same game server but makes me to analyze it this way to build many different game servers on a single hardware and optimize the resources.

Again, if your aim in the end is to build one or even 2 servers on those godly machines, then there's no point on doing all of this. As I stated first, there's not good or bad answer for what you asked for, its all about compromise and needs.

Regards,

Alex Torregrosa

 
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