Run multiple servers from 1 computer

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Revision as of 19:09, 3 May 2015 by Dez (Talk | contribs) (Consider your processor speed)

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Running multiple servers from 1 computer

  • First, you must set usingMultipleServerInstances to 1 or True in serverSettings.txt.
  • Make a copy of the RUN_SERVER script.
  • Edit it in a text editor to manually override the ports and server name set in serverSettings.txt like this:

OBEY.exe -server -batchmode -screen-quality Low -port 57346 -name "My Server A" -logFile obeyServerLogA.txt

My own Windows example can be seen here. Feel free to copy it and just modify it to suit your own settings.


NOTE: When running multiple servers from a single machine, it is not possible to search for any of the servers via LAN. If you want to join one of them via the local connection, the local IP + PORT must be entered manually in the Join Server screen.


Consider your bandwidth

  • First, test your bandwidth on this site.
  • A rule of thumb is about 15MB Upload speed per 5 players. (So for example, a 60MB up connection should be able to handle about 4 completely full 5 player servers from your location without bottlenecks, assuming no other heavy internet use).


Consider your specs

  • While running your servers, have a look at the resource use of the processors. If you are running higher than 40% you are probably running too many.
  • An OBEY server only uses about 170MB of RAM when you start it. So most computers will not bottleneck on RAM. However, due to a Unity bug that I can't control, servers do contain a memory leak, and should be restarted every couple of days.

Testing for lag

  • Be sure to test and play on the servers when they are full to rule out lag during high activity, since the suggestions above are only guidelines.
  • If you shut down steam, you can run multiple instances of the OBEY client on another computer and join all of them to the server to help measure.
  • In OBEY, lag presents itself as 'warping' or snapping back to past positions, and snapping/unresponsive camera movements. "WARNING: HIGH PACKET LOSS" messages are also obvious signs of lag.
  • A server with high ping to a given player is not necessarily a sign of a laggy server, and only indicates the latency to that player. If many players have high ping, and it is known that they are geographically near to the server, it is a likely sign of too much strain on the server.
  • Low frame rate is not an indicator of lag.