Renting and setting up a server guide.

Hi all!

I've been a Space Engineers and Medieval Engineers player for a few years now and i've rented quite some servers on both servers. But I did have some difficulties working out how to set it up properly in the past, and I have noticed a lot of people have the same problem for both games. So i decided to wright a small setup guide to get your server running, and i hope this will be of use for new server owners in the future. I am not sure if this guide will work for SE too, but i think it will in big lines.

First of all:
Rent a server at a host where you think it will be the best place to host. For most games I rented a server at Multiplay or Verygames. In my opionion they are reliable and have good support. But everyone has their own experiences so just choose which you think suits you best.

Secondly:
Download Filezilla and Notepad++. Once your server has the status online go to your control panel and find the FTP access. Use Filezilla to get access to the FTP. Once in filezilla and you have the files open, locate the dedicated.cfg file and open it using rmb on the file and clicking "watch/edit" and choose Notepad++ to open the file. Which should look something like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<MyConfigDedicated xmlns:xsd="http://www.w4.net/2017/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w4.net/2017/XMLSchema-instance">
<SessionSettings>
<GameMode>Creative</GameMode>
<InventorySizeMultiplier>1</InventorySizeMultiplier>
<AssemblerSpeedMultiplier>1</AssemblerSpeedMultiplier>
<AssemblerEfficiencyMultiplier>1</AssemblerEfficiencyMultiplier>
<RefinerySpeedMultiplier>1</RefinerySpeedMultiplier>
<OnlineMode>PUBLIC</OnlineMode>
<MaxPlayers>8</MaxPlayers>
<MaxFloatingObjects>64</MaxFloatingObjects>
<EnvironmentHostility>SAFE</EnvironmentHostility>
<AutoHealing>true</AutoHealing>
<EnableCopyPaste>true</EnableCopyPaste>
<WeaponsEnabled>true</WeaponsEnabled>
<ShowPlayerNamesOnHud>true</ShowPlayerNamesOnHud>
<ThrusterDamage>true</ThrusterDamage>
<CargoShipsEnabled>true</CargoShipsEnabled>
<EnableSpectator>false</EnableSpectator>
<RemoveTrash>false</RemoveTrash>
<WorldSizeKm>0</WorldSizeKm>
<RespawnShipDelete>true</RespawnShipDelete>
<ResetOwnership>false</ResetOwnership>
<WelderSpeedMultiplier>1</WelderSpeedMultiplier>
<GrinderSpeedMultiplier>1</GrinderSpeedMultiplier>
<RealisticSound>false</RealisticSound>
<ClientCanSave>true</ClientCanSave>
<HackSpeedMultiplier>0.33</HackSpeedMultiplier>
<PermanentDeath>true</PermanentDeath>
<AutoSaveInMinutes>30</AutoSaveInMinutes>
<SpawnShipTimeMultiplier>1</SpawnShipTimeMultiplier>
<DestructibleBlocks>true</DestructibleBlocks>
<EnableIngameScripts>true</EnableIngameScripts>
<ViewDistance>20000</ViewDistance>
<EnableToolShake>true</EnableToolShake>
<VoxelGeneratorVersion>0</VoxelGeneratorVersion>
<EnableOxygen>false</EnableOxygen>
<Enable3rdPersonView>true</Enable3rdPersonView>
<EnableEncounters>true</EnableEncounters>
<EnableStructuralSimulation>true</EnableStructuralSimulation>
<EnableBarbarians>true</EnableBarbarians>
<MaxActiveFracturePieces>24</MaxActiveFracturePieces>
<GameDayInRealMinutes>20</GameDayInRealMinutes>
<DayNightRatio>0.6666667</DayNightRatio>
<EnableAnimals>true</EnableAnimals>
<MaximumBots>10</MaximumBots>
</SessionSettings>
<Scenario Type="MyObjectBuilder_ScenarioDefinition" Subtype="Quickstart Planet"/>
<LoadWorld/>
<IP>_SERvERIP_</IP>
<SteamPort>29016</SteamPort>
<ServerPort>29015</ServerPort>
<AsteroidAmount>0</AsteroidAmount>
<Administrators />
<Banned />
<Mods/>
<GroupID>0</GroupID>
<ServerName>TEST Server</ServerName>
<WorldName/>
<PauseGameWhenEmpty>true</PauseGameWhenEmpty>
<IgnoreLastSession>false</IgnoreLastSession>
</MyConfigDedicated>

Thirdly:
Okay if you are new to this, this is a lot to look at. But once you get used to it, it is easy. (some of the displayed code will not be the same, like server name, dedicated config etc.) Most things you can leave as is. I will take a look with you at the crucial parts.

Choosing game mode: If you want to play creative use: <GameMode>Creative</GameMode> if you want to play survival change it to: <GameMode>Survival</GameMode>
Everything up to Loadworld is pretty straight forward, so just adjust if you want to. NOTE: some things are set for Space Engineers and wont do anything when you change them or might crash your server.

Loading a world 1: Okay at first the line will say: <LoadWorld/> which basically means it wont load a world. So lets keep it like that and jump to <WorldName/> Fill this in with how you want to name your world for example:
<WorldName>TEST</WorldName>. Keep it like that and dont restart the server yet. We will get back to this.

Naming the server: Jump to: <ServerName>Test server</ServerName> If it doesnt have a server name set yet it will probably look like this: <ServerName/>. So go ahead and change it to this: <ServerName>Test server</ServerName> (where it says Test server just change to the name the server you want it to be called).

Mods: Mods can be a pain, some may crash the server or might not be supported. I recommend testing the mods in singleplayer first. But look up a mod you want in your server on Steam in the workshop. If you have the mod page open just right click the page and click Copy page adress. And paste it somewhere like in word or notepad. At the end of the link you'll see a code for example: 766857004. Copy this code youll need it. Go the the config file and look up: <mods/>. Change it to this:
<Mods>
<unsignedLong></unsignedLong>
</Mods>

Now just go ahead and take the code you saved in word or notepad or wherever and paste it in-between the unsignedlong arrows like this:
<Mods>
<unsignedLong>766857004</unsignedLong>
</Mods>
If you have more than one mod just copy the: <unsignedLong></unsignedLong> line and paste it under the other one and fill in the code of the other mod. A small example:
<Mods>
<unsignedLong>766857004</unsignedLong>
<unsignedLong>554355435</unsignedLong>
<unsignedLong>754646325</unsignedLong>
</Mods>
This would mean i have 3 different mods in my server.

Okay lets restart the server now and lets get on it! NOTE: the more mods you have the longer it could take to show up in the server list.

Once on the server, leave again, and stop the server.

Loading a world 2: Go to the FTP files and find the folder: Saves. Open this folder and find the folder which contains your world. In the case i displayed above it would be called: TEST. Find the FTP URL to this map. Usually through properties. Otherwise open the: RecentWorlds file with notepad and look for the last saved world named TEST (or the name you gave your world) and copy the link it gives you. Which will probably look a bit like this: c:\games\183_219_32_169_56015\1144769\medievalengi\Saves\TEST
Paste this link like in between the config file line like this: <LoadWorld></LoadWorld> So it looks like this: <LoadWorld>c:\games\183_219_32_169_56015\1144769\medievalengi\Saves\TEST</LoadWorld>

Now go ahead and and change the line: <WorldName>TEST</WorldName> to: <Worldname/>. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!! If you dont do that it will create a new world every time the server resets or restarts!

Now go ahead and save the config file again and start up your server! Following the above it would be perfectly set and will have the mods you need and will keep your world like you left it.

I hope this is gonna help new users! If I encounter anything i think could be added or changed i will.
Also if you have any questions just ask!

 

This would be great on the wiki...
http://www.medievalengineerswiki.com/

Check out the community modding guides for examples of formatting...add to the multiplayer category...done
I can do it for you but I don't have much time today

 

Will do!

 

I must be missing something here. I followed all the steps. Rented a server from Game servers, change the little bit in the FTP stuff with notepad++ ... restarted the server but it still does not show within the M.E. server list....help please

 

Okay what did you change? Can you copy and paste it here so i can take a look at it? Because 1 mistake in the file can crash your server.

If you know where to find it, please also send your server log to me, so i can maybe see what the error is in there.

 

wish i had found this a few days ago
i pieced the info together from various internet resources
but the steps should work on gameservers.com servers, mine is there

 

Good to hear I did the same thing, looking up on the internet, and just trying myself. Didnt like it there was no good explanation about it, so I thought id better help everyone with it with sharing how it works.

There might be some easier ways or different ways though. But I did it the way described above and worked like a charm.

For a more detailed explanation you can go to: http://www.medievalengineerswiki.com/index.php?title=Setting_up_a_rented_server There I uploaded an easier guide on how to set up a server.

Thanks for sharing it works the same on gameservers.com

 

if i may suggest, you may want to consider adding the method to restrict users to a certain steam group
i am horrible at instructions

 

Yes sure I can do that. I have not done this on my own server yet. But I suppose it would look like this:
<GroupID>1234567890</GroupID>

Am I right? Because then I can add it

 

i do believe thats it

 

Where are these files though? I can't find this "dedicated.cfg". Rented a server machine which I can only access through a panel, obviously the ME files are missing.