Request Need some advisement please

[Morlen]

Hiya!

So I played vanilla for a long while, then my kids(twins, 15) got me into mods. Don't think I'll ever play vanilla again lol. Found my way to FTB and have been playing Direwolf's 1.3.1. I'm having this thought of creating a server for just us 3, but I don't want to leave a PC on 24/7 at home. So, when it comes to servers, or running them, I'm somewhat of a noob. I know there are probably sites that I can "rent space" but I've no idea the prices or what entails with all of that, or if it is far better to have a PC at home. I'm not very tech savvy, I know bit, C++ coding makes my mind melt lol!

I don't know if there is some simplistic way of doing this or not, so I'm asking all of you your advice.
I've looked through a huge amount of the forum posts and I'm still lost lol. I'm sorry if this has been asked alot.

Any help is great.

 

[mattp_12]

Hiya!

So I played vanilla for a long while, then my kids(twins, 15) got me into mods. Don't think I'll ever play vanilla again lol. Found my way to FTB and have been playing Direwolf's 1.3.1. I'm having this thought of creating a server for just us 3, but I don't want to leave a PC on 24/7 at home. So, when it comes to servers, or running them, I'm somewhat of a noob. I know there are probably sites that I can "rent space" but I've no idea the prices or what entails with all of that, or if it is far better to have a PC at home. I'm not very tech savvy, I know bit, C++ coding makes my mind melt lol!

I don't know if there is some simplistic way of doing this or not, so I'm asking all of you your advice.
I've looked through a huge amount of the forum posts and I'm still lost lol. I'm sorry if this has been asked alot.

Any help is great.

A server hosting service that is rather good is Creeperhost. http://www.creeperhost.net
Another one I have heard good things about is Nodecraft. https://nodecraft.com

 

[Dezz]

If you aren't into renting a server from a host, then the only other way that is reliable is from a home computer. You could just leave it up when all three of you are playing, instead of 24/7.

 

[Type1Ninja]

There is a simple way to host this yourself for free without having a PC on 24/7.
I'm going to assume you're using Windows; I don't know how to do this on a mac, although I suppose it would be similar.
If you're in the same house as the people you're playing with, you won't need to port forward.
Instructions for vanilla (prerequisite to modded)...

Spoiler

0. Choose a PC to run your server on. If the PC you play on is fairly good, you can just use that. Otherwise, you may want to use a different PC - luckily, running servers is less intensive than running a client (rendering is a LOT of work) so a crappy-to-decent computer should be able to run a server for a couple people without any issues.

1. Go to minecraft.net.
Find the server download (I forget where it is, but I think it's by where you download vanilla MC)

2. Drop that into it's own folder (the server folder) and run it. It WON'T start all the way - it'll generate a "eula.txt" file. Open that with your text editor of choice and set "eula" to true (you don't have to worry about the eula yourself unless you're trying to sell something ).

3. Open a command line on your comp (cmd) and type "ipconfig /all" without the quotations.
Find your IPv4 address. It's usually be 192.168.1.xx, although it may be something totally different, as my system is different from yours.
If you're NOT living with the people you're playing with, now is the time to find a tutorial on port forwarding. I believe Minecraft's default port 25565.

3.5 (optional). Configure your server via server.properties - just open it up with your text editor and edit at will. If server.properties doesn't exist, just run the server jar and close it after it's finished loading.

4. Now, run your server jar. You and anyone on your network should be able to connect through Minecraft now; if you didn't need to port forward, connect using your IPv4 (192.168.1.xx). If you did port forward, you should be able to connect via whatever your IP is.

Now, for modded:

Spoiler

0. Identical to Step 0 of the above.

1. Open your FTB Launcher. Go to whatever pack you're using; if it's an official pack, it'll definitely have a "Download Server" button near the top (third party packs are a little iffy; you have to drag the mods from your client to your server).

2. This should contain several things, including the server jar, server bat, mods, config, scripts if it exists, etc. Drag these to your server folder.

3. Run "ServerStart.bat" (I think that's what it's called). The reason for using the .bat is that it contains a couple JVM arguments that optimize the memory allocation of your server.
If it closes unexpectedly, don't worry. You have to set eula to true, as before.

4. The rest of the steps are identical to the vanilla instructions: follow steps 3-4 and presto! Everything should work. Other people using the same version modpack as you are will be able to join your server.

Let me know if you have any issues; this was all from memory, so I may have forgotten something.

EDIT: As others have said, you can just start/stop the server whenever you're playing (or not). The command to stop it is /stop.

 

[rhn]

I recently bought a dedicated server(a physical server PC thingy) and set it up at home to run my world. So far just for my own use(it was getting too heavy to run in singleplayer).

I have the server running 24/7(working as media server etc. as well), but I really don't need the MC server running when I am not playing. So to conserve some power etc. I found this:
https://www.mcmyadmin.com/
You basically install your MC server to be run and controlled by this "shell" and then you get all kinds of cool options and features. One of them is that you can set the MC server to be put into "sleep mode" whenever noone have been online for a set amount of time. Then when someone tries to log on again later they get a message saying "the server is starting back up, try again in a bit". This wont shut down the physical server ofc, so it still uses power. But at least it is not running full throttle all day long for no reason.
You also get automated backups, restarts, remote access to console and whatnot and loads of other stuff.

 

[Morlen]

Thank you all for the responses. I'm still rather confuzed lol. Creeperhost and nodecraft have ram/proc specs and HDD #'s that ive no idea what I'm going to need. What kind of server spec am I going to need for 3 people and the number of mods that are going to be in the pack? I mean, let's say the pack has 150 mods, obviously thats gonna need goo HDD as well as processor speed. RAM, idk what's needed lol. I'm assuming for large populations like 50 or more then I'll need the ram and HDD space, but then there is always the lag issue. I'm not going barebones here, but what kind of specs am I looking for 3 people with 150ish mods? If renting a host costs X dollars a month, and their minimum far exceeds what is needed, then maybe a home PC setup for a server is my best option, lol I dont know. But I also dont want to buy a PC for 900 bucks if I dont need to. And yea, pretty much "server for dummies" here. Have a huge amount of complex things in my life right now, not really trying to take on more. So simple is good lol. Thx!

 

[rhn]

But I also dont want to buy a PC for 900 bucks if I dont need to. And yea, pretty much "server for dummies" here. Have a huge amount of complex things in my life right now, not really trying to take on more. So simple is good lol. Thx!

Setting up a server is really not simple. And it is a difficult choice whether to get a dedicated server and host it your self or pay for it to be hosted somewhere else.

• Big one time spend vs. lots of monthly spends instead.
  
• All the customisability(if you know how to) you want vs. limited options but maybe easier to use and maybe support offered.
• Can host other things than MC simultaneously vs. can only host MC and perhaps only restricted versions/configurations of it.

What sold me in the end on the Dedicated server and hosting it myself was: Having control over how much I end up spending(no monthly fee that end up totalling up into insane amounts over years), I end up with something of value for the money, I can use it to backup and host all my files, movies, pictures, music and stuff, and that it can run all kinds of other applications that I find use for in the future.

 

[Harvest88]

Setting up a server is really not simple. And it is a difficult choice whether to get a dedicated server and host it your self or pay for it to be hosted somewhere else.

• Big one time spend vs. lots of monthly spends instead.
  
• All the customisability(if you know how to) you want vs. limited options but maybe easier to use and maybe support offered.

It's can be indeed simple if the person is willing to work with the customer, same for pricing. It's hard to find but a few will offer a good steal while still be quality and allowing quite a bit of customisablility. One way may be to rent from someone who already hosting on their server (like myself) as your basically "car pooling" the dedicated box with others.

 

[zemerick]

You may be surprised on the costs, but even a low end PC is usually more expensive than a mid-grade server from something like creeperhost. Even at 12 hours a day, 5 days a week in a place with cheap electricity.

This is a bit easier to understand though when you think into it. Servers are all about power efficiency. The more power they use, doesn't just cause a simple increase to electricity, it also adds heat. This heat means more cooling, which is more electricity. So it's more of an exponential problem instead of linear.

So, they work hard to get every bit of computing power out of the tiniest bit of electricity. They also get special deals with utilities as they will be a relatively stable and large income for them. ( More extreme ones will try to go off grid, reducing their costs even more. )

Next, what you want:
Faster CPU, faster HDD ( space is trivial. Saves are typically in the MB range, so it only becomes an issue from many backups, which you can just download to your PC.), good amount of RAM is critical ( but nothing more is needed. Probably 2-3GB is best. )

RAM has been the killer for me and my servers. Once you get multiple people on, exploring different areas, the RAM usage shoots up. ( CPU usage only goes up a bit. ) Then the garbage collection starts kicking in, and your CPU tanks. Welcome to Lag City.

The main downside to rented server vs dedicated home server is ping. Depending on your internet, and the closest hosting site, you could end up with a fairly high ping. This causes a number of issues, like blocks reappearing then disappearing. ( You want the ping to be under 200ms for sure. 50ms is golden. )

Checking creeperhost right now, I see they have a nice spring deal going if you want to get in on that. You could get up to about the Spider level, maybe spider jockey, for the monthly cost of a typical home server. My previous server was Chicken Jockey, and with more than 2 people online the RAM became a major problem, so I would say get at least Zombie. Everything else was fairly good, though I wish they had a cheaper 3 core option. ( Their Control Panel was also rather problematic, but they were about to replace it, and this was 6+ months ago. )

Here's another way to think about it:

Typical MMO monthly sub is $15 per month, and most people will agree that's pretty cheap for the amount of entertainment they provide. 3 people, that's $45 a month. That would get you With Skeleton level!

 

[Type1Ninja]

I'm going to say that you should definitely host it yourself. In my experience, your PC doesn't need to be *that* good to run a server; a decent-to-good computer might be able to run a server and a client at the same time. That's what I do.

Before I try to explain everything again: Do you live with the people you plan on playing with? If you DO, the process of setting up a server becomes much simpler.

 

[Harvest88]

I'm going to say that you should definitely host it yourself. In my experience, your PC doesn't need to be *that* good to run a server; a decent-to-good computer might be able to run a server and a client at the same time. That's what I do.

Be aware that while that would be true in many instances (especially in small servers and packs) however you MOST likely don't have access to data center grade networking. I had found out that home connection on residential is oversold as much as 64 TIMES what your paying for, then business internet plans are oversold at 16. Finally data center bandwidth is only oversold as much as 4 times. Then not only it's less congested but it also more optimized to lessen latency (network lag) so unless your near by each other the network latency from your home provider most likely won't cut it. Finally I would like to state that server grade components are MADE to run 24/7 while home components while cheaper are not meant to run like this.

I hope this helps the difference of home vs. getting it hosted with someone with a dedicated server or a company.

 

[Type1Ninja]

Be aware that while that would be true in many instances (especially in small servers and packs) however you MOST likely don't have access to data center grade networking. I had found out that home connection on residential is oversold as much as 64 TIMES what your paying for, then business internet plans are oversold at 16. Finally data center bandwidth is only oversold as much as 4 times. Then not only it's less congested but it also more optimized to lessen latency (network lag) so unless your near by each other the network latency from your home provider most likely won't cut it. Finally I would like to state that server grade components are MADE to run 24/7 while home components while cheaper are not meant to run like this.

I hope this helps the difference of home vs. getting it hosted with someone with a dedicated server or a company.

True, but the original premise was that this dude is playing with his children. If he's living with them, latency won't be an issue. Plus he probably won't need the server running 24/7.
(Plus, I play on my self-hosted server with a bunch of people who live 1500 miles away )

 

[Harvest88]

True, but the original premise was that this dude is playing with his children. If he's living with them, latency won't be an issue. Plus he probably won't need the server running 24/7.

True just have a spare HDD to backup to and then your should all set to host yourself. With that backup mod that would be quite simple to do.

 

[Morlen]

yes. my kids live with me lol. im aware i can do something like a router port or something for an internal network for the other pc's in the house to access the server. my main issue with an in-home server setup is getting another pc, which i dont have, and the added power cost. where i live electricity is rather expensive. sure, i could just shut it off when it's not in use. i was looking for something in which i didnt have to somemthing like that without all the added steps, however, running a private server as opposed to renting one has it's pros and cons. learning the software on a server is doable, but it's much more involved that renting one im guessing. basically ive never ran a server, so for just us 3 in the same house i didnt know how much cost and involved it would be. now i have a better understanding. thank you all!!


sorry for lack of grammar, im lazytiredbeatupworeout from iwanttolovemyjobbutithurtssomuchandpaysthebills mode right now

thanks again!

 

[Type1Ninja]

yes. my kids live with me lol. im aware i can do something like a router port or something for an internal network for the other pc's in the house to access the server. my main issue with an in-home server setup is getting another pc, which i dont have, and the added power cost. where i live electricity is rather expensive. sure, i could just shut it off when it's not in use. i was looking for something in which i didnt have to somemthing like that without all the added steps, however, running a private server as opposed to renting one has it's pros and cons. learning the software on a server is doable, but it's much more involved that renting one im guessing. basically ive never ran a server, so for just us 3 in the same house i didnt know how much cost and involved it would be. now i have a better understanding. thank you all!!


sorry for lack of grammar, im lazytiredbeatupworeout from iwanttolovemyjobbutithurtssomuchandpaysthebills mode right now

thanks again!

... Thanks for that clarification.
The internal network thing is surprisingly easy; if you can understand what the tutorials are trying to say, you'll get it fairly quickly. It's hard to explain, but once you get it it's easy. You'd be able to get it in a single weekend for sure. If you have any spare comp in your house, you may be able to use it; unless it's REALLY old, I've found that it's not very laggy on most computers. Rendering is really intensive, but the server doesn't have to do that, saving a lot of everything.
I would definitely recommend setting it up yourself (unless you find that the electricity cost is more than the cost of renting).
... And don't worry about the lack of grammar; this is the internet, nobody cares. ^^

"Welcome to the Internet, Home of Everything, Full Stop."

 

[Ben_]

First of all, you don't need another PC to host the server, you could just do it on the same one you play on, running in the background. As long as your computer can handle it. If they live with you, then the server hosting is a lot simpler, just host a server, and everyone will be able to connect, as long as you use the right IP. If you don't have enough of a PC, then I can't help.

 

[Inaeo]

This may be under thinking it, but if its just the three of you in one house, running the world in SSP open to lan might be an acceptable solution (if your computer is up to the task). I would start there myself, in this situation, then experiment with other options if things weren't going well.

Advantages are that it only runs when you turn it on, latency shouldn't be an issue, and electricity shouldn't cost more than running the PCs you would be playing on. Setting it up is easy peasy. Also, each player could potentially have their own single player world that could be hosted on that PC (via LAN) if those PCs are also up to the task.

Disadvantage here is mainly the added stress on the hosting PC. Also, it would become much more difficult to invite anyone else to your server down the road (not that that was intended, but kids have friends, right?). If you find your PCs can't handle the task themselves, then look at a dedicated solution.

 

[rhn]

Just thought I would point out that the OP asked for this advice back in May And the OP has not be on for more than a month