Server running advice?

[Drbretto]

So, here's the problem. And this is why I was drawing a blank for a minute. You put the arguments like -nogui in the serverstart file. I DID do this part. I thought maybe I was just being dumb and forgot to point the multicraft client to the bat or sh files, but that's not what happened. The ftp client fails every time I try to upload any .bat or .sh file. This is clearly intentional. I don't remember if mcpro was the same or not, but I was but a pup then and wouldn't know.

So, there must be a way within multicraft to include those arguments. But I can't find it. This is either my fault for diving neck first into things I know nothing about and missing the fundamentals, or these site runners are either up to something or incompetent. I've put in tickets days ago and I didn't get a response until I called them out for the delay, and all they did was pass their issue on to a different department that never responded (a refund request for accidental double payment) and someone who asked me to run spigot commands when I'm not running a spigot server.

 

[ChemE]

It probably doesn't let you upload a shell script because you are not root on that machine. Our server doesn't have any such files and works perfectly fine. Maybe try turning your view distance back to default and removing your extra mods to see if the server behaves? Those are some crazy tick times. Our worst ever with Beyond 1.5.3 is 60ms and that was when one of our mob grinders went haywire and spawned a bunch of mobs that failed to get grindered

 

[Inaeo]

If you haven't already figured it out, the Java arguments go in your settings.sh file. In my experience, if you're getting stutters of ~40ms in batches, it's directly related to garbage collection. I'll see if I can scrounge up a set of arguments that worked for me when I was testing a server from home (unfortunately a dead project now). If you can't upload the file, is there any way you can simply edit it (Notepad++ works perfectly, but any text editor should do the trick)?

Edit:
Here we go. I pulled these from a Reddit thread I was redirected to from here on the forums. The thread goes into detail about what most of these mean, which I immediately forgot as soon as I found something that worked for me. Obviously, your mileage may vary.

-XX:+UseG1GC -Xmx4G -Xms4G -Dsun.rmi.dgc.server.gcInterval=2147483646 -XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions -XX:G1NewSizePercent=20 -XX:G1ReservePercent=20 -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=50 -XX:G1HeapRegionSize=32M

 

[Drbretto]

I don't know. That's a good idea, though. I'll look into that kind of method tomorrow. I want to give them a chance to get this right. All I need is direct access. I am also almost totally in agreement that it's the garbage collector. I think the arguments I will find online will more or less solve this issue. I think they'll help my mc partner there stay a bit more stable on her end as well.

It takes a sold 9 and a half gigs for me to run, but that's with a ton of had textures. I could probably be more efficient at 6 but I'm not really having many problems on the client side that I don't totally do to myself, lol.

My problem is kind of unique, though. The entire point is no compromises on view distance. That does cause problems, especially when I'm not compromising on mods, either. My frustrations stem from knowing I can fix it if the customer service gets out if my way. I have been in persuit of exactly this for a long time. I will have it. The view is Paramount.

If view distance is a radius, and a standard player has a view distance of 10, my 32 loads as many chunks as 10 or 11 players. That's asking a lot of it. But it handles it perfectly fine when I'm not traveling. It lags when I'm loading and unloading chunks. This has to be the garbage collector.

And I still want to see how much RAM I'm using. I'd consider paying more if I needed to. And I'd like to not overpay I'd I don't have to. If I add more players, I want to be able to see the load so I know if I'd have to upgrade, etc.

 

[Henry Link]

I've recently has some experience with a hosting company. I was helping a friend setup infinity skyblock 1.7.10 on his server he rented. He didn't have root access to anything. All he could do was upload files via FTP and change settings in the admin console (webpages). So you will need to learn where in the hosting company's admin console you can set the java parameters or contact the hosting company for help.

This just confirms that I made the right choice in renting a dedicated box over a VPS or game server. I have 100% control of it all because I built it. No admin interface to get in the way. I've been able to serve 3 modded minecraft sessions on my hardware with no issues. I could run more if I had more space on the server but I opted for SSD over a spinny.

 

[Drbretto]

I'm strongly considering getting my own hardware. I bet it's not even necessarily that expensive.

 

[Hambeau]

I'm strongly considering getting my own hardware. I bet it's not even necessarily that expensive.

I don't know anything about your current hardware, but if you don't have older hardware to build a server from you could possibly think about upgrading your current system and using the leftovers for a server.

I have at least 2 working older sets of Mainboard/CPU/Ram myself... An Athlon II w/4GB DDR2, and the stuff I just replaced this weekend... An 8350 w/8GB DDR3. I also have an older case and power supply, so I'm all set to build a headless server. This thread has me thinking about doing that now.

I upgraded my Desktop to a Ryzen 1600 w/16GB DDR4 and a Prime X370 mainboard Saturday ($600 and some cents).

As an FYI, I would never consider renting a server of any kind myself, having been a Unix System Admin, a LAN Admin and an Infrastructure Engineer since 1985. With all the outgrown stuff I have I could take over the world

 

[Drbretto]

I did consider the idea of cannibalizing my PC for this. Right now, though, the only extra piece I have is the processor. But, I'm a optimist. What that translates to is an excuse to upgrade!

 

[Drbretto]

Alright, I've sent out a few emails to some competing hosting sites. ChemE, please don't think I don't still appreciate the head's up on this one because if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have known there were other reasonably priced sites out there. I'd still be playing single player right now otherwise.

But, it's been almost 2 weeks. I've put in 3 tickets. 1 was answered by a moron. 1 was passed on to what appears to be a nonexistant department, and the last one was answered by a moron AND disappeared. All of which would be fine if I wasn't restricted because I don't need their help. I just need them not to be in my way.

But, there's one out there that's only about $2 a month more expensive. If they can handle my unique needs, they will win my service. Fingers crossed!

 

[ChemE]

Hey no worries Drbretto, it won't hurt my feelings if you don't use them in the end. I'm just glad my experience hasn't been the same. They've usually answered my tickets in a day or two and resolved them satisfactorily but mine are pretty straightforward and we usually run well understood packs. Which service is just $2 more per month out of curiosity?

 

[Drbretto]

I found 2 of them, actually. But the one I re-found this mornign was https://www.minecraft-hosting.pro/offers

Both sites (I didn't run into the other one again yet, so I forget the name) run a $3 per gigabyte, so 4GB would equate to $12 a month. 30% off of that if I buy it for the year (which after this experience I won't consider until after the first month, lol)

 

[Drbretto]

https://www.beastnode.com/cloudvps/

Well, the service response time for these guys was INSTANT and it was informative. I am very, very impressed. I will be giving them a shot tonight! Same $3 per gig, too.

 

[Drbretto]

After looking again at the PC linked in the thread about running these packs comfortably, I'm wondering what I'd really need to put together my own hardware here. I have to think all I'd need is a pretty basic box with 3.5+ ghz processor (and I have one laying around even), a hard drive and some RAM, right? Can anyone think of anything else specific I'd need? Because I'm betting I can find some used cheaper parts out there and could probably put this together on the super cheap...

 

[Henry Link]

Sounds about right. I usually aim for about the same amount of RAM on the server that I use on the client even though the server can probably get away with a little less RAM. I also recommend an SSD to speed up the loading/unloading of chunks on the server. But that isn't a requirement. Just about any HDD will do. The bigger issue I ran across trying to do this is internet upload speed/reliability. I didn't have reliable enough upload especially during prime time hours for other people to maintain a good connection to my server. No issues for me locally just those trying to connect to it. Hence one of the reason I rent from OVH, unlimited bandwidth and no issues with player connectivity to the server.

 

[Drbretto]

I work for my own cable company, so I get free 150mbps Besides, I'm at my own house, so I shouldn't have any lag. If my MC partner gets a little big of lag on her end, I will not lose sleep over it This is definitely going to happen, I think. I think I'll have so much more room to get this exactly right. And I think I can do it for under $300 easily, and with some effort, significantly less.

 

[ChemE]

4GB of RAM is *plenty* for a server. Get a chip that has maximum IPC and single-core performance. My personal favorite is still the Intel G3258 since its IPC is almost the same as the iCore7s, you can OC it on air to 4.5GHz+, and you can get it for $50. I echo Henry's recommendation for a SSD. Doesn't have to be big at all, 120GB is plenty. Also consider using a lightweight OS so Win10 is out. I've run Lubuntu 15.04 for a very long time on the hardware laid out above and it owns modded MC. It boots to the desktop faster than my screen can turn on and sitting at the desktop uses 268MB of RAM. I don't have to set aside 2GB of RAM for my OS thus the recommendation of 4GB. Plus $0 is hard to beat.

This: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/ChemE/saved/#view=xH9Pxr

 

[Drbretto]

I think I'd still go for 8 for my own personal craziness. Running a view distance of 32 loads roughly the same number of chunks as 10 people at the default 10. That's a lot of server load. Even if right now we're talking about 2 people, that's the equivalent of running FTB Beyond with 20 players. If I end up with 5 people down the line, that's like 50 players. It adds up quick.

I'm running it now relatively fine at 3 gigs, but again, just 2 people and I can't tell if my issues are RAM or CPU? based because of this host. I'll know more when I migrate it to the new host this weekend.

Either way, though, RAM is super cheap, so if I overdo it, I won't lose much sleep over it.

 

[ChemE]

I added my parts above in my last post in case you miss it. RAM is cheap and I've always just gone with 8 myself. Saving $100 on the OS pays for the extra RAM and the upgrade to an SSD. My server running this setup uses like 23 watts 24/7 or 17kWh per month. That is about $2.50 per month in electricity. I've seen people recommend all sorts of bestial setups as servers but you have to buy the electricity and dump it as heat into your house, and then you've got to pay again to AC it back outside in the summer. 500+ watts for a server is just stupid so be careful with that.

 

[Drbretto]

Oh, sweet! Thanks! I'll reference that when I'm getting closer to pulling the trigger! It might be a little bit though.

Edit: And yes, i 100% agree on using some form of Linux. I've never used it before, but, eh, I'll figure it out.

 

[Drbretto]

Ohh, that Mobo is compatible with my leftover CPU. That can knock $75 right off that list (with a significant upgrade to boot)