Dedicated servers in Space Engineers allow players to connect to a third party host, rather than using a player-host, in a peer-to-peer set-up. They are game instances intended for long time multiplayer games. They don’t depend on any player and they run without render and visual/audio effects. This will result to a faster connection and a more fluent multiplayer performance with less lag.
Dedicated servers are available for everyone who owns Space Engineers. You don’t need an extra Steam account, you get Space Engineers dedicated servers for free with your existing Space Engineers account.
Note: In order to run a dedicated server, server providers don’t require a licensed copy of the game. However, to obtain the game server files, at least one Steam account needs to have a valid license.
OFFICIAL DEDICATED SERVERS HOSTS
If you don’t want to host a dedicated server yourself, you can rent one from our official hosts:
Space Engineers is a sandbox game about engineering, construction, exploration and survival in space and on planets. Players build space ships, space stations, planetary outposts of various sizes and uses (civil and military), pilot ships and travel through space to explore planets and gather resources to survive. About Free Space Engineers Steam Game Code. Steam is the ultimate destination for playing and discussing games. With nearly 30,000 games from AAA to indie and everything in-between. Enjoy exclusive deals, automatic game updates, and other great perks. Experience gaming like never before! How can I get my game code? Space Engineers. All Discussions. Find and download player-created worlds and mods, or create your own and upload them directly to Steam Workshop. Free Steam Code. Thanks to an amazing member of the space engineers community, I was given a key for her and now we can play together.
DEDICATED SERVER GUIDE
REQUIREMENTS
a) A Windows PC with administrator account (only if the server will be run as a service)
b) .NET Redistributable 4.6.1 or higher
c) Installed Visual C++ Redistributable packages 2013 and 2017. You can download them here – https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/developer-tools.aspx
DS Minimum:
CPU 3.2GHz, 3 logical cores
6 GB RAM
5 Mbps bandwidth
DS Recommended:
CPU 4.5GHz, 3 logical cores
10 GB RAM
Static IP address, if you intend to host the game publicly, so that anyone from the Internet can connect to it.
INSTALLATION
a) On PC with Steam and Space Engineers
Go to your Library/Tools, search for Space Engineers Dedicated Server and install that.b) On PC without Steam.
You can install a dedicated server with SteamCMD https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamCMD
App ID for SE DS is 298740
Command line: “steamcmd.exe +login anonymous +force_install_dir somedirectorypath +app_update 298740 +quit”
QUICK SERVER SETUP
a) Basic setup as a foreground process
-Run SpaceEngineersDedicated.exe
-Choose “Local/Console” item in list of servers
-Click “Continue to server configuration”
-Here you can set variety of options. They work the same way as in the game.
-Fill in the name of the server and world name
-Press “Save & start” and you are ready to play
b) Setup as a service
-Run SpaceEngineersDedicated.exe as an Administrator
-Press the “Add new instance” button
-Fill in the name of the service (must be unique system-wide)
-Choose the service you just created from the list of server instances
-Setup your game the same way as with a foreground process
-Pay attention to ports in “Server settings”, as a single port can only be used by one server instance
USER INTERFACE
1. Server list
Here you can see the list of the server instances. There’s always one instance named “Local/Console” and optionally several other instances with custom names. The “Local/Console” instance is run on foreground as a standard application and is always there, while the other instances that the user creates are run in the background as Windows services.
2. Global configuration
Here you can set, whether the game log files should have dates appended to them and whether the server should automatically send the log files to Keen Software House upon crash.
3. Administration warning
This message is shown when the application is not run with administrator rights.
If you want to create or manage the server as a service you need administrator rights. The button “Run as Admin” will restart the application with administrator rights.
4. Buttons
– Add new instance – Creates a new instance of the dedicated server as a Windows service.
– Remove instance – Removes an instance of the dedicated server
– Continue to server configuration – Starts server instance configuration utility for the selected instances
– Exit – Closes the configuration utility
SERVER MANAGEMENT
1. Connect to Steam
Some of the features of the UI are using Steam to help users to fill correct values. You can connect to Steam to get your friends and mods lists. To be able to use this you have to be logged into Steam on that machine.
2. Features
There are 4 main features on the UI:
- Server Settings
- Plugins – Server plugin management
- Remote Client
- Console – Console output for running server
3. New game / Saved worlds option
Lets you choose between starting a new world generated from a scenario or loading a previously saved world
The previously saved worlds are loaded either from the “AppDataRoamingSpaceEngineersDedicated” folder in your home directory (e.g. “C:UsersJohn.Doe”) or from the “ProgramDataSpaceEngineersDedicated” folder in the system root. To be able to play a world on the dedicated server that you previously created and saved in the game, you will have to copy it from your save game directory “AppDataRoamingSpaceEngineers” to the respective folder
4. Game settings
Scenario – Can only be chosen for the “New game” option.
Other settings work as you know them from the game with the added bonus that you can set the numerical options to any value you want.
(Warning: Values out of the range allowed by the game user interface are not tested and officially unsupported. They can seriously affect the game experience and performance)
5. Server settings
General
Listen IP – Address of network interface that the server will listen on. This can be set to “0.0.0.0” (which is the default value) to listen on all interfaces, which should work fine in most cases
Port – Number of the port that the server will listen on
Server name – Name that will be shown in the server list
World name – Name of the world, which shows up in the server list
Steam Group ID – If set to non-zero value, the dedicated server will only be visible for the given Steam group
Password – Password for the server, if you need protected private server
Remote API – Remote API for controlling server with VRage Remote Client
Server Description – Describes your server
Users
You can select Admins, Banned and Reserved slots users on this tab. You can use your friends list or from history of the world.
Note: By “Steam ID” we mean the unique numerical identifier for a Steam account in the 64-bit format. Your Steam ID in this format can be found in the game log after running the game with Steam logged-in to your Steam account (see above) or using external tools like http://steamid.co/ or http://steamidfinder.ru/
Mods
You can select Active Mods on this tab. You can use your Subscribed Mods list from Steam.
MotD – Message of the Day
You can fill Message of the Day and Message of the Day URL on this tab. This message will show up to every player, when connected to the server.
You can use variables in the content of the MotD. Use the context menu of the text field to insert a variable of your choice. This variable will be replaced by actual value, when it shows to the player.
Space Engineers Steamcmd
Maintenance
You can setup Auto Restart and Auto Update features on this tab. Auto Update feature is supported only if the DS GUI is running.
How to setup auto-restart
There are two ways how to start dedicated server and to use auto-restart:
- Server as Local / Console
- If you use DS GUI, then auto-restart is supported.
- If you don’t use DS GUI and start server as simple console application, then you have to make your own script.
- Server as Window Service
- If you use DS GUI, then auto-restart is supported. You have to keep GUI open.
- If you don’t use DS GUI, then you have to go to properties of Windows Service (Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services). Find service of the server and in the properties there is Recovery page. Set the First failure, Second failure and Subsequent failures to Restart the Service. Also make your own task in Task Scheduler, which checks if server is running.
6. Configuration and Server controls
Save config – Saves the configuration for the current server instance
Edit config – Opens the current instance’s configuration file in a text editor for manual editing
Save & start – Saves the current configuration and starts the server
Restart – Restarts the server
Stop – Stops the server
Back to instances – Returns to the screen with the list of server instances
Exit – Closes the configuration utility (but not the dedicated server, if it is running as a service)
Setup Actions – this feature can Stop/Restart server with delay and chat message on the server.
PLUGINS MANAGEMENT
You can use plugins management for server side plugins setup. Add plugin assembly and then select plugin. Vw polo crossover.
REMOTE CLIENT
Remote Client helps you with the administering of your server without connecting to it. There is a monitoring tab with information about simulation speed and game play state.
Admin tools tab is similar to Admin Screen (alt-F10). You can see global server chat, connected, banned or kicked players, list of all grids, characters, floating objects, planets and asteroids.
Standalone executable
There is standalone version of Remote Client in the Dedicated Server directory. You can start it by executing VRageRemoteClient.exe file. Standalone version has more features like Profiles or Notifications.
COMMENT LINE TOOL
You can run SpaceEngineersDedicated.exe with the following arguments
-console: skips instance selection dialog, dedicated server configuration dialog, and goes directly to console application
-noconsole: will run without black console window
-path: will load config and store all files in path specified (“D:WhateverSomething” in example)
-ignorelastsession: ignores last automatic save of the world and uses values from config file
-maxPlayers : overrides maximum players that can be in session
-ip: overrides ip address of dedicated server stored in config file
-port: overrides port value stored in config file
taskkill /IM SpaceEngineersDedicated.exe
This will stop the dedicated server correctly, saving the world etc.
To stop it immediately add argument “/f”, which will kill the server without asking to stop and without saving the world.
CHANGING DATA DIRECTORY ON DEDICATED SERVER
To change data directory for dedicated server, mklink command may be used.
1) Make sure ‘D:SomethingDirForData’ exists
2) Make sure ‘C:ProgramDataSpaceEngineersDedicated’ does not exists
3) Run command:
mklink /J C:ProgramDataSpaceEngineersDedicated D:SomethingDirForData
More information here (see Junction): http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365006%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
ROUTER AND FIREWALL SETTINGS
a) Static IP: If you intend to run a game that people from all over the Internet can connect to, you will need a static public IP address. Your internet service provider should tell you whether you have one or not. Without the static IP address, you will be able to host a dedicated server on your LAN, but people from outside the LAN won’t be able to connect to it.
b) Port forwarding: The game uses UDP protocol to communicate. The default listen port is 27016, but this can be changed in the config tool. In order for people to be able to reach your server, you will have to configure your router to forward all incoming UDP traffic on port 27016 (or any other that you have specified) to the computer where your dedicated server is running.
c) Firewall settings: Make sure to set the firewall on your server computer to allow incoming UDP traffic on the listen port.
HOW TO FIND YOUR GROUP ID
If you want to find your Group ID, this is a way how to do it:
1) First you have to be the member of the group
2) On the group’s page (e.g. http://steamcommunity.com/groups/rps), click “Invite Friends”
3) On the new page that will open, you can find your Group ID (long number in red) in the page’s URL: http://steamcommunity.com/id/pikacc/friends/?invitegid=103582791429554934
REMOTE API
Remote API is RESTful web API, which you can use to get information about the server and running world. You can use VRage Remote Client to get the data or you can make your own client. These are available resources:
Custom Client
If you want to make your own client you have to properly create a request. Remote API is using HMAC (HMACSHA1) to compute hash from specific data. HMAC is using private key. Don’t share this key with anyone.
You have to compute hash from string (lines):
URL – including query parameters
Nonce – random string, can be used only once, can be a number
Date – UtcNow, format r, RFC1123 pattern, must be added to header
This is converted to byte buffer from UTF8 string and then used to compute hash. Hash is converted to Base64 string and added to header to Authorization field in format “nonce:hash”.
Example of code in C# (using RestSharp library) :
Iphone care for mac. private readonly string m_remoteUrl = “/vrageremote/{0}”;
public RestRequest CreateRequest(string resourceLink, Method method,
params Tuple<string, string>[] queryParams)
{
string methodUrl = string.Format(m_remoteUrl, resourceLink);
RestRequest request = new RestRequest(methodUrl, method);
string date = DateTime.UtcNow.ToString(“r”, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
request.AddHeader(“Date”, date);
m_nonce = random.Next(0, int.MaxValue);
string nonce = m_nonce.ToString();
StringBuilder message = new StringBuilder();
message.Append(methodUrl);
if (queryParams.Length > 0)
{
message.Append(“?”);
}
for (int i = 0; i < queryParams.Length; i++)
{
var param = queryParams[i];
request.AddQueryParameter(param.Item1, param.Item2);
message.AppendFormat(“{0}={1}”, param.Item1, param.Item2);
if (i != queryParams.Length – 1)
{
message.Append(“&”);
}
}
message.AppendLine();
message.AppendLine(nonce);
message.AppendLine(date);
byte[] messageBuffer = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(message.ToString());
byte[] key = Convert.FromBase64String(m_securityKey);
byte[] computedHash;
using (HMACSHA1 hmac = new HMACSHA1(key))
{
computedHash = hmac.ComputeHash(messageBuffer);
}
string hash = Convert.ToBase64String(computedHash);
request.AddHeader(“Authorization”, string.Format(“{0}:{1}”, nonce, hash));
return request;
}
With custom client you can get information about available resources on API URL (for example http://localhost:8080/vrageremote/api).
Problem: When your game does not start in 64-bit mode or it displays a message box saying “Space Engineers cannot be started in 64-bit mode”
Solution: Please follow this link: www.SpaceEngineersGame.com/64-bit-start-up-issue.html
Problem: The game does not start and you get the message “Steam not running! Please run this game from steam. (restart steam if running)”.
Solution: Update of the Steam client must be enabled, because an outdated client may not be able to recognize and run the game. Please update your Steam client and then restart your PC. Also, installing .NET 4.5 can fix start-up issues. Make sure that you have .NET 4.5 installed on your system.
Problem: The Logfile says “BadImageFormatException” and/or “Could not load file or assembly SteamSDK”. You get the “Please run this game from Steam“ error message.
Solution: First try to restart your Steam client and/or your PC. If this doesn’t work, download this file: Steam_appid.txt (right click and save link as) and paste it into the Bin and Bin64 folder of the game. You will find this inside the SteamLibrary folder in C:Program Files(x86)SteamSteamAppscommonSpaceEngineers). Then you can start the game manually by running the SpaceEngineers.exe. You can run the 32-bit version of the game from the Bin folder or the 64-bit version of the game from the Bin64 folder.
We are currently working with Steam on fixing this issue as soon as possible.
Problem: The game crashes after you click “Play” and you get a message saying “Space Engineers has stopped working” – LogMeIn issue
Solution: We have noticed that LogMeIn sometimes can cause the GPU driver to crash which prevents the game from starting. In order to fix this you will have to disable LogMeIn.
Problem: Disk read error when starting the game.
Solution: Usually by just restarting your computer will solve this issue. If it does not then you may have to perform a clean installation of the game.
To clean install the game:
• Uninstall the game through steam
• Find the folder location %appdata%, you can type this into any explorer window
• There you will see a SpaceEngineers folder. You might want to rename this to keep your saves and blueprints. If not then you can just delete the folder
• Find the steamapps folder (default: c:program files (x86)steamsteamapps
• Delete the SpaceEngineers folder
• Install the game again through Steam
• If the game is then working you can copy your old saves and blueprints to the new appdata folder
Problem: Logfile says: ‘HavokWrapper.dll’ access denied
Solutions: This is usually a file permission issue (start Steam as Administrator or change file permissions manually).
Or antivirus issue, add exception for SpaceEngineers.exe and/or HavokWrapper.dll
If you are concerned about security check HavokWrapper.dll digital signature in file properties (make sure you click “Details” on digital signature tab).
Problem: The game crashes during start-up and log contains:
Exception occured: SharpDX.SharpDXException: HRESULT: [0x8876086C], Module: [SharpDX.Direct3D9], ApiCode: [D3DERR_INVALIDCALL/InvalidCall], Message: Unknown
at SharpDX.Result.CheckError()
at SharpDX.Direct3D9.Device.GetViewport(Viewport& viewportRef)
The important note is ‘SharpDX.SharpDXException’ and few lines later at SharpDX.Direct3D9.Device.GetViewport’
Solution: Disable all other displays except one or try to change the multimonitor setup. When using ‘Extend displays’ the game does not recognize it when you move one of the displays into certain locations (below or on the same line as primary display).
Problem: The game does not start, an error appears which says “the game is already launched”.
Solution: This issue is mostly caused by the TeamSpeak 3 overlay. In order to fix this, turn the overlay plugin off.
Problem: The game is crashing at program start-up. A black box appears in the center of the screen and freezes.
Solution: This issue is most probably caused by a disabled SLI. You will have to go to your graphics card settings and enable SLI. Every card has a different way to enable SLI, so we can’t provide you the the exact steps that you have to follow.
Problem: Logfile says: “Graphics device failed to create”
Solution: Try running in windowed mode, open file “%APPDATA%SpaceEngineersSpaceEngineers.cfg” with notepad and find this section (WindowMode in Key):
<item>
<Key xsi:>WindowMode</Key>
<Value xsi:>2</Value>
</item>
And replace 2 with 0, like this:
<item>
<Key xsi:>WindowMode</Key>
<Value xsi:>0</Value>
</item>
Problem: When the game does not start and does not produce any log file.
Solution: Please open the Event Viewer (from the start menu, type Event Viewer). In Event Viewer go to Windows Logs, Application and send the top “.NET Runtime” error from Application: SpaceEngineers.exe (see below image) to our support email (top two are enough).
In order to do this right, please follow very carefully these steps:
1) Select the correct file on the left side (Application)
2) Select first the .NET runtime error from top (using default ordering)
3) Copy the large bottom text and send it to our mail. Note: make sure that the info is from the Application: SpaceEngineers.exe
Problem: The game does not start and I have tried all options above
Solution: Please try to disable the steam overlay.
1. Launch Steam and click on the “Settings” button. Click on the “In-Game Settings” tab.
2. Uncheck the box next to “Enable Steam Community In-Game” and click OK.
3. Disable the Steam Overlay on specific games only by right-clicking on the game title, click on “Properties” and uncheck “Enable Steam Community In-Game” in the “General” tab.
REINSTALL MICROSOFT .NET FRAMEWORK
Sometimes Space Engineers crashes even before the actual game starts. The most common reason is wrong/damaged Microsoft .NET installation. In this case the log file contains: System.Web.Extensions.
Solution:
- Install all Windows updates for .NET and security. Reboot your computer if required by the updates.
- Then install .NET 4.6.1 again from this URL: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49981.
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If it didn’t help, you may try a more advanced method: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/astebner/2008/08/28/net-framework-cleanup-tool-users-guide. This method will fix broken .NET configuration.
Useful Tools:
- Detects and tries to fix some frequently occurring issues with the setup of Microsoft .NET Framework: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30135
REINSTALL DIRECTX
If you experience trouble launching Space Engineers and the error messages you get suggest it’s a video / graphics / DirectX problem, try updating DirectX. Install DirectX 11 from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109
ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
It has been reported by players that some anti-virus software (most common is AVAST) are blocking the game and prevent it from starting. This happens because the game’s code is encrypted which is why the anti-virus software are flagging it as a virus. This is false positive and the solution is to add the file to exceptions or mark it as a save file.
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3rd PARTY PROGRAMS
It has been reported that some 3rd party programs can prevent the game from starting. In this case, you will have to disable these programs in order to run the game. Below is the list of the 3rd party programs that have been reported so far.
– Lucid Virtu MVP
– MacType
– LogMeIn
– xFire