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Setting up a server with dynamic Cross-Ark Travel?


shizzmoo

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According to Jeremy Stieglitz, if we want to setup servers for Cross-Ark travel between The Island/Center and Scorched Earth:

 

 

For Unofficial Servers, if they wish to allow dynamic Cross-ARK Travel, they will need to run two Servers on the same box from the same directory, and then you can launch with the following commandlines:

ShooterGameServer.exe ScorchedEarth_P?SessionName=MySession1?AltSaveDirectoryName=Save1 -NoTransferFromFiltering -clusterid=mycluster123
ShooterGameServer.exe TheIsland?SessionName=MySession2?AltSaveDirectoryName=Save2  -NoTransferFromFiltering  -clusterid=mycluster123

(the clusterid must be the same between the servers!)
(to avoid saves from clashing each server should use distinct values for: ?AltSaveDirectoryName=<SaveFolderName>)

 

Even if we could enter the trusty command lines, it looks like there is currently no way to order a server like this. Is Survival Servers planning on offering an option like this?

 

Would there be possibly discounted pricing options as well (instead of paying for 2 separate servers)? :wink:

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My brother and I host a server and this is exactly what I would like to know. We are excited at the fun that can be had with this and would love to here something soon.

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I'm very confused about this also. The Ark representative makes is sound like, in order to enjoy cross-ark travel we'd have to purchase and pay for 2 separate hosted servers. People are interested in buying the DLC but we don't dare, if it's going to be something we cannot afford to host on our single server. The content looks great, but as described, that it would be useless to hosted server customers. As such, it seems like such a huge slap in the face to our service providers that they set this up this way, and even worse, didn't even give them heads up notice about how it was going to work. So adding in the dubious nature of -3month DLC content, Wildcard isn't making me happy at how much they're putting our good server hosts on the spot either.

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My wife and I utilize Survival Servers for our Ark play, and we have the same questions. Will Survival Servers offer a discount price to allow two servers for Cross-Ark travel on the same box? Will they offer this service at all?

 

We're eagerly awaiting any news from a Survival Servers representative.

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Yeah, imagine in the future when there will be multiple DLC that may require dynamic Cross-Ark Travel... At that point, I'm practically running a WoW server with multiple continents (Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Northrend, etc). I remember the days of one of these continents crashing and everyone trying to portal out to somewhere else lol. Ark is going to require whole new types of server hardware to support the new intended gameplay mechanics.

 

I just hope someone from SS will chime in here and say they are able to do this type of server setup for us. I've only been a customer for a few months, running The Center with some mods, but I've been very happy with the performance and control panel options. I would like to stay, but I need this option to be possible. Ark is clearly heading this direction, as the base game map cannot be expanded any further (they have stated).

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I'm very confused about this also. The Ark representative makes is sound like, in order to enjoy cross-ark travel we'd have to purchase and pay for 2 separate hosted servers. People are interested in buying the DLC but we don't dare, if it's going to be something we cannot afford to host on our single server. The content looks great, but as described, that it would be useless to hosted server customers. As such, it seems like such a huge slap in the face to our service providers that they set this up this way, and even worse, didn't even give them heads up notice about how it was going to work. So adding in the dubious nature of -3month DLC content, Wildcard isn't making me happy at how much they're putting our good server hosts on the spot either.

I completely agree, I don't think wildcard thought about this from all angles. To be completely honest I find their development strategy to be way to "by the seat of your pants".  They have a great product but they are not handling it as well as they could be.

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I am curious also to find out if I need to rent a 2nd server to run both maps. Because it sounds like that is what we need to do. Right I am hosting on one of my own PCs for friends to test, but that means if my system goes down they can't play

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I'm ready to throw money at Survival Servers (did that get your attention? heh)   to get another server going for the DLC.  But I'm awaiting the answer to this.  We would like to be able to transfer our characters back an forth; and that takes a specific setup.

 

I don't want to order the server now because in theory it won't work for transfers because it's unlikely it will be on the same machine setup as described.

 

*waiting* 

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I've submitted a ticket, hopefully they can provide an answer sooner rather than later. I will share whatever info I can with you guys once they respond.

 

I'm really wanting to get this going ASAP, as this is the best way to play Scorched Earth in my opinion. Wild Card is not making this easy on us, but I still want to play the expansion like it's meant to be played: as an expansion on the base game, and not just a separate map. Help us out SS! 8-)

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I've submitted a ticket, hopefully they can provide an answer sooner rather than later. I will share whatever info I can with you guys once they respond.

 

I'm really wanting to get this going ASAP, as this is the best way to play Scorched Earth in my opinion. Wild Card is not making this easy on us, but I still want to play the expansion like it's meant to be played: as an expansion on the base game, and not just a separate map. Help us out SS! 8-)

 

I hear ya!   Let's hope this doesn't last through the long weekend... that would be a tragedy.  So cross your fingers SS is scrambling around getting it working right now!   They should at least reply here with a "We're working on it guys..." :)

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My fingers and toes are crossed, trust me! hah

 

Just think about this though SS...

 

No other hosting provider is currently offering this type of setup for Ark. Be the FIRST, lead the way. It would probably generate some business for them, especially if they are able to get this going fairly quickly (quicker than the competition that is). :wink:

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I'm also interested in Dynamic Cross-ARK Travel for my server. Hope we can get a response soon on options. Seems kinda pointless to play on a Scorched only map.

 

Not sure why Wildcard did it this way, but if they add another DLC like Scorched, won't that also require yet another server instance? Seems like a lot of unnecessary overhead for admins and server providers.

 

This also leads me to suspect that a 2 server option for ARK will not be low cost enough for the average player -nor will running your own servers off your own system; that's a lot of needed muscle.

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Yeah I am lucky that I have a dedicated server at home that I can run two instances, and I also rent 1 server from here. Mainly because that way my other admins can access the panel, but if needs be I can set it up another way. I bought the DLC because I want to be able to go between both, but not at the expense of my wallet. 

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Ryan! Just the man I was hoping to hear from. Thank you for the response good sir.

 

I'm curious, aren't customers already technically sharing server boxes as it is? I don't imagine each customer gets a box all to themselves. I think as long as the file structure is correct, we could start testing out these launch parameters for you guys.

 

It's probably similar to running a prim+ custom config, just need same server box and correct shared file path for both server saves. :)

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I know there is a command line that you can use to run two instances of the server. But then the issue is we will be using the same amount of resources for 1 server for 2. Have you guys tried to find it using the command line to run 2 instances and monitor how much it uses?

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We too are pretty confused by the documentation that is provided.

 

Other hosting companies have said "Nope can't do it" but we're not taking that stance.

 

I'll figure it out and update you guys when more information is available. :)

 

Yeah it baffles me that Ark would set it up this way.  I honestly think it was a rush job to get something out at PAX.  An Ark server is a hog as is... and two run TWO instances of it on the same hardware?  They definitely need to revisit how that works.

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Hopefully some of the stability fixes that Ark patched in 246.1 will help with how demanding it is. There were a few complaints on the official Ark forums about some server owners losing all character saves, and/or server crashes when they tried this out.

 

By the way, a supervisor (I won't give out his name of course) responded to my ticket with:

 

"We will be releasing this feature in the near future. I do not have an eta but the owner is working on getting this released as soon as we can."

 

It's about the same as what Ryan said, but I'll take double good news over mixed responses any day of the week. :)

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Ok, I'm pretty sure this is how things went down in Ark's offices:

 

 

ManagerGuy: "Our new expansion is coming, but I think people are going to be pissed to have to start over AGAIN.  Thoughts?"

CoderGuy: "Well... we have the ability to transfer from one map to the other."

ManagerGuy: "Great, that will work... how?"

CoderGuy: "We basically establish communication between two running servers (password protected of course) and sync the data to both locations.  The users would have to select their destination server when uploading."

ManagerGuy: "That sounds like it will take too long.. PAX is coming up, any other solutions?"

CoderGuy: "Well we have to obelisk system which lets you store dinos and items and characters for when you switch maps on your server."

ManagerGuy: "Oh that's right!  Let's use that."

CoderGuy: "Well it only works because the saved data is on the same machine in a folder both maps can get to."

ManagerGuy: "Oh.  But it would still work if the machine ran both maps at the same time right?"

CoderGuy: "Well yeah.. but..."

ManagerGuy: "Great!  Let's use that as a temporary solution for PAX until we can implement the REAL way to do it."

CoderGuy: "But sir..."

ManagerGuy: "Carry on!"  *walks out*

 

TLDR: I'm pretty sure this is a temporary solution. They just needed more time to implement network pieces to have two servers coordinate moving players around.

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I have the transfer working and working on a method right now to allow a toggle in the control panel to have it enabled.

 

It's a bit of work so I can't really give an ETA or anything.

 

You are amazing. Thank you so much Ryan for taking this on. We're crossing our fingers something works out.

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I have the transfer working and working on a method right now to allow a toggle in the control panel to have it enabled.

 

It's a bit of work so I can't really give an ETA or anything.

Sweet. :)

 

Thank you, Ryan. We all appreciate the hard work you and the SS team are putting in to make this happen. Can't wait to enable this!

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Released a (very beta) transfer "mode" that you can toggle/control via the control panel.

 

Does not work with "custom" map toggle (you have to switch to a compatible map for it to work or temporarily disable your custom launch params/total conversion) and is very much a work in progress.

 

There most likely will be bugs with this method, please make sure you make backups of config/savedark data!

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So, wait... I don't quite understand what's been done here.  

 

EDIT: Reading description on the website now... 

 

Ok.  I still don't get it.  This doesn't mean we have two simultaneous servers running does it?  This appears to be a way to transfer on the same server by switching maps; although it does also say it starts a second instance.

 

What I (and I think many others) are looking for is running TWO live instances of the server.  One running the old map, and one running the new map; and the ability to transfer between both without shutting either down.  I would assume this would require renting a second server that happens to be sharing all the same directories and such for the transferring to work.

 

I'm not sure the above is possible... maybe that's what other hosts mean by "can't be done".

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So, wait... I don't quite understand what's been done here.  

 

EDIT: Reading description on the website now... 

 

Ok.  I still don't get it.  This doesn't mean we have two simultaneous servers running does it?  This appears to be a way to transfer on the same server by switching maps; although it does also say it starts a second instance.

 

What I (and I think many others) are looking for is running TWO live instances of the server.  One running the old map, and one running the new map; and the ability to transfer between both without shutting either down.  I would assume this would require renting a second server that happens to be sharing all the same directories and such for the transferring to work.

 

I'm not sure the above is possible... maybe that's what other hosts mean by "can't be done".

Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what's just happened haha.

 

Basically, the goal is as Wild Card intended it: Both are live, and players can transfer freely between them without either server coming down. It's definitely possible, as there are now players running this on their own dedicated servers.

 

Hmm, we might need some clarification here. If we toggle this new option, and one of our players decides to transfer to the other instance (IE: Center to Scorched Earth), will this mean both can run at the same time? Essentially an instance, like MMO's typically use?

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What I (and I think many others) are looking for is running TWO live instances of the server. 

 

That's exactly what this tool does. when the Transfer Mode is enabled a second instance is created which is what map/expansion you intend to transfer to. When the server is started another server is started in parallel with the new map and the Transfer prefix to the save folder, hostname, etc. So you have two live game servers running to temporarily transfer data. Once you are done with all of the needed transfers, disable the Transfer Mode and on the next start your SavedArkXXXXTransfer folder (where all the transfers are now on the new map/expansion) are moved to SavedArkXXXX as your single game server save.

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That's exactly what this tool does. when the Transfer Mode is enabled a second instance is created which is what map/expansion you intend to transfer to. When the server is started another server is started in parallel with the new map and the Transfer prefix to the save folder, hostname, etc. So you have two live game servers running to temporarily transfer data. Once you are done with all of the needed transfers, disable the Transfer Mode and on the next start your SavedArkXXXXTransfer folder (where all the transfers are now on the new map/expansion) are moved to SavedArkXXXX as your single game server save.

 

So can players be on both server instances playing at the same time?

 

The goal of WC coming out with this feature, is that players can freely transfer between two live servers whenever they want. The problem though, is the limitation of them needing to be active on the same box.

 

What it sounds like, is you've enabled an easy feature to change maps without having to deal with FTP and backups and moving savedark files around - which is great, but it would not be what anyone is asking for. :sad:

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That's exactly what this tool does. when the Transfer Mode is enabled a second instance is created which is what map/expansion you intend to transfer to. When the server is started another server is started in parallel with the new map and the Transfer prefix to the save folder, hostname, etc. So you have two live game servers running to temporarily transfer data. Once you are done with all of the needed transfers, disable the Transfer Mode and on the next start your SavedArkXXXXTransfer folder (where all the transfers are now on the new map/expansion) are moved to SavedArkXXXX as your single game server save.

 

What you've created here is definitely a need thing for those that want to transition to the new map entirely and transfer back and forth.  However, the catch is that the transfer server is temporary.  I believe what people are looking for is something similar to this, but the transfer server would be running along side the main server all the time.  Thus allowing players to be on either one at the same time with the ability to transfer back and forth.   That's why I'm saying it would basically be renting another, persistent server, that is running at the same location as the transfer server would be.

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