A dedicated game server is a game-changer for serious gamers and developers alike. Unlike shared servers, it offers exclusive resources, ensuring faster performance, reduced lag, and a smoother gaming experience. Whether you’re hosting multiplayer sessions, running mods, or ensuring consistent gameplay, a dedicated server provides the stability and control needed for an optimal gaming environment.
What Does It Mean To Have a Dedicated Game Server?
A dedicated gaming server is a private, fully remote server that hosts video games for the server admin and all the other remote clients who connect to the server. Using this type of private server, players experience online gaming at its best.
Unlike shared servers, where resources are divided amongst multiple users, a dedicated server grants the user exclusive access to its resources. This means that the server’s memory, processing power, bandwidth, and storage capabilities are solely used to run the game, ensuring high performance and stability during gaming sessions.
How Do Dedicated Game Servers Work?
Dedicated gaming servers work similarly to a remote computer hosting a video game, without the need for an engine or graphics card rendering. Instead, it directs client machines on rendering instructions. This setup offers enhanced processing, memory, and storage capabilities, enabling you to tailor the server for seamless gameplay.
Are Dedicated Game Servers Better for Gaming?
Instead of connecting to a single host player, every player connects to a server when gaming on a dedicated server. Higher processing power, a more robust connection, and a synchronized gaming experience are the outcomes of this. Throughout a game, a specialised gaming server oversees every player’s interactions, locations, and activities, among other things.
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What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Dedicated Game Servers?
Dedicated game servers can provide different advantages for developers and their clients. However, they also have some disadvantages. Let’s take a look at both:
There are several advantages of a dedicated game server over other hosting types which can include:
- Exclusivity: To make sure that only gamers with permission can join, administrators can set passwords or make their servers private
- Extensive customisation: You can modify the server setup, create your own rules, and add entertaining mods to your gaming because a dedicated game host is self-managed
- Lower latency: To reduce latency, you can select the data centre location that is nearest to your player base from a variety of options offered by dedicated gaming server providers
Dedicated Game Server Disadvantages
Despite the benefits, dedicated game servers might not be for you due to the following potential disadvantages:
- Expertise requirement: A basic understanding of networking, system administration, and command-line interfaces is necessary for running a game server
- Time and effort-intensive: Setting up and maintaining a game server can be challenging if your hosting provider doesn’t offer features to simplify the process
- Costs: It can be costly to use a dedicated gaming server hosting service, particularly if the provider charges extra for these extra capabilities
Why Should I Host My Own Dedicated Game Server?
Peer-to-peer or client-server hosting is used in public online multiplayer games. Unfortunately, there are certain drawbacks to both hosting approaches, such as coping with lag in gaming or non-customisable game parameters. Here are a few server models to consider when launching your private gaming server:
Client-Server Hosting Model
In the client-server model, the main host controls the gaming server. This means that the main host directly manages individual connections for all players and that individual players do not have control over all aspects of game configuration.
Many casual online gamers find success with this strategy, but devoted gamers are unable to fine-tune their gaming experience. Additionally, players are left to rely on the bandwidth, memory, CPU, and other resources of the primary host server.
P2P Hosting Model
In the P2P model, the player who initiated the game or has the lowest latency is selected as the host for all other players. This means the host player’s computer must have the processing power, bandwidth, storage capacity, and Internet connection to maintain syncing and activities for all players within the game lobby.
However, by creating your own dedicated server for gaming, you gain access to a private server (a server that does not share the same resources with other websites or applications) that provides you ultimate control over game configuration, resulting in significant improvements in performance and connection stability.
Tips on Building a Dedicated Game Server
If you plan on building and managing your private gaming server, there are a few tips you should keep in mind, including:
Consider Bare Metal Servers
For high-performance game servers, especially those hosting complex multiplayer games, bare metal gaming servers offer significant advantages. It provides full access to hardware resources, ensuring consistent performance without resource contention from other users and bare metal servers can offer lower latency.
While bare metal servers may have higher upfront costs compared to shared or VPS options, they can provide the performance and flexibility necessary for serious game hosting, especially for resource-intensive multiplayer games or game development environments.
Remote Management
Remote management is a solid option when built-in game server admin tools don’t provide enough control. Virtual network computing (VNC) tools like TeamViewer or Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection can connect to your dedicated game server from your actual gaming PC’s desktop or another remote device and change configurations as if you were directly connected. This solution makes remote dedicated server management easy.
Gaming Server Router Configuration
To run a streamlined dedicated game server, you must utilise port forwarding. This process successfully allows outside traffic to reach a PC on your network through your router. Simply put, you can think of port forwarding as opening a door in your router for outside traffic to get in.
Port forwarding can do things like increase connection speed, decrease lobby wait times, and improve overall gameplay.
Dynamic DNS
Many cable and digital subscriber line providers frequently change the IP address of their customers’ service. Without knowing the current IP address, this prevents others outside the network from accessing it.
Every time an IP address changes, dynamic DNS software recognises it and alerts the DDNS service provider. Furthermore, a lot of DDNS companies let you have a straightforward domain name that always points to the right IP address and that you can share with others.