Lagging Gameservers and What To Look For

Here you will learn about possible causes and solutions for lagging on your Nitrado Gameserver.

Possible Causes Of Lag

1. Modifications: The most common cause for lag or decreased performance lies with the content installed on the server, which are added manually: mods. At this phase in development, it cannot be certain the mods are developed correctly or are always compatible, mostly because mod developers are typically amateur.
2. Corrupt Save Game: Sometimes the game save can become corrupt, which usually stops the server from starting properly. This can be caused by the game itself, or can be caused by mods. The server will not start when structures or other content cannot be read by the game. While the server is down, no backups can be made.
3. Version Mismatch: Another reason you cannot connect could be a version mismatch. If the server and your client are different (enough) versions, it could prevent you from joining. Typically, our servers update within 3 hours of an update. We test each update before rolling them out, and our system is automated, so it can take some time. Mods will also need to be updated from time to time, and an outdated mod can stop you from joining a server. If your server has out of date mods, they will say so on the web interface, and should be updated.
4. Hardware: The final cause could be hardware related. It is possible there are not enough resources on your host system to properly run the game, in which case you will need to contact support. An acutely loaded server can cause delays in information processing, resulting in decreased performance, or a crashed server.

Possible Solutions

1. Modifications: Firstly, you should check the mods. It is recommended a backup be taken of the save games. Use the FTP credentials on the web interface with an FTP client, and take a copy of the save game on the server. It is wise to start removing mods based on when they were added, by removing them from the Active Mods in Settings step-by-step, restarting the server in between each removal to see if that has helped.
2. Corrupt Save Game: Corrupt save games are the most common cause for a server not starting. As mentioned above, this is caused by some portion of data not being read properly by the game, causing an error. Because this can happen frequently, the game itself makes save game backups roughly every two hours of server up-time. Go to Settings>Settings and find the section ‘Backup’. Choose a different save game to start the server with, generally not the most recent one, and one with a smaller file size, as corruption generally increases the file size substantially, save the changes, and restart the server. Repeat this process until the server is responsive again.
3. Version Mismatch: This is a simple solution. Everything needs to be up-to-date on the server in order for a client to access it (with some small exceptions, not all patches are required for the server side immediately). When mods are handled by our system, looking at them on the Settings page will let you know if they are the current version or not, and if not, a button will show up on them to ‘Update’. Click this button, and restart the server. When manually managing mods, you need to stop the server, and reupload the new content via FTP.
4. Hardware: The last and least common cause is the hardware. If, for example, resources are not being handled properly, or the server is restart looping, support needs to be contacted immediately via phone or email ticket.

Contact Nitrado Support

Submit a ticket to Nitrado Support immediately if you feel you cannot resolve the issue, or if it is reoccuring. Here are some helpful instructions on how to submit a ticket:

• How to submit and Email support ticket