Attempt to get a playerbase using PC as the server host before buying a host. - General Discussion

This seems like an oddly specific thing to be asking, but I already went through paying for a host for my servers awhile back. I cancelled after a while due to having difficulties getting a player base. (I'm certain this isn't new for a lot of server owners) Now what I am specifically thinking about doing is hosting a server on my own PC. This sounds like, if i wish to not pay for a server host, a good idea. But my PC is definitely not high end, it's basic and is after all, a personal computer that wasn't built for server use. This also doesn't account for storing player data, which i much prefer on MySQL. 3.0ghz Pentium CPU that is I believe dual core. no dedicated GPU (shouldn't matter I would think) 8gb of ram. After my failed attempt on my servers, I just had to ignore what i have created ad move on. I eventually became a developer for another server but recently I have had feelings for my game mode again. The game mode is new and only I have it, so this in itself is a hurdle. Would any attempt of hosting and thus working on my game mode server on my personal computer be of any use? It would mean i wouldn't have to pay to host the server for the time being, but I would also be concerned about performance. The reason i stopped hosting it is because I wasn't very happy paying for servers that are always dead. I expect that a new server will not be flooded with players, but being the game mode is new and perhaps now a niche community on Gmod. My reasoning on thinking about hosting on my own PC is i could let it be hosted without worrying about where my money is going. I planned if i were to do this, I would switch to a more powerful host once a small player base was (if ever) established. As my time of developing for the server i play on now, it gave me some thoughts on how to get players to stay on the server more, things which i hadn't thought about implementing at the time. I guess another factor is what kind of server are we talking about, which in turn would help understand what kind of set up I should ideally have. The game mode is almost entirely using Lua Vehicles, and does need a tick rate around 66. I wouldn't suppose a setup like mine is going to work very well with a lot of players. However, as me and my friend tested the server many times before it went live, two players was at the least fine. They were in Australia, and I was in the USA. (But this could mean jack shit)

As long as you can keep your server up 24/7, then you should be fine. Also, make sure that your internet connection is reliable and fast enough, so that your players do not constantly experience lag. With all of that said, I encourage you to try hosting at home if you fit those criteria, since it's a cost-effective, and hassle-free way of hosting a community. One phrase of advice, though: Watch out for DDoS attacks. If someone attacks your server, remember, they are attacking your home internet network. This means that your family will no longer have access to the internet for the time period of the DDoS attack. With that said, DDoS attacks are rare, and if you run your community properly and fairly, you may be able to avoid them. Good luck!

I would be seriously impressed if this worked out

It's absolutely possible, just takes some good hardware and networking.

You're gonna lose a fuckton of players when you change IP (ie when you change over to remote hosting) even if you warn them well in advance. Also, I wouldn't bother home hosting as the chance of pissing off a brainlet and getting ddos'd is too great.

I agree with you on the ddos - but as far as losing players couldn't he leave the home server up and auto reconnect them to the new remote server?

Yeah I suppose but I don't know if the server browser's history feature which most people use would be able to remember the reconnected IP. Eventually you're gonna wanna kill off our home server as stated prior due to the risk of ddos'ing.

while normally i would understand that the ip would change, causing players to be lost, however the gamemode is only with me and thus would be the only server on the gamemode its listed on. (Meaning you could find it again in the gamemode its listed in.) However, since it is a new gamemode (its not an existing gamemode reskinned) that in itself is an issue because i already had barely anyone join and stay, only getting one new player that was a regular.

Changing IP isn't a big deal, just use GSLT. Most people don't use the favourites list, though

i would attempt it. but my biggest concern is performance. is my specs even gonna be worth it for say, 16-20 players?

home host until u get enough money to buy your own host, you wouldn't need a gpu so it doesn't sounds expensive to me you should get some players from ur friend list, some more will just enter randomly, I had a nutscript "sample" schema running while I tested some things and 2 random guys just connected to it, my point is that you will get ppl to play just by having ur server on any browser list, and sometimes they will stay for a while I suggest baby sitting the first ones, so that when u got like 8 ppl they will babysit themselves create a discord server to unite the players u have no one will ddos you, wtf

Bandwidth will be your biggest issue, a lot of ISPs will throttle you or shut you down if you're running a large-scale server on what's supposed to be a residential network. I hosted a Murder server years ago on my home network, it went pretty well, no lag, good amount of people online, but it was mostly just testing the waters to see if it was something I wanted to actually do.

Asoon as you receive anything regarded as a playerbase you will most likely be UDP flooded from one source and go offline, even free booters will take you offline for 2-5 minutes if your bandwidth or firewall aint up to the task. This isnt even then going into spoofing attacks and/or DDoS attacks

got myself a super cheapass vps from ovh for like $3 usd. If you're willing to suffer through linux command line it's totes worth.

I appreciate the responses but currently this thread for now doesnt apply to me, the owner of the servers i develop for has cut me a deal to get a server for me (even if it does mean he could cancel it at any time)

how many players is a $3/month server going to handle?

depends on gamemode/addons/trickrate at a 12 tickrate darkrp can handle 128 bots without the cpu being pinned or going past 40-60% useage but ive got my slots at 80

I remember doing this before on my PC. I had a steady player-base with an average 25 players. My PC could not handle the players and I was using my home IP. When someone spawns a big dupe or spams the server with props the entire server would lag like shit and then crash. If you are going to do this, I recommend you using the admin mod Vermilion 2. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=338063408