DCS dedicated server query

[markturner1960]

Hi, I have 2 PC’s I run for DCS, one for my helicopter sim pit and one for jets. I am thinking of installing DCS dedicated server on the Helo PC, to maybe run DCS liberation or host missions etc away from my main PC….

what’s involved with this, how easy is it to set, what are the pros and cons etc? 
 

thanks

[Maverick87Shaka]

There is no real benefits to install a separate dedicated server on helo pc, if you plan to run from it a multiplayer mission and play it from jet simpit.
You can simply run your DCS installation from helo pc in "no-rendering" mode, to have the same pros of having a separate machine that run as server.

Going more in depth, since release of dedicated server, it's become more common that people run from the same machine dedicated server and the DCS client as two separate programs, since it's help to overcome a big ( old ) limitation that dcs has, to run most of the things from a single core. So basically helps to separate a bit all the simulation, rendering and other pipeline in multiple programs, so you can squeeze more performance from modern CPU with high core/thread count.

Cons of course it will be energy wasting ( and potential costs of run two computer at the same time ), managing all the stuff from two computer etc.

Since Multi threading should be close to its release as per last newsletter, I don't know if it makes sense trying now to re-arrange all the setup to run server and client.

With multi-threading support theoretically you should have the same results of run server and client as two different programs, more or less
 

[markturner1960]

Hi, thanks for the advice, so if I did want to, your advice is install the DCS server on my main machine and run the 2 side by side? As Liberation ( for example) will use a different core to run on that my main DCS client ? Is that correct? Running Liberation on a separate PC offers no advantages over that, you are saying? 

I guess I am trying to find a way to maximise the CPU useage of the main PC......

 

[Maverick87Shaka]

2 hours ago, markturner1960 said:

Hi, thanks for the advice, so if I did want to, your advice is install the DCS server on my main machine and run the 2 side by side? As Liberation ( for example) will use a different core to run on that my main DCS client ? Is that correct? Running Liberation on a separate PC offers no advantages over that, you are saying? 

I guess I am trying to find a way to maximise the CPU useage of the main PC......

 

yes, if you have a modern CPU with high core/thread count ( 8C/16T or more ), you can directly install DCS dedicated Server on the same machine, most of the people are doing this right now

 

[markturner1960]

cool, thanks...only drawback is its 170GB!!!

[mkosmo]

51 minutes ago, Maverick87Shaka said:

yes, if you have a modern CPU with high core/thread count ( 8C/16T or more ), you can directly install DCS dedicated Server on the same machine, most of the people are doing this right now

Once you start running your server, you'll realize that thread/core count does not matter.  Like the rest of the game, the server will consume a core and that'll be the end of it.  The thing chews RAM - so that'll be your contention point.  My free-flight missions chew 8-10GB of RAM per instance by themselves, and they don't even have a high unit count.

[Lukas2438]

is there a way to use the DCS main folder for the server installation, mainly for saving hard disk space?

so the dedicated server wouldn't require a second installation with all of the files inside

[Maverick87Shaka]

3 hours ago, Lukas2438 said:

is there a way to use the DCS main folder for the server installation, mainly for saving hard disk space?

so the dedicated server wouldn't require a second installation with all of the files inside

No, but you can run your full client installation almost as server ( no rendering mode ) but the drawback is that you need a second account with purchased maps that you want to play, since you can't use the same account for server and client as far as I know. You'll not be able to join your personal server with the same account basically.

[markturner1960]

OK, its becoming clearer, but I am still not there yet......!

So, if you install DCS dedicated server, you can't run it alongside your DCS install ( either on your PC or another PC)  without getting a new account and buying the maps again?? 

If I install DCS DS on my main PC, how does the PC "know" to run it on a separate core ( unused) than DCS? 

In regard to DCS Liberation, this needs to be running separately to DCS either on the same machine or another machine as a server, yes? Its not like a mission generator, that produces a .miz file, it runs in real time ( at least when you are flying a mission I guess?) and runs all the units and manages the AI.....yes? I presume you can save, stop and then carry on where you left off, yes? 

In my situation, I have 64GB of memory, so could probably handle running it on the same machine and it would run on a separate core to DCS, thus not using any of the resources DCS would use, do I have that correct? If thats NOT the case, then I could run it on my other PC and log into it in the same way I would to any multiplayer server, yes? 

 

Thanks! 

[Maverick87Shaka]

1 hour ago, markturner1960 said:

So, if you install DCS dedicated server, you can't run it alongside your DCS install ( either on your PC or another PC)  without getting a new account and buying the maps again??

DCS Dedicated server ( which is another separate installation ) do NOT require an account with purchased maps to run.
I've mention the account with maps for @Lukas2438 and the method of running the same full client installation as a server.

1 hour ago, markturner1960 said:

If I install DCS DS on my main PC, how does the PC "know" to run it on a separate core ( unused) than DCS?

Windows scheduler works really close to the CPU scheduler, and start new task on less loaded core, and it's also capable of moving tasks across the cores when need.

1 hour ago, markturner1960 said:

In regard to DCS Liberation, this needs to be running separately to DCS either on the same machine or another machine as a server, yes? Its not like a mission generator, that produces a .miz file, it runs in real time ( at least when you are flying a mission I guess?) and runs all the units and manages the AI.....yes? I presume you can save, stop and then carry on where you left off, yes? 

I'm not an expert of Liberation, I just try it long time ago, but if I remember correctly it's just have to read the dcs.log at the end of mission to generate the next turn? isn't it?
It doesn't take care in real time of AI as far as I know, but I've used really long time ago, things can be changed!

1 hour ago, markturner1960 said:

In my situation, I have 64GB of memory, so could probably handle running it on the same machine and it would run on a separate core to DCS, thus not using any of the resources DCS would use, do I have that correct? If thats NOT the case, then I could run it on my other PC and log into it in the same way I would to any multiplayer server, yes? 

 

64GB of RAM should be fine to run n the same PC server and client ( if you don't fill the MIZ with crazy numbers of unit, of every type and different skins ( just becouse you ahve to load it all of them if you put several different types of unit and skins )

And yes, finally, if you run the server from other computer, you can simply join it as any other multiplayer server, or just use the connect by IP and put the local ip address (LAN) of the helo simpit pc.

[markturner1960]

Super helpful, thank you so much! 

[Lukas2438]

@Maverick87Shaka
is there any documentation about that "no-rendering" mode? can't find how to run DCS with that on

Edited January 23, 2023 by Lukas2438

[Maverick87Shaka]

3 hours ago, Lukas2438 said:

@Maverick87Shaka
is there any documentation about that "no-rendering" mode? can't find how to run DCS with that on

 

run with the following command directly from the installation folder, bin subdirectory:

DCS.exe --server --norender -w DCS.server

where basically the most noticeable arguments is the -w, that tells what folder inside saved games server has to use. Without it you're not able to run server and client on the same PC since only one instance for writable folder are allowed at time.

For documentation you can read everything was done before the dedicated server comes out, because basically it was the only way to run server prior to have a dedicated server installation, that is pretty recent here on DCS.