Published Apr 21st, 2023, 4/21/23 8:00 am
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Are you tired of playing alone in your valheim world like a one-man army? Are you ready to open up your world to the masses and witness the chaos that ensues? Well, get ready to be schooled in the art of public server management, where anything can happen, from hilarious to horrendous.
But hold on to your helmets, because with great power comes great responsibility. You're about to enter a world where trolls roam free and griefers lurk around every night. Don't worry, though, In this tutorial, we'll teach you how to spot a toxic player through the server logs and discuss ways to protect your server from these shady individuals.
Let's dive headfirst into the madness that is public server management in Valheim. Just don't forget to bring your sense of humor, because you're going to need it!
Running a public server in Valheim is a great way to meet new players and have a more dynamic gaming experience. However, it comes with a few risks that you need to be aware of. Public servers are open to anyone, which means that griefers and hackers will join and cause chaos.
Griefers are players who join servers with the intention of destroying other players' creations... They may use various tactics, such as stealing resources, destroying buildings, and killing other players. Griefers will destroy things and you will have to reset the server back to its default state. When you notice this behavior, check the server log to identify the player and then ban them. Otherwise they will keep coming back.
Hackers are players who use cheats to gain access to devcommands. They may use cheat sledge to destroy buildings, make themselves invincible, or even delete entire bases. Hackers can ruin the game for everyone, and it's essential to protect your server from them. Much like griefers; you'll fall victim to a hacker once or twice but after you ban them it won't be a problem again. Thankfully; there are only a handful of dedicated valheim hackers who are consistent so once you ban a few it won't be a problem anymore.
The Cheat sledge is a tool that hackers use to destroy buildings quickly. You can protect your buildings from cheat sledge by using the Infinity Hammer mod or the PlanBuild mod. Both mods have a config file where you can set the structures to override health to the maximum; which makes them invincible to damage. Note that structures can still be disassembled with workbenches even when invincible.
Most of the griefers and hackers are super ADHD. If they get bored for a few minutes they will leave. As a result; they often only destroy the first area they find; especially if it is at the center of the world. Unfortunately, Hackers can access devcommands and delete your entire base even if you made it invincible. This is why it is necessary to maintain copies of your world. The griefers will come, destroy your world, then you will revert it and ban them.
Public servers should be different from private servers. The whole gameplay loop on the server needs to be different to accommodate the need to reset the server every 1-7 days.This way; you minimize the effect hackers have on your server. By giving people spawned loot to use on the server;they can focus on the combat encounters and practice fighting monsters together with their friends.
Resetting the server is an essential part of managing a public server. It's essential to keep the server fresh and prevent players from becoming bored. When you play valheim SOLO; you will be building your public server world. Every time you finish something new; you make a copy of the world and upload the copy onto the public server. This way, when people play on your world; they are always playing on a copy; not the main file.
If you're using a dedicated server, you can reset it by using FileZilla. FileZilla is a free FTP client that you can use to access your server files.First; turn your server off using the web client. Next; make a copy of your two world files, .db and .fwl, and put them on your desktop. Open Filezilla and navigate to the worlds_local folder. Delete everything there and upload your fresh world files. Close Filezilla after the upload finishes. After that go back to the server web client and turn the server back on. Now; the server will be reset back to its default state.
Every server in valheim requires a password so to make a public server you must put the server's password in the name of the server. This will allow players to see the password before joining the server. Essentially; anybody who reads the title of the server can then join it.
Players can find your server by searching for it in the server list or by using the server's IP address. You will find that players will naturally join your server for a few minutes at a time. If they are bored they will leave and not return. This short window of time is your chance to get their attention. This is why the center of the world is such an important place.
Server logs can provide valuable information about what's happening on your server. However; if you do not process them with something like Atom or Sublime Text; then the logs become very heady and confusing. Sublime Text is a program that allows rapid sorting and organizing of thousands of lines of text.
You can find your valheim server log by logging into the server through the FileZilla client. The most recent log is called Screenlog.o. The logs contain many different events and actions; but most of them are not relevant to you.
Here are 3 keywords that identify useful info:
1) ZDOID - this text occurs every time a player logs on, every time the player dies, and in some other circumstances I don't understand. What I do know is that patterns in the ZDOID allow you to identify when people are hacking; when they might be stealing items; and when they are just playing normally.
2) RPC_Disconnect - This occurs every time a player logs out or is disconnected. Unfortunately there is no way to know which player disconnected; the message is the same regardless of who logs out. It simply means "One player just logged out or lost connection". Thieves will disconnect from the server much more frequently than most other players because they take the loot to their own world.
3) Platform ID - This reveals the STEAMID or XBOXID of the player; which can then be used to ban the player from the server. Take care to identify the player properly because the events can get shuffled together when multiple players are on the server at the same time. You usually know the person the ID is from because it is close to the ZDOID line that shows the person logging into the server.
To quickly isolate these values from the server log: use sublime text to find all of the terms; copy the lines the term occurs on; paste it into a new document; and then sort that document by date. It sounds complicated but trust me Sublime Text makes everything so much easier and it is free.
CTRL-F - Find All - HOME - SHIFT+ END - COPY PASTE
After you have everything together then sort the list in sublime by pressing F9. This will sort the whole list automatically from the first event to the last event based on the timestamp.
If you are interested in checking out my public server for some inspiration; here is the IP
"A Test of Your Skills"
147.189.168.30:27006
password
But hold on to your helmets, because with great power comes great responsibility. You're about to enter a world where trolls roam free and griefers lurk around every night. Don't worry, though, In this tutorial, we'll teach you how to spot a toxic player through the server logs and discuss ways to protect your server from these shady individuals.
Let's dive headfirst into the madness that is public server management in Valheim. Just don't forget to bring your sense of humor, because you're going to need it!
Running a public server in Valheim is a great way to meet new players and have a more dynamic gaming experience. However, it comes with a few risks that you need to be aware of. Public servers are open to anyone, which means that griefers and hackers will join and cause chaos.
Griefers are players who join servers with the intention of destroying other players' creations... They may use various tactics, such as stealing resources, destroying buildings, and killing other players. Griefers will destroy things and you will have to reset the server back to its default state. When you notice this behavior, check the server log to identify the player and then ban them. Otherwise they will keep coming back.
Hackers are players who use cheats to gain access to devcommands. They may use cheat sledge to destroy buildings, make themselves invincible, or even delete entire bases. Hackers can ruin the game for everyone, and it's essential to protect your server from them. Much like griefers; you'll fall victim to a hacker once or twice but after you ban them it won't be a problem again. Thankfully; there are only a handful of dedicated valheim hackers who are consistent so once you ban a few it won't be a problem anymore.
The Cheat sledge is a tool that hackers use to destroy buildings quickly. You can protect your buildings from cheat sledge by using the Infinity Hammer mod or the PlanBuild mod. Both mods have a config file where you can set the structures to override health to the maximum; which makes them invincible to damage. Note that structures can still be disassembled with workbenches even when invincible.
Most of the griefers and hackers are super ADHD. If they get bored for a few minutes they will leave. As a result; they often only destroy the first area they find; especially if it is at the center of the world. Unfortunately, Hackers can access devcommands and delete your entire base even if you made it invincible. This is why it is necessary to maintain copies of your world. The griefers will come, destroy your world, then you will revert it and ban them.
Public servers should be different from private servers. The whole gameplay loop on the server needs to be different to accommodate the need to reset the server every 1-7 days.This way; you minimize the effect hackers have on your server. By giving people spawned loot to use on the server;they can focus on the combat encounters and practice fighting monsters together with their friends.
Resetting the server is an essential part of managing a public server. It's essential to keep the server fresh and prevent players from becoming bored. When you play valheim SOLO; you will be building your public server world. Every time you finish something new; you make a copy of the world and upload the copy onto the public server. This way, when people play on your world; they are always playing on a copy; not the main file.
If you're using a dedicated server, you can reset it by using FileZilla. FileZilla is a free FTP client that you can use to access your server files.First; turn your server off using the web client. Next; make a copy of your two world files, .db and .fwl, and put them on your desktop. Open Filezilla and navigate to the worlds_local folder. Delete everything there and upload your fresh world files. Close Filezilla after the upload finishes. After that go back to the server web client and turn the server back on. Now; the server will be reset back to its default state.
Every server in valheim requires a password so to make a public server you must put the server's password in the name of the server. This will allow players to see the password before joining the server. Essentially; anybody who reads the title of the server can then join it.
Players can find your server by searching for it in the server list or by using the server's IP address. You will find that players will naturally join your server for a few minutes at a time. If they are bored they will leave and not return. This short window of time is your chance to get their attention. This is why the center of the world is such an important place.
Server logs can provide valuable information about what's happening on your server. However; if you do not process them with something like Atom or Sublime Text; then the logs become very heady and confusing. Sublime Text is a program that allows rapid sorting and organizing of thousands of lines of text.
You can find your valheim server log by logging into the server through the FileZilla client. The most recent log is called Screenlog.o. The logs contain many different events and actions; but most of them are not relevant to you.
Here are 3 keywords that identify useful info:
1) ZDOID - this text occurs every time a player logs on, every time the player dies, and in some other circumstances I don't understand. What I do know is that patterns in the ZDOID allow you to identify when people are hacking; when they might be stealing items; and when they are just playing normally.
2) RPC_Disconnect - This occurs every time a player logs out or is disconnected. Unfortunately there is no way to know which player disconnected; the message is the same regardless of who logs out. It simply means "One player just logged out or lost connection". Thieves will disconnect from the server much more frequently than most other players because they take the loot to their own world.
3) Platform ID - This reveals the STEAMID or XBOXID of the player; which can then be used to ban the player from the server. Take care to identify the player properly because the events can get shuffled together when multiple players are on the server at the same time. You usually know the person the ID is from because it is close to the ZDOID line that shows the person logging into the server.
To quickly isolate these values from the server log: use sublime text to find all of the terms; copy the lines the term occurs on; paste it into a new document; and then sort that document by date. It sounds complicated but trust me Sublime Text makes everything so much easier and it is free.
CTRL-F - Find All - HOME - SHIFT+ END - COPY PASTE
After you have everything together then sort the list in sublime by pressing F9. This will sort the whole list automatically from the first event to the last event based on the timestamp.
If you are interested in checking out my public server for some inspiration; here is the IP
"A Test of Your Skills"
147.189.168.30:27006
password
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