having a dedicated game server for your group, clan, or gaming friends can take your online gaming experience to the next level. Rust Game Server popular games that require a dedicated game server are minecraft, rust, ark survival evolved, garry's mod, arma, terraria, mount and blade, left 4 dead, counter-strike, killing floor, and team fortress. renting a game server from a provider is always the best route to go because they keep your server up and running 24/7, provide super-fast connections and low pings. once you have your own game server that you can rent from a game service provider you are generally provided with access to control many of the settings via a web based game control panel. additional settings and options can be set via the game server configuration files (usually the files that end in .cfg) which can also be edited via the control panel or via ftp access.
keep in mind when renting a game from a game service provider you are generally charged based on the number of slots or players you wish to have play on your server. you should pick an amount that makes sense based on the size of your gaming group or how big your want your community to grow. most game server providers will allow you to upgrade your player slots should you need to do so in the future for an additional per slot fee.
some common settings you want to take advantage of and configure immediately are the following: rcon password, server password, game server description, and the game server host name.
the rcon password is something you should keep to yourself and only shared with those you trust. rcon access allows for administrative control over your game server and the fine tuning of game settings. again, i cannot stress this enough, only share this with people you trust. if someone happens to get a hold of your rcon password you should log into your game control panel and change it immediately, restart your game server as well. depending on the game you choose there may be rcon admin tools you can download that help manage your game server, perform automated tasks like kicking high ping players.
the server password is if your wish to password protect your game server. you may or may not want to do this depending on if it's a publicly accessible game server or private one just for your gaming group. some people prefer to leave a game server open to the public and only lock it down with a password occasionally when private play is desired.
the game server host name should be set to be descriptive as possible. many games such as rust, garry's mod, ark survival evolved, counter-strike and team fortress have built in game server browser along with search functionality. so when your group, clan or gaming friends want to try to find your game server you will want to let them know what your named your game server. i generally advise people that are going to run public game servers to include the location of the game server, clan or group name, along with any other important information about the game server you wish for people to see. example: \rust vanilla new jersey dedicated 24/7 admins low pings\ or \ark chicago - my clan - dedicated 24/7\.
some games such as rust and counter-strike have the ability to set a detailed description or a small about us type page. you should take advantage of this because usually this page is shown when a gamer logs into the actual game server as the splash screen. you can put your gaming groups web page, a small blurb about your clan or the game server settings and map rotations here. optionally you can also list your public voice server information here so fellow gamers can join you in chat. if you have not already, i highly suggest if you are running a public game server to have a web page where your fellow gaming friends can ask questions, post suggestions and reach out to you about your server. it will go a long way in running a successful community.
once you have all your game server settings the way you want you should also consider pointing your gaming group or a easy to remember domain name at the ip address of the game server. this makes it easier for you to remember and to share with your clan and friends. for example, if you have the domain name myawesomeclan.com you can point a sub-domain like server.myawesomeclan.com to the ip address that was assigned to your for your game server.
another suggestion is to always backup your game server configuration and data files at least weekly. this way if you ever make a change to a setting that is incorrect or if you wish to try new game server settings without worrying about doing anything incorrectly you have a backup you can restore. also keep in mind that game servers tend to have updates weekly, monthly or quarterly depending on how active the game development is. for example, rust and ark have server updates usually weekly. you will want to make sure you have access via steam to perform server updates from your admin game control panel when needed. most game server providers provide access to be able to force updates and also may provide a way to do automatic server updates. be sure to backup those game server files before performing an update, sometimes these updates can force a wipe on the server.
once you have your game server up and running you may want to be able to talk to your friends and clan mates via voip or a voice server such as teamspeak or mumble. most game server providers will also offer these voice servers. they are essential when playing with friends because as with must multi player online games communication is essential to survival, success and of course the most important part, fun!
my last and final suggestion is to reboot your game server at least once weekly. game servers like rust are constantly being updated and some are still in beta stages so expect bugs and slowdowns which can often be fixed with a simple server restart. you should be able to also schedule automatic server restarts from within your game control panel.
ay be rcon admin tools you can download that help manage your game server, perform automated tasks like kicking high ping players.
the server password is if your wish to password protect your game server. you may or may not want to do this depending on if it's a publicly accessible game server or private one just for your gaming group. some people prefer to leave a game server open to the public and only lock it down with a password occasionally when private play is desired.
the game server host name should be set to be descriptive as possible. many games such as rust, garry's mod, ark survival evolved, counter-strike and team fortress have built in game server browser along with search functionality. so when your group, clan or gaming friends want to try to find your game server you will want to let them know what your named your game server. i generally advise people that are going to run public game servers to include the location of the game server, clan or group name, along with any other important information about the game server you wish for people to see. example: \rust vanilla new jersey dedicated 24/7 admins low pings\ or \ark chicago - my clan - dedicated 24/7\.
some games such as rust and counter-strike have the ability to set a detailed description or a small about us type page. you should take advantage of this because usually this page is shown when a gamer logs into the actual game server as the splash screen. you can put your gaming groups web page, a small blurb about your clan or the game server settings and map rotations here. optionally you can also list your public voice server information here so fellow gamers can join you in chat. if you have not already, i highly suggest if you are running a public game server to have a web page where your fellow gaming friends can ask questions, post suggestions and reach out to you about your server. it will go a long way in running a successful community.
once you have all your game server settings the way you want you should also consider pointing your gaming group or a easy to