<Solved> Server crashing on all tracks bar one…

Discussion in 'Hosting Help' started by MileSeven, Jul 6, 2021.

  1. MileSeven

    MileSeven Registered

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    <Solved - it was file permissions on the key JSON files>

    I’m trying to administer a remote server that others have been using for some time (so there are a large number of tracks/vehicles available and packages/rfmods we’ve used successfully in the past).

    There are two main issues - I can only successfully launch a race weekend if the track in question is the official S397 Le Mans (v2.51) one. I can launch existing raceevents based on this track or create my own package and use that.

    I *cannot* successfully launch a raceevent based on any other track I’ve tried - the dedi server dialogue closes a few seconds after trying ‘Load Track’. This goes for pre-existing raceevents and any I try to create. All assets (tracks, cars, mods) are present and correct.

    The second issue I have is that if I do get a race weekend up and running and then exit the dedi server manager, the race weekend remains visible to clients via the matchmaker list but clients will get an error after a timeout if they try to join. In addition, an rf2 process remains running on the windows server - killing this removes the race weekend from the list of visible races in matchmaker.

    It may be a coincidence, but the last track we used on this server when the previous admin was running the show was…. ….S397 Le Mans…

    Any ideas - principally relating to why no other tracks appear to work.
     
    Last edited: Jul 12, 2021
  2. MileSeven

    MileSeven Registered

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    …still hoping for a solution…

    As a further observation, if I create a raceevent with both the Le Mans track and any other, the server will load g(rather than crashing to desktop) but the non-LM tracks will be ‘ignored’ if you skip through ‘next events’. The server monitor shows the non-LM track name briefly during the attempt to load it before giving up and loading one of the LM layouts instead.
     
  3. lagg

    lagg Registered

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    If the other tracks are DLCs, could be a Serverkeys.bin problem?
    have you updated it?
     
  4. redapg

    redapg Registered

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    @MileSeven To be honest, that sounds really strange and i fear it will be hard to solve by communicating in the Forum, but we can try it.
    Which dedicated Server do you use, the integrated one or the Steam cmd dedicated Server?

    EDIT @lagg was a few Seconds faster, so i will leave. :)
     
    Last edited: Jul 9, 2021
  5. lagg

    lagg Registered

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    I remember that i've had problems with servers that had a lot of content installed.
    Now i only have installed the content of a championship or the current race (in most cases).
    Why not to create a new server? It takes only a few minutes
    Just to clarify, i use SteamCMD
     
  6. MileSeven

    MileSeven Registered

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    I’m not 100% sure if it is a SteamCMD server as I didn’t set it up - but I know SteamCMD is installed on the machine (I fire it up from a desktop shortcut that does include a couple of command line entries).

    As a bit of background, the Windows server hosts up to four individual rf2 server instances. Each server instance has its own ‘player’ folder but uses a shared Packages folder. I have no problems creating raceevent rfmods from any of the shared content - so on the face of it, there are no file permission issues there.

    Certain pre-existing rfmods have been used successfully on at least one of the other rf2 server instances this week (initiated by other users) so there’s no apparent issue with corrupted raceevents etc. However, if i try to load them on ‘my’ rf2 server instance, they fail silently at the Load Track stage.

    I *can* successfully create, load and administer a raceevent based on the S397 Le Mans track (any vehicle I choose, it seems) - so I’m not doing anything procedurally wrong and I do have appropriate permissions to generically run the dedi server…

    For me, it all points to some peculiarity of the Win10 user profile that has been set up for me - but without any useful logging to say why Track A works but mot Track B, we’re at a dead end.

    ps - I don’t currently have permission (in the widest sense - not necessarily at a technical level) to try raising one of the other server instances to see if ‘my’ rf2 server has some peculiarity…
     
  7. lagg

    lagg Registered

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    In the past, i had a problem with a server that was running ok, and i added content every week.
    Suddenly that server stopped working.
    All the content that was working in previous weeks didn't worked.
    And uninstalling all the content that i wasn't going to use, the server worked again.
    I don't know if there is a limit of installed content, or there were conflicts in the installed content, but deleting content that wasn't included in the rfmod that i was going to use, the server worked again.
     
  8. MileSeven

    MileSeven Registered

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    Ok, I’ve discovered the following:

    There are actually several rf2 dedi servers created on the Windows server. I just tried one of the others and I can launch anything using the same track that was last used there (Cadwell, in this instance) but nothing else. So on Server A, I can use Cadwell but not Le Mans, for example, but on Server B I can use Le Mans but not Cadwell…

    As a further observation, if I do launch a race successfully and then exit it:
    a) the rf2 task remains running indefinitely on the server
    B) next time I launch the server manager, any changes I had made to the race details (e.g. length of race, race name etc.) are not retained.

    It sounds as if there are some file permission issue related to the rf2 servers themselves as opposed to the content… Any ideas which files in particular I should look at that would a) stop me changing the last-used track, b) stop me changing the race details and c) stop the clean closure of the rf2 task?
     
  9. redapg

    redapg Registered

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    @MileSeven Just a Suggest: You say that these Servers have been managed from someone else before.
    Did you contact that Person and asked him how he did it?
    A long Time ago, i did manage the Servers of our Community and we did have 5 rFactor 2 Servers running.
    But i never did have such Problems.
    Maybe there is a 3rd Party Sever Manager Tool, that was used before and that you don't use now and that "overwrites" new Settings?
    I have never used any"Server Manager" Tools, so i can only suppose.
    As said, contact the Person, that did manage the Servers before. ;)
     
  10. MileSeven

    MileSeven Registered

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    Unfortunately I am following exactly the same procedure etc. - server initiated from a desktop shortcut to the dedicated server .EXE

    The only apparent difference is in the Windows user account used to get there - but as my account has admin-level rights, I shouldn’t have any obvious file-level issues (unless some files have somehow ended up with individual rights instead of group-level ones).
     
  11. lagg

    lagg Registered

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    Have you tried to mount a new server with the content that you are going to use?
    You can do it in a few minutes with SteamCMD.
     
  12. MileSeven

    MileSeven Registered

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    Not yet, lagg. I’ll liaise with the server owners to see if we can try this - it should either solve the problems (because all files created will match my permissions) or fall flat (but hopefully reveal more about what’s happening now).
     
    lagg likes this.
  13. redapg

    redapg Registered

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    That sounds as if it is s rented Server that you join by Remote Access, so why don't you use the same Remote Account, that was used from the Person that managed the Server before?
    That at least would avoid any Windows User Account Problems, if that worked properly for him.
     
  14. MileSeven

    MileSeven Registered

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    That would work but would merely be “treating the symptoms rather than the cause”…

    Firstly, he still needs/uses the account. Secondly, it is good practice to segregate user access by individual accounts and there is no technical reason why we shouldn’t be able to sort this out - ideally without exercising the ‘nuclear’ option of trashing and rebuilding.
     
  15. MileSeven

    MileSeven Registered

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    SOLVED!

    I had come to the conclusion that this was a file-permission issue despite me having admin-level Windows rights.

    Turns out there was a problem with the key JSON files (multiplayer.JSON and possibly the player.JSON) and these were not writeable/modifiable - hence the dedi server refused to save any details I changed and also restricted me to using the ‘last known good’ track.

    Thanks for all your suggestions.
     
    88mphTim, lagg and redapg like this.

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