This article will guide you through the standard troubleshooting steps you can follow to diagnose your own lag and performance related issues.

It is very common to need to investigate issues related to performance. Even with the best hardware and physical server machines we use here there is always a risk of lag becoming an issue in a setup. There are many many variables to what causes lag so it requires investigation to deal with it and process.

In our experience, there is normally a few common causes for lag.

A bad mod, plugin or script being ran on the server.

It only takes one of these to cause damage to performance of a game server. Plugins and mods that work without issue locally are not always designed for server use. We always recommend adding 1 mod at a time and ensure it continues to run smoothly. If you add mods and issues then persist you could potentially have a bad mod, or at most you are not pushing the limits of the hardware you are on. More on this in a later point in this article.

How to test and avoid: Ensure to add mods 1 by 1 and if you notice issues then you can remove any new mod that has been added to see if issues resolve. However you might found this troublesome if your world requires a mod if the issue started after a certain point in time in which case the save is likely the issue.

Taking full backups and removing all mods is also a viable test to see if the issue stops fully with no mods.

A bad save.

Servers are living and breathing worlds, they change all the time and whilst at one point everything may well be fine, if suddenly lag becomes an issue out of know where that refuses to go away something could have changed in the world. For example a new modded build or glitch in a part of the map. Regular backups are recommended for this reason. Saves can break or corrupt or simply glitch and cause performance issues. Reverting saves to prior to when it began can often resolve issues unless the item that caused it is used again. In which case investigating what changes in the world is very important.

How to test and avoid: Generate a fresh world and test with mods and without to see if the issue resolves on both cases. Avoiding these types of issues are difficult due to the nature of the issue and its simply recommended to have regular backups in place to revert to should it be needed. We have guidance on setting these up here. If your game has a map cleaning capabilities it is recommended to ensure you clean your world and implement decay related settings to keep your world in tip top performance.

Testing saves and mods locally is not recommended due to how servers and local games working completely differently. Issues like these need to be tested on the server.

Client side issues.

Not all lag is related to servers, it is very important to diagnose client side related variables from background running apps to your internet downloads. Restart your PC, router and ensure you have all updates. At most turn your graphics down low to see if it changes the situation. Whilst it might be rare some games are very demanding and ServerBlend can not resolve issues related to client side variables.

How to test: Test local variables on your PC to see if they change the situation for you. ServerBlend unfortunately can not troubleshoot local variables on local computers.

Server side issues.

We have advanced monitoring in place to detect for issues caused by the physical server side here, though there is always risk of out of the blue issues occurring. This is the case with all providers and all technology based businesses. We will always do our best to ensure the best performance at all times. We are always happy to investigate concerns of this nature.

Server side issues will impact everyone on the physical hardware, not one specific user. Based on this, we will be able to advise if we have had other reports of issues. It is extremely rare in any case for it to be related to server side.

We are always happy to investigate these concerns on all requests

Hardware.

All game developers provide minimum and recommended specifications for their games, this includes game servers. Though these are always for the vanilla game and nothing more.
ServerBlend provides two levels of hardware. Standard and premium. Our standard range will always exceed the recommended server requirements to ensure a stable experience. Our standard range is suitable for most use cases.

Our standard ranges boost Intel Xeons and AMD Ryzens running 3.2ghz and above, with the premium range utilizing i7 7700k (4.7ghz) an i9 9900k, E2288G chips capable of 5.0ghz boast speeds for ultimate performance. Subject to stock and location.

However if you add many mods or have a intense settings it is often possible to exceed this or you could simply grow your community to a point which exceeds standard hardware. In which case upgrading is often the route to go. If performance issues are caused by a bad mod or setting upgrading may not help and could simply continue.

Outgrowing our standard range is completely possible to do as worlds and communities grow and we offer the different hardware levels for this reason. Not one set of hardware fits every solution so we can always change your machine or location upon request.

How to test: Testing growth is as easy as testing with your game servers setup, with a fresh map/no mods. If everything runs well on the default setup you are likely pushing the limits of your setup.

How to Upgrade or Downgrade

Location.

Your game servers location is extremely important. The location should always be the closet to you, or your group of players to ensure the best connections. To this fact even if you have the right location, there are underlying network factors that can impact your route that no host can predict. If you are accommodating the usage of players all around the world you will never get the best possible location for every player simply due to distance to server. In these cases choosing a location for the bulk of your players is recommended.

How to test: You can test your route using CMD, guidance here. We can even change the machine to another in the same location but will change the IP.

There are many variables that can impact game server performance. these steps are aimed at helping you self diagnose your concerns and issues. Please do not hesitate to reach out to our team if you require further guidance.

Specific game advice.

Space Engineers: How to resolve lag on your Space Engineers Server
ARK:Survival Evolved: Ways to prevent your Ark: Survival Evolved from Lagging

Updated on: 14/08/2021