[SOLVED] Trying to set up a home server for games

[smmm]

One of my close friends who I LAN with often is moving away soon, and I thought that setting up a home server would be a good method for us to play long-distance on a game that doesn't support private online multiplayer. We usually play Unturned with a couple other friends, and we thought home server that runs without constant motoring would be really fun for people to just drop in and do some base building or something whenever they feel like it. The method I thought of doing this would be to buy a cheapo craigslist pc, throw linux or unactivated Win 10 on it, and just have it running in the server window. I have a few concerns however:

In order to connect online, my internet router apparently has to be port-forwarded. I don't have any experience in that area, is it really difficult or potentially dangerous to open up your router like that?

Would this slow down my home wifi if people are connecting to the server?

What are important specs for a server computer to have? The server itself runs in a nographics command window, and the max amount of people that would ever connect at once would be about 6 or 7, although it would rarely get that high, maybe usually around 3.

Thanks for any help!

 

[saint19]

Hi.

For that little ammount of people, I would think more in look for a rented server. Does the game have online servers that can be rented?

 

[Wolfshadw]

Port forwarding a fairly simple process if your router allows for it. If it does (most do, I think) then the main issue becomes security. Obviously, opening up a port on your router is inherently dangerous. Think of it as punching a hole in the hull of your boat. Depending on the quality of your router, you could either plug the hole with a rag (not safe or secure) or weld it closed with a patch (very safe and secure).

What is the model number of your modem/router?

As for your WiFi connections to the internet, hosting a server is going to cause a lot of traffic to and from your router. The router can only handle so much traffic, so there's a good chance other Internet usage would be compromised/limited/slowed.

The game should have a list of system requirements for the server host somewhere (but I couldn't find it), but given the age of the game, they're probably not too high. I'd say just about about Core I3/I5 with a minimum 4GB of RAM. Of more concern would you your Internet connection,

What are the upload/download speeds of your Internet service?

-Wolf sends

 

[smmm]

Unturned does have server hosting services available, so that might be a good option.

I have a TP-Link AC1750 Dual Band Gigabit router.
The speed from the chrome test is 56.2 Mbps download and 10.9 Mbps upload with 23 ms of latency at the time of writing, it can vary depending on time of day though.

Thanks for the information.

 

[Wolfshadw]

If you want to host, you're going to want something closer to 75/75 upload/download. Better than that if you want others to keep using the Internet while others are connected to the server.

-Wolf sends

 

[smmm]

If you want to host, you're going to want something closer to 75/75 upload/download. Better than that if you want others to keep using the Internet while others are connected to the server.

-Wolf sends

Alright good to know, thanks! I think I'll look into renting a server, and Unturned II is in development and might have a built-in private multiplayer option so we'll probably go that route if that's the case.