Game Server Guides
Practical guides to help you set up your server, choose the right host and keep your community growing.
Written in plain English, with copy-and-paste steps for the games we cover.
LEARN ITHOST ITSTEP BY STEP. NO FLUFF.
Featured Guide
Our most useful place to start.
Featured guideServer Setup
How To Host An ARK: Survival Evolved Dedicated Server
Requirements, SteamCMD, launch scripts, firewall ports and config files for hosting your own ARK server on Windows or Linux, or when renting is the easier route.
15 min readRead GuideBrowse by Category
Guides for every step of your server journey.
Latest Guides
Fresh, practical advice for server owners.
Community & Growth
Tips for Streaming Your Gameplay and Building an Audience
Streaming your game server is a good way to grow both a following and your community. These seven tips cover engaging your chat, planning, sponsorships, consistency and staying positive.
3 min readRead Guide
Troubleshooting
How to Run a Traceroute and Ping Test for a Game Server
A traceroute and a ping test show how long your connection takes to reach a game server and where delay is added. Here is how to run both on Windows, Mac and Linux, and how to read the results.
4 min readRead Guide
Community & Growth
How to Promote Your Game Server and Find Players
The in-game server list will not bring you players. Build your own presence with a Discord and website, list on server ranking sites, and post where the game's community gathers, while staying inside the publisher's rules.
3 min readRead Guide
Community & Growth
How to Make Your Game Server Pay for Itself
Many server owners turn a monthly cost into a hobby that covers its own bills, or earns a little extra. Here are the main ways to monetise a game server, and the rules to check first.
3 min readRead Guide
Community & Growth
How to Keep Your Game Server Players Active and Engaged
Growing a player base is only half the job. These five habits help you keep the players you have: be present, involve your community, hold events, stay fair and deal with toxic behaviour quickly.
3 min readRead Guide
Community & Growth
How to Keep Your Game Server Fresh Between Updates
Players burn through new game content far faster than developers can make it. Use mods, community votes, events and planned wipes to keep your server interesting between patches.
3 min readRead Guide
Performance & Hardware
How to Diagnose and Fix Game Server Lag
Lag on a game server usually comes from a handful of causes: a bad mod, a corrupted save, your own connection, an undersized plan or the wrong location. Here is how to tell which one you have.
7 min readRead Guide
Community & Growth
How to Build a Thriving Game Server Community: 9 Steps
Finding players is the hardest part of running a game server. These nine steps cover how to prepare, where to advertise, and how to turn a handful of players into a community that lasts.
4 min readRead GuideFree Server Tools
Generators we built for ARK server owners.
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