Unreal Engine Module - Run a Dedicated Server on AccelByte Multiplayer Server (AMS) - Test run AMS flow locally

Last updated on January 13, 2024

About

In this section, you will learn how to test your dedicated server flow on AccelByte Multiplayer Servers (AMS) locally using AMS Simulator. AMS Simulator is the tool to verify how your dedicated server will react to state changes and unexpected events that originate from AMS. This way, we can make sure that our dedicated server will work properly with the flow without uploading the dedicated server first.

Package dedicated server

Please compile your project and open the Unreal Engine editor. In the Unreal Engine Editor, package your game server for Windows.
注記
We chose the Development build to enable logging for debugging purposes. Building as Shipping will disable logging.
Unreal Engine will take some time to package your game server. Once the process is complete, you can move to the next section.

Test run dedicated server locally

This section will test your packaged game server locally to check whether it is able to handle the state changes within the lifecycle of AMS.

Open your Demo AGS Admin Portal dashboard and select your game namespace. Go to AccelByte Multiplayer Servers > Download Resource. Then, download AMS Simulator for Windows.
Before we run the AMS Simulator, we need to set up a new IAM client for the simulator namely ByteWars-AMSSim. To create it, you can follow the same steps when you set up the server and AMS CLI IAM, but this time you need to use the following permission instead.
Resource Permission
NAMESPACE:{namespace}:AMS:LOCALDS Create
After successfully downloading AMS Simulator and creating the IAM client, open Windows PowerShell and run the AMS Simulator executable using the following command to generate a config file.
```
amssim.exe generate-config
```
You should be able to see the config.json in the same path as the AMS Simulator executable, open the file using text editor and fill the configuration. Please replace the client id and the client secret that we just created above.
```
{
    "WatchdogPort": 5555,
    "AGSEnvironmentURL": "demo.accelbyte.io",
    "AGSNamespace": "bytewars",
    "IAM": {
    "ClientID": "XXXXXXXX",
    "ClientSecret": "XXXXXXXX"
    },
    "LocalDSHost": "localhost",
    "LocalDSPort": 7777,
    "ClaimKeys": [],
    "ServerName": "YOUR_PC_NAME"
}
```
Tips
- WatchdogPort is the port the app going to use to connect to your dedicated server.
- AGSEnvironmentURL Use the URL of the environment you want to register your local dedicated server to, without the scheme (e.g., http://).
- IAM Use the ClientID and ClientSecret that were used to authenticate your AMS Simulator that we created on the previous step.
- LocalDSHost and LocalDSPort Use the IP and Port of the machine that runs the local dedicated server, so that your playtester knows where to connect.
- ClaimKeys Provide the list of claim keys that the session service uses to claim your local dedicated server. By default, the ServerName is registered as one of the claim key.
- ServerName Provide the name you want to call your local dedicated server. By default, it is automatically generated using your computer name, which you can change as preferred. Note that, by default, this is registered as one of the claim keys.

Resource	Permission
NAMESPACE:{namespace}:AMS:LOCALDS	Create

Once the configuration is complete, then run the AMS Simulator executable for real.

amssim.exe run

Here is the output of the AMS Simulator. Notice that it provides an example ID format for your local dedicated server. In this example is the ds_018c1f42-5eb6-7ca3-9650-a732ed75ce6a. Copy it as you will need it in the next step.

AMS simulator url  ws://0.0.0.0:5555/watchdog
AMS simulator session id:  01hfaxxvfqhe9gkk2zesfx0b66.
AMS simulator session log path: session\01hfaxxvfqhe9gkk2zesfx0b66.log

Ready to accept local DS

Start the local DS with a valid DS ID that conforms to uuid standards
An example that can be copied and pasted is:

ds_018c1f42-5eb6-7ca3-9650-a732ed75ce6a

==================================Command list=================================================
    help                          show the command list again
    info                          show AMS simulator info
    ds
        status                    show status of the ds
        ready                     explicitly set ds into ready state.
        claim                     claim the ds for a game session.
        drain                     drain the ds
    exit, quit                    exit ams simulator
=============================================================================================

Next, run the game server executable using the following commands in Windows PowerShell to run your packaged game server. Notice that it uses the ds_018c1f42-5eb6-7ca3-9650-a732ed75ce6a from the previous step as its local dedicated server ID.
```
E:/WindowsServer/AccelByteWarsServer.exe -server -log -nosteam -dsid=ds_018c1f42-5eb6-7ca3-9650-a732ed75ce6a -watchdog_url="ws://localhost:5555/watchdog" 
```
Tips
- log will show Unreal Engine's log.
- nosteam is used to not run the Steam plugin on the game server side.
- server is used to run the game as a server.
- dsid is the dedicated server identification that will be used by the game server to initialize AMS configuration. You can use the example ID given by the AMS Simulator. In this example is the ds_018c1f42-5eb6-7ca3-9650-a732ed75ce6a. Note: This launch parameter will be filled automatically on the AMS side when this dedicated server is launched on the AMS Cloud.
- watchdog_url is the URL and the port that will be used to connect the game server to AMS. We used ws://localhost:5555/watchdog as the value because this is the default IP and port for the AMS Simulator. You can change the configuration for AMS Simulator in config.json. Note: This launch parameter will be filled automatically on the AMS side when this dedicated server is launched on the AMS Cloud.
Once your game server runs, confirm the local windows server connected to AMS local, from the DS log, once the local server running noticed that we have this following logs under ams log LogAccelByteAMS signaling the local server connected to the AMS simulator.
```
LogAccelByteAMS: Connecting to ws://localhost:5555/watchdog
LogAccelByteAMS: Connected
```
You can also confirm the successfull connection from the AMS Simulator.
```
amssim> DS Connected
```
Check the dedicated server status using AMS Simulator by executing ds status. If the game server successfully registers, then it should display the following log. Notice that the DS State has changed to Ready.
```
ds status
```
AMS Simulator will show the following log:
```
amssim> ds status
ID: xxxxx
Connected at: 2023-XX-XX 10:00:00
Last Heartbeat: 2023-XX-XX 10:00:00
DS State: Ready
```

You can also check the dedicate server log, go to the /Saved folder from your packaged project (in our example, E:/WindowsServer/AccelByteWars/Saved/Logs/AccelByteWars.log). Once you see the following log lines, that means your server was completely initiated:

// Logged in to IAM successfully
LogAccelByteOSS: Verbose: >>> FOnlineAsyncTaskAccelByteLoginServer::Initialize (AsyncTask method) was called.
LogAccelByteOSS: Verbose: >>> FOnlineAsyncTaskAccelByteLoginServer::TriggerDelegates (AsyncTask method) was called. Args:   bWasSuccessful: true

// Connected and registered (ready message sent) to AMS 
LogAccelByteAMS: Connecting to ws://localhost:5555/watchdog
LogAccelByteAMS: Connected
LogAccelByteAMS: Send ready message to AMS
{"ready":{"dsid":"testid"}}

// Connected to DS Hub
LogAccelByteDSHub: Connecting to wss://demo.accelbyte.io/dshub/
LogAccelByteDSHub: Connected
LogAccelByteDSHub: New message received from DSHub:
{"MessageID":"","Code":200,"topic":"","payload":{}}

// The wrapper log, the server completely initiated
LogMultiplayerDSEssentials: UMultiplayerDSEssentialsSubsystem_Starter::OnRegisterServerComplete succeeded: TRUE

Tips

DS log should be in your packaged server Saved folder. Example: E:/WindowsServer/AccelByteWars/Saved/Logs/AccelByteWars.log.
AMS Simulator Log should be in the [AMSSimPath]/session folder.

You can also check if the game server is able to handle a drain state by executing ds drain. If the game server successfully handles the drain state, it should display the following log. Notice that the DS State has changed to Draining.
```
ds drain
```
AMS Simulator will show the following log:
```
amssim> ds status
```
Use ds status to check the DS State.
```
amssim> ds status
no connected dedicated server
```
The game server log should show the following and then shut down the server.
```
LogMultiplayerDSEssentials: Received AMS drain message; Shutting down the server now!
```
To quit AMS Simulator, type in the following command:
```
quit
```

Congratulations! You have successfully tested the connection of your local dedicated server to AMS.

Unreal Engine Module - Run a Dedicated Server on AccelByte Multiplayer Server (AMS) - Test run AMS flow locally

About

Package dedicated server

Test run dedicated server locally

References

On this page

About​

Package dedicated server​

Test run dedicated server locally​

References​

On this page

About

Package dedicated server

Test run dedicated server locally

References