UE5: Build and deploy a dedicated server with Azure PlayFab GSDK

[@MaiLonMaiLao]

Please help. When I follow the video 20:20 from there I package fail. I am using UE 5.4.0 because I have a problem with installing UE 5.3.2.

[@unreal-dev-with-yaz]

hey :) did you have an issue with the clean project? I built now with both, 5.3.2 and 5.4.0 so both should be compatible with same steps if you added any other plugins for example, disable them first as they can sometimes cause some issues you should disable them in the unreal engine project file by editing it as text file otherwise, check the error messages, are they complaining about the engine build? perhaps check this vid if having issues with building the engine: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aInEpX-ad8mpa7Msi=X9Ixa6cQE1VvfERR

[@MaiLonMaiLao]

Do you know how to package Dedicate Server on Android? Do you have to package the Server to windows and the client to Android? Thank you.

[@unreal-dev-with-yaz]

hey :) I've not built for android before so can't say for sure, but I'd imagine the server build can stay consistent regardless of whether your client is windows/android this should allow cross platform gameplay, which UE does allow (but again, its not something i tested so won't know the details) so i would assume you should be able to package your server to windows (if your actual server machine is windows one) and your client to android, as you mention

[@erezerezerezerezerezerez]

Hi, thank you for the video. I am using Mac M1. Will it work or should i work with other machine? I have read that people are having hard time on mac when it comes to building the project, they said some things are only supported on windows currently

[@unreal-dev-with-yaz]

hey :) that's an interesting one - i usually work with Mac for most of my projects, but i work with UE specifically on Windows because of said issues also most macs don't have enough ram for smooth work on UE if you have another windows machine, I'd recommend just using that to be honest as to avoid potential hours wasted, but if you're keen to experiment, do try and let me know how it goes :D i suspect that you should be able to get the build working in mac - but i expect you will come across issues and they will take longer to debug due to limited resources online regarding mac builds also bear in mind asset/plugin compatibility - not all assets purchased in marketplace will be cross platform compatible, but probably all of them will work on Windows

[@amrindersingh1292]

Hello. When i registered with playfab and made new build. It is different from your dashboard. I do not have any option to choose virtual machine and region. It says no virtual machine for available quota. Also when i uploaded asset file, it asked me for mount path. I have no idea what to write there. Also there is port value 8080 Please help

[@unreal-dev-with-yaz]

hey :) replied in discord 👍 just double check some of the steps on the post: unreal-mmo-dev.com/2024/05/05/devlog-57-how-to-create-ue-dedicated-server-with-azure-playfab-gsdk/

[@timkardaras8007]

Hey I saw you responded to my comment about the screen being black just wanted to check if you address that in this reupload or if you could please reply with your comment as I was not able to see the message in time. Thank you in advance!

[@unreal-dev-with-yaz]

hey :) yep, I noticed I missed a small clip, at minute 18.18 - you need to set the default map for the server and rebuild. this should fix the problem! good luck

[@miharusensay]

Thank you so much for your efforts, they are invaluable. Your willingness to share your expertise is truly remarkable. It's unique on KZbin, and I haven't found anything better on this topic elsewhere. May I ask for some advice? I'm interested in creating an authoritative server for a MMOLite game, but right now I'm just exploring the possibilities (both my own and those of the Unreal Engine). I've delved into your amazing devlogs quite a bit, but I couldn't quite grasp (perhaps I was not paying enough attention) how we, from the server side, control players, mobs, and the map. How does the map get to the client? Can we load the map on the server and then send it to the clients? Similarly, where does a mob spawn, and how is it sent to the client? Ultimately, I'm not clear on how authority works in your setup, or if it exists in the conventional sense. Could you please enlighten me? I hope I've articulated my thoughts clearly. Best of luck with your project, and I hope you'll continue to delight us with your guides!

[@unreal-dev-with-yaz]

hey :) thanks for the kind words :D maybe drop down to discord and I can answer some of the questions there: discord.gg/9KvdVdJahH

[@miharusensay]

@@unreal-dev-with-yaz Thank you so much! I posted it on the server in #general. By the way, your work is really great, and I especially admire your understanding of IT architecture.

[@ChadGatling]

Following this but the DEFINE_LOG_CATEGORY at the top of my gameInstance file has an error that says identifier "FLogCategoryLogPlayFabGSDKGameInstance" is undefined

[@unreal-dev-with-yaz]

is that a compile error or intellisense error ?

[@GrigoriNightDragon_imabba-p3]

Is there a way to just get a copy of your engine that you build because I try to build it it always failed

[@unreal-dev-with-yaz]

hey :) unfortunately the build is based off the libraries you have installed so using a build from another machine can have other issues sometimes its good to try again from scratch in case you've missed something or if there's some bad cache data in terms of building the engine, have you followed the build here? kzbin.info/www/bejne/aInEpX-ad8mpa7M

[@GrigoriNightDragon_imabba-p3]

Okay thanks I'll try from scratch

[@viperstudio3315]

Is there other option to fix this crash when click play?

[@unreal-dev-with-yaz]

do you mean that latest GSDK is still crashing ? i haven't checked in a while but i heard some people indicate that it was still having issues. the first approach is to downgrade the version of GSDK, alternatively its to fix the underlying issue in the library i am not 100% sure, but i think it may be caused from this commit: github.com/PlayFab/gsdk/commit/ca26f5be14ff9c3efb8e3f37eaee1fd043fa952d also worth raising a issue on their github page: github.com/PlayFab/gsdk/issues could probably even point to this video/post for repro steps

[@viperstudio3315]

@@unreal-dev-with-yaz I fixed it. but thanks anyway

[@viperstudio3315]

It was just to call ManualStartupModule() in StartupModule() in PlayFabGSDK.cpp and change #IFS in StartupModule()

[@viperstudio3315]

Crash is becouse GSDKInternal is nullptr. GSDKInternal is created in ManulStartupModule().

[@tan_i_am]

@@viperstudio3315 Would it be possible for you to further explain what changes you made to the #IFS in StartupModule()? I've tried many configurations but I either get build errors when building the server or the following error when attempting to run my .uproject: Fatal error: [...\PlayFabGSDK\Source\PlayFabGSDK\Private\GSDKInternal.cpp] [Line: 67] Heartbeat endpoint and Server id are required configuration values.

[@TimeTravelersTalesAI]

Hey dude, great video - not many people explaining how to do this stuff!, still following along but thought id ask, I'm attempting to do this above with an existing project that Ive been building - I'm assuming this wont effect any of the steps / result?

[@unreal-dev-with-yaz]

hey :) yes these steps will/should work with existing projects I'd still recommend going through these steps with template project first to make sure everything is working as expected (e.g. UE version compatibility, GSDK version bug-free, potentially drop in plugins that you're using to test with those) then repeat them on your project - that's mainly because the compile time can get quite long with actual projects

[@TimeTravelersTalesAI]

@@unreal-dev-with-yaz Hey, got it working last night, but with lag on the clients side which I'm looking into. But my issue is getting it up and running again this morning, I get a error in the mpsAllocatorSample,: !MultiplayerServerTooManyRequests - NoHostsAvailableInRegion - No Hosts available in regions 'NorthEurope', please retry." Wonder if you've had the same issue at all?

[@unreal-dev-with-yaz]

@@TimeTravelersTalesAI its possible that your servers went to standby / non-active? if you go to the servers dashboard, did you see an active server available against the region? the error is indicating that it wasn't active anymore

[@TimeTravelersTalesAI]

@@unreal-dev-with-yaz Hey, thanks. I came to same result, i simply added an extra target and standby (2 in total) and then changed it back to 1, and it started working again. BUT, i cant for life of me figure out how to send a copy of the ClientBuild to my friend, and have him connect with me over the playfab server, to then send us into a game world together. Have been trying to use advanced sessions, but i keep going around in circles. Do you know of any videos or articles that show a simple way to achieve this? At this stage i'm not looking for perfection, but just to get it working...

[@unreal-dev-with-yaz]

@@TimeTravelersTalesAI hey :) not really sure what you mean - so you connect using the client (at 31.27) right? simply zip that entire folder and put it to GDrive or something and share it with your friend they can use that very same client to get into the game of-course they can go through build themselves, but that's the quickest way to have them connect along with you :)

[@cinnabonjazz4434]

is this only for local or could a friend join from his side?

[@unreal-dev-with-yaz]

hey :) this is deploying the multiplayer server so for the friend to join, they need the copy of the client and configure the same connection address, as done in 31:10 the setting of IP address can be automated in future too 👍

[@cinnabonjazz4434]

@@unreal-dev-with-yaz thank you for answering!!! I was also wondering, i have an existing project that I will build dedicated server with, does the game file have to be tied with source engine or with the regular launcher? or can I have it in source version and my friend keeps his as the default launcher? Does it not matter?

[@unreal-dev-with-yaz]

@@cinnabonjazz4434 so the short answer is you can make it work with both but it's not as simple as that in order to build the server files for the project, it will have to be compiled with source build however for local development, you don't need the source UE. so you can switch it at will and the project should be compatible with both, launcher and source build the main pain point is that you will usually need to re-compile using visual studio so for example if you gave the whole project files that you compiled locally to your friend, he will be able to switch engine version to launcher version however it will likely complain about recompile and it will need to be recompiled using visual studio bright side is that this compile is not long, but it does mean they will need visual studio configured to avoid this, i had both UE source and UE launcher versions so i would switch engine version to source, do the server build, then switch it to UE launcher, compile and push changes to repository, then its ok for the friend. hope that makes sense! :)

[@cinnabonjazz4434]

@@unreal-dev-with-yaz absolutely perfect, I really appreciate it man. I kind of had that idea, but wasn't completely sure. You're a life saver! I'll be giving you a shout out on our game if it ever is a release lol, thank you again!

[@DiegoSnowDev]

Hey Thanks for the video. Do you have discord so we can talk?

[@unreal-dev-with-yaz]

hey :) yes, got a discord here: discord.gg/9KvdVdJahH