How To Test Dedicated Server Games Via Commandline

Overview

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In this wiki I show you how you can run a dedicated server game with 2 connecting clients from commandline! (editor closed or used for other purposes)

All the batch files listed below go in your main project directory where your .uproject is.

Steam is disabled via -nosteam because you can't run multiple network instances from the same steam account.

.bat files

Just make a text file and rename it to .bat instead of .txt, make sure file extensions are visible in your operating system or it might be saving to .txt.bat :)

UE4Editor.exe

Make sure the UE4Editor path is accurate for your machine and is the correct version number.

Step 1: Server Bat File

VictoryCreateDedicatedServer.bat

 "C:\Program Files\Epic Games\4.9\Engine\Binaries\Win64\UE4Editor.exe" "%CD%\YourProject.uproject" MapName -server -log -nosteam

-server is the main thing to note here :)

The Server IP Address

When the Server instance loads you will notice in the log that it lists a WinSock IP address.

This is the IP address you use for client .bat files below!

Image:DedicatedServerWinSockIP.jpg

Step 2: Client Bat Files

VictoryCreateClient1.bat

 TIMEOUT /T 6
 "C:\Program Files\Epic Games\4.9\Engine\Binaries\Win64\UE4Editor.exe" "%CD%\YourProject.uproject" 192.168.0.3 -game -ResX=800 -ResY=900 -WinX=0 -WinY=20 -log -nosteam

VictoryCreateClient2.bat

 TIMEOUT /T 6
 "C:\Program Files\Epic Games\4.9\Engine\Binaries\Win64\UE4Editor.exe" "%CD%\YourProject.uproject" 192.168.0.3 -game -ResX=800 -ResY=900 -WinX=800 -WinY=20 -log -nosteam

You can use shorter than 6 seconds if your dedicated loads fast :)

Step 3: All In One Bat File

 start VictoryCreateDedicatedServer
 start VictoryCreateClient1
 VictoryCreateClient2

The start command initiates new process so all three commands run simultaneously.

Then you just call this bat file to start the whole process each time!

Player Starts

Make sure to have enough player starts to support loading in all your clients at the same time, or else some players might not join or end up in the floor or something :)

Conclusion

Now you can start Dedicated Server games with 2 clients from commandline with 1 click!

Enjoy!

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