How to Maximize Your Earnings on Dawn Without Upgrading Hardware
- How to Maximize Your Earnings on Dawn Without Upgrading Hardware
Welcome to the Dawn server community! Many new administrators are eager to boost their server's income, but often believe this *requires* expensive hardware upgrades. This guide aims to demonstrate that significant improvements are possible through optimized server configuration, even on existing hardware. This tutorial assumes a basic understanding of server administration and the Dawn economy, and focuses on tweaking existing settings rather than introducing new software.
Understanding the Dawn Economy and Server Performance
Before diving into configuration, it’s crucial to understand how Dawn calculates server earnings. Primarily, it’s based on active player count, server stability, and resource availability for players. A stable server with a healthy player population will consistently earn more than an unstable one, even with identical hardware. Resource availability (specifically, how quickly resources respawn and how smoothly the server handles large-scale harvesting) also plays a role. We'll focus on optimizing these aspects.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Monitoring these KPIs is vital to measuring the effectiveness of any changes you make:
- Average Player Count: Track this over time to see if your changes attract or retain players.
- Server FPS (Frames Per Second): Lower FPS leads to lag and player dissatisfaction. Aim for a stable 60+ FPS.
- CPU Usage: High CPU usage indicates a bottleneck.
- RAM Usage: Running out of RAM leads to swapping to disk, severely impacting performance.
- Disk I/O: Slow disk I/O impacts resource loading and saving.
- Network Latency: Higher latency impacts player experience.
Optimizing Server Configuration Files
The core of maximizing earnings without hardware upgrades lies in meticulously tuning the server configuration files. We'll focus on the `server.cfg` and potentially any related configuration files specific to your Dawn server distribution.
Server Configuration Settings
Here’s a breakdown of key settings to adjust, along with recommended values. *Always back up your configuration files before making changes!*
| Setting | Description | Recommended Value | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| `maxPlayers` | Maximum number of concurrent players. | Start with 60, adjust based on hardware (see below). | High - Directly impacts earnings and server load. |
| `tickRate` | How often the server updates the game state. | 20 (Standard). Reducing *slightly* can ease CPU load. | Medium - Impacts game smoothness. |
| `respawnInterval` | Time between resource respawns. | 60-90 seconds. Experiment to find balance. | Medium - Impacts resource availability. |
| `networkBandwidth` | Server network bandwidth limit. | Auto (Let the server manage). | Low - Can help with network congestion. |
| `queryPort` | Port for server status queries. | 27015 (Standard). Ensure firewall allows access. | Low - Important for server listing. |
Advanced Configuration Adjustments
Beyond the basic settings, consider these more advanced tweaks:
- Entity Count Limits: Reduce the maximum number of entities (animals, NPCs, dropped items) allowed. This significantly reduces CPU load.
- Distance Culling: Adjust the distance at which objects are rendered for players. Lowering this can improve performance, but also visual quality.
- LOD (Level of Detail) Settings: Optimize LOD levels for different object types to reduce polygon counts at a distance.
- Collision Mesh Complexity: Reducing the complexity of collision meshes (the shapes used for collision detection) can improve CPU performance.
Database Optimization
The server database is a frequent bottleneck. Regular maintenance and optimization are crucial.
Database Maintenance Tasks
| Task | Frequency | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `VACUUM` | Weekly | Reclaims storage occupied by deleted or updated rows. |
| `ANALYZE` | Weekly | Updates statistics used by the query planner for efficient query execution. |
| `REINDEX` | Monthly | Rebuilds indexes, improving query performance. |
| Backup | Daily | Creates a backup of your database in case of corruption or data loss. Database Backups are essential. |
Database Configuration
The database server itself (typically MySQL or MariaDB) requires tuning. Consider the following:
| Setting | Description | Recommended Value |
|---|---|---|
| `innodb_buffer_pool_size` | Amount of RAM allocated to the InnoDB buffer pool. | 50-80% of available RAM. |
| `query_cache_size` | Size of the query cache. | 64-128MB (or disable if RAM is limited). |
| `max_connections` | Maximum number of simultaneous database connections. | 100-150 (adjust based on player count). |
Operating System Level Optimizations
Don’t neglect the underlying operating system!
- Kernel Tuning: Adjust kernel parameters (e.g., `net.core.somaxconn`, `vm.swappiness`) to optimize network performance and memory management. See Kernel Parameters for details.
- Firewall Rules: Ensure your firewall is configured efficiently to only allow necessary traffic.
- Process Priority: Give the Dawn server process a higher priority using `nice` or `renice` commands. Process Priority explains this further.
- Disable Unnecessary Services: Stop any services that are not required for the server to run, freeing up resources.
Monitoring and Iteration
Optimizing a server is not a one-time task. Continuously monitor your KPIs (mentioned earlier) and iterate on your configuration changes. Use tools like `top`, `htop`, and database monitoring utilities to identify bottlenecks. Regularly review Server Logs for errors or warnings.
Resources
- Server Administration Guide
- Database Backups
- Kernel Parameters
- Process Priority
- Server Logs
- Troubleshooting Common Issues
- Dawn Wiki Homepage
Intel-Based Server Configurations
| Configuration | Specifications | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Core i7-6700K/7700 Server | 64 GB DDR4, NVMe SSD 2 x 512 GB | CPU Benchmark: 8046 |
| Core i7-8700 Server | 64 GB DDR4, NVMe SSD 2x1 TB | CPU Benchmark: 13124 |
| Core i9-9900K Server | 128 GB DDR4, NVMe SSD 2 x 1 TB | CPU Benchmark: 49969 |
| Core i9-13900 Server (64GB) | 64 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe SSD | |
| Core i9-13900 Server (128GB) | 128 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe SSD | |
| Core i5-13500 Server (64GB) | 64 GB RAM, 2x500 GB NVMe SSD | |
| Core i5-13500 Server (128GB) | 128 GB RAM, 2x500 GB NVMe SSD | |
| Core i5-13500 Workstation | 64 GB DDR5 RAM, 2 NVMe SSD, NVIDIA RTX 4000 |
AMD-Based Server Configurations
| Configuration | Specifications | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 5 3600 Server | 64 GB RAM, 2x480 GB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 17849 |
| Ryzen 7 7700 Server | 64 GB DDR5 RAM, 2x1 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 35224 |
| Ryzen 9 5950X Server | 128 GB RAM, 2x4 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 46045 |
| Ryzen 9 7950X Server | 128 GB DDR5 ECC, 2x2 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 63561 |
| EPYC 7502P Server (128GB/1TB) | 128 GB RAM, 1 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 48021 |
| EPYC 7502P Server (128GB/2TB) | 128 GB RAM, 2 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 48021 |
| EPYC 7502P Server (128GB/4TB) | 128 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 48021 |
| EPYC 7502P Server (256GB/1TB) | 256 GB RAM, 1 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 48021 |
| EPYC 7502P Server (256GB/4TB) | 256 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 48021 |
| EPYC 9454P Server | 256 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe |
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⚠️ *Note: All benchmark scores are approximate and may vary based on configuration. Server availability subject to stock.* ⚠️