UE4.4: The Game Server (windows) has crashed and will close

Development Programming & Scripting
1

I have built the engine, including UnrealFrontend

(I have obtained from github following files: Optional.zip Required_1of2.zip Required_2of2.zip UnrealEngine-4.4.0-release.zip.
I unpack them into one folder. Further, I follow the instructions in the file README.md: run GenerateProjectFiles.bat;
launch visual studio and open UE4.sln;
configuration is set to Development Editor and platform Win64;
additionally I build UnrealFrontend;);

After compilation i launch UE4Editor.

Then create a project, for example on the basis of ShooterGame.

Then I launch UnrealFrontend

In it I choose current project with next parameters:
Build Configuration Development;
Build WindowsServer;
Do not cook;
Do not package;
Do not deploy;

The server is built successfully.

I try to start the server and get a crash.

[Log file][1] and

13134-servercrash02.jpg
13134-servercrash02.jpg517×951 212 KB

are attached.

2

I have the same exact problem. Were you able to resolve this crash?

3

Same problem here.

4

I believe this crash is due to a lack of cooked content. I was able to resolve this with the following steps:

  1. Build engine from source (sounds like you did this)
  2. Change existing project to run with source-built editor
  3. Generate project files for existing project (eg, MyGame)
  4. Open generated project sln in Visual Studio and add the Server Build Target (A new, community-hosted Unreal Engine Wiki - Announcements - Unreal Engine Forums)
  5. Recompile (I actually launched the editor and was prompted to recompile)
  6. Launch UnrealFrontend.exe from the source-built engine directory
  7. Cook content for WindowsServer (after creating a custom profile under Game Launcher > Advanced)
  8. After cooking, return to Visual Studio, set the Solution Configuration to Server, and build your project sln
  9. There should be a Server.exe in /Unreal Projects/MyGame/Binaries//

I just went through the process of building a dedicated server from start to finish today. I’m planning to put together a little tutorial once I have a better understanding of how to do it. In the meantime, I hope this helps!

5

Thanks, now I don’t have the error anymore, but when I start the server, nothing happens. Why?

6

If you’re double clicking the binary [MyGame]Server.exe, it’s most likely starting in the background. Assuming you’re on Windows (and using the .exe), you could open a command prompt and check if the process is running with:

tasklist | findstr "[MyGame]Server"

That should show any running tasks whose name matches your server binary’s.

Lastly, I recommend starting the server from the command prompt with:

[MyGame]Server.exe -log

If you connect to it (via open 127.0.0.1:7777 from a client console, for example) and you don’t see anything, make sure you’ve set a default server map before packaging/cooking/building.

7

I wrote a blog post, in case you need more detail: piinecone — Building a dedicated server in Unreal Engine 4