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Welcome to the future of the Warframe Conclave! Welcome to the world of Player driven Dedicated Servers!

As we mentioned in Devstream #81, we’ll soon be introducing Dedicated Servers to address one of the biggest complaints with the current Conclave setup: that of lag and shoddy connections. In an attempt to address these issues, we're enlisting you, our loyal and excited players - and your computers - to provide a solution.

With the addition of volunteer Dedicated Servers we will be providing our PC players with the option to turn their computers into a server to host Conclave matches without the need to run the actual Warframe client with it. The intention is to provide a more robust and optimized matchmaking environment that will alleviate the majority of these PC PVP woes. Due to the networking architecture of the console environment, for the foreseeable future, Dedicated Servers will be restricted to PC users and will not be brought over to consoles- sorry!

We’ve attempted to streamline and make the process of running a Dedicated Server as hassle free as possible. As such we can show you how to setup your own Dedicated Server in a couple of screenshots!

First, simply launch Warframe to bring up the Warframe Launcher and click on the Settings Gear in the top right:

From here click on the Start Server button under the new Dedicated Server tab:

From there you’ll be prompted to select the Conclave mode you wish to host, along with the options to restrict access to your Clan/Alliance, the option to host a VARIANT mode (more on this new mode later), as well as the option to include your own personalized MOTD seen when players enter your server:

Clicking 'Ok' will then launch a dedicated server on your machine! A new command window will appear which will output all of the log details for your brand spanking new server. You’ll be able to track how many players have joined, what maps are currently being run, along with a plethora of other backend info from here:

Easy as pie!

At the present time there are no hard restrictions on who can or cannot run a Dedicated Server. If your machine meets the minimum requirements for Warframe you *should* be able to run a Dedicated Server without issue. Additionally, electing to use your machine as a Dedicated Server will result in your machine sending and receiving data. Those who may have a bandwidth cap should monitor usage to ensure that overages aren’t incurred.

At this current time there is no way to explicitly join a Dedicated Server; as there is no in-game UI to support this. Instead, the system leans on our backend matchmaking logic to place you in the best possible server for your choice of game modes. So for example: if you have two available computers - you can setup one as a Dedicated Server hosting machine running an Annihilation match. You can then launch Warframe on your other computer, search for an Annihilation match in the same way you’ve done before, and be confident that you will reliably connect to the first machine. It should be noted that you can run a Dedicated Server AND an instance of the Warframe game client on the same computer, however this will increase the strain on your machine. Those with lower end PC’s should be cautious when attempting this. Overall the system is setup in such a way that it will continually try to place you in the most stable server available at that time. This will fluctuate over time as people bring up and pull down Dedicated Servers but should as a whole improve the Conclave experience.

This first iteration of Dedicated Servers will also launch with a Leaderboard system. This system will keep track of your Dedicated Server efforts and your ‘Karma’ score will accumulate the longer you have active players on your server. This Leaderboard can be viewed in game under Profile > Leaderboards. While the first iteration is limited to just these ‘Karma’ points, we want to highlight players who are actively helping to improve the Conclave experience for their fellow Tenno. Future updates will flesh out and expand upon this feature to better support these Dedicated Server Champions!

Dedicated Server Leaderboards can also be found online here when they go live:
http://content.warframe.com/dynamic/dedServerStats.php

So Tenno, go forth and propagate! Host servers, gain ‘Karma’, and improve the Conclave experience for all your friends!

Player Hosted Dedicated Server FAQ:

Q: What are player hosted Dedicated Servers?
A: Player hosted Dedicated Servers are servers set up by players (hosts) who host a multiplayer match (Conclave or Lunaro in the case of Warframe) on their computers. This allows clients to connect to a player host for a generally better experience.

Q: How do I host a Server?
A: See here: https://forums.warframe.com/topic/709664-dedicated-conclave-servers/

Q: Do you plan on supporting other modes (Trials, Dojos, etc.)?
A: By popular demand we are looking into this.

Q: Can I have multiple server instances running on different physical machines with the same account (and get leaderboard credit for each)?
A: Yes, we added this functionality with The War Within update.

Q: Can I run more than one Dedicated Server on a single PC?
A: No, because unless you have a very good PC this might not actually perform very well for players- but we're thinking about it.

Q: Does Warframe support Linux?
A: No, but we're investigating using WINE for this.

Q: Can I run a Dedicated Server on a spare computer (and get credit) and play Warframe on my main machine?
A: Yes.

Q: How are the Leaderboard scores determined?
A: As of right now it’s calculated between Hosting time & number of players in the game. This may change at some point after further analysis.

Q: Is there a way to relaunch the game without having to close my server?
A: Not at this time, but we’re looking for a way to do so.

Q: What does a Clan Only Server mean?
A: Only members of your Clan can join your Dedicated Server (experimental).

Q: What about Consoles?
A: Consoles will not be getting the Dedicated Server option- sorry!

Q: When I host, I see lots of stuff I don't understand, will you upgrade the interface?
A: Potentially, but we have to keep it simple so it doesn’t use too much system resources.