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Why Setting Up a Homelab for Game Servers Was the Best Move I Made

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Discover how a simple home server setup transformed my modded Valheim experience with full control and minimal hassle.

If you’ve ever rented game servers, you know the headaches that sometimes come along—random disconnects, lag spikes, or running out of memory when your base just keeps growing. That’s exactly what pushed me to explore a home server setup last year, and honestly, it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made for gaming with friends.

I had some old PC parts lying around—a trusty i7 7700k with 24GB RAM—so I tossed them into an old case and installed Ubuntu server. To keep things simple, I used Docker and YAMS (YAMS Media Server) to get media services up and running. At first, the server just acted as an occasional media hub, but that soon changed.

Fast forward to now, my buddies and I set up a modded Valheim server on this home lab using a Docker Compose stack managed through Portainer. Setting this up was surprisingly straightforward. Having the ability to tweak environment variables in the Docker Compose file gave me way more control than I ever got with rented servers.

One of the coolest parts? I have a second monitor dedicated to watching the server stats — RAM, CPU, temperatures — using a tool called Beszel. It’s satisfying to see everything running smoothly in real-time.

Why a Home Server Setup Makes Sense for Game Servers

For our survival game nights, the home server setup solved a lot of issues:

  • Dependability: No more bandwidth throttling or unexpected disconnects that come with some hosting services.
  • Performance: I can monitor and adjust settings on the fly, making sure the server isn’t overwhelmed.
  • Cost: Using hardware I already owned saved rental fees.

Handling Network Setup: Best Practices for UDP and Port Forwarding

Gaming servers often require specific UDP ports to be open for smooth gameplay. For Valheim, I forwarded the UDP ports directly to my homelab’s IP using my router’s “Game servers” feature. This worked well,

Early on, I tried using a VPS with a proxy (Pangolin) to bounce traffic, but latency was too high — making gameplay laggy.

Generally, the easiest and most effective approach for a home server setup is:

  • Forward the required UDP ports directly to your server’s IP. This keeps latency low and connections reliable.
  • Use a separate VLAN if possible to keep your gaming traffic isolated and secure.

For more advanced setups or troubleshooting, you can check out network configuration guides on Ubiquiti’s community page or tutorials on how to manage Docker networking effectively like on Docker’s official docs.

Final Thoughts

If you have some old hardware and a bit of time, setting up a home server for your game sessions is worth considering. It gives you flexibility, cuts cost, and turns game nights into a smoother experience overall. Plus, watching your server stats live is oddly satisfying.

If you’re just getting started, Ubuntu server and Docker are a solid combo for handling game servers. And when it comes to network settings—keep it simple with direct port forwarding and consider VLANs for better security.

Who knew old PC parts could bring so much joy to our gaming nights?

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