by In this tutorial, you will learn how to self-host a Soulmask dedicated server on a Linux-based operating system.
Soulmask is a multiplayer sandbox survival game where you use a mystical mask to build a tribe, automate tasks, and explore a vast world. With support of up to 40 players on one server, setting up a dedicated server is one of the best ways to play with your friends.
An advantage of setting up your own server is that it gives you a central place to play this survival game. You don’t have to leave the game running. You don’t even need to own Soulmask to be able to download and run the private dedicated server software.
Setting up a private dedicated server for Soulmask on Linux is relatively easy, thanks to the developers’ release of a native Linux version. All we need to do is install Steamcmd, download the server, and then set up a service to handle it. We don’t have to worry about using additional software, such as Wine, to get the game server up and running.
By the end of this tutorial, you should hopefully have a Soulmask server running on your Linux machine. We tested these steps on Ubuntu server, but they should work for almost all Debian based operating systems.
The Soulmask dedicated server requires a fairly significant amount of memory to function properly. We observed it using over 12 GB of RAM just during startup.
Installing and Running a Soulmask Server on Linux
In the following sections, we will walk you through setting up the Soulmask dedicated server on Linux.
As mentioned earlier, while we tested these steps on setting up a Soulmask server on Ubuntu, they should work for most other Linux operating systems.
If you are hosting this game server from your home, you must port forward ports 8777 and 27015 to access the game outside of your local network.
Additionally, if you are using a firewall on your Linux system such as UFW you will also need to allow both of these ports.
Preparing your Linux System
1. To download the Linux version of the Soulmask dedicated server we will need to use the SteamCMD tool. SteamCMD makes downloading the latest version of the server a really easy process.
You can install SteamCMD on Linux by following our guide.
https://pimylifeup.com/linux-steamcmd/Creating a User to Run the Soulmask Server on Linux
2. Now that we have SteamCMD installed, we can create a new user on your Linux system to run the Soulmask dedicated server. It is good practice to run software under their own services where possible, as this reduces their access to the rest of your system.
Using the useradd command below, we can create a user called “soulmask” on your Linux system.
sudo useradd -m soulmask3. With the user created, we will want to change to it for the next couple of steps. We want to run the next few commands under this user to reduce the chance of running into permission issues when setting up the server.
You will run into permission issues later on in this guide if we download Soulmask to your Linux system under your current user since the service we are setting up will run under the “soulmask” user.
Luckily, swapping to our new “soulmask” user is as easy as running the following command.
sudo -u soulmask -s4. Now that we are using the terminal as the “soulmask” user, we will want to change to it’s home directory by utilizing the cd command followed by the tilde symbol (~).
cd ~Installing the Soulmask Dedicated Server on Linux
5. Thanks to us taking the time to set up SteamCMD on your Linux machine, installing the Soulmask dedicated server is as simple as using the following command.
The server isn’t super huge, so unless you have slow internet, the download process shouldn’t take too long.This particular command will download the server to the “/home/soulmask/soulmaskserver” directory.
/usr/games/steamcmd +@sSteamCmdForcePlatformType linux +force_install_dir /home/soulmask/soulmaskserver +login anonymous +app_update 3017300 +quitCreating a Service to Run the Soulmask Server
6. We are now done with the “soulmask” user, so we can exit back to your normal user by running “exit” within the terminal.
exit7. Our next step is to create a systemd service that will be used to run the Soulmask dedicated server on your Linux machine. This service makes controlling the server easier and will automatically restart the service when your system restarts.
By running the command below, you can begin writing this new service using the nano text editor.
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/soulmaskserver.service8. Within this service file, you must type out the following lines. These lines will tell the service manager how to start your Soulmask server. Additionally, we include a line within this service that will automatically update the server every time the service starts.
<SERVERNAME>: Replace this placeholder with the name you want to be used for your server. This is how your server will appear within the Steam server list.<MAXPLAYERS>: Swap this placeholder with the maximum number of players you want on your Soulmask server. At the time of publishing, there is a limit of 50 players.<SERVERPASSWORD>: Change this placeholder to the password you want used to access your server. This helps prevent unwanted users from accessing your game server.<ADMINPASSWORD>: Finally, change this value to a secure password. You can use this password to perform admin tasks within the game.<PVE>: Finally, if you want your server to be PvE only, replace this placeholder with “-pve“. If you want PvP, then you must simply delete this placeholder.
[Unit]
Description=PiMylifeUp Soulmask Dedicated Server
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target
[Service]
Type=simple
KillSignal=SIGINT
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10
User=soulmask
Group=soulmask
WorkingDirectory=/home/soulmask/soulmaskserver
ExecStartPre=/usr/games/steamcmd +@sSteamCmdForcePlatformType linux +force_install_dir /home/soulmask/soulmaskserver +login anonymous +app_update 3017300 +quit
ExecStart=/home/soulmask/soulmaskserver/StartServer.sh -SteamServerName='<SERVERNAME>' -MaxPlayers=<MAXPLAYERS> -PSW='<SERVERPASSWORD>' -adminpsw='<ADMINPASSWORD>' <PVE> -Port=8777 -QueryPort=27015 -EchoPort=18888
ExecStop=-/bin/bash -c "echo 'saveworld 1' | /usr/bin/telnet 127.0.0.1 18888"
ExecStop=-/bin/bash -c "echo 'quit 1' | /usr/bin/telnet 127.0.0.1 18888"
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target9. Once you have finished writing the service file, save and quit by pressing CTRL + X, Y, and then ENTER.
Starting the Soulmask Dedicated Server on Linux
10. With the service file now written, we can enable the Soulmask dedicated server to start when our Linux system does.
All you need to do to enable this new service is to use the following command.
sudo systemctl enable soulmaskserver11. We can finally start the Soulmask dedicated server by running the following command. Please note that the game server can take a few minutes to get into a started state.
sudo systemctl start soulmaskserver12. You can verify that the game server is running by getting the status of the service we wrote earlier.
sudo systemctl status soulmaskserverIf everything is working correctly, your service should be marked as “Active: active (running)“.
You can now safely begin to connect to your new Soulmask server.
Active: active (running)Updating your Game Server
13. If you ever need to update your Soulmask server on Linux, you can restart the service you wrote earlier in this guide by using the command below.
This works because the service file contains a command that automatically updates the server when it starts.
sudo systemctl restart soulmaskserverConclusion
Hopefully, at this stage, you will have successfully set up and run the Soulmask dedicated server on your Linux machine.
This survival multiplayer game is better when played with friends. Self-hosting the game server allows you to use a spare machine or VPS to have the server running 24/7.
Please feel free to comment below if you have had any issues with getting this game server to run.
If you like this tutorial, we recommend that you check out our many other game server tutorials.
Hello,
I just ran the server the same way it was written here. I ran the status command and its displaying that its connected but i cant connect due to a steamauth error. This is the lines I am getting at the end of the status command:
WSServer-Linux-Shipping[2689851]: LogStreaming: Error: Couldn’t find file for package /Game/UI/Fonts/SiYuanHeiTi requested by async loading code. NameToLoad: /Game/UI/Fonts/SiYuanHeiTi
WSServer-Linux-Shipping[2689851]: LogStreaming: Error: Found 0 dependent packages…
WSServer-Linux-Shipping[2689851]: LogAkAudio: Error: FAkAudioModule::UpdateWwiseResourceLoaderSettings : No Resource Loader!
WSServer-Linux-Shipping[2689851]: logRCON: Error: RCON password is empty.
WSServer-Linux-Shipping[2689851]: LogOnlineGame: Error: OnSteamAuthFailure id: 76561198136173450
WSServer-Linux-Shipping[2689851]: LogOnlineGame: Error: OnSteamAuthFailure id: 76561198136173450
Hi Bandar,
Sorry for taking a while but I have attempted to make some slight changes to the systemd file to hopefully stop some of these issues people are running into.
Can you try using the updated version of the service file and let me know if the issues persist. You will need to replace the file, use “sudo systemctl daemon-reload” and then restart your server.
Kind regards,
Emmet
Thanks for the tutorial,
but I’m still getting Steam Auth error and running it with screen via systemctl (as per config) does not help. Running it manually with screen does help. Very weird.
Doesn’t work on Ubuntu or Debian. It’s not clear where to look for logs.
It seems that the service is working, but there is no connection from the game via IP and port, it redirects to the home screen:
Direct launch of ssh file kills itself at the end.
I have no idea why it works for you anyway, apparently you need to do something else that is not in the article.
I would like to run it on a separate VDS outside my machine, but it looks like I’ll have to use a farm server under Windows.
Hi SERVER41832,
Having a quick look at the logs you have provided; it appears that the server is being “killed” by the operating system. This typically occurs when your system runs out of available memory. The server is incredibly memory hungry so you will need to have a decent amount available.
Kind regards,
Emmet
When I try this on a bare metal fresh Debian install, the Systemd command fails and the server refuses to start. When I manually run the command, I get the following error:
“Two characters are required with -e option, not ‘amServerName=ServerName'”
Any thoughts? It’s like Screen is trying to parse the options for the StartServer script.
Hi PapaBearDoes,
Thank you for letting us know about this issue. I made a mistake when I copied across my local changes when I was testing the changes to the guide. I forgot to copy the screen name part of the argument.
I have updated the tutorial so it should now work properly, please let me know if you continue to run into issues.
Kind regards,
Emmet
hey,
first thanks for the tutorial, I have a new v-server with a fresh Ubuntu version. i am a absolute beginner white linux, I followed the instructions step by step. Everything was great until the status query. This is my status, which I’m not entirely sure about:
The result is definitely no server online and no direct connection to it. Hopefully you can help me.
Hi Alex,
There was a slight mistake when I made some changes to the tutorial. I have updated the “ExecStart” line so that we actually set a name for the screen. Missing the name made it interpret part of the command as the screen name and ended up breaking the whole thing.
Please let me know if you continue to have issues with getting the server to work.
Kind regards,
Emmet
When I try to connect to the server (which is on a Linux VPS), it fails to authenticate me with an OnSteamAuthFailure error in the server logs. Any idea how to fix this? I can connect to any other server just fine.
Hi Game4life,
I have made some adjustments to the tutorial so that the server will run within a virtual screen. Can you try adjusting your service to match our updated one and see if the problem persists?
You may have to install the screen package by using the command below.
Kind regards,
Emmet
Myself and a few others discovered the server will fail steam auth when the process is launched with systemd. We can pull the ExecStart line into a shell script to launch via tmux or screen, and it will resolve SteamAuthFailure issues. Presuming this systemd configuration works for you, any idea what would cause this for us? I’ve ensured the user systemd is launching as is correct, and /proc/pid/environ shows the library paths are set correctly.
Hi Corrigan,
While this tutorial worked fine when I initially wrote it, numerous people seem to be running into the same issue that you are. While im not sure off the top of my head why it would work under a virtual screen or tmux I have adjusted my guide to do the same.
There is no real harm running it using screen, but is definitely one of those curious things as to what must not be getting set without it. Will try to look into it further.
Kind regards,
Emmet
Great write-up, thanks!
Unfortunately, I am unable to connect when running the server as a service. The server does not even show up in the server list, and if I direct connect using the server IP I get the following error “SteamAuth Failed”.
If I run the same ExecStart command manually, there are no issues, the server shows up in the server list and I can connect just fine. Bit strange…
I guess I will just continue to run it manually for now.
Hi Will,
Sorry to hear that you have been having issues with the service. I have made some slight adjustments to it so that it will run within a virtual screen. Can you please let me know if the issue persists after these changes?
Kind regards,
Emmet
You specify that “you’ll have issues trying to run the server under your current user” but I guess I don’t understand why that would be the case. Assuming you already have a non-root user (like Frank) wouldn’t that function similarly or the same as your “soulmask” user?
Hi LinuxBoi,
I have updated that sentence to hopefully be a little bit clearer about what I meant by issues. Since this tutorial is written around using the “soulmask” user we create, it is expected that they will own the server and its files. To save having to chown the directory, we can simply switch to the “soulmask” user and download the Soulmask server using that user.
You don’t have to use the separate user like we do, but it is typically good practice to isolate outward-facing programs from the rest of your system.
Kind regards,
Emmet