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Multiplay Hosting

Integration requirements

Learn the requirements your game server must meet to integrate with Multiplay Hosting.
Read time 5 minutesLast updated 3 days ago
Your game must meet specific requirements to ensure that you can use the Multiplay Hosting service to host and scale your game. The following guidelines describe how to prepare your game for Multiplay Hosting. Most of the requirements are about your build or, more specifically, your build executable file. Your build encapsulates all the files necessary to run your game. Your build executable file is the executable file within your build. You must specify the build executable file when you create a build.

General requirements

This section covers the general requirements your build must meet to use Multiplay Hosting. Refer to the following requirements to learn more:

Operating system

Your build executable file must support running on Ubuntu Linux 22.04. If you want to run your build executable file on Ubuntu 24.04, contact your Unity representative or refer to Unity Support.

Parameterized values

Your build must support using information from parameterized values. Multiplay Hosting manages parameterized values through configuration variables, the 
server.json file
, and launch parameters. You can manage the information a build tracks through its build configuration. Multiplay Hosting uses a 
server.json
file to keep track of session-specific information, such as the allocation ID, port number, and any other variables you want to keep track of as configuration variables. Your build process must support keeping track of the information in the 
server.json
file, so it can know when a server becomes allocated and deallocated. If you’re using Unity or the Unreal Engine, you can do so with the Game Server SDK. Builds can also read information from launch parameters. Launch parameters are a good way to set values the build executable file needs, such as the game port, when it starts up.

Start-up conditions

Builds must support both starting with and without an allocation UUID populated in the 
server.json
file. This is because Multiplay Hosting can create new servers to satisfy the scaling settings you provided. These servers are started in preparation for receiving allocations, which means the 
allocatedUUID
field is an empty string (
""
) until it is allocated.

Network adapter binding

Builds must bind to 
0.0.0.0
for both game server port and query protocol server port, if the build supports a query protocol.

Dynamic port number

Builds must support using a dynamic port number for game data transmission. Multiplay Hosting generates port numbers per server instance, with an offset to ensure there is no port conflict on server startup. Your build executable file must use the 
$$port$$
variable to leverage this functionality. For example, you can pass the 
$$port$$
variable to your build at start-up by using the following launch parameter: 
-port $$port$$

Logs directory

The logs directory requirement is optional. If you don't set up a log directory, you won't have any way of accessing logs and crash dumps through the Unity Dashboard. Multiplay Hosting displays server logs through the Unity Dashboard, where you can view, search, and download logs. You can control where your build saves log files through a launch parameter and configuration variable. For example, you can use 
-logFile
as the launch parameter and pass the 
$$log_dir$$
configuration variable. 
-logFile $$log_dir$$/engine.log
The logs directory requirement is optional. If you don’t set up a log directory, you won’t have any way of accessing logs and crash dumps through the Unity Dashboard.

Query protocol

While it’s not a requirement, it’s best practice for builds to support responding to queries from a server query protocol, such as SQP. A server query protocol is a protocol that facilitates querying information from a server instance, such as the server state and the number of allocated players. Typically, the response has static variables with dynamic (continuously updated) values. Multiplay Hosting relies on query protocol responses to decide server instances' health. If your build doesn’t support a query protocol or if you set up your query protocol incorrectly, Multiplay Hosting might decide your server instances are unresponsive. Additionally, the query protocol lets Multiplay Hosting report and watch real-time data about each server, such as concurrently connected users (CCU), active allocations, failed allocations, connected players per platform, and server events.

Post-allocation cleanup

Builds must support some form of post-allocation (post-session) cleanup to prepare the game server for the next allocation. You have a couple of options:
  • You can return to a lobby or a ready state after a game session concludes.
  • You can exit the process gracefully (for example, exit code 0).
Returning to the lobby (or a ready state) is preferable to restarting the game server process. Ending the game server process at the end of a match is a less optimal use of resources because it’s typically more costly to restart than clean up a process.

Container build requirements

When you create a Multiplay Hosting build, you have several options for uploading your build file. One option is to use Docker and the Multiplay Hosting container registry to upload a containerized version of your build. Your build container must meet specific requirements (in addition to the General requirements) before you can use a container build.

Create a container build with the base image

The linux-build-image template container takes care of most of the additional requirements of using a container build. In most cases, use the base image. You can use it by adding the following line to the top of your Dockerfile: 
FROM unitymultiplay/linux-base-image:<tag>
Replace 
<tag>
with the version of the base image to use. You can check the linux-base-image tags for a list of available tags.

Create a container build from scratch

If you prefer to create your Dockerfile from scratch, it’s your responsibility to ensure your container meets the following requirements.
RequirementDescription
USER mpukgame
Your container must use 
mpukgame
as the 
USER
. This user must have a group identifier (GID) of 2000 and a user identifier (UID) of 2000.
ENTRYPOINT
Your container must have an 
ENTRYPOINT
, launched by the mpukgame user.
The following code block shows a simple Dockerfile that meets these requirements: 
# ======================================================== ## Unity base image stuff                  ## ======================================================== #FROM ubuntu:22.04 AS mpukRUN addgroup --gid 2000 mpukgame && \    useradd -g 2000 -u 2000 -ms /bin/sh mpukgame && \    mkdir /game && \    chown mpukgame:mpukgame /game && \    apt update && \    apt upgrade && \    apt install -y ca-certificatesUSER mpukgame# ======================================================== ## Custom game stuff                     ## ======================================================== #FROM mpuk AS game# copy game files here# for example:WORKDIR /gameCOPY --chown=mpukgame . .# set your game binary as the entrypointENTRYPOINT [ "./gamebinary" ]