Windows Game Server

Single-window management panel for Windows game servers

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What is Windows Game Server?

Windows Game Server (WGS) is a free, open-source desktop application that lets you host and manage dedicated game servers on any Windows PC — without touching the command line.

Instead of juggling SteamCMD scripts, batch files, Task Scheduler entries and manual firewall rules, WGS brings everything into one clean window:

• Install any supported game server in one click — SteamCMD is downloaded and run automatically in the background
• Start, stop and restart servers with a single button — or let WGS do it automatically after a crash, with smart crash-loop detection
• Monitor CPU and RAM usage per server in real time, with history graphs and a global system dashboard
• Schedule automatic restarts, updates and backups at any time of day or week
• Back up world saves and configs automatically before every update, with configurable retention
• Send console commands directly from the UI — no need to switch windows or open a terminal
• Edit config files for any server directly inside WGS, without opening a file manager
• Install Workshop mods and manage Oxide/Minecraft plugins from the same interface
• Add any game that isn't built-in using the graphical Plugin Creator — no coding required
• Control servers remotely via Discord bot commands or the built-in REST API
• Manage firewall rules automatically — WGS opens and closes the right ports when servers start and stop

WGS is designed for home lab hosts, small community server admins and anyone who wants a clean, reliable way to keep game servers running on Windows without spending time on maintenance.

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📷 Screenshot

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Important

Windows SmartScreen Warning:

Since WGS is an independent open-source tool that manages system-level tasks (Firewall, Process Priorities), Windows might show a "SmartScreen" warning. To run WGS: Right-click WindowsGameServer.exe → Properties → Check Unblock at the bottom → OK.

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✨ Features

Server management

Feature	Description
🎮 63+ supported games	Ready-made plugins for the most popular game servers
⬇️ SteamCMD integration	Install and update servers with one click — SteamCMD downloaded automatically
🔄 Auto restart	Automatic restart after crash, with configurable delay and crash loop detection
🔁 Auto-update	Periodic SteamCMD updates on a configurable interval while the server runs
⧉ Server cloning	Duplicate any server with all settings — ports assigned automatically
💤 Wake-on-demand	Server starts automatically when the first player connects, saving resources when idle
😴 Shut down when empty	Server stops automatically after a configurable idle timeout when all players leave

Monitoring

Feature	Description
📊 System dashboard	Global CPU, RAM and disk usage across all running servers
📈 Per-server performance charts	CPU and RAM history graphs up to 1 hour, with selectable time range
👥 Player statistics	Session tracking and total playtime per player, stored in SQLite
🌐 Bandwidth & connections	Live network in/out and active connection count per server

Automation

Feature	Description
🗓️ Task scheduler	Schedule start, stop, restart, update or backup — once, daily or weekly
💾 Automatic backups	Zip backups of world saves before updates, configurable retention policy, selective backup paths per server

Remote access

Feature	Description
📟 RCON console	Send commands to running servers via Source RCON protocol
🤖 Discord bot	Control servers from any Discord channel: !start, !stop, !restart, !update, !backup, !cmd
🌐 REST API	Built-in HTTP server for external integrations — start/stop/status/metrics/backup/restore endpoints
🖥️ Remote machine support	Manage servers running on other PCs from a single master panel

Notifications

Feature	Description
🔔 Discord webhooks	Get notified on start, stop, crash and update events in Discord — global or per-server webhook URL
📧 Email notifications (SMTP)	Receive the same alerts by email — configurable per server

Configuration & mods

Feature	Description
📝 Config editor	Browse and edit any server config file directly inside WGS
🗂️ Steam Workshop	Install and manage Workshop mods for supported games via SteamCMD
📁 File manager	Browse, upload, download and delete server files without leaving WGS

System & extensibility

Feature	Description
🛡️ Firewall management	Windows Firewall rules opened/closed automatically on start and stop
⚙️ CPU affinity, priority & RAM limit	Per-server core pinning, process priority and hard RAM cap via Windows Job Objects
🔧 Custom Plugin Creator	Graphical tool to add any game server — no code required
📦 Plugin import / export	Share plugins as .cs files between machines
🔔 System tray	Runs minimised in the background with tray notifications
🔒 Encrypted credentials	Steam login and Discord tokens encrypted with Windows DPAPI

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🎮 Supported Games

63+ games supported out of the box — including Valheim, Rust, CS2, ARK, DayZ, Palworld, Minecraft, and many more.

👉 Full game list with search →

The Custom Plugin Creator lets you add any other game server without touching code.

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🖥️ Requirements

• Windows 10 / Windows Server 2019 or newer
• .NET 8 Runtime — download here
• SteamCMD — downloaded automatically on first install
• Administrator rights for firewall rule management

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🚀 Installation

Pre-built binary (recommended)

1. Download the latest release from the Releases page
2. Extract the zip to a folder of your choice
3. Run WindowsGameServer.exe
4. If you get a .NET error, install the .NET 8 Runtime

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/MadBee71/WGS.git
cd WindowsGameServer/WGS
dotnet publish -c Release -o publish

Requires .NET 8 SDK

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📦 Project structure

WGS/
├── Games/              # Game plugins (IGamePlugin interface)
│   ├── GamePluginBase.cs
│   ├── GameRegistry.cs
│   ├── ValheimPlugin.cs
│   ├── RustPlugin.cs
│   └── ...             # One .cs per game
├── Models/             # Data models (GameServer, ConsoleMessage...)
├── Services/           # Business logic and background services
├── ViewModels/         # MVVM ViewModels
├── Views/              # WPF XAML views
└── publish/            # Published executable output

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🔌 Adding a custom plugin

Graphical Plugin Creator

WGS includes a built-in Plugin Creator tool:

1. Open Tools → Plugin Creator
2. Fill in the game details (name, Steam AppID, executable, ports...)
3. Click Save — the plugin appears in the game list immediately

You can also export any plugin to a .cs file and share it, or import one from another machine via Tools → Import Plugin.

Writing a plugin in code

Create a new file Games/MyGamePlugin.cs:

using WGS.Games;
using WGS.Models;

public class MyGamePlugin : GamePluginBase
{
    public override string GameId            => "mygame";
    public override string GameName          => "My Game";
    public override string Description       => "Short description";
    public override string Category          => "Survival";
    public override int    SteamAppId        => 123456;
    public override string Executable        => "server.exe";
    public override int    DefaultPort       => 7777;
    public override int    DefaultQueryPort  => 27015;
    public override int    DefaultMaxPlayers => 32;

    public override string BuildStartArguments(GameServer s)
        => $"-port {s.ServerPort} -queryport {s.QueryPort} -maxplayers {s.MaxPlayers}";
}

Register it in Games/GameRegistry.cs:

Register(new MyGamePlugin());

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🏗️ Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│            WPF UI (XAML)            │
├──────────────┬──────────────────────┤
│  MainViewModel │  ServerViewModel   │  ← CommunityToolkit.Mvvm
├──────────────┴──────────────────────┤
│  ServerManagerService               │  ← Process lifecycle
│  SteamCmdService                    │  ← Install / update / Workshop
│  BackupService                      │  ← Zip backups + retention
│  FirewallService                    │  ← netsh / Windows Firewall COM
│  RconService                        │  ← Source RCON protocol
│  SystemMetricsService               │  ← Global CPU / RAM / disk
│  PerformanceMonitorService          │  ← Per-process CPU / RAM
│  PerfHistoryService                 │  ← Time-series chart data
│  PlayerStatsService                 │  ← Session tracking (SQLite)
│  ModManagerService                  │  ← Oxide / Minecraft plugins
│  SteamWorkshopService               │  ← Workshop item management
│  ConfigEditorService                │  ← In-app config file editing
│  ScheduledTaskService               │  ← Recurring automation tasks
│  NotificationService                │  ← Discord webhooks
│  DiscordBotService                  │  ← Discord bot (long-poll)
│  WebApiService                      │  ← REST API (HttpListener)
│  ServerGroupService                 │  ← Server grouping
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│  IGamePlugin (per game)             │
│  GamePluginBase (defaults)          │
│  GameRegistry (registration)        │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

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🤝 Contributing

Pull requests are welcome! For large changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you'd like to change.

1. Fork this repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/my-new-feature
3. Commit your changes: git commit -m "Add: my new feature"
4. Push: git push origin feature/my-new-feature
5. Open a Pull Request

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📄 License

MIT License — see the LICENSE file.

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Support

If you find WGS useful, you can support my work here:

_{Built with .NET 8 · WPF · CommunityToolkit.Mvvm}