Windows 10 end of life and Conan Dedicated Server app

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Hi everyone,

So as we all know Windows 10 is going to reach it’s end of life in October 2025.
The problem is that to run Windows 11 or upcoming Windows 12 one has to meet certain hardware requirements or it wont upgrade or install.

My other computer which I built 3 years ago specifically just to run Conan Dedicated Server app does not meet these requirements.
This means that starting October next year my home server won’t receive any updates. patches or fixes and is going to be increasingly more vulnerable to online threats.

If it continues to run Windows 10 that is…

As time had passed I expanded my Conan Server PC to host a small wordpress website, a teamspeak server, a file hosting server app.
It all has started as a Conan Server and now has become a “home lab server” as some may call it.

And here we come to the point…

All the apps and services I run on this machine have their separate versions or alternatives on Linux.
I can simply change the OS to Linux once Windows 10 dies and run everything as before BUT not the Conan Dedicated Server app.

There are work-arounds and emulators, but a game server needs to be fast and reliable, and this can be reached only by running things natively, instead of running it through Wine which is going to make things slower and horrible.

I bet many of us run servers with couple of years old hardware or have recycled their old gaming rigs as home servers and it totally makes no sense to be forced to buy new motherboard + CPU + RAM just to upgrade to Windows 11/12 and keep running Conan Dedicated Server.

I have found rumours in old threads and discords that there was to be a Linux version of server app in the past.
I guess this it the time we are really starting to need it.

The Linux market share on desktop rose from 1% to 4% in the past year (over 6% if we add ChromeOS). I bet it’s going to raise even more once Windows 10 dies, as many people are going to refuse to scrap their perfectly working PCs just to upgrade Windows (and then there is the telemetry and new AI drama).

And it’s not hard to use ‘normie’ oriented Linux like Kubuntu / Ubuntu so I think more server owners would be interested in running their game on Linux instead of taking chances with Windows 10 once security updates expire.

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Now how are they going to do that when so many PCs wont run 11?
Neither of mine will. I can’t afford to upgrade my PCs let alone replace them.

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That one is confusing you, so run both on the same machine.

That’ll save you/us some time.

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Well, this isn’t a CE problem really. CE, the dedicated server app, and the devkit will all run on win11. Personally, I expect MS to push out that date. I haven’t switched to win11 simply because my wife did accidentally on her laptop and it totally hosed her wifi until I reinstalled win10. Even if I take that growth of people to linux at face value however, its still dwarfed by the number who stay with windows. That’s not enough to worry about native linux support for CE.

Win12 is already on the horizon anyway as leaked by intel when they showed that the latest gen of intel processors are win12 compatible. I won’t ever be using win11 voluntarily.

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To them its not their problem. Microsoft is perfectly fine with their being two classes of users. One that was the ‘good consumer’ and bought new hardware they didn’t need. And the other who is stubborn and won’t, but will now be punished by increasing vulnerability to their systems. I wouldn’t put it past them to push out a patch that will actually increase vulnerability to really hurt those that won’t (or can’t, they don’t really see the difference) switch over.

Its a scam at the end of the day. I’m running a GTX 1080Ti with a i7 8700K, and it doesn’t meet the ‘minimum requirements’. Meanwhile a cheap laptop without a GPU and a slower processor meets the requirements simply because it is ‘newer’. What Microsoft has done is required hardware manufacturers to put in a sort of signature that tells Windows it is a newer piece of hardware. And that is actually required for the installation. The actual specs aren’t important.

I’m sure manufacturers have to pay Microsoft for the privilege of this little signature. Of course they aren’t complaining because those consumers with years old machines that are perfectly capable will be forced to buy new hardware, making it a small investment for them. And they can’t really call out Microsoft, since doing so means they don’t get the signature on their hardware if they do, and that will make their hardware worthless for Windows machines.

They’ll likely start pressuring software developers to drop support of older Windows as well. When I say drop support, I mean push out patches that require it, and remove older patches from online repositories.

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Suddenly, i am happy that i play in a crappy console again.
For what is worth @Bathory, i believe that @Dzonatas is giving you a valid option and @DeaconElie has a point.
I do agree with darthphysicist that this is not a funcom problem directly, but it will affect the Conan exile player base nonetheless.
It’s a parallel street no matter if you’re not responsible for the console actions, it’s your player base. So i find valid this conversation in here no matter it’s Microsoft issue!
Soon enough people who play on pc will face ps4-ps5 issues. That means that the console systems now will be more for devs to look after and that’s exactly where Funcom will have issues.
More personnel and more complications.
It’s a tough matter indeed!

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It’s decent enough… when you lobotomise the ever-loving **** out of it and replace a slew of the registry.

Wouldn’t hold my breath for win12 either, giving how un-user friendly both 10 & 11 are.

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This is an issue that is systemic in consoles actually. Historically, backwards compatibility on consoles was quite rare. While PS5 is backwards compatible with PS4, it really isn’t on a live service game. Eventually PS4 users will have to purchase PS5s to keep playing a game that is in constant development (I’m not saying I agree with this, just pointing out a fact).

Its also a bit scary to think about that Microsoft has control over the PC market in the way it does, AND has a major console.

All we can do is hope more developers put support for Linux. I would say that it would be great if Conan Exiles had support on Linux as well.

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He’s not. @Bathory asked for a way to run the dedicated server on Linux natively so he can switch from Windows 10 to Linux. @Dzonatas gave a way to run Linux on Windows 10 as a subsystem. It doesn’t help @Bathory move away from Windows 10.

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That is the gist of it. I’m not recommending Wine unless it’s the only way to get something to run. Also see VMX instructions for details on the “leave” and “enter” instructions. Some programs just haven’t been updated.

Battle-Eye works with Wine. I think the goal, however, is not to use Wine. Just test for it.

:hammer:

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Can you clarify one little detail: are you talking about the server itself, or the Dedicated Server Launcher?

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I thought he was asking windows 10 to live longer, thanks for clarifying :hugs:.
A silly question please.
Why people don’t use Linux more when it’s so much better? Is it easy like Windows or it is harder to use it so people choose the easier way?

Yes they must. Buying a cheap console instead of pc you have to keep in mind that every 7 to 10 years you must purchase the new gen. The way it is right now ps4 is ruining ps5.

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Got a computer with Win11 already, the only one I think I will ever have running win11. But I dont really think Win12 will be any better.

CE server, itself, runs pretty nicely in Linux and doesnt really suffer from the “maybe” instability the game itself might, because it does not need the Game rendering which is the worse thing to get going in Linux, if anyone finds any difficult in doing so.

And CE servers actually run better, faster and with less bugs when you run it on Linux.

The thing about Windows is on the root a mute point because what makes a program run on a OS is part of what the engine natively does, so if you can cook the game to work in a OS, you dont need to change the game code on the Engine for it to run. And yes, regardless of being UE4, it is still compatible with the OS tools to make the game. Just like you can bake a UE4 game in a newer console.

The game maybe ruled by windows, but most hosting services and more popular hosted servers are hosted on Linux, not Windows.

Like what many publications have been saying from a long time, even “the guys on YouTube”, and etc, Win11 was the probable last try on a line of stupid moves microsoft have been making the same idiotic move game devs do in “consolizing” PC games. Games maybe not so much backlashed by it, because some people simply dont care, but “mobilelikening” PC OSs is another story. I am sure most people would not like to use a Desktop PC with android, and moving Windows to look like a phone OS on PC was stupid.

It “seems” like MS has started to find out it was, and coupled with the actual MS mobile devices being a bust, they might be wanting to change course.

People have said that, and I really hope so, but I dont really believe they will learn the lesson.

Me ? I prefer that my Linux TV functions more like a PC than my Windows PC functions like a “Windows TV”.

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I think they try Ubuntu and expect everything else is that easy. I don’t have Ubuntu, but I used to read up on these trends. Between Arch and Debian, we’re fine.

As for graphics, get the boards that support RTX for 1 bounce ray tracing. Now, look at the shadows. It should look stable where the light and dark edges mesh together. Under GTX, the shadows are choppy and the edges move on their own. Doesn’t make sense to me to upgrade GTX.

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If you don’t mind, I’ll answer that one in a private message, to avoid derailing the thread with my opinions about it. :smiley:

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I made the full switch to linux a while back since steam and proton are impressive - still not perfect. But there are a lot of challenges with linux, especially for people that are not willing to dive into technical details about why something is not working correctly.

Honestly all the operating systems we have suck. …and that number is low too. We basically have unix and windows. Mac is based on freebsd…at least the user side of things is. Chances we will see a ‘better’ os is extremly low.

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It’s not like they are going to shut down your Windows 10, you just wont get any more updates from MS. And if someone finds a hole in W10 then you are on your own.

Of course it’s going to run on Windows 11, but in my case it is forcing me to replace my server hardware just to run a game server in a secure environment.
Another €700-1000 to replace CPU+MOBO+RAM just to host a game for a small group of friends?
This is why it would be nice to have a Conan Server app for Linux, just set and forget.

It’s a forced hardware ageing. The do the same with smartphones. You are forced to install endless updates, which do not bring anything new, nothing changes, but your device is getting slower and slower until they tell you it’s too old to update…
I’d tell you to switch to Linux, your PC will become faster and snappy, but there is a performance hit to the gaming (as for now, but new soft and drivers are on the way) so with 1080Ti you should be fine in Conan Exiles 1080p but more modern games will fall below 60fps.
My machine has 3080 and is pulling anywhere between 120-150fps on Linux, 1080p cinematic settings. But I have it locked to 60fps anyway, so for me there is no noticeable performance hit vs playing on Windows (also had it locked at 60fps).

I did the same on Windows 11… but just keep your eyes open, as after some update your “tweaks” to registry might be turned back to default. Happened to me and my “switch off telemetry” tweaks.

And have you heard about the new Copilot+ PCs? MS is going to put a separate AI chip (Snapdragon) on motherboards, and it will record everything you do on your system and log everything you type and save it on your disk (probably in their cloud in the future). Sweet, I always wanted to record my login to bank account and ■■■■ preference and send it to MS so they can keep it safe in case I forget :wink:

It’s not Funcom’s problem but it would be nice of them to give us a Linux server app version so we don’t have to put up with Microsoft and it’s nonsense.
My current hardware is fast enough to run Conan Server and some other programs including website hosting. Why would I want to spend hundreds on a new hardware just to keep things as they are? OK Windows 10 is not going to blow up in October 2025, but what if there is a vulnerability and it will be found?
As I said I run other things and keep my files on the same machine that runs my Conan private server.

Yes this is the case. I switched my gaming PC from Windows 11 to Kubuntu (Linux) several months ago. But I kept my other PC (server) on Windows 10 so it can continue to run Conan server, but we have an iceberg ahead :joy:

Yes I played around with Wine and I know that performance hit is huge (I did not try to run Conan server tho, but I already have an idea as to what expect).

I think I meant the launcher from exactly the link you provided, this is what I currently run.
I am not sure what OS they are running on GPortal and other hostings? Is this the same Launcher they are using? Or maybe it’s some Linux thing that is already there? I am aware that most servers run Linux, so maybe the “problem” is already solved?

Gaming was the only thing stopping me from making a full switch.
Once I saw Proton on Steam, and Lutris to run Epic Games, GOG etc - I made the move.

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That thing is the most deceptive about the whole requirement nonsense - most modern CPUs are fine but you gotta like, go into the BIOS menu and set it to use a certain setting or some such.

I’ve considered doing that step myself if only to get them to stop harping at me, but my pc starts up so fast I honestly don’t know if I’m quick enough to actually boot it in BIOS.

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The same way they’ve done it with every previous O/S they’ve stopped supporting it. They… stop supporting it.

They can’t make old computers and software don’t disappear or evaporate (although they’d like to if they could). Those old computers and software still exist but MS won’t lift a finger to keep them updated or help anyone with them.

MS is perfectly fine with losing some existing users who can’t afford to upgrade or replace their PC’s, because the amount of money they make from people who do upgrade far outweighs any money they lose from people who don’t/can’t.

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Windows has been “faking” performance from a long time.

Most of what windows claims in better performance over Linux and other more obscure OSs (iOS to me is trash, but it fakes performance the same way windows does) relies on the fact that windows never really performs full self tests or integrity checks. One of the most problematic features, often subject of dozens of how-tos on the internet and doubled down by windows every revision, is the crappy sleep routine.

Linux and other systems rely on files that arent modified if not manually. Most of the dynamic stuff in Linux will be made by systems of buffering and swapping, so it can safely “stop everything” and “resume” without restart. It also allows linux to simply “clean up and restart” from the directives it has “manually set”, without requiring a registry of what it is doing or have done to know where to be.

Windows use a form of self “regulation” which presumes windows knows better than anyone how to set up itself, and for that it keeps that registry and other tools that serves the purpose of controlling windows “setting up itself”. What that causes in most cases is that sleeping always gives problems. Not really minding that, MS then decided to use a new feature from windows 8 I think, in which the system never really restarts, it simply keeps a huge clunky image that cannot be really “restarted”, so most of the time, you dont restart your computer even if you turn it off and on again.

While nothing new, as it happens since windows 95, the system then have something we relate to “aging”. Windows to keep it working, needs to keep engorging the registry and other system “metadata” to sustain the inner workings of the SO. As a result, it keeps growing in redundant and often contradictory data that needs to be processes sometimes for no reason. As it grows, windows naturally loses performance, and to counter that, instead of solving the problem itself, MS instead started to ignore tests that should be done, but require too much process if done with the whole “body” of the SO, so it simply does not.

Not even if you use the “CTRL POWER OFF” that should work like the old shut down, it does not anymore.

To people like that does not matter, because I use windows inside a Virtual Machine, so I can use it as a “fresh install” all the time, and if I install something new, I can “refresh the image”, install what I want, “bake the image” and each fresh install will have the softwares I use. Very little needs to be kept from session to session.

But if Windows is your main SO, it will only get worse as MS doubles down in this flawed method.