Conan Exiles Startup Manager

v0.0.15 — A Python-based monitoring tool for Conan Exiles dedicated servers.

Watches your server log in real time and handles the full startup/shutdown lifecycle: blocks player connections until the server is truly ready, detects hung processes, and sends Discord notifications at every stage.

---

Features

• Port gating — blocks configured ports via Windows Firewall during startup and shutdown so players can't connect to a half-loaded server (optional, requires admin)
• Zombie process detection — monitors the server process for hangs and can auto-kill it after a configurable timeout
• Discord notifications — webhook-based status updates for every server state change; no bot token required
• Startup delay — extra wait after load detection before opening ports, giving the server time to fully settle
• Per-notification toggles — enable or disable each notification type individually
• Rotating logs — detailed local logs with automatic rotation to keep disk usage in check

---

Requirements

• Windows OS
• Python 3.7+
• Administrator privileges (only required if firewall port management is enabled)
• Discord webhook URL (optional)

---

Setup

1. Install dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Edit config/config.json

Key settings to configure before first run:

• discord_webhook_url — your Discord webhook URL
• discord_enabled — set to true to enable notifications
• firewall_enabled — set to true to enable port blocking (requires admin)
• server.name — displayed as the webhook username in Discord
• startup_delay — seconds to wait after load detection before opening ports

3. Run the monitor

!start.cmd

When prompted, select your server's log directory. On a typical Steam install this is:

SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Conan Exiles Dedicated Server\ConanSandbox\Saved\Logs

---

How It Works

The monitor watches ConanSandbox.log for specific state markers:

Server state	Log pattern detected
Starting up	Entered application state 'ConanSandboxStarting'
Fully loaded	WorldPersistenceDone
Shutdown warning	FPlatformMisc::RequestExit(0)
Network shutting down	LogNet: World NetDriver shutdown
Fully stopped	Entered application state 'ConanSandboxStopped'

When each marker is detected, the monitor updates firewall rules, sends a Discord notification, and transitions state accordingly. If the log file is recreated (new server instance), the monitor resets automatically.

---

Configuration

Full reference for config/config.json:

{
    "discord_enabled": true,
    "discord_webhook_url": "your-webhook-url-here",
    "server": {
        "name": "Conan Exiles Server",
        "logs_directory": "",
        "startup_delay": 30,
        "firewall_enabled": false,
        "zombie_detection": {
            "enabled": true,
            "timeout_minutes": 5,
            "auto_kill": true,
            "check_interval_seconds": 30
        },
        "ports": [
            {"port": 7777, "proto": "UDP"},
            {"port": 7777, "proto": "TCP"},
            {"port": 7778, "proto": "UDP"},
            {"port": 27015, "proto": "UDP"},
            {"port": 25575, "proto": "TCP"}
        ],
        "message_control": {
            "startup_notification": true,
            "loading_notification": true,
            "ready_notification": true,
            "shutdown_warning_notification": true,
            "network_shutdown_notification": true,
            "shutdown_final_notification": true,
            "monitor_stop_notification": true,
            "zombie_detected_notification": true,
            "zombie_killed_notification": true
        },
        "messages": {
            "startup": "[START] Server monitor starting up...",
            "loading": "[UPDATE] Server is starting up... Ports blocked for safety.",
            "ready": "[SUCCESS] Server is fully loaded and ready for connections!",
            "shutdown_warning": "[WARNING] Server is preparing to shut down...",
            "network_shutdown": "[WARNING] Server network is shutting down...",
            "shutdown_final": "[WARNING] Server has stopped...",
            "monitor_stop": "[STOP] Server monitor shutting down...",
            "zombie_detected": "[WARNING] Server process is not responding (zombie state detected)!",
            "zombie_killed": "[UPDATE] Zombie process was forcefully terminated."
        }
    }
}

Zombie Detection

Monitors server CPU activity. If the process reports zero CPU usage for longer than timeout_minutes, it is flagged as hung. With auto_kill: true the process is forcefully terminated and a Discord notification is sent. Set enabled: false to disable entirely.

Port Management

When enabled, ports are blocked at monitor start and whenever the server stops, and unblocked (after startup_delay seconds) once the server is fully loaded. Requires the monitor to run with administrator privileges.

---

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
"needs administrator privileges" error	Run !start.cmd as Administrator, or set firewall_enabled to false
Discord notifications not arriving	Verify discord_webhook_url is correct and discord_enabled is true
Zombie detection triggering too early	Increase timeout_minutes — a large map can keep CPU at 0% during loading
Monitor not detecting server state changes	Confirm the selected log directory contains ConanSandbox.log
Detailed error information	Check the logs/ directory for server_monitor.log and webhook_manager.log