Guide to create fast minetest server on Windows

[poppahope]

This is a request for someone to post a Windows solution similar to
"Guide to create fast minetest server on Linux" by lag01 at https://forum.minetest.net/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=9588

We run Minetest on a Windows server for our home and it gets very slow when all 9 kids are playing, requiring multiple bounces a day. I have very limited Linux skills and would be more able to follow directions in in a windows environment using .bat files and such.

I've read about and downloaded ImDisk at http://www.tekrevue.com/tip/create-10-gbs-ram-disk-windows/ and http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html/ but need some coaching and advice on whether to copy the whole \minetest file tree into the ram-disk or just the map and players files? If just a few files, do I enter statements in minetest.conf to tell the app where to find them? Do I script some backups?

We are currently using an old desktop running Window7 64bit with 4 GB RAM , but I'm thinking it may be better to run a ramdisk server from my newer laptop that has an i5 3320m CPU with 12 GB RAM and a battery running Windows 10. I can go back to windows 7 also if needed.

Thanks in advance for any tips and Thanks to all you developers and testers of Minetest for your past efforts. You have provided our family many hours of wholesome, collaborative fun.

[Calinou]

If clients connect on the local network and the server has 4 GB of RAM and a decent CPU, there should no need for a RAMdisk. I have successfully run a server with 18 clients on a single-core VPS with 2 GHz of CPU and 1 GB of RAM (and 50 GB of SSD).

Try playing around with those settings: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1825

[poppahope]

Thanks Calinou for the fast response! I thought I had scoured the forum already, but apparently missed that thread. We will try the settings in that linked post and report back.

I do have a couple questions:
1) Was the VPS server you mentioned above on Windows?
2) Should Minetest use all/much available RAM? When kids complain of lag, Windows Resource Monitor doesn't show much RAM being used. 2GB of 4GB.
3) Why does server get faster immediately after a bounce? Is there a build up of some file or memory that should be cleared periodically? ( The media cache folder increases to about 1100 files then stops growing. We delete debug.txt at each bounce. It is usually about 10,000KB.)
4) We recently added a SSD to older PC above. Kids stated some improved performance in some tasks. Does that make sense?

Thanks again for any response.