Terraria server crashes when I run it as a service

Question

I'm running Terraria as a systemd service, with a service file like the following: [Unit] Description=server daemon for terraria [Service] User=terraria Type=exec RestartSec=10s ExecStart=/opt/terraria/1412/TerrariaServer.bin.x86_64 -config /var/lib/terraria/config ExecStop=/opt/terraria/bin/terrariad exit ExecStop=/usr/bin/sh -c 'while kill -0 $MAINPID 2>/dev/null; do sleep 1; done' TimeoutStopSec=10 [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target Unfortunately, 5 minutes after starting the server, it crashes with this error: Apr 15 18:13:40: [ERROR] FATAL UNHANDLED EXCEPTION: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object Apr 15 18:13:40: ================ Apr 15 18:13:40: at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart () [0x00008] in :0 Apr 15 18:13:40: at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run (System.Threading.ExecutionContext executionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallba> Apr 15 18:13:40: at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run (System.Threading.ExecutionContext executionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallba> Apr 15 18:13:40: at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal (System.Threading.ExecutionContext executionContext, System.Threading.Conte> Apr 15 18:13:40: at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context (System.Object state) [0x00014] in :0 Apr 15 18:13:40: at Terraria.Main.startDedInputCallBack () [0x00017] in :0 Apr 15 18:13:40: Exception: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object Apr 15 18:13:40: Culture: en-US Apr 15 18:13:40: Thread: 6 [Server Input Thread] Apr 15 18:13:40: 4/15/2021 6:13:40 PM: Unhandled Exception Apr 15 18:13:40: : ================ Apr 15 18:13:40: Backing up world file Apr 15 18:13:40: Validating world save: 87% Apr 15 18:08:45: : Server started Apr 15 18:08:45: Type 'help' for a list of commands. How do I avoid this crash?

user60561 · Answer

The problem is that

Terraria server seems to need a thread which manage input and output stream of command and server log as you saw when you start server. But when I start it in docker, it remove the input output and cause NullReferenceException (System.Object threadContext).

The solution suggested there is to use screen--which works! However, you lose all the logging to the systemd journal. So instead, you can use unbuffer, which makes a TTY but also redirects the output to stdout. Use it like this:
ExecStart=/usr/bin/unbuffer /opt/terraria/1412/TerrariaServer.bin.x86_64 -config /var/lib/terraria/config

Terraria server crashes when I run it as a service

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