diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/Game.cs b/OpenRA.Game/Game.cs
index f4ab0a4549..60899cda33 100755
--- a/OpenRA.Game/Game.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/Game.cs
@@ -302,8 +302,27 @@ namespace OpenRA
 			JoinLocal();
 			viewport = new Viewport(new int2(Renderer.Resolution), Rectangle.Empty, Renderer);
 
-			modData.LoadScreen.StartGame();
-			Settings.Save();
+			if (Game.Settings.Server.Dedicated)
+			{
+				Game.CreateServer(new ServerSettings(Game.Settings.Server));
+				while(true)
+				{
+					System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(100);
+
+					//Accessing public field and List::Count is thread safe
+					if((server.GameStarted)&&(server.conns.Count<=1))
+					{
+						Console.WriteLine("No one is playing, shutting down...");
+						server.Shutdown();
+						System.Environment.Exit(0);
+					}
+				}
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				modData.LoadScreen.StartGame();
+				Settings.Save();
+			}
 		}
 
 		public static void LoadShellMap()
diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/GameRules/Settings.cs b/OpenRA.Game/GameRules/Settings.cs
index cad1eaad5f..d8e263e30f 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Game/GameRules/Settings.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/GameRules/Settings.cs
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ namespace OpenRA.GameRules
 		public string Map = null;
 		public string[] Ban = null;
 		public int TimeOut = 0;
+		public bool Dedicated = false;
 
 		public ServerSettings() { }
 
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@ namespace OpenRA.GameRules
 			Map = other.Map;
 			Ban = other.Ban;
 			TimeOut = other.TimeOut;
+			Dedicated = other.Dedicated;
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/Graphics/Renderer.cs b/OpenRA.Game/Graphics/Renderer.cs
index 7419dc3b33..793a656725 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Game/Graphics/Renderer.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/Graphics/Renderer.cs
@@ -135,7 +135,10 @@ namespace OpenRA.Graphics
 				FixOSX();
 
 			var resolution = GetResolution( windowMode );
-			var rendererPath = Path.GetFullPath( "OpenRA.Renderer.{0}.dll".F(Game.Settings.Graphics.Renderer) );
+			
+			string renderer = Game.Settings.Server.Dedicated?"Null":Game.Settings.Graphics.Renderer;
+			var rendererPath = Path.GetFullPath( "OpenRA.Renderer.{0}.dll".F(renderer) );
+			
 			device = CreateDevice( Assembly.LoadFile( rendererPath ), resolution.Width, resolution.Height, windowMode );
 		}
 
diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/Server/Server.cs b/OpenRA.Game/Server/Server.cs
index fcc89aab46..848bc209d5 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Game/Server/Server.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/Server/Server.cs
@@ -500,6 +500,7 @@ namespace OpenRA.Server
 		{
 			GameStarted = true;
 			listener.Stop();
+
 			Console.WriteLine("Game started");
 
 			foreach( var c in conns )