Sniper's Paradise!
OVERVIEW:
There are three basic ways to start an Unreal server. Two are from within Unreal itself and one is from a command line. There are only two types of servers for Unreal: Listen and Dedicated. A Listen Server is one that you start from the computer that you play on. This is essentially you starting an offline game and inviting people to join you on your machine. A Dedicated Server is one that is standalone and is usually started on a dedicated server box. In addition to all of this, there are two ways to start a dedicated server, one with the Unreal.exe file, and the other with the UCC.exe file. Both of these in these are covered below.
All servers use variables that can be set to a limited extent from within the Menu itself, but to their fullest extent from within your installation's INI files.
WITHIN UNREAL:
Starting a server from within Unreal itself is perhaps the easiest way to share your Unreal server with the gaming community. Unfortunately, the two servers you can start are probably not the best, performance-wise.
Listen Server- Simply set up Unreal the way you would for an offline game and then from within Unreal, Select start game from The Multiplayer menu. This will launch you into the game and start a server that your friends can join in. Unfortunately, since you are playing on the same machine you will have a zero ping, and most people don't like the odds stacked against them that way. This server mode is best if you want to get together with some local friends in a quick game of Unreal either over the net or on a LAN.
Dedicated Server- Once again, set up Unreal the way you would for an offline game, and then from within Unreal, Select Launch Dedicated Server from The Multiplayer menu. This time you will not be able to play on the server, as it is set up in dedicated mode. If you start up another instance of Unreal, you can join in, but it is not recommended as you will kill any benefits of running a dedicated server by sucking down all the system resources to play. This is the first, and least effective, way of running a dedicated server. It uses the Unreal.exe and -server option to start, and as a result you'll see a Unreal icon symbol in your taskbar. Hovering over this icon will give you info on your server, right clicking will allow you to quit the server, view the console, or adjust advanced menu options. The reason this method of starting a server is less effective is two fold-
- In order to interact with the desktop the server uses more CPU cycles, leaving less for the game itself
- If the server crashes, that's it...you'll have to restart from the menu again.
COMMAND LINE:
Starting a server from a command prompt is the preferred way to run a truly dedicated server. This type of server yields the best performance and is easily customizable. There are a great number of variables you can set this way, just about every specific you can think of, from which ini files to use, to which gametype, to which map is the default. For Unreal, you have to specify which .ini files to use for the server and you have to execute commands in a specific order. For all of the experienced Unreal admins out there, the next bit is what you need to run an Infiltration server...just modify the paths you already know to reflect the Unreal requirements. For all of the new admins, there are two ways to use command line starts: in a batch file (.bat) or with a server helper. To create a batch file, simply place the information provided below in a text file and save it as something like MyServer.bat. To run the batch file and start your server, just double-click on it.
Here's a basic sample:
C:\Unreal\System\UCC.exe server Dm[SP]CandyLand?game=UnrealShare.DeathMatchGame?mutator=SP_Speed.SP_SpeedMut LOG=Unreal.log INI=Unreal.iniUSERINI=User.ini -multihome=208.163.74.50
Let's break this down:
C:\Unreal\System\ucc.exe- This is the path to your ucc.exe file. Pretty self explanatory, change the drive letter, Unreal directory name and overall path to fit your install.
server- The switch you use to tell Unreal to run a server. This switch has to be right after the path to the ucc.exe file.
Dm[SP]CandyLand- Map name. This is the first map that will run on a start or restart. Be careful here and use a map that you know will work with the particular gametype that comes next. Choosing a CTF map for DM or spelling the map name wrong can have strange and often fatal (to the server) results.
?game=UnrealShare.DeathMatchGame- This is the Unreal gametype you want to start the server playing... All the various Unreal gametypes can be found in the 'Unreal.int' file in your Unreal\System folder. (Just open it with notepad) Examples are: UnrealShare.DeathMatchGame, UnrealShare.TeamGame, UnrealShare.CoopGame, UnrealI.DarkMatch, and UnrealI.KingoftheHill
Note that this begins with a '?'. this is necessary to string the various related parts of the command line together. Each new section starts with it. They do not need to end with a '?' too, however, and not all parts (as you can see in the example) require it.
?mutator=SP_Speed.SP_SpeedMut- This is the final section of our basic server start options. Here you enter in any and all mutators you wish to use on your Unreal server. To use more than one mutator at once, simply put a comma and no spaces between each one (Example- ?mutator=SP_Speed.SP_SpeedMut,SP_Vengeance.RelicDeathX).
ini=Unreal.ini userini=user.ini- You can use multiple .ini and have the bat file tell which .ini to use. You must have it in this position in the command line. Put it earlier and the server will crash on startup. This command, ini= tells Unreal how to start an Unreal server. Without it, the defaults will be used and you'll end up with regular non specific Unreal game.
-multihome=69.90.189.60- Remove this if your server only has one IP or change it to the IP you want if you have multiple NICS. The string of numbers after the '=' is the IP address of the NIC you wish to use. If this confuses you, just assume you have one NIC and remove this line.
Here is another example, showing a basic Coop and TeamGame command lines.
Coop
C:\Unreal\System\UCC.exe server DasaCellars?game=UnrealShare.CoopGame LOG=UnrealServer.log
TeamGame
C:\Unreal\System\UCC.exe server DM[SP]BackYard?game=UnrealShare.TeamGame LOG=UnrealServer.log
NOTE: Make sure you add any customer mod or gametype to your Unreal.ini ServerPackages.
Example: ServerPackages=AssaultProtectionV6
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