SFCII DynaverseII Beta Server Kit

SFCII DynaverseII Beta Server Kit

This is a nice server kit for those wishing to run servers for a SFCII Dynaverse II game.

readme for SFCII DynaverseII beta server kit

INSTALLATION AND OPERATION

After unzipping the server package, locate the Assets\Scripts\Campaigns folder. Inside that folder is a file called "MyCampaign.mct". This is a text file that contains information about the specific campaign being run, including the display name and description of the server. You will probably want to edit the Name and Description fields, although it's not strictly necessary.

The first time you run ServerPlatform.exe you'll need to run it with the -install switch.

After that, you'll probably want to run the server via the Process Sentinel. This is basically a watchdog app that restarts the server if it should go down.

To run the sentinel, and in turn the server, run ProcessSentinel.exe. Under Monitors, click Add Shutdown. For the executable, browse to ServerPlatform.exe. For Parameters, enter the name of your server (this should be MyCampaign). Click OK. In the list of Monitors, click what you just added to the list (probably Monitor 1). This should enable the Tasks window. Under Tasks, click Add Start. Repeat the process you used above to add the monitor, i.e., ServerPlatform.exe as the executable, with MyCampaign as the parameters. It's important that the parameters match exactly what you typed in under Monitors. Click Ok. After a few seconds, the server should launch.

Because of a known issue that exists at this time (see below) you will also want to add a "Reaper". This will automatically take the server down and back up at specific interval. We recommend you set this to five hours.

To set up the Reaper, first enter 18000 for Seconds. Click Add Reaper. Enter the server executable and parameters as you did above for the firrst monitor. Select the new monitor, and under Tasks click Add Kill. Again, enter the executable and parameters. When this is done, the server will automatically be restarted every five hours.

NETWORK / FIREWALL ISSUES

For those of you running behind a firewall, be advised that your server will not allow people to log in if it tries to use a local IP address. You should receive a warning if this happens. To force the server to a specific IP address, locate the ServersSetup.gf file in the Assets\ServerProfiles\MyCampaign folder. In the section marked [CentralSwitchSetup], change the setting for CentralSwitchAddress from a blank string to the IP you wish to use. For example:

[CentralSwitchSetup]

CentralSwitchAddress = "xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"

KNOWN ISSUES

Currently there is an issue where the server will appear to be running normally, but players will not be able to log in. The workaround is to shut down and restart the server. We recommend that this be done every 5 hours or so, which can be automated with the Process Sentinel described above.

Occasionally, certain portions of the server may stop responding. For example, missions may become unavailable. You can selectively restart components without restarting the entire server. To do so, press any key to bring up the server menu. Select the component you wish to bring up or restart, and its own menu should appear. Select the appropriate choice from the menu(s).

ADDITIONAL

Included in this release is a copy of the campaign map editor. There is no documentation for the program at this time, but feel free to experiment. It is important that you do not alter the definitions.txt file, as any maps you create will probably not work if you do.