- [email protected] – based on Quake3 1.32b,
- [email protected]_mme – based on Quake3mme (Movie Maker Edition),
- [email protected] – based on RTCW-SP.
There are 3 render paths:
- Classic renderer,
- Fake PPL renderer,
- True PPL renderer.
Quake 2 Server Setup Guidev1.0
By d0gmA
Last Updated Thursday, April 12, 2001
This Guide will walk you through setting up a Quake 2 Server on eitherWindows95 or WindowsNT. I have chosen to walk you through setting up a CTF server asZoid has done most of the work for you and it is a good setup to learn from. Pleasealso let me know of any typos, broken links, or things that are not clear in the guide andI will also work to resolve these issues.
What you need: | Optional Items: |
The Machine
The Installation
Configuring the Server
The Command Line
The server.cfg
Starting the Server
Sample server.cfg
The Variables
Custom Variables
Remote Administration
Installing Mods
Ground Zero
Skins and Models
Other Resources
March 25 - Started Adding my new Linux Quake 2 server setup Guide. Combined with this doccument you shouldn't have any problem getting a Q2server up and running in RedHat.
You can run Quake 2 on the following platforms: WindowsNT, WindowsNTAlpha, Windows95/98, Linux, and Solaris. I recommend at least a Pentium with atleast 32 meg of RAM. You should have at least 400 MB of harddisk space depending onthe amount of mods you will house.
---------------
When setting up a server a good rule of thumb is one person per 8 MHz for Pentium and Alpha machines. So a PPro/200 can probably handle a 25 person game, and a Pentium II/450 can probably handle 50-55 players. The best single processor machine you can get to run a server is probably a 633MHz DEC Alpha box from Enorex or Aspen Systems -- a reasonable system runs about $5000 and could support 75 or so players. As for RAM, obviously the more the better, but a minimum of 64MB is reasonable.
-----------------------------
Load is definitely lower with multiple games than with a single game, i.e. one game with 64 players has a larger load than 8 games with 8 players each.
----------------
An SMP machine of some type would be a good server, unfortunately the only 4 way SMP systems available are overpriced and still use Pentium Pro/200 processors. It's more cost effective and convenient to run a cluster of single processor systems. And if you're trying to save some bucks, a large farm of low end machines is pretty damn economical, e.g. a cluster of Pentium/133 machines, each running 16 player games. Also a farm has the advantage of being more fault tolerant than having all your games hosted on a single server.
-----------------
You will also need to keep in mind network bandwidth considerations. The number we've been using is 3KB/player/second, so a T1 which does about 200KB second should be able to support a 64 player game, but keep in mind that this will FULLY saturate that T1, and the minute you open a Web browser everyone will become lagged.
OK this one is pretty self explanatory Install Quake 2 on the server using theusing the Normal Install Size (224 MB). Obviously you wouldn't want to run yourserver from the CD and the Maximum install only copies the movies to your HD which will beworthless on a server.
The next thing you will want to do is apply the latest patch to your server:Currently v3.20 from our Quake2 Patch Page. I recommend getting the q2-3.20-x86-full-ctf.exe version currentlyq2-3.20-x86-full-ctf.exe(19.3 MB) as this will include the Deathmatch Maps and the Capture the Flag Maps so if youwant to run DM or CTF they are there.
The first thing you want to do is set up your server pretty generic to makesure you have everything together. Use Notepad or DOS's Edit to create a batch filecalled ctf.bat in your Quake2 directory that looks like this:
If you would like to run your server on a different port than the default 27910 or youwould like to have multiple servers running on the same machine you can also add the +setport variable to the command line. This way you could run a deathmatch server onport 27910 and a Capture the flag server on port 27920.
The +set game variable is what you want to set depending on the mod you are goingto run. If you want to run Capture the Flag then you would use +set game ctf. The MOD that you want to run will decide what to use here. For specifics check withyour mod's documentation.
Capture the Flag +set game ctf
Lithium II +set game lithium
The easiest way to set up your server is by creating a server.cfg which isbasically a script that sets up all the game variables. Isay this is the easiest because you can create a server.cfg in every mod's directory sowhen you when you want to change the mod all you have to do is vary the '+setgame' part of the command line. Most mods such asCTF, LMCTF, lithium, and Rocket Arena 2 come with pre-made server.cfg's so all you have todo is edit them to meet your requirements. This way when you start your server withthe +exec server.cfg in the command line it will use all the variables specified in theserver.cfg to configure your server.
To edit a server.cfg that is already present such as the one provided with CTFyou simply open explorer and locate the server.cfg in the Quake2ctf directory and doubleclick it. Under most circumstances this will not be associated with any program andwindows95/NT will ask you what program you would like to open it with. I alwaysassociate it with note pad that way I can edit more conveniently.
If the MOD you want to use doesn't include a server.cfg it is simple enough tocreate your own. Use NotePad or DOS's Edit to create a new file and then save it tothe specific mod directory that you are creating the script for. Example: To set upa Capture the Flag server you would create your server.cfg in the Quake2ctf dir.
The last line of your server.cfg should be the name of the first map you want theserver to start on NOTE: If you don't set the initial map the server will halt as nomap was specified.
If you setup a batchfile for your server it is a tidy habbit to create ashortcut to it and then specify that is is to close on exit so while your server isrunning you don't have to DOS boxes open. The other alternative is to simply createa shortcut with the command line in it. The third method (which I use) is to use QHost to launch the server as you can start, stop, and administerthe server from anywhere you have a network connection to the server.
Here is a sample server.cfg that I use on my CTF server:
set dmflags 280084
set hostname '3DGW CTF 1.02'
set website 'http://www.3dfxworld.ml.org/hellsgates/' s
set Admin '[email protected]' s
set deathmatch 1
set maxclients 16
set fraglimit 150
set capturelimit 8
set timelimit 30
set public 1
set stdlogfile 1
set rcon_password 'lala'
set allow_download 0
setmaster q2master.planetquake.com
map q2ctf1
Here you will find the most used and most important variables to be set inyour server.cfg. To use these variables you simply put them on their own line inyour server.cfg and assign a value to them according to what you want. For a fulllist of variables that are available to Quake 2 I recommend you check The Console.
- Toggles whether or not clients can download files from the server.
-Set to 1 to allow downloads
Example: set allow_download 0
-Toggles whether or not clients can download maps from the server
-set to 1 to allow downloads
Example: set allow_download_maps 1
-Toggles whether or not clients can download models from the server
-set to 1 to allow downloads
Example: set allow_download_models 1
-Toggles whether or not clients can download player skins from the server
-set to 1 to allow downloads
Example: set allow_download_players 1
-Toggles whether or not clients can download sounds from the server
-Set to 1 to allow downloads
Example: set allow_download_sounds 1
-Sets the maximum number of flag captures before the level changes
Example: set capturelimit 8
-Sets the Bitflags for deathmatch options
-Set by adding up all of the following values that you want to use:
2 - No Powerups.
4 - Weapons Stay.
8 - No Falling Damage.
16 - Instant Powerups.
32 - Same Map.
64 - Teams by Skin.
128 - Teams by Model.
256 - No Friendly Fire.
512 - Spawn Farthest.
1024 - Force Respawn.
2048 - No Armor.
4096 - Allow Exit.
8192 - Infinite Ammo.
16384 - Quad Drop.
32768 - Fixed FOV.
131072 - CTF Forced Join.
262144 - Armor Protect.
524288 - CTF No Tech Powerups.
DF_WEAPONS_STAY + DF_INSTANT_ITEMS + DF_SPAWN_FARTHEST +
DF_FORCE_RESPAWN + DF_QUAD_DROP + DF_ARMOR_PROTECT
which works out to:
4 + 16 + 512 + 1024 + 16384 + 262144 = 280084
- This sets the Name of your server.
Example: set hostname 'Quake 2 CTF Server'
- This sets the maximum number of clients allowed on your server.
Example: set maxclients 16
- This sets the maximum number of frags before the server switches to the nextmap
Example: set fraglimit 150
- This sets the maximum time the match will go before switching maps
Example: set timelimit 30
- This sets the remote Console Password
example: rcon_password hacked
- Setting this to 1 makes it a public server and will make it report to the idMaster server to show up in GameSpy
-To make your server report to a master other than the id Master use the setmaster commandbelow.
Example: set public 1
- Allows you to specify a master server to report to
Example: setmaster q2master.planetquake.com
You can setup Custom rules in your server.cfg for any miscellaneous stuff youwould like to provide for GameSpy users such as the Web Site for the server or the adminse-mail address by setting the variable and adding an s after it like the following:
set Admin 'd0gmA' s
set e-mail '[email protected]' s
set location 'Michigan, USA' s
If you want to be able to administer your server remotely one of the best choicesis QHost from Xoanan Industries. QHostruns on WindowsNT as a service and allows you to use QView to start, stop, schedule, and administeryour server. QHost allows you full use of the server console from a remote location. QHost will also restart your server if it crashes. For more information onQHost and Qview visit the Xoanan Industries website. QHost & QView also work with Quake, QuakeWorld, Hexen II, and Quake 2. QHost is currently in beta but I have found it to be a very stable and very handytool for running a remote Quake 2 server.
Another great Utility for the Quake 2 server operator is WarFTPD. Itypically set up WarFTPD so I have direct ftp access to the servers Quake2 directory so Ican use QHost to stop the server and then ftp up any updates, patches or new mods that Iwant to add to the server. WarFTPD is freeware and can be found at Jgaa's Internet.
Read the Instructions
The first rule of setting up a mod is to read the instructions and make sure youunderstand what they say. Unfortunately though you will find that a lot of time isspent making the mod and very little time is spent on documenting it. Most modsrequire to go into their own directory under the Quake2 directory. One thing towatch for with mods is some will tell you to make a directory for the mod under the Quake2directory and then unzip their mod to that new directory. Other mods will tell youto simply unzip the file to your Quake2 directory. DO NOT TRUST THEM. A goodrule of thumb that I ALWAYS use is to unzip the mod to a temp directoryand then copy all the files over to the appropriate directory. I cannot tell you howmany mods I have installed that were supposed to restore the appropriate directory butdidn't and ended up as a pile of files in the root of my Quake2 dir.
Configure the Mod
Most mods will come with a server.cfg but some don't and will explain what needsto be included in it or in cases such as Lithium will include a lithium.cfg or somethingwith their mods name .cfg. In the case of Lithium I just copied the Lithium.cfg toserver.cfg. If it has no server.cfg then create one using the instructions aboveabout the server.cfg.
Then you typically want to edit the server.cfg to include custom settingssuch as your hostname, maxclients, and add the custom variables as explained above.
Then all that is required is for you to change the command line so itreflects the correct mod. Notice all you should have to change is the +set gamevariable in the command line:
quake2 +set dedicated 1 +set game ctf +exec server.cfg
As long as you took my advice above and configured everything in theserver.cfg then you will be all set and switching from one mod to another will be as easyas changing the ctf to arena in the command line. After you change the command linefire up the server either with QHost or your batch file and you should be on your way.
Ground Zero
Setting up a server using the Quake II Mission Pack 2: Ground Zero is prettystraigt forward except you have some new vatiables you can now use for the various newfeatures that Rogue has coded into the pack.
Simply make a directory called rogue under your Quake 2 directory and copypak0.pak, gamex86.dll to it and create a server.cfg as explained above and you have aGround Zero server.