INFO How to make an HLDS Dedicated Server for MS:C

Tigerkev

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I won't be allowed to see even one line of code so i won't even ask for it :D
 

Thothie

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Darn. Because I probably just woulda tossed the whole thing at you, if I thought you had a chance in hell of making it work. :\
 

Tigerkev

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Well i could at least give it a try. I'm working as a coder :p
 

Thothie

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Tigerkev said:
Well i could at least give it a try. I'm working as a coder :p
Think you could convert a VS2003 project to nix?

...and tell us how ya did it?
 

Tigerkev

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I would write a makefile for it, and compile it directly in unix. I don't know how many files there are tho. And if errors pop up, need to fix them, would take a while but after some hack n' slash on the keyboard it should work.

Converting the project file in my eyes are more work than writing a makefile from scratch.
 

Thothie

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I shall see about assembling a package when I get home.
 

Roghan

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Ok so I wanted to start hosting a FN server, I have the password and everything but I'm not connecting to the cental server.
I have the server configured correctly as far as I can tell, other people can connect to it. I just can't connect to the central server. I have all my ports open and shut down my firewall to make sure that wasn't doing it. Any ideas would be awesome.
 

Thothie

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Ummm... Ooops... :oops:

I sent you the old FN approved template, and it still has the blastnet IP on it. ><

You should see an "FN-5712" forum section with the proper info at the top sticky.
 

Roghan

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That fixed it, my server is up and running now, thanks.
 

Thothie

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I've updated this beast to provide instructions for the new SteamCMD update system, which should allow you to create an HLDS server that shows up in the Steam server browser. See top post for more info.

I also added a link to the newer version of the MSC restarter (although it only works for MSC, unlike some of the older variants).
 

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I've restored the HLDSUpdateTool link and info, as it seems that the SteamCMD variant rejects rolled back clients, which are now required to play most HL1 mods, for most individuals, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.

I'm hoping to come up with a custom hybrid variant that will both allow old clients to connect and show up in the browser, however, so far, the only options are looking to be odd "warez'ish" hacked servers, designed to allow non-Steam play.
 

kamikadze321

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Erm... Umm...

So.
I've tried following the instructions to set up the dedicated server and... SteamCMD just wiped clean the entire drive on which I was going to install it.

And I don't even think that was a bug. I went back to look at the instructions, and.. Yes I see what I did wrong. I put the utility directly in HLDS folder rather than a subfolder underneath.


This wouldn't have even been so bad had I not had actual Steam running at the same time. In its infinite wisdom, Steam reacted to sudden disappearance of its files by immediately downloading everything anew, thus damaging and corrupting tons of deleted valuable data which could otherwise be recovered. At least I stopped it relatively soon. But not soon enough.

So... In the interest of not letting something like this happen to anyone else, could you please bold that part and highlight it in gigantic font or something? And I really don't like the whole "forceinstalldir ..\" thing, it's just asking for trouble. >__<
 

Thothie

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Well, first off, it should download everything new. That's what the program does.

Secondly, if it were going to wipe your entire hard drive, it would have done it faster than you could react to it, assuming it wasn't your OS drive, and Windows itself didn't stop it when it hit a system file, and even then. It shouldn't even erase files already in its own folder (actually, the fact that it doesn't has lead to some problems when updating). It certainly doesn't erase files in the install folder, or our servers would be wiped with every update.

Worst case scenario, you would wind up with the various valve and platform folders in your root instead of \HLDS.

So I'm not sure what's going on there. :\
 

kamikadze321

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I'm not sure what you're trying to say, are you disputing that it in fact deleted everything it could delete? Unfortunately, I'm afraid that my eyes do not deceive me. I'd be very happy if they did. The only files it spared from deletion are those which it couldn't delete because they were in use, such as mounted ISOs and running program files. Afterwards it started trying to download some shit but I interrupted it when I realized what was happening.

It's not your fault, it's my fault for not paying close enough attention to the instructions, still, just so you know, this thing is evil and dangerous. Might want to note that somewhere, and perhaps do not recommend to run it anywhere near the root directory.

By the way, the whole reason I was trying to set up an HLDS server in the first place was because I was having trouble running a listenserver with ms_dev_mode 1. As soon as I set the ms_dev_mode cvar, I could no longer select or create a character. I thought a dedicated server might fix that. But now I'll spend another week at least recovering what I can from my data lol.

The recovery program I had reports that about 85% of the data itself is in very good condition, but quite a bit of it nonetheless lost its proper directory structure meaning if I were to recover it, I'd need to figure out myself where it needs to go, while others lost their proper file names too. The remaining 15% is spread across the programs and data I had, meaning now almost every program will have some corrupted or missing files, and many will need to be reinstalled anyway. Hurray.
 

MS:C community

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Characters don't save when ms_dev_mode is set to "1" (which also means you can't make new characters) so you'll have to start your server with ms_dev_mode set to "0", make a char, close the server, change the CVAR to "1" and then start the server again.
 

kamikadze321

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I tried that, but even without ms_dev_mode my character would only work until i closed the server. When I started listenserver again, it'd ask me to create a new character again (and i think that went for both server side and client side character settings), so that approach didn't work either.
 

Thothie

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Okay, there's a few bits that make this sort of thing a bit complicated sometimes.

First, is LAN vs. Server side characters vs. FN.

Since you don't have an FN password, and you're just testing, LAN characters are probably the way to go.

To use a LAN characters, you need to set "sv_lan 1" in the listenserver.cfg (server.cfg if HLDS), and you need to make sure your name matches the character you want to load BEFORE you launch the server, meaning, either in your autoexec.cfg, or by typing "name characters_name_here" at console before starting a new map via the map command.

As long as your name matches, any previously saved characters should appear. Of course, as MSC:C pointed out, you need not to be in ms_dev_mode when you create characters.

I'm sending you a batch of test characters, all named "MAP_TEST_CHAR" - you'll have to name yourself accordingly, to load these in LAN mode. Simply drop them in your msc/save folder.

As for the rest, I can't duplicate the file deleting behavior, even when installing to the root or from pure scratch on a RAM drive, so I'm not sure what's up. It'd be kind of nice if it did delete files (save for that, potential behavior), as it would've resolved an extension problem I ran into awhile back (left over vestiges of trying to make it pre Steam Pipe compatible were screwing with it - took me ages to figure out what I did to the poor thing.) So... *shrug* Maybe some odd file permissions thing going on with that system.
 

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I got stuck on the first with the HLDS Update Tool, every time I run it. It says "No Steam Contact Servers Available, please try again later". I don't think Steam ever wants me to run a server. :(
 

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HLDSupdatetool has been discontinued and all servers for it has been shut down some time ago. You have to use steamcmd exclusively now.

Alternatively, since I was feeling really nice although I am a very EVIL person, you can download the template from the following link that has almost everything configured. You should just have to change server.cfg to your liking and optionally get the fn stuff from the fn forums.

http://daedalus.rkszone.net/msc/server/msremakeserver.7z - 0.87GB (Unpacks to 1.94GB).
EDIT: This file is now old and you will have to update it to be able to join with the latest patch!
 

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RKS.PY004 said:
HLDSupdatetool has been discontinued and all servers for it has been shut down some time ago. You have to use steamcmd exclusively now.

Alternatively, since I was feeling really nice although I am a very EVIL person, you can download the template from the following link that has almost everything configured. You should just have to change server.cfg to your liking and optionally get the fn stuff from the fn forums.

http://daedalus.rkszone.net/msc/server/msremakeserver.7z - 0.87GB (Unpacks to 1.94GB).
Thanks for the link, I don't think the steamcmd link still works anyways. Now to figure out if I plugged the ports in correctly. I got them in my firewall and router, but the server isn't showing up in my server list.. I am sad. :(
 

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Forces you to use SteamCMD instead of HLDSUpdateTool...

...Stops hosting the link for SteamCMD.

VAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLVEEE!!!


*sigh* Try here, next time, if need be: http://www21.zippyshare.com/v/67679916/file.html

Ya really shouldn't need a firewall *and* a router in most scenarios, but try disabling the firewall and setting the router to DMZ.

Also, if it's on the same network as the client, try alternating between external IP and internal IP when connecting. The server will probably show the internal IP when you type "status" at the console. For the external, go to whatismyip.org or whatnot. If the server is on another network, always use the external IP.
 

Thothie

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I've not absolutely verified this yet, but it seems you can no longer log into SteamCMD anonymously. You must use login <yoursteamid> <steamidpass>. It may trip your Steam Guard, in which case you will be prompted for a key from an e-mail from Valve, that will hopefully show up.
 

PY004

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Thothie said:
I've not absolutely verified this yet, but it seems you can no longer log into SteamCMD anonymously. You must use login <yoursteamid> <steamidpass>. It may trip your Steam Guard, in which case you will be prompted for a key from an e-mail from Valve, that will hopefully show up.

login anonymous works for certain games and not others.
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wik ... rvers_List
 
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