Dedicated Servers?

[Kristoffer O]

It is rather easy to setup a Dominions II server. We've have one running for our betatesting. The GUI-less Version works very well with linux.


Example: ./dom2 -STq --hosttime 0 22 --ipadr X.X.X.X. --port X
creates a graphicless server with an IP a port hosting as soon as everyone has connected and made their turns and at least every sunday at 22.00


If you do not feel like typing ./dom2 -h:


-i --nointro Disables the intro animation
-v --Version Print Version number and exit
-d Increase debug level
-g --host Generate new turn and exit
--verify Verify all 2h-files and exit (creates .chk files)
--statfile Create a statistics file after each turn (stats.txt)
--finalhost Generate new turn, send out final score msg and exit
******* Network Options *******
-C --tcpclient Connect to a Dominions multiplayer server
-S --tcpserver Start a Dominions multiplayer server
--ipadr XXX Use this IP-adr when connecting to server
--port X Use this port nbr
--postexec CMD Execute this command after each turn generation
-t --hosttime X Y Host on day X (0=sunday) hour Y (0-23)
--minutes X Set host interval in minutes
-h --hours X Set host interval in hours
--pauseday X Stop timer on this day (0=sunday)
-q --quickhost Host as soon as all turns are done
-n --nonationsel No nation selection when resuming a network game
--noclientstart Clients cannot start the game during Choose Participants
--uploadtime X Nbr of minutes before game is created. (default off)
******* New Game Options *******
--mapfile XXX Filename of map. E.g. eye.map
--research X Research difficulty 0-3 (default 1)
--hofsize X Size of Hall of Fame 5-15 (default 10)
--indepstr X Strength of Independents 0-9 (default 3)
--magicsites X Magic site frequency 0-75 (default 40)
--eventrarity X Random event rarity 1-2, 1=common 2=rare
--totalvp X Vic. points available in the world 0-25
--capitalvp One extra victory per capital
--requiredvp X Vic. points required for victory (default total/2)
--richness X World richness 1-3 (default 2)
******* Video Options *******
-T --textonly Use this with --tcpserver to get graphicless server
--opacity X Set gui opacity 0 - 100
-r --res X Y Set screen resolution / window size (default=800 600)
--animback Use animated backgrounds
-a --noanimback Don't use animated backgrounds
--fade Use fade effects
-f --nofade No fade effects
--nopopups No helpful popups
--fps X Maximum nbr of frames per second (default=50)
--filtering X Quality of OpenGL filtering 0-3 (default=2)
-x --fastgrx Faster graphics (use 3 times for best performance (-xxx))
-p --perftest Run a performance test and exit
******* Audio Options *******
-s --nosound No sound effects
-m --nomusic No music
--musicvol X Set music volume, 0-100
--clickvol X Set mouse click volume, 0-100
--arts Route sound through aRts (default)
-o --oss Use direct oss sound output (best quality)
-e --esd Route sound through the Esound demon


*Edit: there is no built in PBEM stuff unless you comes up with something. We hope you will *

[ November 02, 2003, 23:17: Message edited by: Kristoffer O ]

[Gandalf Parker]

Example: ./dom2 -STq --hosttime 0 22 --ipadr X.X.X.X. --port X
creates a graphicless server with an IP a port hosting as soon as everyone has connected and made their turns and at least every sunday at 22.00

(modified to run dom2demo instead of dom2 of course) I get this....
./dom2demo: error while loading shared libraries: libGL.so.1: cannot open shared
object file: No such file or directory

Debian Linux without Xwindows loaded. researching it now

[ November 03, 2003, 00:57: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

[Johan K]

You must have the X-windows and OpenGL libraries installed. You don't have to be running X-windows though. It doesn't even have to be properly installed as long as the libraries are in place.

[Gandalf Parker]

Found it. I downloaded and installed a package called libglib2.0-0 which didnt seem to do it. So after googling for the answer (Im a real good googler) I installed one called xlibmesa3 which fixed it.

Now to find a webmaster who wants to run a domain

[ November 03, 2003, 13:39: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

[Gandalf Parker]

By the way, the "run continually on a port" example was very helpful.

Do you happen to have an example of a "process and quit" command line for processing pbem games? Has anyone run one of these and have some experience trying to create and host a game without ever walking thru the menu?

[ November 03, 2003, 13:42: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

[Johan K]

Process a turn and quit is very simple:
dom2demo -g name_of_game

[ November 03, 2003, 15:20: Message edited by: Johan K ]

[Tourmalyn]

Does the command line way of launching a server have any way to include the map name and game settings? I tried launching it that way on a win2k machine, and the process launched successfully. Only problem was that it blocked on selecting the game name. So clients connected and sat at the 'getting game info' screen.