Wanted: idiot's guide to linux server setup

magnate · #1 June 2nd, 2005, 05:40 PM

Hi All,

I've decided to take the plunge and set up a permanent Dom2 server on my linux machine. I've played SP, played MP on other people's servers, and hosted MP games on my windows box - all easy. I now want to run a server on my linux machine - one game at a time, to start with.

I've searched this forum and dom2minions.com but I can't find a howto for setting up a standalone server. My linux box does not run X-windows, so I'll be running the server from the command line. Some questions are:

1. Do I need to do a full install of Dom2 to run a standalone server from the command line?

1b. If I do need to do a full install, will it work given the absence of any X libraries? How do I do it?

1c. If I don't need to do a full install, which files do I need?

2. Does the server need a separate serial number from any of the client programs? (I know that each client needs a separate serial.)

3. Once I've installed it, where do I find the command line options for choosing the map file, the AI races, the game settings etc. etc.? Or can this be done with a shell script instead of a long command line?

Yours slightly confused,

CC

Gandalf Parker · #2 June 2nd, 2005, 07:14 PM

magnate said:
and hosted MP games on my windows box - all easy. I now want to run a server on my linux machine - one game at a time, to start with.

Hmmm one of the best reasons for running Dom2 host under linux is the easy interfacing with web, email, ftp, /etc /etc. If all you are going to do it host then windows is easier. Just a comment.

I've searched this forum and dom2minions.com but I can't find a howto for setting up a standalone server. My linux box does not run X-windows, so I'll be running the server from the command line. Some questions are:

Good move. I try to avoid loading gui on any server.

1. Do I need to do a full install of Dom2 to run a standalone server from the command line?

If you mean full vs demo, no. The demo will host at demo level. If you mean full copy of your full version of Dom2 then I think its yes. I never experimented with that. But it doesnt take up much room.

1b. If I do need to do a full install, will it work given the absence of any X libraries? How do I do it?

Yes. Its more of a headache definetly but it will work.

1c. If I don't need to do a full install, which files do I need?

Hmmm I cant think of any that could be left out except maybe the documentation. Amd even then, when you go to update it its been known to get made if the docs arent there.

2. Does the server need a separate serial number from any of the client programs? (I know that each client needs a separate serial.)

Excellent question. And thank the developers that the answer is NO. The host does not check its own serial so anyone with a copy of Dom2 can host Dom2 games on another machine

3. Once I've installed it, where do I find the command line options for choosing the map file, the AI races, the game settings etc. etc.? Or can this be done with a shell script instead of a long command line?

There is a doc file that comes with it called something like command_line_switches.txt but its been known to be out of date on some things. You can use the old linux trick of doing
dom2 -help >commandswitch.txt
but thats been known to be abit out of date. Between the two you usually get everything. There is a further trick to see every switch in the game but there are some they purposely didnt tell us so I dont think I should go into that here.

And yes I HIGHLY recommend scripting that monster

Gandalf Parker

magnate · #3 June 2nd, 2005, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Gandalf Parker said:
Hmmm one of the best reasons for running Dom2 host under linux is the easy interfacing with web, email, ftp, /etc /etc. If all you are going to do it host then windows is easier. Just a comment.

But I don't want the host program running on my windows box all the time - the windows box reboots a lot! The linux box, OTOH, never reboots, so it is ideal for a permanently-running host.

Quote:

1b. If I do need to do a full install, will it work given the absence of any X libraries? How do I do it?

Yes. Its more of a headache definetly but it will work.

Hmmm. I'll give it a try!

Quote:

And yes I HIGHLY recommend scripting that monster

Will do. Thanks for your help,

CC

magnate · #4 June 3rd, 2005, 07:22 AM

Quote:

Gandalf Parker said:
1b. If I do need to do a full install, will it work given the absence of any X libraries? How do I do it?

Yes. Its more of a headache definetly but it will work.

Well, it installed fine (it's a text mode installer). When I try to run a graphicless server on port 50000 with

dom2 -T -S --port 50000

it says "error loading shared libraries: cannot find libGL.1.so" - that's the OpenGL library, which it shouldn't need in graphicless mode!

Am I doing something wrong? I want it to run a server without needing any graphics. Then I can connect to it and start fiddling about with other options.

CC

Gandalf Parker · #5 June 3rd, 2005, 01:44 PM

Ahhhh memory is coming back now.... See if this really REALLY old thread might help.
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...v=1#Post236336

magnate · #6 June 3rd, 2005, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Gandalf Parker said:
Ahhhh memory is coming back now.... See if this really REALLY old thread might help.

Well, sort of. I did apt-get install xlibmesa-gl, and it then required libGLU.so.1 so in a fit of inspiration I did apt-get install xlibmesa-glu. I don't mind these, they're only a few hundred k each.

So then I tried again, and it asked me for the CD key. So I typed it in, and it bombed with

-bash: my CD key command not found

which is bizarre. Then I realised I was trying to run it in the background ...

You see, I want to run it unattended. Is that possible, for one of the players to choose the map and settings after races have been chosen, instead of having to choose those on the server?

Failing that, I can script all the settings and then run it in the background, right? Or is it going to ask for the damn CD key every time?

While you're there, I've just tried running the client on my other linux box, in Gnome. It takes 100% CPU all the time! What's the solution for this? In Windoze it takes 100% CPU if I'm stupid enough to leave it at the game selection screen, but it's fine once I start the game and move to the main map screen. In Linux it's still using 100% CPU on the main map screen. Am I doing something wrong?

CC

Gandalf Parker · #7 June 3rd, 2005, 04:57 PM

I hope you read carefully. That was an old answer, and Im on Debian linux. That answer might not have been your best answer

I think the CD key thing is that linux is coming from the unix setup. You installed Dom2 is system wide, but running it is local user. You can have 100 Dom players on a linux system so they all dont need Dom2 loaded in their directory but they will need their own keys.

Copy the key file to your home dir. Actually, if you answered the question once already it might hve made you a local copy

And as for the cpu thing all most hostings were schedulted "run and quit" things so I didnt leave it running

magnate · #8 June 3rd, 2005, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Gandalf Parker said:
I hope you read carefully. That was an old answer, and Im on Debian linux. That answer might not have been your best answer

I think the CD key thing is that linux is coming from the unix setup. You installed Dom2 is system wide, but running it is local user. You can have 100 Dom players on a linux system so they all dont need Dom2 loaded in their directory but they will need their own keys.

Copy the key file to your home dir. Actually, if you answered the question once already it might hve made you a local copy

And as for the cpu thing all most hostings were schedulted "run and quit" things so I didnt leave it running

You're right, it only asked for the CD key once, so that's fair enough. It's almost possible to run it totally unattended, after the initial command line. What I need is a switch for game name, which doesn't seem to exist. Currently I can type

./dom2 -TSq --port X --mapfile map.map --other_settings --normai 0 --hardai 3 --impai 7 etc. etc.

and off we go, but then it asks for a game name which I have to type in manually. After typing in the game name I have to do ctrl-z and "bg 1" to background it. It's not a truly big deal, but it would be really cool if I could just start it with

./dom2 -TSq --port X --mapfile map.map --gamename mygame --other_settings --normai 0 --hardai 3 --impai 7 etc. etc. &

Ho hum. Nice to have it up and running.

Did you have any comments on the 100% cpu issue? It'd be nice to play in linux.

Thanks for all your help.

CC

Gandalf Parker · #9 June 3rd, 2005, 07:00 PM

The name is anything after the switchs. It has to be the last thing on the command line.

You can create a seperate login to run games under, and set the systems paramters so that one login is only allowed a certain amount of CPU

also you can put nice in front of any command to set the amount of load it can have such as

nice ./dom2 -TSq --port X --mapfile map.map --other_settings --normai 0 --hardai 3 --impai 7 MyGame

magnate · #10 June 4th, 2005, 09:07 AM

[quote]
Gandalf Parker said:
The name is anything after the switchs. It has to be the last thing on the command line.[quote]

Ah! Thank you, I'll try that for the next game I host.

Quote:

You can create a seperate login to run games under, and set the systems paramters so that one login is only allowed a certain amount of CPU

also you can put nice in front of any command to set the amount of load it can have such as

nice ./dom2 -TSq --port X --mapfile map.map --other_settings --normai 0 --hardai 3 --impai 7 MyGame

Ah, yes it's not the server CPU load that's the problem, it's the client program, running in X. Using nice will just make it slower still. Maybe its a DRI issue, I'll have to look into it. I'm not sure I have my RadeOn card optimised in X yet.

Thanks for all your help - see you in a game sometime,

CC