Dedicated Server Setup

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Dedicated Server (Windows)

Downloading

First of all you need the HLDS Update Tool. This is what we use to update/download the server. You will also need Empires Dedicated Server from the Empires Download Page.

If you want to use Mani Admin Plugin, make sure you download it before going any further.

Installing

• First we need to download the SDS (Source Dedicated Server). To download we open up hldsupdatetool.exe and download the tool to an arbitrary location on your machine, for example:

C:\HL2DS

• When you have finished installing the update tool open the install folder in a command prompt and type:

hldsupdatetool.exe -command update -game "tf" -dir C:\HL2DS  

• If that doesnt work or your stuck or having trouble getting tf then you can go HERE for a more indepth tutorial on how to get it.

Tip: Make sure you replace C:\HL2DS with your install path if it's different.

This will download all files necessary to host a Team Fortress 2 server (and Empires). And remember to "Go get yourself a cup of coffee." as valve said, this will take some time

• Install the Empires Dedicated Server files to "C:\HL2DS\orangebox\empires" (use your own install path).
• Create a shortcut of srcds.exe and place it where you want then go to properties of the shortcut. Add the following to the end of the shortcut target:

-game empires +maxplayers 14 -port 27015 -console +map emp_canyon -autoupdate

It sould look like this;

srcds.exe -game empires +maxplayers 14 -port 27015 -console +map emp_canyon -autoupdate

Tip: You can adjust your port and maxplayers via the shortcut or the server.cfg file.

Configuration

Next, edit your mapcycle.txt and server.cfg files to your liking.

Warning: When editing your server.cfg remember to change your rcon_password and hostname directives!

rcon_password "pass"  //Your rcon password
hostname "Servername" //The name of your server

These are the most important settings to change, there are more in the cfg so test around what is best for you.

Starting

You should now be able to double-click your server shortcut, which will start up your dedicated server.

Dedicated Server (Linux)

Downloading

First of all you need the HLDS Update Tool. This is what we use to update/download the server. You will also need Empires Dedicated Server from the Empires Download Page.

Installing SDS

Now we have to extract the HLDS-Update-Tool.

• Go to the homedir of the user who is designated to run the HL2-Server and create a subdir.

hl2usr@hl2srv ~ # mkdir hl2

• Copy the HLDS-Update-Tool into your new subdir and chmod it to make it executable:

hl2usr@hl2srv ~/hl2 # chmod +x hldsupdatetool.bin

• Run the binary:

hl2usr@hl2srv ~/hl2 # ./hldsupdatetool.bin

• If you get a warning about not finding "compress", go grab the "ncompress" package on Redhat/Fedora:

hl2usr@hl2srv ~/hl2 # yum install ncompress

• Now that you have finished extracting the Update-Tool you can use it to download all required files:

hl2usr@hl2srv ~/hl2 # ./steam -command update -game "tf" -dir .

Get yourself a cup of tea, coffee, soda, etc., and have a rest. Depending on your connection speed this can take some time

Installing Empires

Next, we have to extract the previously downloaded Empires-Server.

• Copy the zip-file (something like empires_v1xxx_server.zip) to the folder where the HLDS-Update-Tool resides (~/hl2 in this example) and extract it:

hl2usr@hl2srv ~/hl2 # unzip empires_v1xxx_server.zip -d orangebox

This command creates the directory ~hl2/orangebox/empires and extracts all needed files into it.

Configuration

Before you can start your new Dedicated Server the servers config files have to be altered to satisfy your needs.

• cd to the "orangebox/empires" subdir
• Edit the file mapcycle.txt with your prefered text editor and add/remove the maps you like/don't like in your mapcycle
• cd to the config dir of your Empires installation (~/hl2/orangebox/empires/cfg in this example)
• Edit the server.cfg to your liking

Warning: When editing your server.cfg remember to change your rcon_password and hostname directives!

rcon_password "pass"  //Your rcon password
hostname "Servername" //The name of your server

Starting

Now your server should be ready for startup

• cd to your Dedicated-Servers basedir (~/hl2 in this example)
• Start the Server:

hl2usr@hl2srv ~/hl2 # ./srcds_run -game empires +maxplayers 14 -port 27015 -console +map emp_canyon -autoupdate

Tip: Use a terminal multiplexer like Screen to be able to detach the HL2-Server Console and disconnect from your servers shell without terminating the HL2-Daemon

• You can create a Bash-File in your Dedicated-Servers basedir to easily start your Empires-Server in a virtual Screen-Terminal:

File: empires.sh

#! /bin/bash screen -A -d -m -S empires -t empires ./srcds_run -game empires +maxplayers 14 -port 27015 -console +map emp_canyon -autoupdate

Please note that if you wish to retain explicit control over when updates happen on your server you can omit the -autoupdate option.

• Now make the Bash-File executable and run it:

hl2usr@hl2srv ~/hl2 # chmod +x empires.sh
hl2usr@hl2srv ~/hl2 # ./empires.sh

The Dedicated-Server now runs in the background. You can attach to the Screen-Terminal by typing:

hl2usr@hl2srv ~/hl2 # screen -r empires

You can detach from the Screen-Terminal and leave the server running by typing a Control-a followed by "d".

To stop the server, reattach to the Screen-Terminal and type Control-c.

If you intend to run multiple servers then you will need to set a unique value for the port used & the the Screen-Terminal name used via the -port & -S options in the above command.

Tip and Tricks

Modularise server.cfg settings

As the server.cfg (amongst others) can be overwritten during upgrade and you may wish to have your server run in different "modes" such as password protected clan match/practice, increase resource rates for "tank wars", etc it's best to treat your server.cfg as "read-only" and any default settings you wish to have place them in a unique filename e.g. myserver.cfg then add a single line to the end of server.cfg "exec myserver.cfg"

This way server.cfg will then run myserver.cfg and override any server.cfg settings. For example to set your server's hostname you'd add the following to myserver.cfg

hostname "My Empires Server"

In addition to myserver.cfg you can then create modified files to accommodate your various server "modes" which can either be called via

rcon exec tankwars.cfg

Or if you want this mode to automatically survive a map change/server restart, add another line to server.cfg below your "exec myserver.cfg" entry.

Related Links

• General HL2 Directives/Commands
• Mani Admin Plugin