Contract Jack Dedicated Server Setup

[Eliteone]

From the Contract Jack Server Readme

 

Contract J.A.C.K. Standalone Server

Version 1.0

Readme File

October 15, 2003

 

***************************************************************************

 

About This Document:

 

This document contains information about setting up and running the

Contract J.A.C.K. Standalone Server application as well as important

information for multiplayer hosts. Please be sure to read the Contract

J.A.C.K. manual and the readme.txt file included on your CD before

attempting to run a dedicated server.

 

***************************************************************************

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

I. System Requirements

II. Setting up your Server

III. Running a Server

IV. The SCMD System

V. SCMD Commands

VI. Advanced/Debug commands

VII. Limiting Bandwidth

VIII. Recommended Player Limits

IX. Dedicated servers and Hardware T&L

 

 

I. System Requirements

===========================================================================

 

The following items are required to run a Contract J.A.C.K.dedicated

server:

 

1. A broadband Internet connection or LAN connection

3. A system that meets or exceeds the minimum system requirements for the

game, which are:

 

* Windows 98,Windows98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000 or Windows XP.

* A 733MHz Pentium® III or equivalent processor.

* 128 MB RAM (256MB for Windows XP)

* A 32MB Hardware T&L video card

* A 16-bit DirectX compatible sound card with support for EAX 2.0.

 

NOTE: It is possible to run a dedicated server on a machine without a

hardware T&L card. Please see the section near the bottom of this document

entitled "Dedicated servers and Hardware T&L" for details.

 

 

II. Setting up your Server

===========================================================================

 

To set up a server, just follow these steps:

 

1. Select "Multiplayer" from the main game menu.

2. Select "Host" from the multiplayer menu.

3. Set your game options and levels. For help, please see pages 12-14 of

your game manual.

4. For the Dedicated Server option, select Yes.

5. Click Launch.

 

The game application will now close, and the standalone server application

will start. Once your server is running, clients can search for and join it

in the same way they would a normal host.

 

Once your server is configured and launched for the first time, you will

only need to run the game application again if you wish to change settings.

If you have shut the server down and want to launch it again with the same

game mode, options, and levels, you can simply double click on the

ContractJackServer.exe file in your Contract J.A.C.K. installation folder.

 

NOTE: Server options are specific to player profiles. If you have more

than one player profile, and you run your server by double-clicking on the

executable, you will be prompted for the profile that you want to use.

If you are running your server from a batch file or the command line and

you want to specify which profile to use, add "-profile (profile name)" to

the command like this:

 

ContractJackServer.exe -profile player

 

III. Running your Server

===========================================================================

 

When the server starts running, the following information appears:

 

 

SERVER INFO

-----------

 

SERVER NAME: This is the name of your server as seen by players when

they are searching for servers to join.

 

GAME TYPE: Displays the game mode that the server is currently

running, such as Deathmatch or Demolition.

 

RUNNING TIME: The time elapsed since the server was launched.

 

PEAK PLAYERS: This shows the highest number of players that were on

your server at one time.

 

TOTAL PLAYERS: This shows the total number of players that have joined

your server since it was last launched.

 

STOP SERVER: This will shut down the server.

 

 

PLAYERS

-------

 

PLAYERS: This section provides information about the players that

are currently connected to the server, including their

player name, ping, kills, tags, score, and the time elapsed

since they began playing.

 

CURRENT PLAYERS: This shows the number of players currently

connected and the maximum number of players you

specified when you launched the server.

 

AVERAGE PING: The average ping of the players currently connected to

your server.

 

BOOT PLAYER: Clicking this button will disconnect the player whose

name is currently highlighted. To highlight a player

name, just click on it.

 

Levels

------

 

This window shows a list of maps in the order in which they will be

loaded by the server. The current level is indicated with a black dot

to the left of its name.

 

Time in level: This shows the time elapsed since the level was loaded.

 

Next level: Ends the current level and immediately loads the next.

 

Select level: Ends the current level and immediately loads the

highlighted level. Double clicking on the map name

will have the same effect.

 

CONSOLE

-------

 

This shows a scrolling display of the server's internal commands and status.

Player chat, connections, disconnections, and other text is also displayed

here.

 

You can use the console to enter commands to control and maintain your

server. Please see the SCMD and advanced commands sections below for more

information on this topic.

 

 

IV. THE SCMD SYSTEM

===========================================================================

 

The SCMD interface is used to execute server side commands through a text

based console. SCMD sends commands to the server to control settings from

the hosting client, a remote client or the standalone server. It offers a

generalized user interface that works on all three of these entry points.

On a hosted or remote client, commands are entered through the chat

interface. On the Stand-alone server, commands are entered through the

console interface.

 

To use SCMD, just follow these steps:

 

1. Before launching your server (either hosted or dedicated), set the

"Allow SCMD" option to "Yes" and then specify a password.

2. Launch the server.

3. Type SCMD and press <Enter> on the command line of your dedicated

server, or in the chat interface on a host or client to see a list of

available commands. You will need to scroll up to see the entire list.

4. Log in to the system by typing SCMD followed by the password that you

specified in the host options.

 

Once you have successfully logged in, you can then use any of the other

SCMD commands. Note that only one host or client can be logged into the

system at once. The format for all SCMD commands is:

 

SCMD command [arg1] [...]

 

Example: You are logged into SCMD through a client connected to a

dedicated server, and one of the other players becomes abusive. With SCMD,

you can boot the player through your client like this:

 

Type "SCMD listclients". This will display text similar to the following:

 

Client List format: clientid) [name][ping][ip]

0) [smiley][0][0.0.0.0]

1) [Cheater][80][123.456.789.012]

2) [Player0][120][321.654.987.210]

 

From here, you can type "SCMD bootname Cheater", or "SCMD bootid 1" to

remove the problem player from the server.

 

Then, if the player logs in again and continues to cause trouble, you can

locate his IP address from the client list, and then ban that IP. For

instance, if the IP address was 123.456.789.012, you would ban it by typing

"SCMD addban 123.456.789.012". For a full list of commands, please see the

section below.

 

 

V. SCMD COMMANDS

===========================================================================

 

Following is the list of commands currently supported by SCMD:

 

Command Description

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Help Shows a list of all commands

Login Logs into server.

Logout Logs out of server.

ListClients Lists all clients connected.

BootName Boots a player by name

BootId Boots a player by clientid

ListBans Shows all currently banned IP's.

AddBan Bans IP with mask support

(e.g. 123.456.789.012 or 123.456.789.*)

RemoveBan Removes an IP from the banned list.

BanClient Adds a client's IP to the list of bans.

Listlevels List all levels in current campaign.

Nextlevel Goes to next level.

Setlevel Sets the level by level index.

ListGameOptions List all game options that can be set.

SetGameOption Sets a game option by its index.

 

 

VI. ADVANCED/DEBUG COMMANDS

===========================================================================

 

Advanced commands can only be entered via the dedicated server command line

and not through the SCMD interface.

 

Command Description

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Say Allows the server operator to chat with players.

Chat text must be contained within quotes.

LeashLen Specifies the allowable distance between the

client's position and where the server thinks the

client should be. Defaults to 16.0.

LeashSpring Specifies the distance inside of which the server

will interpolate the server's position to match

the client's position. Outside of this distance,

the server's position will be forced to the

client's position. Defaults to 50.0.

LeashSpringRate Defines how quickly the interpolation will happen

between the server and client positions, in the

range 0.0-1.0. Lower numbers lead to slower

interpolation.(Which gives smoother movement,

but greater error.) 0.0 will stay at the server's

position, and 1.0 will teleport the server object

to the client's position. The default value is 0.3.

BandWidthTargetServer Target bytes per second to send over the network

layer. This MUST be set correctly to avoid send

overflow. For a detailed explanation of how to use

this feature, please see the section of this

document labeled "limiting bandwidth".

IPDebug Show debug messages for the TCP/IP layer (addresses

& ports for connection/disconnection/etc.) (0 or 1)

ShowConnStats Turn on the connection bandwidth usage spew.(0 or 1)

 

 

VII. Limiting Bandwidth

===========================================================================

 

Contract J.A.C.K. allows server operators to limit the amount of data

that's being sent to players on high bandwidth connections. When used

correctly, this feature can greatly improve performance.

 

You can adjust your bandwidth limit in the host options screen before

launching your server via the bandwidth or custom bandwidth options.

 

The preset values available to you are as follows:

 

Preset Max bandwidth

------ -------------

56k 56kbps

DSL (low) 128kbps

DSL (High) 256kbps

Cable 256kbps

T1 1500kbps

T3 10000kbps

 

When you first set up your server, you should set this option to match as

closely as possible with the upstream bandwidth rating of your Internet

connection. This information can be obtained from your ISP. If none

of the available options are suitable for your connection, use the custom

bandwidth setting to enter the correct value.

 

Dedicated server operators can fine tune this setting in the console

while the server is actually running. To do this, just type

"BandWidthTargetServer" and the value you wish to use in the console,

and then press <Enter>. Values entered must be in bytes per second, not

Kilobytes per second. For instance, if you wanted to change the maximum

upstream bandwidth to 128k, the bandwidthtargerserver variable should

be changed to 128 x 1024, which equals 131072.

 

The final command in the console would then be:

 

BandWidthTargetServer 131072

 

NOTE: It is VERY important that you set this value correctly. Setting

the limit too high may result in very poor performance for players

with a high ping. Similarly, setting it too low may result in choppiness

for low ping players. You may want to experiment with different values to

find the best setting for your particular situation.

 

 

VIII. Recommended Player Limits

===========================================================================

 

The number of players that your server can realistically handle depends on

your connection speed and your machine specs. Use the table below to

determine the max players you should specify in the host options when

setting up your server:

 

Connection Machine Spec # of Players

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

56K | Minimum Server (Host) | 2 (including host)

ISDN (128 kb up/down) | Fast Server (Dedicated) | 4

DSL/Cable* | Fast Server (Dedicated) | 4-8

T1 | Minimum Server (Dedicated) | 8-16

T3 | Minimum Server (Dedicated) | 8-16

T3 | Fast Server (Host/Dedicated) | 16

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

* Dependant on upload speed, Cable and DSL connections vary.

 

 

IX. Dedicated Servers and Hardware T&L

===========================================================================

 

The dedicated server does not require a hardware T&L enabled graphics card.

Unfortunately, the Contract J.A.C.K. menu interface that must be used to set

up your server does. This can present a problem for server operators who

don't want to devote a T&L card to a machine that will only be used for this

purpose.

 

However, there is a way around this. When you set up your server, the data

is saved to your player profile and other mode-related text files.

If you install to a machine without a hardware T&L card, and then copy these

files over to that machine, then you can run a server from the command line

without ever launching Contract J.A.C.K..

 

Here's the list of files and folders that you will need to copy in order to

do this (assuming you installed to the default folder).

 

C:\Program Files\Sierra\Contract JACK\profiles

C:\Program Files\Sierra\Contract JACK\MPMissions.txt