To get started is to visit and pick a server to install. Follow the simple step-by-step guide to install your game server on Linux.

Once the installation is complete a working game server will be available. Use the various LinuxGSM commands available to manage the game server.

Read through this documentation to ensure you understand how to configure your game server.

The section will help you understand how to configure both LinuxGSM and the game server.

The command-line tool for quick, simple deployment and management of Linux dedicated game servers.

• User docs:

• Dev Docs:

Welcome to the LinuxGSM documentation covering various topics related to the project.

Contributions to this documentation are welcome and can be submitted via GitHub.

The update-lgsm command updates LinuxGSM to the latest version.

It will automatically update LinuxGSM including the _default.cfg config file to make sure the game server gets the latest settings.

Commands

Standard: ./gameserver update-lgsm

Short: ./gameserver ul

LinuxGSM comes with a game server check-update command. All SteamCMD games servers are supported, as well as some other servers such as Teamspeak, Minecraft, Mumble & Factorio.

Commands

Standard: ./gameserver check-update

Short: ./gameserver cu

Unlike the update command check-update will check for any available updates and take no action if no update is available. If there is an update it will send an alert.

For game servers that use LinuxGSM Workshop downloads (v26.4.0+), check-update also reports Workshop mod updates without applying them.

A can be set to run check-update at any given time.

To edit cronjobs, type:

crontab -e

A cronjob can be run as the gameserver user or as root, this choice is down to personal preference. Remember to amend the examples to match a specific game server.

Here is an example of a user-based cronjob to check for an update once an hour.

Here is an example of a root-based cronjob to check for an update once an hour.

is a great resource to generate cronjobs.

Game server config files are the configuration files used by the game server to store various game server settings, such as the server name, maximum players, map cycle, etc. These settings can be edited to customise a game server. Different game server configs can use different syntax and work slightly differently, but all do the same basic job of editing a game server settings.

The details command will provide you with some config file information. However, some servers do use multiple config files.

./gameserver details

Whenever possible, LinuxGSM provides basic easy-to-use game server configuration files. A dedicated repository has been made so all server admins can benefit, even Windows admins.

This configuration file is automatically downloaded upon server installation.

Whenever possible, LinuxGSM uses a custom name for configuration files that contains the ${servicename} variable in it in order to allow the running of with different config files. If the game does not allow for that, then the usual name will be used.

systemd is the default init system for most modern distros.

You need to create a service file in /etc/systemd/system/

Example ts3server.service

Replace the user and paths to fit your setup.

You need to reload the systemd-daemon once to make it aware of the new service file by systemctl daemon-reload

Now you can do

The crontab will allow you to create that allow you to run a command on a set time or on boot. The below example uses

Many game servers require start parameters, these are command-line options that are set with the server executable when the server starts.

Using over parameters is preferred, however, sometimes this is not an option. When this is the case only parameters or a mixture of game server config and parameters will be used.

Parameters being used by the game server can be found in ./gameserver details. To alter them, you will need to edit .

LinuxGSM often uses predefined parameters that can be edited. This makes adjusting common settings easier and allows them to be displayed in ./gameserver details.

Additional command-line parameters can be added to the startparameters setting.

The debug command is used to start your server directly in your current terminal (outside of () and should only be used for diagnosing issues. If a game server is already running in the background debug will stop it to start a debug session.

Standard: ./gameserver debug

Short: ./gameserver d

The validate command will check the server files to make sure they match the SteamCMD repository. This command is useful if game server files are deleted, corrupted or SteamCMD is failing to update.

Validation will overwrite any files that have been changed. This may cause issues with customised servers. For example, if you customise mapcycle.txt, this file will be overwritten to the server default. Any files that are not part of the default installation will not be affected. It is recommended you use this command only on initial installation and if there are server issues.

Standard: ./gameserver validate

Short: ./gameserver v

The force-update command bypasses the update check and runs the SteamCMD update regardless of update availability. This will run the SteamCMD update and restart the game server.

Force update is a useful feature for admins that restart their server daily. It allows LinuxGSM to check for updates while restarting the server.

Standard: ./gameserver force-update

Short: ./gameserver fu

The skeleton command created a mirror of the directory structure of a game server. This allows you to create a skeleton directory of custom files, configs, maps etc.

Standard: ./gameserver skeleton

Short: ./gameserver sk

The skeleton directory is created in skel.

Skeleton can be used alongside version control software like or backed up to save custom configurations for a game server. If a change is added to your git repository/backup it is possible to pull/copy the updates to your game server. If you want to re-deploy a game server you can create a fresh installation and pull/copy in the custom changes over the top of the fresh install.

The test-alert command is used to send a test alert that is used to ensure that configured alerts are functioning and being recieved.

Commands

Standard: ./gameserver test-alert

Short: ./gameserver ta

Java Requirements

Minecraft: Java Edition required Java 16

Release Settings

Minecraft java edition splits up its release in two ways. Firstly a branch is either classed as a release or a snapshot. A release is a stable version of the game whereas a snapshot is still under development

With LinuxGSM you can specify a specific release/snapshot or the latest release/snapshot. By default, LinuxGSM will use the latest release.

• List of Minecraft Java releases

• List of Minecraft Java snapshots

TODO

Stop mode allows a game server to gracefully shutdown by sending a stop signal to the server. The stop signal might be one of the various commands such as stop,quit,exit etc. In some cases, this is important to give the server time to save its state.

# Stop Mode | https://docs.linuxgsm.com/features/stop-mode
# 1: tmux kill
# 2: CTRL+c
# 3: quit
# 4: quit 120s
# 5: stop
# 6: q
# 7: exit
# 8: 7 Days to Die
# 9: GoldSrc
# 10: Avorion
# 11: end
# 12: shutdown
# 13: Soulmask
# 14: Running With Rifles
# 15: Rising World
# 16: Conan Exiles
stopmode="7"

The map-compressor command is used to compress maps for some Unreal engine servers, allowing for faster maps downloads to clients.

Supported Servers

• Unreal Tournament 99

• Unreal Tournament 2004

• Killing Floor

• Red Orchestra

Standard: ./gameserver map-compressor

Short: ./gameserver mc

Discord is a VoIP app that allows other applications to send messages via a webhook. This functionality is used to allow users to recieve alerts about LinuxGSM.

Create a Discord Webhook

A webhook is required to post alerts to a Discord text channel

1. Right-click on the text channel you want to use and select Edit channel.

2. Select Webhooks > Create Webhook

3. Name: LinuxGSM

4. Icon:

5. Copy the Webhook URL

6. Turn on discord alert and enter the URL in to the . (~/lgsm/config-lgsm/<gameserver>/common.cfg)

Rocket.chat is an open-source collaboration tool.

Create a Rocket.chat Webhook

1. Follow the Rocket.chat guide on how to create an incoming webhook.

2. Copy the Webhook URL.

3. Turn on Rocket.chat alerts and copy the URL into the . (~/lgsm/config-lgsm/<gameserver>/common.cfg)

is an opt in voluntary feature that allows you to provide selected information about your game server to be displayed on by enabling the stats setting.

All data collected is used to provide insight into which game servers, distros, and servers are popular with game server admins. This will assist in prioritising LinuxGSM development and give me (Daniel Gibbs) a never before insight into the number of people using LinuxGSM. This is a massive personal motivator as it has previously been difficult to know how many people actually use LinuxGSM.

The collected data is publicly available to view in a dashboard on

Below is a list of types of data collected

Custom Mods and Maps are supported in Insurgency: Sandstorm via . Please use this basic guide to get started using custom mods more in-depth information can be found at

To get started you will need a mod.io account, once you have signed in, click your username as the top right, and click API Access from the left navigation.

Under OAuth 2 Management > Generate Access Token, enter a name to give your token and give it read access and click Create Token.

Once the token is generated you will need to copy it to your game servers Engine.ini. Paste the following into Engine.ini

Official Resources

The discord contains information for Sven Co-op under the information tab including mapping guides, server config information, and angelscript documentation, among other things.

Reminder: Sven Co-op is incompatible with both CentOS and Fedora as libssl.so.1.0.0 is not available

Survival Mode settings, can be set in svenserver.cfg

An MTA server comes in two parts. MTA itself and then the resources you install. There is the option to install the default MTA resources to your server within LinuxGSM on install or using the ./mtaserver install-default-resources option. There are many resources available so it is recommended that you take a look at the MTA community resources page

Resources are a key part of Multi Theft Auto. A resource is essentially a directory that contains a collection of files - including essential script and content files, plus a meta file that describes how the resource should be loaded - and runs on a Multi Theft Auto dedicated server.

A resource can be seen as being partly equivalent to a program running in an operating system - it can be started and stopped, and multiple resources can run at once. Its worth remember though, that unlike programs on an operating system, there is no multi-tasking between resources. Resources generally contain content and Lua scripts for game modes, user interfaces and other tasks affecting the players that are connected to the dedicated server on which the resources are running.

For a collection of user created resources, head over to our web page which serves as a place for hosting our community's resources.

LinuxGSM provides an easy way to start, stop and restart your game server. LinuxGSM knows the location of the server binaries and inserts the start parameters to allow the server to start. LinuxGSM will also run various checks to prevent issues and apply any required server fixes to get the game server running.

Will start the server in a session allowing the server to run in the background.

./gameserver start

Stop will attempt a of a game server. Failing this stop will kill the tmux session.

./gameserver stop

If the stoponlyifnoplayers setting is enabled, LinuxGSM will only stop the server when it is empty and prevent it from stopping otherwise.

is a cloud-based set of proprietary team collaboration software tools and online services.

A webhook is required to post alerts to a slack.

1. Follow slack's guide to setting up an .

2. Copy the Webhook URL

LinuxGSM comes with an game server update command. All games servers are supported, as well as some other servers such as Teamspeak, Minecraft, Mumble & Factorio.

Standard: ./gameserver update

Short: ./gameserver u

Update will check for any available update, taking no action if no update is available. If there is an update it will apply the update, restarting the server if already running.

For game servers that use (v26.4.0+), update also updates the Workshop mods set in workshopmods

LinuxGSM allows alerts to be received using various methods, should the game server require your attention.

Alert settings can be changed in

More info allows you to get further info about an alert using hastebin.com. Many alerts only give basic info, unlike email. More info displays the same output as email in a link within a basic alert.

The IP address you want to be displayed in alerts.

By default, the LinuxGSM alert will display the external internet facing IP. Failing this will fall back to the server IP. If the IP is incorrect it can be manually set using displayip="".

allows the sending of push notifications to various devices such a PC, phone and tablet. This functionality is used to allow users to receive alerts about LinuxGSM.

A Pushover application and your user key is required to send messages to Pushover.

Visit to create a new application.

• name: LinuxGSM

jq allows LinuxGSM to filter json files to extract specific useful data.

7 Days to Die uses telnet to admin the server. This is enabled by default with no password however will only listen on localhost.

Installs, updates and removes the Steam Workshop mods set in workshopmods, for game servers that cannot download Workshop content themselves.

Available for Arma 3, Barotrauma, Colony Survival, DayZ, Hurtworld, Left 4 Dead 2, Operation: Harsh Doorstop, Soldat, Squad, Squad 44, Starbound and Stationeers from v26.4.0. See for setup and requirements.

• Expands any collections in workshopmods and checks each item for updates.

• Downloads new and changed items with SteamCMD while the server keeps running.

change-password resets the TeamSpeak 3 server query password. The server will reboot and a new password will be generated.

• TeamSpeak 3

Standard: ./gameserver change-password

Short: ./gameserver pw

The console command allows access the output of the game server executable. Depending on which server you are running it allows you to see the current activity of the game server, check errors in real time, and input commands.

Run the following command to access console:

Standard: ./gameserver console

Short: ./gameserver c

Answer y at the prompt.

To exit the console: Press CTRL + b, then, press d

LinuxGSM cannot always provide support for specific game servers. However, there are various support forums available for specific game server support that may be useful. Below is a list of useful links support forums:

• ARK: Survival Evolved

• ARMA 3

• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Server Resources

• RuneScape: Dragonwilds Dedicated Servers (wiki)

The dedicated server is a native Linux build, downloaded with SteamCMD (App ID 4019830, about 5 GB). LinuxGSM recommends at least 2 GB of RAM.

First Start: Set the Owner ID

Most server settings live in DedicatedServer.ini, which the server creates the first time it starts:

serverfiles/RSDragonwilds/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/DedicatedServer.ini

1. Install and start the server once so that DedicatedServer.ini is created:

2. Find your Player ID in the game's settings menu and set it as OwnerId in DedicatedServer.ini:

3. Start the server again:

These settings are read from DedicatedServer.ini, not from LinuxGSM config. Stop the server before editing.

./rsdwserver details shows the server name, world name and Owner ID that LinuxGSM reads from this file.

To change the port, set port in your LinuxGSM instance config (lgsm/config-lgsm/rsdwserver/rsdwserver.cfg). It is passed to the server as -Port=. Players can join with Direct Connect using your server's IP and port.

monitor checks the game server to ensure the server functioning. First checking the game server process is running then querying the game server to check the game server is responding. monitor is designed to be an automated command that frequently checks the game server, rebooting and alerting if required.

Commands

Standard: ./gameserver monitor

Short: ./gameserver m

How does monitor work?

Monitor first checks that the server process or tmux session is running. If it is, it will then attempt to query the server using gamedig or query_gsquery.py. Should this fail to query it will attempt to query every 15 seconds over 60 second period. Should this fail the server will be rebooted and an alert sent out.

During server start, map change, workshop downloads, the server is unable to answer queries.The monitor will wait for 60 seconds as it is common for servers to stop responding to queries during a map change. This wait prevents monitor from rebooting a server that does not require it.

Monitor is designed to be and automated task, using to allow a game server to be frequently checked.

As a reminder, you can edit your cronjobs, typing :

Use these cron examples to setup automated monitoring.

• A user based cronjob to monitor your server every 5 minutes .

• A root user based cronjob to monitor your server every 5 minutes .

To learn more about automation, see .

To be notified when a server fails alert notifications can be setup , see .

Game Servers do not respond to queries while the server is booting. Query delay prevents monitor from giving a false positive should it query while the server is booting. A timed delay prevents monitor from using query at all during a set time (normally either 1 or 5 minutes) after start, giving the server time to boot and become ready to accept queries. Query delay timer can be adjusted using the querydelay setting.

Starting and stopping the game server activates and deactivates monitor. This prevents the server being manually stopped only to be started again by monitor.

Ports

• Game Port Default: 7777 UDP Handled by: LinuxServer-KFEngine.ini

• Query Port Default: 27015 UDP Handled automatically or handled by parameters. The formula for finding query port assigned automatically is 19238 + assigned game port.

• Web Admin Default: 8080 TCP Handled by: KFWeb.ini

• Steam Port Default: 20560 UDP Handled automatically. The formula for finding the steam port is 12783 + Game Port.

LinuxGSM installations contain configSubDir=servername in the command line by default, which creates a folder for config files named after the server. The default directory is /home/user/serverfiles/KFGame/Config/kf2server . Use these files to change server settings.

Workshop content is added in LinuxServer-KFEngine.ini in the OnlineSubsystemSteamworks.KFWorkshopSteamworks section

This will only work for Workshop items that the server downloads itself, that are listed in the [OnlineSubsystemSteamworks.KFWorkshopSteamworks] section as described above.

1. Make sure that the server is not running. If it is running, the Workshop setup will be overridden the next time you restart the server.

2. Find the section [IpDrv.TcpNetDriver] in the PCServerEngine.ini config file.

3. Add the line "DownloadManagers=OnlineSubsystemSteamworks.SteamWorkshopDownload" to that section. If there are other "DownloadManagers=" lines, make sure this one is the first.

Summary

Most servers require a specific version of glibc installed. Newer distros normally have the required version. However the older the distro the less likely the server will run. Check the requirements below. If you have an older distro the game server may still run with a glibc fix.

Server Requirements

A complete list can be found here.

Distro glibc Versions

List of distros and there glibc version.

is also a great source to find this information.

glibc version history available on .

SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) is the transfer protocol to view and transfer files over SSH. SFTP works the same as FTP but is encrypted.

SFTP Advantages

• Encrypted

• Nothing extra to install (such as FTP server)

• Works like any other FTP server

• Compatible with the popular clients such as Filezilla and WinSCP

• You can login to any SSH accessable Linux user.

• Connect like any FTP except it uses the port (default 22)

• Use your linux username / password

• You might need to set protocol to SFTP in your FTP client.

1. Connect to a server as root.

2. Use FTP if SFTP is available.

Here is why you shouldn't

• By logging in as root, you might accidentally remove essential system files or put useless files into the wrong place and mess up with your system.

• But even more annoying, any file you'll write will belong to root, and the user won't be able to either read, change, or execute writtent files as root.

• FTP is an unencrypted protocol, therefore it is very unsecure to edit sensitive files using it.

How to operate without root FTP login ?

• If you need to edit system config files, then do like everyone else : use an SSH text editor like "nano" or "vi".

• Set your FTP so that you can login as users with a valid shell from the machine. Eventually, disable root FTP login.

• Oh, one more thing... Did we talk about SFTP ?

There are hundreds in integrations available on IFTTT allowing you to send alerts in all sorts of different ways to various services and devices. This functionality is used to allow users to recieve alerts about LinuxGSM.

Setup IFTTT Webhook

To enable IFTTT you will need to setup a Webhooks integration.

1. Visit https://ifttt.com/maker_webhooks

2. Login and connect the Webhooks integration

3. Select Documentation to get your IFTTT API key.

4. Paste the API key into .

An event name is a word used to trigger IFTTT event. This word is used when setting up an applet and can be any word you choose.

IFTTT allows 3 different values to be sent using the webhook; Value1, Value2 and Value3. LinuxGSM sends different data for each value as listed below.

• Value1: Sends the name of the server e.g csgoserver

• Value2: Sends an alert subject e.g Alert - csgoserver - Test

• Value3: Sends an alert summary message.

1. Create a New applet

2. Select the Webhooks service

3. Choose Receive a web request

Many admins who have tried, reported a local server does not appear on the LAN tab in the steam browser.

Workarounds

Console Command

Connect using the console command.

connect IP:PORT

If the port is 27015, then you can just use : connect IP

connect 192.168.1.10:27025

Add server to favourites

Add the server to the server browser's favourites. If in-game, then go to the legacy browser if applicable to find it. The syntax to use is the same as for the console connection.

Fix

As this github issue shows, there might be a possible configuration that fixes the issue, but LinuxGSM devs were not able to reproduce it at the time of writing the doc, so this information is purely experimental and you are welcome to update it or post on the issue if you have useful information to share about it.

1. Edit your using your files

2. Change ip="0.0.0.0" to an actual interface IP, for example ip="192.168.1.10" ; this will allow LinuxGSM to and query your server properly.

3. In the fn_parms section, add +sv_lan 1 and make sure you replace -ip ${ip} with -ip 0.0.0.0

4. Make sure your server main port listens to one of these IP or IP ranges: 4242 ; 26900-26905 ; 27015-27020 ; 27215

Logs are an important part of monitoring a server as it allows you to know what has been happening. LinuxGSM has a log directory that allows you to track the gameserver, console and LinuxGSM itself.

If your user is gameserver, then LinuxGSM logs are located in the following directory:

/home/gameserver/log

This "log" directory contains two other directories:

• script, logs LinuxGSM script activity

• console, logs gameserver [console](../commands/console.md) output

• game, is a redirect to the game server log files if available.

  Settings

You can alter these settings to change LinuxGSM behavior:

Note: logdays="0" means logs will be removed if older than 24h.

LinuxGSM clears outdated logs according to logdays variable setting. This will affect script and console logs, as well as common game logs.

LinuxGSM also clears logs from common locations to prevent them from using gigabytes of disk space, including:

• ${systemdir}/logs

• ${systemdir}/*/logs

• ${systemdir}/addons/sourcemod/logs

Note: ${systemdir} designates the location of your game server installation

A Linux server's own email solution can be used to receive alerts about LinuxGSM.

Sending emails

LinuxGSM will send an email using the mail command.

Postfix or equivalent must be setup and correctly configured before sending emails. Failure to correctly configure Postfix and a domain for your server will mean the email alert may be flagged as spam or not arrive at all. Configuring postfix is not covered here, but there are many tutorials online to help.

If you only need to relay outbound alert emails through an external SMTP provider rather than run a full mail server, nullmailer is a lightweight alternative to Postfix. On Debian/Ubuntu, LinuxGSM will detect an existing nullmailer setup (/etc/nullmailer) and install mailutils alongside it instead of postfix, so an existing nullmailer relay won't be overwritten by LinuxGSM's dependency check.

Free SMTP relay options

Sending mail directly from a home/VPS IP is likely to be flagged as spam. Relaying through a dedicated email provider improves deliverability, and several offer a free tier suitable for the low volume of alert emails LinuxGSM sends:

Any of these can be used as the smarthost for Postfix or nullmailer — see the provider's SMTP relay setup docs for the exact Postfix/nullmailer configuration.

To enable email alerts you will need to add an email address to the .

Game developers sometimes make available several builds of the game server on Steam, often to allow beta testing of new releases. These builds are made available via branches (betas) and can be entered in the LinuxGSM Config.

Find Branches

A list of all available branches for a game server are listed on SteamDB under the appid depots.

Select a Branch

The default SteamCMD branch is public. However, it is possible to use other builds by entering a branch name in the branch setting in your LinuxGSM config.

# Steam App Branch Select
# Example: "latest_experimental"
branch="staging"

Beta Password

Some branches require a password. This can be done by entering a password in thebetapassword setting in your LinuxGSM config.

betapassword="branchpassword"

LinuxGSM uses tmux to run servers in the background so the server instance is not terminated when you close a terminal session.

Tmux is a key component of LinuxGSM and replaced screen which was used on earlier versions. tmux has a few improvements over screen; mainly being better at handling standard Linux users, this was a major issue when developing with screen. tmux allows LinuxGSM to call up a game server running in the background so you can see what it is doing; this feature is available with console feature.

tmuxception

Some server admins have attempted to run LinuxGSM within a tmux or screen session. As LinuxGSM calls tmux it is not possible to run LinuxGSM within a tmux or screen session.

Known Issues

Tmux 1.8

tmux 1.8 has an issue that prevents console logging from working. This is because the pipe-pane feature is broken in tmux 1.8 causing it not to output the console to the console log files. The only solution is to use another version of tmux.

This issue normally occuires with CentOS and is caused by the standard user not having permissions to user /dev/ptmx.

To fix this the user needs to be part of the tty group.

To confirm the user has been added check /etc/group.

If the default version of tmux (1.8) installed on CentOS 7 it will fail to log the console output. To fix this it is possible to upgrade to a newer version of tmux using the repository.

Install Ghettoforge with the following command.

Install tmux using the Ghettoforge repo.

Once installed restart the server to complete the upgrade.

In Linux, files and directories are owned by a user and a group (see File Ownership). On top of that, this user, group, and other ones (groups and users), have different permissions on these files. That's what we call file permissions. You might need to change them. If this can be boring to new users, remember that this is a huge part of what makes Linux as secured as it is, and you are required to know this if you wish to do anything serious with Linux.

Check current permissions

Check permissions from a file or all files of any directory

ls -al /path/to/file/or/dir

Sample output:

ultimatebyte@game:~$ ls -al twserver
-rwxr-x--- 1 ultimatebyte ultimatebyte 5691 Jan 30 01:14 twserver

Explaination:

• First character is a a - for files, or a d for directories

• Three next ones are owner permissions: rwx

• Three next ones are group permissions: rwx

• Three next ones are "others permissions: rwx for groups and users that are now owning the file

• First user listed is the owner

• Next entry is the group owning the file

"r" stands for "read", "w" stands for "write", "x" stands for execute. If any letter from rwx is showed as a -, it means that the permission is not granted.

Change permissions from files or directories

chmod

Append -R to your chmod

chmod -R

Set all permissions at once

chmod 777 == chmod -a+rwx chmod 000 == chmod -a-rwx

First number is for user, second is for group, third for others

Default permissions are 755. If you wish to prevent other users from interacting with your files, then 750 can be great.

chmod -R 750 /home/userdir

We used rwx for these, but of course, you should pick the permissions you wish to add or remove.

chmod +rwx filename Will add read, write, and execute permissions to this file anyone on the machine. r stands for "read", w for "write", and x for "execute"

Example : chmod +x filename Will make the file executable by anyone on the machine.

chmod -rwx filename Will remove read, write, and execute permissions to this file anyone on the machine. Note : root user is the only exception.

chmod -u+rwx chmod -g+rwx chmod -o+rwx chmod -a+rwx

chmod -u+r,g-w,o-rwx

Of course, you can replace +rwx by anything previously mentioned

Advanced permissions management, you will likely not need this for game servers.

No GUID

chmod -R a-s /path/to/dir chmod -R 0xxx /path/to/dir

Example : chmod -R 0640 /home/user/website

Set UID

Files will run as the user

chmod -R u+s /path/to/dir/ chmod -R 2xxx /path/to/dir

Set GID

Any subdir and subfile will have the same group

chmod -R g+s /path/to/dir/ chmod -R 4xxx /path/to/dir

Set GUID

Set both UID and GID

chmod -R a+s /path/to/dir/ chmod -R 6xxx /path/to/dir

For a game server to be seen online it normally has to register itself on a master server list. Valve maintains a master server for many different games. The master server is used to populate the server browser.

Master Server Check

LinuxGSM can check that supported game servers are listed on the steam master server. This is useful for confirming that the server is actually registering and to help diagnose issues.

You can check that your server is listed on the master server by using ./gameserver details

Master server:    listed

steammaster="true"

Troubleshooting: Server Missing from Master Server List

There are instances when a game server might not appear in the server list due to several common reasons:

• Server Loading Time: Please be patient while the server loads, as it may take some time before it becomes visible. Depending on the game server type, certain servers require additional time for tasks like map seeding or loading mods.

• Blocked or Misconfigured : Ensure that the ports are correctly set up and not blocked. To verify the connection, try connecting directly to the server.

• Filtering in Server List: Check that you have not applied any filters in the server browser. Filters like specific maps, "Empty Server," or "Password Protected" should be unchecked to display all available servers.

• Server Browser Limitations: It's possible that the server browser functionality of the game might not list all available game servers. In such cases, not all servers may be visible in the server list.

The configuration of LinuxGSM is handled through several config files, which are loaded in a specific order. Understanding this process is crucial to ensure that settings are appropriately placed within the correct config files.

Relative to your installation directory, config files are located in:

The LinuxGSM configuration mechanism is intentionally designed to provide users with several advantages. These include the ability to access new features, retain default settings, effectively handle multiple instances, and allow LinuxGSM to update the configuration when necessary.

_default.cfg is the template config, this file is a base of all available default settings. It can not be edited and is updated by LinuxGSM when using ./gameserver update-lgsm. This config is loaded first.

common.cfg is used for common settings that apply to all game server instances of the same installation. This saves having to apply the same settings multiple times.

Depending upon the configuration of your server you may need to be more aware of its IP address configuration and how it relates to your game server.

Your game server can be hosted online using a server provider such as Linode or on a at home for either local-only LAN parties or allowing online players in through your router.

If your server is hosted on the internet using a server provider you should have been allocated a public internet IP address that will be accessible by everyone on the internet.

Using a home server or virtual machine on your desktop is a great way to get started with LinuxGSM. However, a local network (LAN) may require a better understanding of networking equipment, how local IP addressing works, and technologies such as and .

When a server is hosted on a local network it will be given a private IP address that is only accessible to other devices on your local network. This is fine if you want to get friends around host a game server for a good old-fashioned LAN party. But if you want to allow online players access to your local game server you will need to configure your home router's firewall and setup port forwarding using NAT.

All computers will have some sort of physical or virtual

To automate LinuxGSM you can set scheduled tasks using cronjobs, to run any command at any given time.

Commonly used scheduled tasks are:

• Automatically check for updates

• Automatically check for server crash and restart if needed

• Automatically keep LinuxGSM up to date

FastDL (Fast Download) allows the client to download custom server content (maps, materials, models, particles, sounds, fonts, images) from a web server.

It is used to offload content downloads to a web server instead of relying on source servers (SRCDS) that only allows 20KBps downloads to clients. Content on the web server can be compressed to further speed up the download process. This means that custom content downloads much faster.

Valve now use steam workshop for most custom content however FastDL is still required in some cases.

LinuxGSM FastDL automatically creates the web directories and compresses the content for you.

• All Source engine servers

• HLDM Servers

LinuxGSM allows for the simple installation of game servers. The installer is designed to get a game server to a working state allowing the game server to be started right away.

The installer will:

• Create required directories

• Install/advise on required dependencies

• Download the game server files

LinuxGSM uses the most recent version of UT2K4 server available for Linux.

v3369.3

This includes the various map packs such as the UT2004 Mega Pack.

Complete list of maps available with the LinuxGSM installer

A firewall is a security device that blocks or allows network traffic on to a system or network to prevent unauthorised access and help protect from malicious attack. Firewalls can also assist in rate limiting traffic to prevent too much traffic being sent to a system. This is useful for game servers to help prevent a DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) attack that can overwhelm a game server.

Firewalls can be physical hardware devices that sit on a network, or software that sits on a server or desktop device. This page will focus mainly on software firewalls.

A (DDoS) attack occurs when multiple systems flood the bandwidth or resources of a targeted system, usually one or more web servers. Such an attack is often the result of multiple compromised systems (for example, a botnet) flooding the targeted system with traffic. A botnet is a network of zombie computers programmed to receive commands without the owners' knowledge. Server providers may offer DDoS protection, such as Arbor, that will mitigate such attacks before it reaches a server. However, this feature is often provided as a premium feature meaning often only available on more expensive servers. Some providers may also provide sub-standard protection that may incorrectly filter traffic. So be aware of what protection if a server provider has to protect your server.

is the most commonly used and supported Linux firewall utility, with many other tools interfacing with it To see iptables rules: iptables -L To flush (erase) iptables rules:

Autorefresh can lag the server when certain Lua files are edited. This happens when the refreshing cascades. This can be unwanted behavior when editing the scripts of a large project on a live server.

To disable autorefresh, add -disableluarefresh to parms.

Loading screens are added by defining a website with sv_loadingurl, which is in gmodserver.cfg by default. This file overrides other files.

Gamemode is changed by editing start parameters in the LinuxGSM config file.

Other game modes like Zombie Survival can be found on the .

is an open standard for decentralised, real-time communication. LinuxGSM uses the to send alerts to a room on any Matrix homeserver (matrix.org or self-hosted).

Create a room for LinuxGSM to post alerts into using any Matrix client (e.g. ).

An access token authenticates LinuxGSM as your Matrix account.

In Element: Settings > Help & About > Advanced > Access Token and click to reveal, then copy it.

LinuxGSM needs the room's internal room ID, which starts with ! (e.g. !wsxanjDijPztgZgrYL:matrix.org).

Turn on Matrix alerts and enter your details in the (~/lgsm/config-lgsm/<gameserver>/common.cfg).

Symlinks create multiple paths to a file or directory and are useful for saving space or having 1 set of files for multiple installs.

This guide is for pointing multiple directories to the same folder using ln command. Ln creates hardlinks and softlinks, the -s variable creates softlinks. These can be compared to shortcuts on windows, and are going to be used in this guide.

Example guide using two "one server + one user" installs with Sven Co-op:

Gameserver folder 1: /home/svencoop/serverfiles/svencoop_downloads/

Gameserver folder 2: /home/svencoop2/serverfiles/svencoop_downloads/

Shared folder /home/svencoop_content/svencoop_downloads/

allows the sending of push notifications to various devices such a PC, phone and tablet. This functionality is used to allow users to recieve alerts about LinuxGSM.

To enable Pushbullet alerts an Access Token needs to be generated. Access Tokens are available from Pushbullet setting found .

Once you have created a token insert it in to you .

Alerts can also be sent to Pushbullet channels. Channels are push notification feeds that can be subscribed to. Anything you push to a channel will instantly go to all of the channel's subscribers. Only the owner of a channel can push to it.

Visit to generate a channel.

Once you have created the channel set the channeltag in the script without using hash #

Authentication Token

Don't Starve Together server requires an Authentication Token.

1. Go to the Klei website https://accounts.klei.com.

2. After logging into your account visit this page to get your game server authentication token.

3. Enter a friendly name for your server and copy the access token and paste it into the file cluster_token.txt.

You can quickly do this by running the following command, replacing [AUTHTOKEN] with your authentication token.

A Don't Starve Together server consists of clusters and shards.

One cluster can contain multiple shards. A shard is simply a map/level. Multiple shards are connected by cave entrances/exits found on the map. These are functioning as portals to allow players to travel between actual game servers.

By default, the cluster will be single-sharded. So you only need one server but you will also only have one map.

Default start parameter setting:

Take a look at to get a general idea of how to create multiple game servers.

There are two types of shards:

1. master shard: the shard you enter when joining the server / the shard/server you have to join (one per cluster)

2. slave shard: shard that will connect to the master (arbitrary number per cluster)

In this example, we will only use two shards, one overworld shard and one cave shard, on the same machine using the same installation. If you want to use more shards or run the shards on different machines, take a look at the guides mentioned at the bottom. First of all we need two scripts:

dstserver-1 will be the master shard with an overworld as level.

~/.klei/DoNotStarveTogether/Cluster_1/Master/server.ini

dstserver-2 (this will be the slave shard with a cave as level):

~/.klei/DoNotStarveTogether/Cluster_1/Caves/server.ini

If you want to Caves and Overworld to display on the same server, you also to change the cluster.ini, otherwise it will run two instances, one with the Overworld and another with the Caves:

~/.klei/DoNotStarveTogether/Cluster_1/cluster.ini

Set all installation variables BEFORE running the ./dstserver-[1,2] install commands. Feel free to change these settings but make sure that you set them to the same clusters. You also should not change them afterwards.

For clarity it is recommended recommend naming the master shard Master.

Lastly you have to start both servers. The order does not matter because the slave server will auto-retry connecting to the master server which is listening.

Setting cave="true" on a shard is all that is required to turn it into an actual cave, LinuxGSM handles the rest automatically during install.

When a server is installed with cave="true", LinuxGSM writes the following file for you:

~/.klei/DoNotStarveTogether/Cluster_1/Caves/worldgenoverride.lua

This is what tells the game to generate an underground cave map for that shard instead of a normal overworld. Without it, a "Caves" shard would just generate a second overworld map. Since this file is only written on install, changing cave on an already-installed shard requires a fresh install (or a reinstall) of that instance to regenerate the world with the new preset.

LinuxGSM does not install or manage Don't Starve Together mods automatically, this has to be done manually in three steps.

Add each mod's Steam Workshop ID to dedicated_server_mods_setup.lua so the dedicated server downloads it from the Workshop.

~/serverfiles/mods/dedicated_server_mods_setup.lua

Run ./dstserver update (or install) afterwards so the mods get downloaded.

Each shard (Master and Caves) needs its own modoverrides.lua listing which mods are enabled for that shard.

~/.klei/DoNotStarveTogether/Cluster_1/Master/modoverrides.lua

Copy the same file into the Caves shard directory if you want the mod active there too, most world/gameplay mods need to be enabled on both shards to behave consistently.

Some mods expose extra configuration options (difficulty, spawn rates, etc). The easiest way to generate a correctly formatted modoverrides.lua with these settings is to temporarily host a non-dedicated client server with the same mods enabled, configure the mods through the in-game mod options UI, generate the world once, then copy the resulting modoverrides.lua from that client's save folder over to both the Master and Caves shard directories on the dedicated server.

The details command allows access to various useful information about the game server. Details are gathered from configs, parameters and server queries.

Commands

details

Standard: ./gameserver details

Short: ./gameserver dt

postdetails

postdetails (using hastebin) is used to share server details, to help with support, while hiding sensitive information:

Standard: ./gameserver postdetails

Short: ./gameserver pd

Details Provided

Various relevant details are provided including:

• Distro Details

• Performance

• Disk usage

• Server Name

details provides the following status and connectivity information:

Public access also depends on the server binding to the correct network interface, inbound firewall rules, and any router port forwarding or container port mappings. An external query response confirms that the query service is reachable from that test location; connecting with a game client checks player access.

See for troubleshooting steps.

Requirements

• A Hytale account that owns the game. It's needed even to download the dedicated server, and for the server itself to run.

• Java 25 (openjdk-25-jre on Debian/Ubuntu, java-25-openjdk on RHEL-based distros). LinuxGSM installs it as a dependency.

• At least 4 GB of RAM. The download is about 3.5 GB.

Hytale isn't on Steam. LinuxGSM downloads the server with Hytale's official hytale-downloader.

A Hytale server needs two separate logins with your Hytale account. Each one is approved once in a browser, then saved and renewed automatically.

The server login is encrypted with a key tied to the machine, so it only works on the machine (or container) where it was created. After restoring a backup on another machine, or re-creating a Docker container, the server can't read it and needs a new login. LinuxGSM detects this on start and shows a new server login URL.

1. Create and install the server:

2. Downloader login. The install stops at Hytale account login required and shows a URL. Open it in a browser, log in with your Hytale account and approve the code. The install waits up to 15 minutes, then downloads and extracts the server.

3. Start the server:

4. Server login. On the first start, LinuxGSM shows Hytale server login required

If the server login code expires, or you need to log in again, send the command to the server console and approve the code shown in the console log (./hytserver console):

The flow is the same, but there's no terminal, so the login URLs appear in the container logs:

1. Start the container and follow its logs:

2. Approve the downloader login URL from the logs within 15 minutes. The install then completes.

3. When the server starts, approve the server login URL from the logs, or from your configured alert (Discord, ntfy and so on), within 10 minutes.

The downloader login is saved under serverfiles on the data volume, so re-creating or updating the container doesn't ask for it again. The server login is tied to the container, so after re-creating or updating the container, approve the new server login URL from the logs or your alert.

The server creates serverfiles/Server/config.json on first start. Stop the server before editing it.

./hytserver details shows the server name, password and max players from this file.

To use a different patchline (for example pre-release), set hytalepatchline in your LinuxGSM instance config.

To change the port, set port in your LinuxGSM instance config (lgsm/config-lgsm/hytserver/hytserver.cfg). It's passed to the server as --bind.

./hytserver update and ./hytserver check-update use the saved downloader login, so they run unattended, for example from cron or with updateonstart="on". LinuxGSM keeps your world, config.json, mods, bans and the server login when it updates.

If the saved downloader login stops working, an unattended update fails within 5 minutes with a message, rather than waiting forever. Run ./hytserver update in a terminal and approve the login again.

Server Resources

• Official Dedicated Server Guide

Valheim Servers require Passwords

Valheim servers require a server password to start a server. This means it is not possible to connect to a Valheim server unless you know the password.

Direct connect to a Valheim Server

The Valheim in-game browser can be slow, as a workaround you can directly connect to a server in-game through the Join Game tab by pressing the Join IP button, or by adding a server to your Steam server browser favorites. To access the Steam server list, at the top left of the Steam library window go View > Game Servers > Favorites, and click the blue + button. Use ./vhserver details to list the current query port. The default port is 2457.

LinuxGSM starts Valheim with the -crossplay parameter by default. Crossplay routes connections through the PlayFab relay so that Xbox and PC Game Pass players can join alongside Steam players.

If your server is Steam-only and players connect by direct IP or through the Steam server browser, you may want to disable crossplay. With crossplay enabled, players may not be able to reach the server directly.

To disable crossplay, copy the startparameters line from lgsm/config-lgsm/vhserver/_default.cfg into your instance config (for example lgsm/config-lgsm/vhserver/vhserver.cfg) and remove -crossplay:

With crossplay disabled and the server public, deeper monitoring is available by setting querymode="2" and querytype="protocol-valve" in your instance config.

See for more on overriding startparameters.

Valheim has been previously known to have problems with long server names and special characters, if you are having trouble connecting to a server try making its name shorter or remove special characters.

Add admins to Valheim server:

By default, LinuxGSM will use the 0.0.0.0 meta-address. This behavior will allow the game server to bind to all interfaces and allow LinuxGSM to query all available IP addresses. If there are multiple IP addresses available, details will display 0.0.0.0.

Internet IP: LinuxGSM will try to gather the server's internet IP address to be shown in details.

Specific IP: If a specific IP address needs to be set it can be done using the ip setting in the LinuxGSM or game server config files. Depending upon the game server this will allow it to bind to a specific IP address.

Display IP: If you want to change the IP address displayed in alerts you can use the displayip.

Requirements

• glibc 2.28 or newer. The native Linux server arrived with the Conan Exiles Enhanced update.

• At least 8 GB of RAM.

The dedicated server (Steam app 443030) downloads anonymously, so no Steam login is needed.

Server Settings

The server name, max players and ports are set as start parameters in your instance config (lgsm/config-lgsm/ceserver/ceserver.cfg):

Other settings are in ServerSettings.ini, which the server creates on its first start:

This includes AdminPassword and ServerPassword. Stop the server before editing it, then start it again.

When running more than one instance, leave a gap of at least two between game ports, so the raw port doesn't clash.

RCON is off by default. To enable it, add an [RconPlugin] section to Game.ini in the same folder as ServerSettings.ini:

If you enable RCON, also open the RCON port (TCP) in your firewall.

The Conan Exiles server doesn't exit after a single CTRL+c, so LinuxGSM uses 16, which sends CTRL+c twice.

The server writes its logs to serverfiles/ConanSandbox/Saved/Logs.

Depending upon the game server you are running it is possible to run multiple game servers on the same server host.

There are two recommended ways to run multiple game servers on one physical server. Depending upon the circumstances you may choose a particular method or mixture of both.

It is best to make a proper plan for running multiple game servers at the earliest stage of your deployment. Make sure that you examine this page carefully and understand all of its content before starting.

You need some definitions to make this guide clear.

• Installation: An installation refers to the base directory of a game server. This is where the files required to run a game server is stored.

• Game Port Default: 26000 UDP

As written in the FAQ, the default Configuration files are located in:

• A Steam account that owns Running With Rifles. The dedicated server is part of the game (app 270150) and can't be downloaded anonymously. Set steamuser and steampass as described in .

• The WW2 game modes also need the account to own the matching DLC (see ).

Unreal Tournament 99 Requires a few alterations from the official server download. Because of this, the LinuxGSM version of the server files includes the following.

• OldUnreal-UTPatch469a-Linux.tar.bz2 ()

• ut-server-436.tar (Latest Official Version)

LinuxGSM can warn players in-game before it stops, restarts or updates a server, so they have time to finish what they are doing.

Set warnplayerstimer to the number of minutes of warning to give, in common.cfg or an instance config. It is off (0) by default.

LinuxGSM works out the warnings from the timer, counting down through 60, 30, 15, 10, 5, 3 and 1 minutes:

Many tutorials state that the game disk is required to install a CoD4 server. This is because the server is built into the client. This made it difficult to distribute and create a CoD4 server.

After investigating this issue, it was found that it is possible to run a server with most of the client files removed. This greatly reduces the file size and prevents the client from being used. Because of this LinuxGSM provides a download to only the files required to run the server. Preventing the use of the client, removing the opportunity to use the server to pirate the game.

cod4server uses CoD4x project for its server, rather than the original, as it fixes various bugs and adds a few features over the vanilla server.

CoD4x has its own update functionality. It will automatically check for updates and does not require LinuxGSM to check for updates.

CoD4x game servers (since version 17.6) require a server token to be listed on the CoD4x master server.

For a typical public Source dedicated server, allow 27015/UDP inbound for players and server browser queries. If the server is behind a router, forward that port to the server. Add incoming ports for RCON or SourceTV only when you use those services over the Internet.

The table shows common Source defaults. Use your configured ports if they differ, and check the game's requirements for additional services. GoldSrc and Source 2 games may differ.

Direction is relative to your server: Inbound starts with another machine contacting your server; Outbound starts with your server contacting another service. Replies travel in the opposite direction.

Linux files and directories always belong to a user and group. That is what we call ownership. If this can be boring to new users, remember that this is a huge part of what makes Linux as secure as it is.

ls -l

Example output:

Syntax of the output is:

• d for directory or - for file