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

Commands

Standard: ./gameserver map-compressor

Short: ./gameserver mc

The debug command is used to start your server directly in your current terminal (outside of (tmux) 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.

Commands

Standard: ./gameserver debug

Short: ./gameserver d

To get started is to visit linuxgsm.com 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 configuration section will help you understand how to configure both LinuxGSM and the game server.

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.

Commands

Run the following command to access console:

Standard: ./gameserver console

Short: ./gameserver c

Answer y at the prompt.

Exiting the console

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

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

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

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.

Commands

Starting a server

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

./gameserver start

Stopping a server

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

./gameserver stop

Stop only if empty (optional)

If stoponlyifnoplayers setting is enabled LinuxGSM will only stop the server if it is empty and prevent it from stopping otherwise. This feature only works with game servers that can use gamedig.

Restarting a server

Will simply stop, and then start the server.

./gameserver restart

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

• User docs:

• Dev Docs:

Welcome

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 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.

Commands

Standard: ./gameserver force-update

Short: ./gameserver fu

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.

Commands

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.

Automatic update

Update on start

It is possible to update a game server on start, by editing the LinuxGSM config.

updateonstart="on"

This will take longer for the game server to start but can be useful for servers that are kept offline most of the time.

Scheduled updates

A can be set to run 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.

It is recommended to check for updates once per hour.

is a great resource to generate cronjobs.

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.

Commands

Standard: ./gameserver skeleton

Short: ./gameserver sk

Skeleton Directory

The skeleton directory is created in skel.

Use Case

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.

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.

Automatic check for update

Scheduled check for updates

A cronjob 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.

0 * * * * /home/username/gameserver check-update > /dev/null 2>&1

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

0 * * * * su - username -c '/home/username/gameserver update' > /dev/null 2>&1

crontab.guru is a great resource to generate cronjobs.

TODO

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

• Load config files

• Apply any fixes required to get the game server working

Commands

Standard Install

The standard installation is the default installation method that requires user interaction.

Standard: ./gameserver install

Short: ./gameserver i

Auto Install

Auto install is useful for automatic server deployments as no user prompt is required.

Standard: ./gameserver auto-install

Short: ./gameserver ai

Installation

1. Make your script executable:

chmod +x gameserver

1. Run the install command: ./gameserver install or ./gameserver auto-install to bypass any prompts.

2. Follow on-screen instructions.

Install Dependencies

Installation of dependencies requires either sudo or root access. LinuxGSM can automatically install dependencies if the user has sudo or is root.

Dependencies as root

As root run ./gameserver install and the installer will complete a dependency installation only, ignoring the other installation steps.

Dependencies as sudo user

If a user has sudo access the installer will prompt to enter the sudo password to automatically install dependencies. If sudo is not available the installer will advise on the command required to install dependencies.

Common Installation Issues

User Permission Issues

LinuxGSM may fail to run if the correct permissions have not been used. This fault commonly occurs if an admin has not correctly followed installation instructions found on

Common faults include:

• Trying to install the LinuxGSM as root.

• Trying to install LinuxGSM in a directory not owned by the correct user.

• Not making gameserver file executable using the chmod +x command.

If trying to run as root LinuxGSM will fail to run. See .

To check if the correct user owns the directory or gameserver file, use ls -al

Example output

If some files/directories are not owned by the correct user, use the chown command. Login as root and use the following command, changing the details to match your server

chown -R username:username /home/gameserver

chown -R csgoserver:csgoserver /home/csgoserver

Poor Network Connection to Steam servers

If the connection to the Steam servers is poor (quite common), the SteamCMD download can fail. This is why LinuxGSM will always ask you if the installation was successful allowing admins to retry the download should it fail.

If there are still issues downloading try the option.

./gameserver validate

If downloading is still failing it may be worth contacting your server provider to confirm Steam servers are not being blocked for any reason.

It is also worth searching the internet for issues relating to the error message you receive.

Not Enough Storage

Some game servers take up a significant amount of disk space. If you are having issues downloading check that your server has enough space available.

To check your available storage, use:

df -h or ./gameserver details

DNS Issue

Make sure you can ping using a hostname.

Should this fail, your server may not have DNS lookup correctly configured.

Using systemd

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

Crontab

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 @reboot that will run a command on boot.

Using monitor command

After a reboot, any game server that has a "started" status will be started on boot. Servers that were manually stopped will remain stopped.

To learn more, see and .

Using start command

Start a game server unconditionally, even if you manually stop a server.

To learn more, see

rc.local

rc.local is another method to run scripts on boot. Any commands added to the rc.local file will run on boot.

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:

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 .

Predefined Parameters

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 Parameters

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

Anything added will be appended to the server executable binary.

Basic Example

Full Example

Parameters reference

• 7 Days to Die

• Gold Source Servers

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.

Supported Servers

• All Source engine servers

Commands

Standard: ./gameserver fastdl

Short: ./gameserver fd

Supported file formats

• Maps (.bsp)

• Materials (.vtf, .vmt, .png, .svg)

• Models (.vtx, .vvd, .mdl, .phy)

• Particles (.pcf)

• Sounds (.wav, .mp3, .ogg)

• Fonts (.otf, .ttf)

• Images (.png, .svg)

Requirements

• Web server on the game server (Apache/Nginx).

  or

• Access to a remote web server.

Usage

Generate Compressed files

Run the FastDL command on your main LinuxGSM script. This will create a new directory /home/gameserver/public_html/fastdl

./gameserver fastdl

Create A virtual Host (local Apache web server)

If Apache2 is being used a virtual host pointing to the newly created public_html directory can be used.

Tip: Apache2 mod "userdir" is useful if the Linux server is hosting , as it creates a url for the current user http://yourwebsite.ltd/~username.

Tutorial on setup of Apache2 server with Virtual Hosts

Here is an example of setting up Apache2 using a subdomain.

This works for Apache 2.4+ and when using a domain name. If you have got a different configuration, refer to the Apache2 documentation.

Firstly make sure your subdomain redirects to your game server and that Apache2 is correctly installed and started. Create a virtual host in order to be able to host a website :

nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/yourvirtualhost.com.conf

See the example below and edit the relevent details.

Enable your website by restarting Apache2

Test the domain, to make sure it is working http://subdomain.domain.com/fastdl

Edit Game Server config

The new url will need to be added to the

nano serverfiles/gamename/cfg/game-server.cfg

Make sure you have this:

Re-generate FastDL

If the custom server content is updated or removed re running the fastdl command is required to ensure that the webserver is in sync with the game server.

Note for addons developers : Note that clients won't download a file that they already downloaded unless you rename it.

Bzip2 Compression

Custom server content can be compressed using bzip2 which is supported by source games, allowing clients downloads will be faster. It is a must-have if you're hosting large files, as it will save you bandwidth, and speed up downloads for clients. However, using bzip2 on many small files can slow down client loading times.

Garry's Mod Download enforcer

In order for a client to download files from a FastDL in Garry's Mod, the developer of an addon must put files from the addon into lua code resource.Addfile ( "/path/to/file.ext" ). However, some addon developers do not do this. In order for clients to download the required files, an lua file needs to be generated for it to work, which is what the lua enforcer feature does. The only downside is that clients may download files that are not required on the server.

Call of Duty 4 Server Files

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.

CoD4x

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.

https://cod4x.ovh

Updating CoD4x

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

CoD4x Master Server

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

To generate a token visit here.

Once a token is generated add it to the sv_authtoken cvar in server.cfg or command-line parameters.

server.cfg

set sv_authtoken "mytokenhere"`

command-line parameters

+set sv_authtoken "mytokenhere"

The server then needs to be restarted to allow the game server to be listed.

CoD4x master server list

Mod Support

Mods for Call of Duty 4 have to be manually added to the game server.

Adding Mods

To run a mod the servers fs_game variable must be set correctly. Mods reside in the mods folder inside fs_homepath. Example directory tree:

mods/                                  
     ├── pml220                         
     │   ├── mod.ff                         
     │   ├── pml220.iwd                     
     │   ├── z_c_r.iwd

To start the server with a mod set the fs_game variable accordingly.

parms="+set sv_punkbuster 0 +set fs_basepath ${serverfiles} +set dedicated 1 +set net_ip ${ip} +set net_port ${port} +set sv_maxclients ${maxplayers} +exec ${servercfg} +map ${defaultmap} +set fs_game "mods/pml220""

Custom Maps

Modded CoD4 servers have the ability to run with user-created maps. To run a server with a custom map, it has to first be placed in the usermaps directory (if missing simply create it yourself).

    ├── usermaps
    │   ├── mp_nuketown
    │   │   ├── mp_nuketown.ff
    │   │   ├── mp_nuketown.iwd
    │   │   ├── mp_nuketown_load.ff

Typically, maps are prefixed by mp_ following the maps name.

Running custom maps on unmodded servers

Running custom maps on unmodded servers is not supported, but there is a neat workaround to still load custom maps. First, create a mods folder and some empty folder inside it.

    ├── mods
    │   ├── myemptymod

Now set fs_game to mods/myemptymod and you will be able to run custom maps.

Fast Download

Fast download is possible with CoD4 to allow custom maps and mods to be hosted on a webserver.

set sv_allowDownload "1" // allow clients to download gamefiles
set sv_wwwDownload "1" // enable download redirection
set sv_wwwBaseURL "http://domain.tld/cod4fastdl/" // defines url to download from
set sv_wwwDlDisconnected "0" // disconnect clients while downloading

here sv_wwwBaseURL has to point to a URL served by your web server.

An example directory tree for a served folder may look as below:

    cod4fastdl/
    ├── mods
    │   ├── pml220
    │   │   ├── mod.ff
    │   │   ├── pml220.iwd
    │   │   ├── z_c_r.iwd
    ├── usermaps
    │   ├── mp_nuketown
    │   │   ├── mp_nuketown.ff
    │   │   ├── mp_nuketown.iwd
    │   │   ├── mp_nuketown_load.ff

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

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.

Enable Email alerts

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

# Email Alerts | https://github.com/GameServerManagers/LinuxGSM/wiki/Email
emailalert="off"
email="[email protected]"
emailfrom=""

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.

Commands

Standard: ./gameserver validate

Short: ./gameserver v

LinuxGSM supports the installation, updating, and removing of selected mods and add-ons for some games and engines. Zip add-ons are currently the only supported installations.

Commands

Install mods

./gameserver mods-install

./gameserver mi

Update mods

./gameserver mods-update

./gameserver mu

Remove mods

./gameserver mods-remove

./gameserver mr

Supported mods/add-ons

(This list was last updated on 2020-11-19)

Goldsrc Engine Games (v20.6.0+)

• Metamod

• AMX Mod X

Additional Game Specific AMX Mod X addons:

• Counter-Strike 1.6

• Day of Defeat

• Team Fortress Classic

• The Specialists

• Natural Selection

Source Engine Games

• Metamod: Source

• SourceMod

For Garry's Mod

• ACF

• ACF Missiles

• DarkRP

• DarkRP Modification

• PAC3

• UClip

• ULib

• ULX

• UTime

Unity3D Games

Rust, Hurtworld, 7 Days To Die

• Oxide Mod

Technical Details

Install

• All available mods are defined in the mods_list.sh.

• Mods hosted on github use the latest archive link available. Others are scraped through a mods download mirrors in order to find the latest version.

• If some mods are already installed, a list of installed mods shows up. If a user tries to install a mod that is already installed, there will be a warning that any custom files will be overwritten.

• A list of available mods is displayed to the user, including the developers website.

• After the user selects a mod, the file gets downloaded and extracted to a temporary directory.

• A list of the mod files is created at lgsm/mods/modname-files.txt. This list allows the mod to be removed if required. LinuxGSM developers have whitelisted important customisable files such as mod config files that will not be removed. If there are any important files that have been missed please raise an issue.

• Files and directories then get copied to the correct destination.

• LinuxGSM updates a file containing a list of installed mods lgsm/mods/installed-mods.txt.

Update

• The list lgsm/mods/installed-mods.txt is used to identify which mods are installed. If a non-referenced mod is found, the updater will stop with an error.

• Three update types are available

  • OVERWRITE will overwrite all mod files.

  • NOUPDATE will prevent this mod from being updated. Useful for a framework that is designed to be entirely customized.

  • RETAIN keeps the whitelisted files and updating everything else.

• As there is no easy way to check for mod versions, the update process will update every single installed mod every time the command is run.

• The process is pretty similar as the installation, mod gets downloaded, extracted, files get removed. Removed files go to a temp file list, then file list list built and temp file list added to it. Finaly the mod gets copied to destination using cp -Rf.

• If an admin wants to overwrite custom files, then he can either uninstall/reinstall the mod, or just install over it.

Remove

• A list of installed mods is displayed, user has to pick one to remove.

• Any file listed in lgsm/mods/modname-files.txt gets removed.

• The file list gets removed, as well as the entry in installed-mods.txt.

Adding mod support

What mods can be added

Any as long as the archive can be found online and the installation consists of extracting an archive to the serverfiles directory.

Asking to add support for a mod

If there is a mod you wish to see supported by LinuxGSM please raise a GitHub issue with any relevant info about the mod.

Developers

If you wish to create a pull-request yourself for this, please make sure you read the "Developer" section at the bottom right of the wiki.

Usually, editing mods_list.sh should be enough to add mod support. This script contains comments helping you to understand how to use it.

Basically: Add an array variable containing mod info, then add the array to the global array.

Long explanation: The list is based on arrays, used to define all mod properties. You need to make sure that every value is filled up and in the correct order, that mod commands are unique and that multiple choices values are ended with a semicolon (;), otherwise the last value will be ignored. You might need to add an entry in fn_mod_tidy_files_list from mods_core.sh in order to remove lines from mod's file list so that they do not get wrongly removed with the mods-remove command. For further assistance on developing this contact UltimateByte who developed those functions and dgibbs that reworked it should be able to help.

Server Resources

Official Resources

Sven Co-op Forums

Sven Co-op Official Discord

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

Sven Co-op Map Database

Sven Co-op Tips

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

//Default Survival state (enabled by default) 1=on 2=off
mp_survival_mode 

//1=Players can vote to enable/disable survival 2=Players can't vote on this
mp_survival_voteallow 

//Number of retries before "next map" vote starts. -1 is infinite,  3 is default
mp_survival_retries 

//Minimum number of players needed to start Survival mode
mp_survival_minplayers 

Sven Co-op Guides

Make FastDL Webserver Case Insensitive

The backup command allows the creation of .tar.gz archives of a game server. This can be used to transfer a game server to another Linux server, to backup the game server before a risky change, to save the current state of the game server.

Commands

Standard: ./gameserver backup

Short: ./gameserver b

Example Output

Backup Settings

Alter these three settings by editing .

maxbackups

Set the maximum number of backups with maxbackups. If the number of backups exceeds this value, the oldest backup will be removed after a successful backup.

maxbackupdays

Set the maximum age of a backup using maxbackupdays. Any backups older than X days will be removed after a successful backup.

stoponbackup

Set if the server should be stopped for a backup using stoponbackup. If the server is running it will be stopped while the backup is running and started again once complete. This is useful to prevent any file changes during compression that could result in a corrupt or failed backup.

Automated Backups

Automated backups can be set using . It is recommended that frequently you backup and your retention policy to prevent your server is carefully considered to prevent storage issues.

cronjob example

see

Backups Location

By default backups are saved in the backup directory.

You can change this using the and the property backupdir.

Checking Backups

Use ./gameserver details to view information about created backups.

Alternative Backup Methods

Using the backup feature is not the only way to backup a game server. There are other methods that have more features are are more powerful than the basic LinuxGSM backup feature. Below are are few applications that can be used instead of, or with LinuxGSM backups.

rsync

is one of the most common ways to backup. It is a remote sync tool that is created for sending files/directory's to another location. Particularly good for syncing to another server.

Duplicity

Is an incremental backup solution that allows backups to all sorts of different locations including many different cloud storage solutions like BackBlaze B2 and Amazon S3. Once configured it can be a powerful and efficient backup solution.

duplicity-backup.sh

duplicity-backup.sh is a very useful bash wrapper to help automate duplicity.

rclone

is similar to rsync however can easily sync to cloud storage solutions.

Server Information

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

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.

There are hundreds in integrations available on 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

2. Login and connect the Webhooks integration

3. Select Documentation to get your IFTTT API key.

4. Paste the API key into .

Create an IFTTT event name

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.

Values

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.

How to create an applet

1. Create a New applet

2. Select the Webhooks service

3. Choose Receive a web request

4. Enter your Event Name and click Create Trigger

5. Select an action service.

6. Give the applet a name and save.

Server Resources

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.

Long Server Names

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.

Other Resources:

Add admins to Valheim server:

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

Using Symlinks to Save Storage Space

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/

The command to link these would be ln -s /shared_folder/ /gameserver_folder/

ln -s /home/svencoop_maps/svencoop_downloads/ /home/svencoop/serverfiles/

ln -s /home/svencoop_maps/svencoop_downloads/ /home/svencoop2/serverfiles/

Change the game server folder ownership to be under their respective users and you are done.

chown svencoop /home/svencoop/serverfiles/svencoop_downloads

chown svencoop2 /home/svencoop2/serverfiles/svencoop_downloads

The files in the symlinks do not need be owned by the gameserver users and will not be recognized by linuxGSM's ownership check. That being said, make sure they can be read by the gameserver users.

Symlink resources

Rocket.chat is an open-source collaboration tool.

Create a Rocket.chat Webhook

1. Follow the 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)

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.

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

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 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

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

Supported Servers

• TeamSpeak 3

Commands

Standard: ./gameserver change-password

Short: ./gameserver pw

Server Resources

Telnet

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

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)

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"

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

Some games require FastDL to be case insensitive, apache2 is case sensitive by default. Enabling apache2 mod_speling ignores case sensitivity on a LAMP stack. This guide applies to debian and ubuntu. At the bottom of this page are external guides that include CentOS/Fedora. This workaround will not work on shared webhosting where editing apache2 files is not available.

Enable mod_speling:

a2enmod speling

Restart apache:

service apache2 restart

Apache needs to be told which directories mod_speling is applied to, open the webserver's .conf file located inside /etc/apache2/sites-available/ and set AllowOverride to All.

Example:

<Directory /var/www/html/>
	Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
	AllowOverride All
	Require all granted
</Directory>

Set apache2 to use the .conf file you just edited:

a2ensite name_of_.conf_file

In /var/www/html/ or your webserver directory, create a .htaccess file with this:

<IfModule mod_speling.c>
CheckSpelling On
CheckCaseOnly On
</IfModule>

Test the configuration by creating a file, like test.txt, and see if it can be opened in browser by typing TEST.txt, test.TXT, etc. If it works, you are finished.

mod_speling Documentation

Guides from other sources:

Wikitechy mod_speling Guide

a2Hosting mod_speling Guide

TO-DO

Avoid a security breach and allow you to run multiple servers

(NOTE: This method is detailed further here. The web page also describes how to give certain users the default full access to listing all processes.)

By default, a user can see all started processes from other users, which is bad, but also their start parameters, which is pretty dangerous. Those start parameters can contain sensitive information, such as RCON password, Steam API keys and GSLT upon start, a Rust dedicated server is checking if the process name started by any user, and will prevent you from running it again if it finds it, displaying "Player is already running".

To avoid that, run:

mount -o remount,rw,hidepid=2 /proc

And to keep the changes upon machine reboot:

nano /etc/fstab
# Here are the modification to apply to the "proc" line
proc    /proc    proc    defaults,hidepid=2    0    0

You still need to make one user per server, change ports, and repeat the install process. (See this for more info)

Install Sourcemod and Metamod:Source

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

Create a Slack Webhook

A webhook is required to post alerts to a slack.

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

2. Copy the Webhook URL

3. Turn on slack alerts and enter the URL in to the LinuxGSM settings. (~/lgsm/config-lgsm/<gameserver>/common.cfg)

# Slack Alerts | https://docs.linuxgsm.com/alerts/slack
slackalert="on"
slackwebhook="your webhook url"

Pushover 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.

Setup Pushover Alerts

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

Visit here to create a new application.

• name: LinuxGSM

• Check the box agreeing to the Terms Of Service.

Once the application has been created get the API key and user key (which can be found in the pushover dashboard). Turn on Pushover alerts and paste in API key and user key in the LinuxGSM config.

# Pushover Alerts | https://github.com/GameServerManagers/LinuxGSM/wiki/Pushover
pushoveralert="on"
pushoveruserkey="yourpushoverid"
pushovertoken="b5u24t1wua34gmh14kr1s3erkwi7tl"

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.

create session failed: Operation not permitted

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

create session failed: ./srcds_linux -game csgo: Operation not permitted

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

usermod -G tty csgoserver

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

grep tty /etc/group

tty:x:5:csgoserver

Upgrade tmux CentOS 7 using Ghettoforge

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 Ghettoforge repository.

Install Ghettoforge with the following command.

yum install http://mirror.ghettoforge.org/distributions/gf/gf-release-latest.gf.el7.noarch.rpm

Install tmux using the Ghettoforge repo.

yum --enablerepo=gf-plus install tmux

Once installed restart the server to complete the upgrade.

restart

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 Ports: 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.

Pushbullet 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.

Enable Pushbullet alerts

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

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

# Pushbullet Alerts | https://github.com/GameServerManagers/LinuxGSM/wiki/Pushbullet
pushbulletalert="on"
pushbullettoken="o.noWN6jpIeBUkLraw24saHKd7ksOkn7on"
channeltag=""

Enable Channels

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 here to generate a channel.

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

channeltag="myepicserver"

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.

Config Files Location

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

Configuration Mechanism

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.

Configuration files

_default.cfg

_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

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.

instance.cfg

instance.cfg is the configuration file used for each individual game server instance. Settings here will only apply to this specific game server instance. This config file takes the same name as the game server instance name ./gameserver. For example, if ./csgoserver is used the instance.cfg will be called csgoserver.cfg. This config is last to be loaded.

Secret Configs

Secret configs serve as a designated space for storing sensitive information, such as steam login details, separately from the main config files. This separation allows server administrators to back up their configurations while excluding sensitive data, enhancing security and privacy. It proves especially valuable for administrators who wish to create a version-controlled skeleton configuration using git that might eventually become publicly accessible.

It's essential to understand that the secret config is not encrypted or inherently more secure than other config files. However, it provides a convenient way to keep sensitive information isolated from the rest of the configurations.

To distinguish secret configs from others, their names are typically prefixed with the word "secrets." This naming convention aids in identifying and managing these specific files.

Config Load Priority

When the configuration files are loaded by LinuxGSM, they adhere to a specific order. Initially, settings are fetched from _default.cfg, followed by common.cfg, and finally instance.cfg. As a result, any setting specified in instance.cfg will take precedence over the same setting in common.cfg, which, in turn, overrides the setting in _default.cfg. This hierarchical loading ensures that settings become increasingly specific, with instance configurations having the highest priority.

LinuxGSM config load order

How to Use

Simple Configuration

This configuration fits most scenarios, where you have a simple installation with only one instance.

1. Browse to the config-lgsm directory

1. Use ls to list the directory contents and find the name of your instance.cfg.

2. Use cat or nano to see the contents of _default.cfg .

1. Copy the individual settings you want to change to instance.cfg

Multiple Instances Configuration

This configuration is useful for .

1. Browse to the config-lgsm directory

1. Use ls to list the directory contents.

2. Use cat or nano to see the contents of _default.cfg .

3. Copy any settings you want to apply to all instances to common.cfg.

1. Copy any settings you want to apply to a specific instance to its instance.cfg.

Examples

Example 1

Load de_nuke as default map on csgoserver:

Example 2

Load cs_office as default map on csgoserver:

Example 3

Load de_dust2 as default map on csgoserver:

Example 4

Load de_nuke as default map on csgoserver instance and de_inferno on csgoserver-2 instance:

Example 5

Load de_nuke as default map on csgoserver instance and cs_office on csgoserver-2 instance:

Authentication Token

Don't Starve Together server requires an Authentication Token.

1. Go to the Klei website .

2. After logging into your account 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.

Clusters and Shards

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.

Single-Shard

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:

Multi-Shard

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:

Server #1

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

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

Server #2

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.

Guides / Documentations:

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

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.

Resources

Server Config Information

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

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.

4. Do not delete anything from this section, except (optionally) other DownloadManagers= lines.

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.

Log clearing

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

Gamelogs management

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

• ${systemdir}/data/darkrp_logs

• ${systemdir}/data/ulx_logs

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

Default ports

Both Source engine and GoldSrc engine use the following ports by default.

• Game Port: 27015

• Query Port: 27015

• RCON Port: 27015

• Client Port: 27020

• Source TV: 27005

Static Port Mapping (NAT/Docker)

The port that is configured in the start parameters must be the port that is exposed to the Internet. This is because the game server reports the port that it is configured in start parameters to use to the master server. If this does not match the game client will not be able to connect to the server.

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.

DDoS protection

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.

iptables

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: iptables -F

Protecting a game server

One way to protect a game server is to rate-limit incoming connections to the game server. Iptables will do this by dropping packets from a connection if it is sending too much traffic. This is particularly important if using the LinuxGSM monitor feature, as monitor relies on the query port being available. Should the query port be flooded with traffic it may become unavailable and LinuxGSM will assume the game server has crashed and reboot. The below example will rate-limit traffic on port 27015 (the default for source engine games) to 10 requests every 60 seconds. Different game servers may require different rate limits, so it may be important to adjust the limits to ensure legitimate traffic does not get blocked.

Checking connectivity

Once you have created your port forwards and want to see if the internet can access the ports, there is a website called . Simply change the port to your game port (27015 for example) and it will tell you if it can access it on your computer. This will help you verify your port forward was created successfully.

Networks with multiple gateways

Some game servers (like Rust) register their external IP with steam when they startup. When you create port forwards to the game server, you need to make sure the port forward is on the address the outbound traffic is on. For example, say you have a router with two IPs from different ISPs;

If your traffic is going out WAN0 you need to put the port forwards on the 71.2.5.23 address. If your outbound traffic is going out WAN1 you would need to put your port forwards on 65.13.29.46.

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 .

Server Requirements

A complete list can be found .

Distro glibc Versions

List of distros and there glibc version.

is also a great source to find this information.

glibc version history available on .

External Links

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 session is running. If it is, it will then attempt to query the server using or . 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.

Automated Monitoring

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 :

Monitor Cronjob

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 .

Alert Notifications

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

Query Delay

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.

Monitor Activation

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

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.

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

Alert Settings

Alert settings can be changed in

More Info

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.

Display IP

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="".

Sourcemod is a plugin for source games that can add functionality like voting systems, minigames, and server utilities. Sourcemod requires Metamod to run.

LinuxGSM includes a that is able to install Sourcemod automatically.

Sourcemod Resources

Sourcemod Official Resources

Sourcemod Plugins

Plugins can be downloaded from Alliedmodders website:

General Sourcemod Tips

If players are kicked after joining, make sure Sourcemod does not have any errors and is up to date

Check folder hierarchy in archives before unpacking, each plugin creator organizes their archives differently.

The server may need to be set to sv_pure 0 in some cases.

CS:GO Sourcemod Tips

If the server changes to dust or mirage instead of the chosen map, disable the nextmap plugin.

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

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

Specific IP: If a specific IP address needs to be set it can be done using the ip setting in the or 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 .

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

Change permissions from files or directories

Command

chmod

Recursive syntax (include sub files and directories)

Append -R to your chmod

chmod -R

Syntax 1)

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

Values

0 no permissions
1 x
2 w
3 wx
4 r
5 rx
6 rw
7 rwx

Example

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

Syntax 2)

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

Permissions add

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.

Permissions remove

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

Permissions for user/group/others/all

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

Multiple permissions at once

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

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

Set GUID and GID

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

Set GUID

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

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

• Server IP

• Server Ports

• Passwords

• Config File

• Backups

• Server parameters

Example output

Distro Details
===============================================================================================================================================================
Distro:    Debian 7.7
Arch:      x86_64
Kernel:    2.6.32-042stab102.9
Hostname:  vps86887.ovh.net
tmux:      tmux 1.6
GLIBC:     2.13

Performance
===============================================================================================================================================================
Uptime:    0d, 17h, 36m
Avg Load:  0.00, 0.02, 0.00

Mem:       total   used   free
Physical:  1.0G    1.0G   17M
Swap:      128M    25M    102M

Disk Usage
===============================================================================================================================================================
Disk available:  5.4G
Serverfiles:     1.6G
Backups:         4.8M

Fistful of Frags Server Details
===============================================================================================================================================================
Server name:  Fistful of Frags Server
Server IP:    192.168.1.1:27015
RCON password:  rconpassword
Status:       OFFLINE

Service name:  fof-server
User:          fofserver
Location:      /home/fofserver
Config file:   /home/fofserver/serverfiles/fof/cfg/fof-server.cfg

Backups
===============================================================================================================================================================
No. of backups:    1
Latest backup:
    date:          Fri Jan 23 15:54:52 CET 2015
    file:          /home/fofserver/backups/fof-server-2015-01-23-155447.tar.gz
    size:          4.8M

Command-line Parameters
===============================================================================================================================================================
./srcds_run -game fof -strictportbind -ip 192.168.1.1 -port 27015 +clientport 27005 +tv_port 27020 +map fof_depot +servercfgfile fof-server.cfg -maxplayers 16

Ports
===============================================================================================================================================================
Change ports by editing the command-line
parameters in ./fofserver.

Useful port diagnostic command:
netstat -atunp | grep srcds_linux

DESCRIPTION  DIRECTION  PORT   PROTOCOL
> Game/RCON  INBOUND    27015  tcp/udp

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.

How to use SFTP

• 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.

Bad practice to avoid

By all means, you should never

1. Connect to a server as root.

2. Use FTP if SFTP is available.

Root login to an FTP

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 ?

Server Resources

• Official Dedicated Server Guide

Headless Client

Headless Client Overview

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3_Headless_Client

• A headless Client is used to offload AI calculations from the server.

• Headless Client is integrated into the game client and dedicated server executable (Windows and Linux, use -client parameter).

• The server does not allow arbitrary connections from headless clients if you do not define the headless clients' IPs in the server.cfg.

Headless Client Setup and Usage

Starting up a headless client and having it connect to your server is easy, Creating a mission that uses the Headless Client is not.

Create a new server instance using LinuxGSM ./linuxgsm.sh arma3server. This will become the headless client instance and rename the new instance to arma3server-hc.

Edit the config file lgsm/config-lgsm/arma3server-hc.cfg.

Change the port= increasing the number by a factor of 12 e.g 2303 becomes 2314.

Update startparameters= changing it to the following.

startparameters="-client -connect=${ip}:${port} -password=CHANGEME"

Edit the game server config of arma3server (not the headless client) arma3server.server.cfg and add the headless client IP address to headlessClients[]=. If the headless client is on the same physical server as the ARMA 3 server then also add the IP to localClient[]=.

headlessClients[]={"1.2.3.4"}; 
localClient[]={"1.2.3.4"};

Navigate to your profile directory.

~cd ~/.local/share/Arma\ 3\ -\ Other\ Profiles

edit Player.Arma3Profile and add the line battleyeLicense=1;.

Start your server with ./arma3server start

Start your headless client with ./arma3server-hc start.

Only an admin can see the headless clients in the player menu on the server. The headless client will connect and automatically assume the first available headless client slot.

Mod Support

Arma 3 mods are managed using the Steam Workshop or manual downloads.

Adding Mods

Firstly, you need to select the mods you want to use from the steam workshop.

Here is a popular mod to get started:

• CBA: Community Based Addons for Arma 3

Download the Mod using https://steamworkshopdownloader.io/ the workshop id is 450814997

Create a directory called @cba_a3 in serverfiles/mods

serverfiles/mods/@cba_a3

Copy the contents of the mod archive to the @cba_a3 directory.

Copy the contents of the @cba_a3/keys directory to the server keys directory.

cp serverfiles/mods/@cba_a3/keys/* serverfiles/keys

Add @cba_a3 to the mods="" setting in the LinuxGSM config.

mods="mods/@cba_a3"

If you are adding multiple mods make sure you put a semicolon with the escape character in between each mod.

mods="mods/@mod1\;mods/@mod2"

Lower Case File Names

Arma 3 server requires that mods have lowercase names. Some mods do not do this and will need to have their file names converted to lowercase.

This can be done by using the following script.

Run the script from the serverfiles/mods directory.

#!/bin/bash
depth=0
for x in $(find . -type d | sed "s/[^/]//g")
do
if [ ${depth} -lt ${#x} ]
then
   let depth=${#x}
fi
done
echo "the depth is ${depth}"
for ((i=1;i<=${depth};i++))
do
  for x in $(find . -maxdepth $i | grep [A-Z])
  do
    mv $x $(echo $x | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z')
  done
done

Start the server and check that your mods all have valid hashes. You should see the "Community Base Addons" mod appear in your console logfile.

15:27:37 ============================================================================================= List of mods ===============================================================================================
15:27:37 modsReadOnly = true
15:27:37 safeModsActivated = false
15:27:37 customMods = true
15:27:37 hash = 'B44C8332DD951EC30619282DAC7A59519AA0BCB6'
15:27:37 hashShort = '185e1b29'
15:27:37                                               name |               modDir |    default |   official |               origin |                                     hash | hashShort | fullPath
15:27:37 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15:27:37                      Community Base Addons v3.15.3 |              @cba_a3 |      false |      false |             GAME DIR | fa100065ad10a6ab7a5e16d53efc2b26f3df3b58 |  7f1d8e45 | /home/lgsm/arma3server/serverfiles/@cba_a3
15:27:37                                  Arma 3 Art of War |                  aow |       true |       true |             GAME DIR | 93cf5270ce855921dcfd261c583983d4e0bb6899 |  2930da71 | /home/lgsm/arma3server/serverfiles/aow
15:27:37                          Arma 3 Contact (Platform) |                enoch |       true |       true |             GAME DIR | 61e8060b8dce2727f235695e59de01089546d9ad |  2dd9b92b | /home/lgsm/arma3server/serverfiles/enoch
15:27:37                                       Arma 3 Tanks |                 tank |       true |       true |             GAME DIR | 37296b3dd900117d055e6c13e1ce21e54cd8067b |  dfc0778f | /home/lgsm/arma3server/serverfiles/tank
15:27:37                                     Arma 3 Tac-Ops |               tacops |       true |       true |             GAME DIR | dec763aedfdc28eab838361370a48f2411535e5a |  70a109b7 | /home/lgsm/arma3server/serverfiles/tacops
15:27:37                                 Arma 3 Laws of War |               orange |       true |       true |             GAME DIR | a786e1c2e7b3aec524cc1ce932039dc18da0351d |  128b066b | /home/lgsm/arma3server/serverfiles/orange
15:27:37                                      Arma 3 Malden |                 argo |       true |       true |             GAME DIR | b9edefa0cd211d0961282ce9b69eabeb59bda780 |  1954e272 | /home/lgsm/arma3server/serverfiles/argo
15:27:37                                        Arma 3 Jets |                 jets |       true |       true |             GAME DIR | cd6561bc9148fec23b136de7fa02bfbd71e12221 |  1f2e3b6f | /home/lgsm/arma3server/serverfiles/jets
15:27:37                                        Arma 3 Apex |            expansion |       true |       true |             GAME DIR | 2d573cab31befb9729503ed00c211628c73622cc |  e5ad6f6c | /home/lgsm/arma3server/serverfiles/expansion
15:27:37                                    Arma 3 Marksmen |                 mark |       true |       true |             GAME DIR | f0784723164eb212a22fa2d49e589bead97a9735 |  2d4eada7 | /home/lgsm/arma3server/serverfiles/mark
15:27:37                                 Arma 3 Helicopters |                 heli |       true |       true |             GAME DIR | 1af5847f6b557b98763dfdad7be3c32491cee65e |  873ada67 | /home/lgsm/arma3server/serverfiles/heli
15:27:37                                       Arma 3 Karts |                 kart |       true |       true |             GAME DIR | 5ebe4af2ae6777d560a14cf9e39d4ee3f852a75c |  3a3f5ff9 | /home/lgsm/arma3server/serverfiles/kart
15:27:37                                        Arma 3 Zeus |              curator |       true |       true |             GAME DIR | 351bd6e8b13a4e8f514a173bf78dd949c899e107 |   b6d4451 | /home/lgsm/arma3server/serverfiles/curator
15:27:37                                             Arma 3 |                   A3 |       true |       true |            NOT FOUND |                                          |           |
15:27:37 ==========================================================================================================================================================================================================

Server Files

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 (OldUnreal Patch)

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

• UTBonusPack.zip

• UTBonusPack2.zip (maps only)

• UTInoxxPack.zip

• UTBonusPack4.zip

Server Resources

UT99.org is a community website for UT99

OldUnreal is another community website

Config File Settings

With a default LinuxGSM Install, server settings can be configured in this file:

/home/user/serverfiles/System/ut99server.ini

You can change most of these settings in a browser by enabling the webserver and putting in settings there.

[Engine.GameReplicationInfo]
ServerName= 
ShortName=
AdminName=
AdminEmail=
Region=0
MOTDLine1=
MOTDLine2=
MOTDLine3=
MOTDLine4= 

[Botpack.ChallengeBotInfo]
Difficulty=4

[Botpack.DeathMatchPlus]
bNoviceMode=True
bHardCoreMode=True
bUseTranslocator=False
bCoopWeaponMode=False
MinPlayers=10
AirControl=0.350000
FragLimit=30
TimeLimit=0
bChangeLevels=True
bMegaSpeed=False
bAltScoring=False
bMultiWeaponStay=True
bForceRespawn=False
bTournament=False
NetWait=10
RestartWait=15
MaxCommanders=0
InitialBots=9
bNoMonsters=True
bHumansOnly=False
bClassicDeathMessages=False
MinFOV=80.000000
MaxFOV=130.000000
MaxNameChanges=0

[UWeb.WebServer]
Applications[0]=UTServerAdmin.UTServerAdmin
ApplicationPaths[0]=/ServerAdmin
Applications[1]=UTServerAdmin.UTImageServer
ApplicationPaths[1]=/images
DefaultApplication=0
ListenPort=8076
bEnabled=True

[UTServerAdmin.UTServerAdmin]
AdminUsername=
AdminPassword=

Game Resources

Garry's Mod Wiki

Auto Refresh

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.

 -disableluarefresh

Loading Screen

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

sv_loadingurl "www.website.com/loading/screen"

Gamemode

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

TTT     gamemode="terrortown"
Sandbox gamemode="sandbox"

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

Workshop

For Garry's Mod, add the collection ID in LinuxGSM config using wscollectionid setting. This will download the collection when the server starts.

wscollectionid="157384458"

Mounting Game Content

Some Garry's Mod addons like TTT use content from other games. To do this the content will need to be "mounted".

This guide is for installing another game server with LinuxGSM and using that content, copying that game's files, and mounting the game to Garry's Mod. This guide is for CS:S but should work for any other game.

First install a Counter-Strike: Source server, if you already have a server installed this step can be skipped. If the server will be deleted after copying files.

Install CS:S Server with LinuxGSM

Copy the cstrike the directory from the Counter-Strike: Source to the Gmod folder.

cp -R /home/cssserver/serverfiles/cstrike /home/gmodserver/serverfiles/cstrike

Ensure that the copied files are owned by the gmodserver user.

chown -R gmodserver /home/gmodserver

Open mount.cfg file.

nano /home/gmodserver/serverfiles/garrysmod/cfg/mount.cfg

Add game to mount.cfg

"mountcfg"
{
         "cstrike"      "/home/gmoduser/serverfiles/cstrike"
}

Restart the server. Check if the mount was successful by changing the level to a mounted map with console or rcon.

changelevel cs_italy

Many Steam games support the Steam Workshop. It is an easy way to share community game modes, maps, skins, and other community-made content.

For game servers, the Workshop allows community content (mainly maps and game modes) to be made available to play on game servers. The Workshop content is automatically downloaded by the game client of the player connecting to the server. This removed the need to set up a FastDL server.

LinuxGSM adds workshop pre-configuration to game server scripts when available.

Supported Games Servers

This is a list of game servers that are known to support Workshop

• Ark: Survival Evolved

• ARMA 3

• Day of Infamy

• Counter-Strike 2

• Garrys Mod

• Hurtworld

• Insurgency: Sandstorm

• Killing Floor 2

• Natural Selection 2

• Starbound

Steam Web API Key/Auth Key

Some game servers require a Steam API key to access Workshop content. To get this key visit the Steam API key page and follow the instructions.

Items and Collections

The Steam Workshop is made up of individual items such as maps, game modes, skins, etc, and also collections of these items. Game servers can download these items and collections by getting their unique ID number and adding it to the game server config or parameter. For collections, it is possible to find and use an existing one or create your own.

Get an Item or Collection ID

To get and item or collection ID browse to the item you want to add and look at the URL; it will contain the required ID number. In the example below the ID is 3075706807.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3075706807

Create a Collection

Creating a collection is a great way to manage and group all the content that you want on your game server.

To create your collection go to the collections section of your games Workshop, and select Create Collection.

Fill out the form.

Add any maps to the collection, then publish the completed collection. Then get the collection ID which can be found on the page URL. The collection ID in the url below is 157384458.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=157384458

Server Configurations

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.

Config file's location

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

Command

./gameserver details

Sample output example

./gmodserver details

gmodserver Script Details
==================================================================================
Service name:        gmod-server
gmodserver version:  170110
User:                ultimatebyte
GLIBC required:      2.15
Email alert:         off
Pushbullet alert:    off
Update on start:     off
Location:            /home/gmodserver
Config file:         /home/gmodserver/serverfiles/garrysmod/cfg/gmod-server.cfg

LinuxGSM Custom Config's

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.

Config file naming

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

Example

For source servers, the default server.cfg is not used with LinuxGSM. Instead if you're running ./csgoserver, then the config file will be called csgoserver.cfg.

Missing configuration file handling

LinuxGSM will always check a config file is present when starting a server. If a config file is missing, it will re-download the default one or give a warning.

Where are the settings I'm looking for?

Game servers have many different ways of managing settings. Some are set within start parameters, while some are set within a configuration file.

One of the goals of LinuxGSM is to make managing these as easy as possible, by providing all important settings out of the box, wherever they are. There is no general rule about where config files are set. It is a good idea to look for the official documentation of the game server that you're trying to run in order to find relevant information about settings.

I found missing settings or an error with config files?

If you found settings that are absent from the default configuration file provided by LinuxGSM that would be a useful addition, then you can open an issue or a pull request.

Custom Mods and Maps

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

Get an Auth Token

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 and replace TOKEN HERE with your access token.

[/Script/ModKit.ModIOClient]
bHasUserAcceptedTerms=True
AccessToken=TOKEN HERE

Add a Mod/Map

Add the -Mods parameter to your game server start parameters.

Next you will need to specify which mods you want to add to your game server.

Create the Mods.txt file located Insurgency/Config/Server/Mods.txt

mkdir -p Insurgency/Config/Server
touch Insurgency/Config/Server/Mods.txt

In the txt file you will need to specify each mod ID line by line. The mod ID can be found on the mods details page at mod.io. Once restarted the mod will be available to use.

To use this custom map you will need to add it to your mapcycle and if required, your default map

Create MapCyle.txtand add the custom map to your mapcycle.

touch Insurgency/Config/Server/MapCyle.txt
   

(Scenario="Scenario_TORO_Checkpoint_Security",Lighting="Day",Mode="Checkpoint")
(Scenario="Scenario_TORO_Checkpoint_Insurgents",Lighting="Day",Mode="Checkpoint")

If you want the custom map to be the default edit your start parameters

defaultmap="TORO"
defaultscenario="Scenario_TORO_Checkpoint_Security"

Once the server is restarted the custom map should be available on your game server.

Resources

Official Server Admin Guide

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.

Prerequisites

Vocabulary

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.

• Instance: Each individual game server is referred to as an instance. There might be multiple instances running per installation. An instance is started by running the ./gameserver script

• User: Each game server installation should run using its own Linux user. Although it is possible to have multiple installations per user.

LinuxGSM Configuration

You should be familiar with how work.

Understand ports

You need to understand how ports work in order to avoid port overlapping, otherwise, your new instances won't start. Useful resource: .

Single Instance per Installation

Single instance per installation is the most simple method and will fit most use cases. It keeps the server files and configs completely separate from each other.

This consists of creating a new user for each game server, repeating the install process, and edit your config files ensuring default ports are changed.

Use cases

• Running different game servers requires installation in a different directory

• Running multiple servers of the same game, but they have different content, addons or mods.

• You want your game servers to be totally separate for simplicity and reduce the chance of multiple instances breaking all at once.

Pros

• Easy to setup

• Separate installations partition the game servers from each other

• Each instance can have different maps, addons and mods rather than sharing, preventing conflicts.

• More secure, by keeping instances separate with there own user.

• Reduced risk of breaking multiple instances.

Cons

• Requires more disk space as server files can not be shared

• Each instance has to be individually setup.

Examples

The installs are separated and isolated from each other in each users home directory.

How to Install

1. Create a new user with a home directory.

2. Repeat the standard installation process using this new user.

3. Change the instance config adjusting ports numbers from the default

Single Installation with Multiple Instances

Single installation with multiple instances is the method used when base installation content, maps, addons and mods are the same. Allowing either a clone of an existing instance or using different slightly different config such as different game modes and map rotations.

This consists of creating a new LinuxGSM executable file ./gameserver-2 in the same installation as an existing instance.

Use cases

• Running cloning an existing game server by creating a new instance.

• Running the same game server with different game modes, maps etc.

• Running multiple instances even with limited disk space available.

Pros

• Uses less disk space as base installation is the same

• Less configuration required

• It is possible to use different game modes and map rotations by editing configs.

Cons

• Each instance shares the same files which may limit options to customise an instance

• Potential mod conflicts

• Should one instance break all instances might also experience the same issue

How it works

You have one game server installation, but you have multiple instances start in the same installation using different config files.

Every time a new instance is created, new default config files are created. This allows each instance to have different hostname, ports etc. The config files are by default the same name as the instance script. For example, if the script is ./gameserver-2 the config is gameserver-2.cfg. You can see the location of config files in ./gameserver-2 details (replace "instance" with your actual instance name).

Each instance is managed using its own script which gives the config file names. These can be renamed how you like, however, the default will simply have an incremental number. Some admins may choose to name them after the server port, the map or the gamemode instead.

Examples

In these examples, you can see the scripts are located in the same installation but have different names. Each instance has had its port altered in the server config to prevent port clashes.

How to install

linuxgsm.sh allows you to generate as many instances as you want by running .

It will generate a new LinuxGSM script using an incremental number.

On the first run of ./gameserver-2 a new default LinuxGSM and game config gameserver-2.cfgwill be created . These new configs will need to be altered with new ports, hostname and any other settings that are required.

Common Mistakes

Forgetting to change ports and/or IP

If you run multiple game servers you will need to alter ports. Ensure you are aware of how to manage .

Installing game servers with the same script name under the same user

Installing multiple installations using the same user does work. However you must use unique script names i.e. ./gameserver. This is because tmux requires unique session name to start a session. Tmux will fail to start if another server is using the same session name. LinuxGSM uses the script name as the tmux session name.

Server Resources

Ports

• Game Port Default: 26000 UDP

Default Config Location

Client Specific

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

Serverhosting Locations

You can start Xonotic with the startparameter '-userdir'. With this parameter, Xonotic expects in that folder a subfolder data with the server.cfg. For example for choosing ./xonotic-linux64-dedicated -userdir /home/xonotic/server1 your server.cfg location should be /home/xonotic/server1/data/server.cfg

Game Modes

A list is currently located in . with the following server parameters

Custom Maps

Server side

Xonotic has Custom Maps support in fileformat pk3. Maps should be located in the data folder like server.cfg on your dedicated Server.

Make it useable for Clients

Xonotic doesn't provide a Filedownloader inside the gameserver, have need to host your custommaps on HTTP Webspace and set the correct values in server.cfg.

Example

• Userdir: -userdir /home/xonotic/server1: add foo.pk3in /home/xonotic/server1/data/

• server.cfg: Add sv_curl_defaulturl="http://xonotic.foo.bar"

• Put foo.pk3 in the HTTP Root Folder to make it accessable via http://xonotic.foo.bar/foo.pk3

Look at for more infos about Custom Map Hosting

Start parameters

Every Server cvar can be overwritten in an starting argument, but it's recommended to setup as much as possible in server.cfg

SteamCMD is a command-line based Steam client developed by Valve that is used to remotely download game files. This is very useful for game servers, as it is significantly easier to keep them up-to-date. Any game that supports dedicated servers will have its server files available on SteamCMD. All you need is the AppID which can be found on Valve's or .

SteamCMD Login

SteamCMD requires a login to download some game servers.

It is recommended that you just for the server.

Anonymous Login

The majority of game servers using SteamCMD only require an anonymous login. LinuxGSM will not require any configuration if this is the case.

Steam User Login

Some game servers require you to login to SteamCMD using a steam login to allow download of the server. Some also require you to own a copy of the game on the steam account.

If this is the case LinuxGSM will prompt you on installation to set a steam username and password. This can be set by editing the following settings within the .

If you get the error ERROR! Failed to install app '2430930' (No subscription) then you do not own a copy of the game in your account and will need to login on the standard steam client and buy the game. If the game is free you will need to "add to account".

Plain Text Passwords

SteamCMD prints out passwords in plain text meaning that the Steam login password is visible to anyone on the server. LinuxGSM saves logs and the Steam login password will be view-able in the logs.

Steam Guard

Steam Guard is an additional layer of security that can be applied to a Steam account. The first layer is the account login credentials: the Steam account username and password. With Steam Guard, a second layer of security is applied to the account, making it harder for a Steam account to fall into the wrong hands.

If Steam Guard is enabled on an account when a login to from an unrecognized device happens an access code will be required as verification. Depending on the account Steam Guard settings, either an email with a code or a code from the Steam Mobile app on a smartphone is required.

Authentication Methods for SteamCMD

1. Username and password - No Steam Guard

2. Username and password - Steam Guard via Email

3. Username and password - Steam Guard via Smartphone (not compatible with LinuxGSM)

Username and Password - No Steam Guard

Simply requires your Steam username and password.

Username and Password - Steam Guard via Email

Requires your Steam username and password and you will also receive an email on the first login to SteamCMD and be required to enter a code. Once the code is entered your server is authorised to use the steam account you entered.

Username and Password - Steam Guard via Smartphone (not compatible with LinuxGSM)

Requires your Steam Username & Password but also requires you have the Steam app on your phone to use 2-factor Authentication.

Using Steam Guard with LinuxGSM

Both options 1 & 2 work with LinuxGSM.

Steam Guard via Smartphone is not compatible because it requires a code every time you login to SteamCMD. This is problematic if you want your game servers to auto-update.

If you have Steam Guard via email enabled the first time you start SteamCMD you will be prompted to enter a steam Guard code and you will receive an email with the code. Copy and paste the code into the prompt and press enter. You will not need to enter a code again.

is a tool that queries game servers and returns outputs data from a query into json format. It can not only check if the game server is online but also return various data such as current maps and players. This allows ./gameserver details to display live information.

GameDig super-seeds gsquery as the tool to monitor game servers. GameDig is currently optional but recommended and gsquery is kept to ensure compatibility as gamedig requires Node.js to be installed.

Install Node.js

GameDig requires a JavaScript runtime environment installed to work. Use the following instructions to install Node.js.

Remove existing NodeJS

If you already have an older version of nodejs installed or be having issues with node dependencies. It may be worth reinstalling Node.js.

Ubuntu/Debian

CentOS

Install NodeJS

Installing nodejs can be problematic, however, using the below should work well.

Ubuntu/Debian

Enterprise Linux Based Distributions

Install GameDig npm

Once nodejs is installed use npm to install gamedig with the following command.

Update GameDig

Updates to GameDig are regularly made. It is possible to update by running the npm update command.

You can also see which version of gamedig is installed by running the following.

Sample output

Details

Extra info becomes available for game server details.

Raw output

Introduction

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.

Check current ownership

Check ownership in the current directory:

ls -l

Example output:

Syntax of the output is:

• d for directory or - for file

• user, then group, then others permissions

• number specifies the number of links or directories inside of a directory

• The user that owns the file, or directory

• The group that file or directory belongs to

• The size in bytes

• The date of last modification

• The name of the file

Check ownership from all files and hidden files of any directory

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

Sample output:

All these commands require elevated privileges!

Change owner

Change owner from files or directories

Command

chown

As usual, chown --help will provide you with all available arguments

Single file syntax

chown newowner /path/to/file/or/directory

Recursive syntax (include sub files and directories)

chown -R newowner /path/to/directory

Example

chown -R myuser /home/myuser

Group ownership

Change group ownership on files or directories

Command

chgrp

As usual, chgrp --help will provide you with all available arguments

Single file syntax

chgrp newgroup /path/to/dir/or/file

Recursive syntax (include sub files and directories)

chgrp -R newgroup /path/to/dir/

User and group ownership

Change user and/or ownership for files and directories at the same time

Command

chown

As usual, chown --help will provide you with all available arguments

Single file command

chown user:group /path/to/dir/or/file

Recursive

chown -R user:group /path/to/dir

Example:

chown -R myuser:myuser /home/myuser

Ports are communication endpoints for an application. A port will either listen to or transmit network traffic on specific ports.

There are port standards set by IANA for common protocols such as HTTP (port 80), SSH (port 22), SMTP (port 25), etc. Game servers tend to use standard ports depending on the game engine. For example source engine games by default use port 27015 as the port it listens on.

Vocabulary

• Port listening is what a service like a game server does in order to receive packets from incoming connections: by listening to a port, the program waits for incoming packets on a given port.

• Port opening happens on a firewall, it consists of allowing traffic to a port.

• Port redirection is part of NAT and happens on a router or firewall. It consists of forwarding incoming traffic on a given port to a specific local IP.

• Network Address Translation (NAT) is a method of remapping an IP address into another by modifying network address information.

Game Server Ports

Game Servers typically have ports for the following functions.

Game port: The port that players connect to. Query port: Used by software to gather information from the server such as server name, map, and number of players. Rcon port: Some game servers have remote console port allowing remote administration of a game server. Web port: used for game servers that have web interface.

Depending upon which game server is being used, you can set game server ports within your start parameters or game server config file.

LinuxGSM allows you to see the ports your game server is using with the ./gameserver details command.

Useful port diagnostic command:
ss -tuplwn | grep RustDedicated

DESCRIPTION  PORT   PROTOCOL  LISTEN
Game         28015  udp       1
Query        28017  udp       1
RCON         28016  tcp       1
App          28082  tcp       1