View source for Running a server

This article is intended to explain and document the experience on how to install the R5 version of the MS Allegiance Game Server as a service.

{{note|'''The article is not intended to explain how to setup a LAN server or a non-service installation of the MS Allegiance Game Server.'''
Please view [[Running a LAN server|this article]] if you wish to setup a LAN server.}}

This article assumes you can confidently edit the registry and manage running services on a server platform. It also assumes you already have received clearance for connection to the Public Lobby from the [[admin]]s.


'''<font color="red">Updated to include Steam server requirements, November 2017, by LANS</font>'''

__TOC__


== Steam Server Guide ==

Download SteamCMD from [https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamCMD#Downloading_SteamCMD https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamCMD#Downloading_SteamCMD].

Unzip to C:\Steam

run c:\Steam\SteamCMD

Then from inside SteamCMD, run the following commands:

 login anonymous
 force_install_dir c:\Allegiance\Server
 app_update 730810

Then go to C:\Allegiance\Server

Read the README_SERVER text file.

The batch files must be run as administrator. Open a new command line window as administrator, and execute the following: (Start menu -> cmd -> right click, run as administrator)

 cd C:\allegiance\server
 server_dplay_install.bat
 server_install.bat


== Step by step procedure ==

This procedure is known working on Windows 2003 Server and is credited to [[User:Zapper|Zapper]].

{{note|Please follow each step carefully. Errors can be difficult to trace down once configuration is completed.}}

{{Warn|'''If you are running a 64bit operative system,''' the services will run/install as a 32bit application/services on native 64bit OS systems.}}

{{step|1|Download the required software}}
You will need:

* [http://www.freeallegiance.org/downloads/Server%20Files/Allegiance%20Server%20Setup.exe The Alleg FAZ3 Server Installer], containing the required artwork,
* [http://fazdev.alleg.net/FAZ/AllSrv_R4_080408.zip The Alleg FAZ4 Server Installer], and
* [http://downloads.alleg.net/TAG/TAG2014.zip stats collecting software TAG version 2014].

Of course, administrator privileges on the OS are required.

{{step|2|Install and unpack everything.}}

{{substep|2.1|R3 Server}}
[[Image:Online_Setup_Service.png|thumb|You must install the Server as a service.]]

Begin with the R3 Server. The procedure is fully automated; you will need to ''make sure you install it as a service''.

This guide will assume you chose the default install folder: {{verbatim|%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Games\Allegiance\Server}}

{{substep|2.2|TAG}}

Next up is TAG. Unzip the contents of the TAG zip in {{verbatim|%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Games\Allegiance\Server\TAG\}} (create the folder if it does not exist.)

Next up, fire a command prompt:

 C:\>

Type in the following commands. (<tt>rem</tt> lines are actually comments.)

 {{comment|rem Change to the TAG folder.}}
 cd "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Games\Allegiance\Server\TAG"
 
 {{comment|rem Start (Install) the TAG service}}
 tag -service
 
 {{comment|rem Configure the Alleg Server and TAG to run manually}}
 sc stop AllSrv
 sc config AllSrv start= demand
 sc stop tagservice
 sc config tagservice start= demand
 
 {{comment|rem Unregister agc.dll}}
 cd ..
 regsvr32 /u agc.dll

{{substep|2.2.1|Reboot}}
You will now need to reboot your system.

{{substep|2.3|R4 Server}}

Unzip the R4 server zip and copy the content to the main server folder.

Fire up another command prompt and type in the following commands:

 {{comment|rem Change to the Server folder.}}
 cd "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Games\Allegiance\Server"
 
 {{comment|rem Register the new copy of agc.dll}}
 regsvr32 agc.dll
 
 {{comment|rem We are now ready to start the services.}}
 sc config AllSrv start= auto
 sc config tagservice start= auto

{{step|3|Set up configuration files}}
{{substep|3.1|<tt>allegianceserver.cfg</tt>}}
Make sure this file exists:
 %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Games\Allegiance\Server\allegianceserver.cfg

If it is not present make one. Contents follow:

 [Allegiance]
 PublicLobby=204.16.202.184
 
 ; THIS IS A VALID CONFIG FILE

{{substep|3.2|<tt>ranks.txt</tt>}}
Make sure this file exists:
 %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Games\Allegiance\Server\Artwork\ranks.txt

If it is not present, make one. Contents follow:

 31
 0,Newbie
 1,Novice 1
 2,Novice 2
 3,Novice 3
 4,Novice 4
 5,Novice 5
 6,Novice 6
 7,Novice 7
 8,Inter. 1
 9,Inter. 2
 10,Inter. 3
 11,Inter. 4
 12,Inter. 5
 13,Inter. 6
 14,Inter. 7
 15,Veteran 1
 16,Veteran 2
 17,Veteran 3
 18,Veteran 4
 19,Veteran 5
 20,Veteran 6
 21,Veteran 7
 22,Expert 1
 23,Expert 2
 24,Expert 3
 25,Expert 4
 26,Expert 5
 27,Expert 6
 28,Expert 7
 29,Expert 8
 30,Expert 9
 31,Expert 9

Please do not attempt to 'personalise' this text file. Doing this will result in a reconsideration of your clearance to host public games.

{{substep|3.3|<tt>cores.txt</tt>}}
Make sure this file exists:
 %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Games\Allegiance\Server\Artwork\cores.txt

If it is not present, make one. Here is a sample cores.txt file:

 7
 cc_03
 GoDII_05
 plus15b7
 RTc006a
 rps55
 PC2_019
 sw_a102

The first line of this file contains the number of cores the server should load. An incorrect figure ''will'' crash the server.
The following lines are case sensitive. Each line should be the filename of each core without the ".igc" suffix.

{{substep|3.4|<tt>maps.txt</tt> (optional)}}
Check whether this file exists:
 %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Games\Allegiance\Server\Artwork\maps.txt

If it is not present and you wish to host custom maps, make one. Otherwise, skip this section.

Here is a sample maps.txt file:

 28
 2,Limited,m2xiblimited
 2,Polished,m2xibpolishe
 2,Blender,m2xibblender
 2,Bowtie,m2xibbowtie
 2,Emerald,m2xibemerald
 2,Sapphire,m2xibsapphir
 2,Splitmix,m2xibsplitmi
 2,Starflake,m2xibstarfl
 2,Chaos,m2xibchaos
 2,Octagon,m2xiboctagon
 2,Topaz,m2xibtopaz
 2,Pentagram,m2xibpentag
 2,Dual,m2xibdual
 2,Ruby,m2xibruby
 2,Sliver,m2xibsliver
 2,Obsidian,m2xibobsidia
 2,Escher,m2xibescher
 2,Amethyst,m2xibamethy
 2,Crush,m2xibcrush
 2,Kill,m2xibkill
 2,Destroy,m2xibdestroy
 2,Gold,m2xibgold
 2,Nova,m2xibnova
 2,Jade,m2xibjade
 2,Quartz,m2xibquartz
 2,Rhodium,m2xibrhodium
 2,Platinum,m2xibplatinu
 2,Palladium,m2xibpallad

The first line of this file contains the number of map files the server should load. An incorrect figure ''will'' crash the server.
The following lines list the map files to load with the following syntax:
:''MaxNumberOfTeams,MapDisplayName,MapFilename''

In the example above, the server will load the <tt>m2xiblimited.igc</tt> file as the 'Limited' map. This map is only available for 2 teams.

Catches:
* The map display name may not be longer than 25 characters.
* The file name must may not be longer than 13 characters. This field is case sensitive. Strip off the .igc suffix.

{{substep|3.5|Set up the registry}}{{registry}}

Fire up regedit and switch to the following key:
 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Games\Allegiance\1.0\Server]

We will need to set a few vital values.

{{Warn|If %programfiles% does not resolve to C:\Program Files\ on your system -- which will be the case on non English versions of Windows previous to Vista or Server 2007 -- please edit the folowing lines accordingly.}}

*Set '''CfgFile''' to <tt>C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Allegiance\Server\allegianceserver.cfg</tt>
*Set '''ASGS_ON''' to the dword <tt>00000001</tt> (make sure you are entering hexadecimal data.)
*Set '''ASGS_RANKS_ON''' to the dword <tt>00000001</tt> (make sure you are entering hexadecimal data.)
*Set '''LocalAddress''' to the name your server will appear as in the lobby.
*Set '''Location''' to the geographic location your server is located in.
*Set '''MaxGames''' to the maximum amount of games users can create with the 'Create Game' button.

Do '''not''' touch the following:
 "Version"="1"
 "Launched"="1"
 "InstalledGroup"="1"
 "FIRSTRUN"=dword:00000001
 "MaxPlayersPerGame"=dword:000000c8
 "HasTrained"=dword:00000001
 "LangID"=dword:00000009
 "nUpdatesPerSecond"=dword:00000014

Do make sure "ArtPath" and "Exe Path" point to the correct folders.

Finally, reboot your computer.

{{step| |Finish!}}

Pheew! If everything worked, you should have a working copy of the Allegiance R4 server up! Congratulations and thank you!

== Further reading ==

'''Maintaining the Server's Settings'''

Occasionally you will want to make changes you your server's configuration files.  Be it adding a new core or map, for instance.  That is as simple a task as editing the appropriate configuration file.  These changes do NOT take effect immediately.  They are only read by AllSrv when it first starts up.  If you want them to take effect right away, you will have to restart the server.  Bear in mind that if you do restart Allsrv, any games currently running will end and you might have an angry mob on your hands.  It's best to give ample warning and to time the restart when game interruption will be minimised.

Further fine tuning is available. For example, you may want to set up proper actions to react to failures in the AllSrv and TAG services, like this:

 sc failure AllSrv restart/500/restart500/restart500
 sc failure TAG restart/500/restart500/restart500

You might also want to tweak TAG to your needs. You also may want to set up 'zone games,' the special games marked in blue that are not destroyed when empty.



* [[Server configuration]]
* Zapper's [http://www.freeallegiance.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=27872 Server Setup Crash Course]. - This thread contains a large amount of information, some of which is not covered here.
* [http://www.freeallegiance.org/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=29184&view=findpost&p=91481 This post] by YourPersona explains the different Event IDs used by the server. These entries show up on the "Application Event Log" under "Administrative Tools". This information is valuable when troubleshooting server problems.

[[Category:Guides]]
[[Category:Configuration]]