Running a LAN server

With the release of R4, hosting a LAN server is possible again. This article explains how to properly setup a LAN server. This article does not cover running a public server. For more info on this topic, see Running a Server.

1	Download files

Download the R3 server pack from the "Server Files" section in FreeAllegiance.org's downloads page. Download the R4 binaries from here.

2	Install the server

Install the R3 server. Make sure you DO NOT install it as a service. Also leave the "Enable Autoupdate" feature unchecked.

3	Set up configuration files

3.1

ranks.txt

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

3.2	maps.txt (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 m2xiblimited.igc 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.

3.3	Set up the registry

Warning! The following section or part of it requires you to change the Windows Registry. This operation is potentially destructive and needs to be carried out with great care. If you are not very confident with Windows, you may want to consider alternative methods, if available.

• If you are using Windows XP or older, select "Run" in your Start menu, typing regedit, and hitting Enter.
• If you are using Vista or newer, press the Windows button, type regedit and hit Enter.

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.

• Set ASGS_ON to the dword 00000001 (make sure you are entering hexadecimal data.)
• Set ASGS_RANKS_ON to the dword 00000001 (make sure you are entering hexadecimal data.)

4	Update the Binaries

Unzip the R4 binaries package and copy AllSrvUI.exe, AllSrv.exe, and AGC.dll into your server installation directory. You should overwrite the current files.

5	Start the server and run games

Run AllSrvUI.exe. "Game Visibility" should remain on "Private Game". The "Core" field should be the filename of the core you want to use, without the .igc suffix. Click "Create Game" to start the game.

6

Play

Run each client and go to the LAN games menu. Your game will be listed there. For developers trying to test on a single machine, running Allegiance with the "-multi" switch will let you run multiple copies of Allegiance on the same computer.