Question: Windows Server(s) from home PC

[Dennis]

Hi good people.

I want to learn how to setup my own ut99 gameserver on my home PC running windows 10. I've looked arround here and at Unreal Admin, and I do find links to downloads and scattered info about it, but it still leaves me unable to host it.

Is there a simple step by step "ut99 server hosting for dummies" anywhere? Not a fully configured multi modded heavy duty server pre-installed in the download as those I find, just the basics needed to host a server with default gamestyles and mods?

And I've got an additional question, what if I want to run more than one server on the PC? And a sub question to that would be, can I use todays modern CPU's to benefit with performance by assigning a different CPU core to each server - and if possible how?

[esnesi]

Hey there!

One of the most complete guides out there is this one imo;
https://mistrealm.com/UT/UTServerBuild.html

And I've got an additional question, what if I want to run more than one server on the PC? And a sub question to that would be, can I use todays modern CPU's to benefit with performance by assigning a different CPU core to each server - and if possible how?

Once you're done, you can copy your current server folder, and setup a different mapvote/settings etc.
1 core should be sufficient for UCC.exe, but through windows taskmanager you can set affinity. (go0gle: win10 set affinity)


Don't hesitate to ask if you get stuck, and goodluck!

[Dennis]

@esnesi : That looks awesome, thank you! I'll give it a go asap.

[Custer]

Once you're done, you can copy your current server folder, and setup a different mapvote/settings etc.
1 core should be sufficient for UCC.exe, but through windows taskmanager you can set affinity. (go0gle: win10 set affinity)

I do something similar.. but under Linux. And I simply create two different server configs then run the binary twice but passing a different .ini file as a parameter each time, e.g.:

./ut99-bin server DM-Agony.unr?game=EUTSource.EUTTeamGamePlus?Mutator=Mapvote14XL_B7F.BDBMapVote ini=server1.ini

.. is that possible under Windows? I know you can run the same executable twice but not sure if a binary reading a file locks out other processes.

(note: I also create symlinks to reuse the same maps/music/sounds/textures so I'm not unnecessarily duplicating a lot of data - not sure if this is possible also for a Win environment)

[Que]

http://333networks.com/instructions

To get your server advertising once you've forwarded ports and so-on.

[esnesi]

Once you're done, you can copy your current server folder, and setup a different mapvote/settings etc.
1 core should be sufficient for UCC.exe, but through windows taskmanager you can set affinity. (go0gle: win10 set affinity)

I do something similar.. but under Linux. And I simply create two different server configs then run the binary twice but passing a different .ini file as a parameter each time, e.g.:

./ut99-bin server DM-Agony.unr?game=EUTSource.EUTTeamGamePlus?Mutator=Mapvote14XL_B7F.BDBMapVote ini=server1.ini

.. is that possible under Windows? I know you can run the same executable twice but not sure if a binary reading a file locks out other processes.

(note: I also create symlinks to reuse the same maps/music/sounds/textures so I'm not unnecessarily duplicating a lot of data - not sure if this is possible also for a Win environment)

I sadly don't know if you can have 2 batches active on UCC.exe with diferent INIs.
I assume when 1 map locks files on 1 batch, the other batch perhaps doesn't have read access indeed, but never tried.
Storage is cheap nowadays though!

[Gustavo6046]

For multiple servers, folders are good enough.

Nowadays people have come up with a lot of random nonsense for "scalable" hosting. Stuff like containers and headless virtual machines and whatever. I guess they can be helpful depending on the use case, although they're redundant and unnecessary in yours here.

[sektor2111]

(note: I also create symlinks to reuse the same maps/music/sounds/textures so I'm not unnecessarily duplicating a lot of data - not sure if this is possible also for a Win environment)

Yes, disregarding what other are thinking with HDD space (supposed big now days) it can be wisely used for hosting multiple things. I'm using "shared" repositories as follows:
- Sounds Music Maps Textures - are common declared properly in paths which are located in...
- System_ETC, System_ETC1, System_ETC2 - each of them having another purpose (even engine version).
All it's operational flawless.

the other batch perhaps doesn't have read access indeed, but never tried.

False, it is about WRITING files - denied, in UT reading is doable from 10 sources because it won't hurt anything. Not a single time I opened a Map in TWO Editors for some checks. I'm aware of two current servers using the same maps folder without any issue. Except System files which are separate at once with auto-update places the rest are The Same. If situation is requiring a different formula probably MAPS have to be split based on game-types, but if it's about 1500 maps all of them can be used from the same location and the same map running in three servers taken from the same folder. Why ? Because a game Server it's NOT SAVING Maps and packages but ini files (and even not only ini files).

I have ZERO reasons for hosting 3 Folders × 15 GB with Music, each server having its own The Same Files - One folder is enough and for other types of packages as well. I'm not buying Hard Drives for hosting 3 copies of the same files - I would be the stupidest man from the Planet Earth. I think I recall that some programmers were doing apps for removing duplicated files from systems, but I don't recall even projects for creating more similar files thrown everywhere and filling space for no reason.

PS Note: Newer textures from 469 must be checked IF are a NEED for a dedicated server which usually doesn't render anything so I believe textures don't need to be duplicated... but... if these are hurting something they must be split and duplicated.

[Custer]

Storage is cheap nowadays though!

Not quite accurate.

Purchasing storage is cheap; managing the data within it increases in cost as the data grows. Companies that simply threw more storage at their infrastructure didn't factor in the cost of backup storage, the increased searching/indexing time, the time needed to make a backup and the delay in recovering data. Data follows Parkinson's law: it expands to fit the space available* - put a bigger HD into your laptop and you'll simply find more stuff to put on it and perform less housekeeping.

If a box is full of clutter, the solution is to declutter it, not find a bigger box.

* not quite what Parkinson said, but it follows the same principle.

Yes, disregarding what other are thinking with HDD space (supposed big now days) it can be wisely used for hosting multiple things. I'm using "shared" repositories as follows:
- Sounds Music Maps Textures - are common declared properly in paths which are located in...
- System_ETC, System_ETC1, System_ETC2 - each of them having another purpose (even engine version).
All it's operational flawless.

Ditto to that approach, except I have one directory for the 4 stock assets, another "include" for 4 shared assets and another 4 for "proposed" which are maps to play-test.
- If the players like a new map in "proposed", it'll be moved over to "include" to make it available to other servers.
- If the map turns out to be awful, we just clean out "proposed" ready for the next lot of playtesting.

False, it is about WRITING files

This part needs highlighting. UT99 *writes* to files held in the "system/" directory - you'll find that the server .ini file changes if you tweak any in-game settings. I've been caught out making changes to the file when the game is playing; I've learned to stop the server from running before applying any tweaks.

Note to tweakers: if you add comments into your .ini files, you may find them lost when you perform an in-game change. I get the impression the .ini file contents are read in and applied, but a change from the UI means they're written back out again to preserve that change - and as comments are ignored, they're lost during the writeback. I make a backup of the config file before starting so at least I've got a baseline snapshot.

Consequently, "system" is the only directory that isn't shared - all others are fine (as sektor2111 mentioned in their dir structure above).

I have ZERO reasons for hosting 3 Folders × 15 GB with Music, each server having its own The Same Files

Ditto this, but as well as wasted space there's the manual overhead of keeping the contents synchronised between different areas.

If I want a forth server up and running, I duplicate a "system" directory, make changes there then fire up the new server, knowing all other assets are available. It's been a pretty economic approach - both from storage and effort perspectives.

[Barbie]

UT99 *writes* to files held in the "system/" directory - you'll find that the server .ini file changes if you tweak any in-game settings.

That's why I write protect all important INI files like UnrealTournament.ini. I do changes manually by text editor, or I unprotect the file(s) before starting UT.

[sektor2111]

UT it's not changing main INI if run-line uses "-readini=UnrealTournament.ini" in batch starter, else it can be marked read-only. I'd rather prefer to not set it read-only if I want future self-updates or else I would need to work with file attributes too...

Edit: Inside process of a scheduled self-reboot procedure, a clean file from elsewhere can be copied for permanently replacing INI with a cleaned one keeping server in original state controlled by batch starter. These are just simple USER operations concerning command COPY DELETE RENAME - so to speak operating basics.

[Dennis]

I have ZERO reasons for hosting 3 Folders × 15 GB with Music, each server having its own The Same Files

OMG!?!?! What server admin runs a server with 15 GB music??? Thats insane! I've seen many servers that takes minutes to load mapvote because of heavy loads of maps. WHY? 99% of all those maps are NEVER PLAYED!

I got a lot of help here, and we are now able to host 4 server from my "box" which we can now all enjoy very simple, just running from 4 customised versions, all copy/paste from the source in the first reply to my question (big thanks again!). 4 server folders, different setup, but not even past 1 GB total - and still with LOTS of maps - just quality maps that are getting played, no bench warmers. Quantity never beats quality - never. we are old schoolers, we want to play for fun, this game is old and most of its gold are buried in the past - the classics, in our opinion ofcause. Therefore copy/paste is the easiest thing to do as the filesize will never grow to anything remotely close to modern games, our box has a 500 GB SSD HDD, so regardless whatever Windows is consuming the HDD will never become the limit here, the CPU, RAM and net connection will be the bottle neck here.

[f7r]

(note: I also create symlinks to reuse the same maps/music/sounds/textures so I'm not unnecessarily duplicating a lot of data - not sure if this is possible also for a Win environment)

NTFS well contain both symbolic and hard links. Perhaps you only need third-party tools for manage it.

[Barbie]

NTFS well contain both symbolic and hard links. Perhaps you only need third-party tools for manage it.

Code: Select all

fsutil hardlink create <newfilename> <existingfilename>
fsutil hardlink list <filename>
mklink [[/d] | [/h] | [/j]] <link> <target>

[Que]

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/c ... -or-linux/