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Jim,

Hope this helps.

Microsoft Halo PC Dedicated Server Readme File
October 2003, v1.02
© Microsoft Corporation, 2001-2003. All rights reserved.

Welcome to Halo for the PC Dedicated Server!

This file contains information to help you setup, run and troubleshoot the
Halo Dedicated Server. The Halo Dedicated Server is definitely an advanced
feature, not designed for the casual user. This document is written assuming
the reader is familiar with running dedicated game servers, as well as
having advanced computer knowledge.

NOTE: HALO DEDICATED SERVER IS NOT SUPPORTED BY MICROSOFT CUSTOMER SUPPORT.

CONTENTS

A. Dedicated Server v1.02 Features
B. System Requirements
C. Installation
D. Running Halo Dedicated Server
E. init.txt configuration file
F. Running multiple instances
G. Using Remote Console
H. Console Commands
I. Getting Help
J. Known Issues and Workarounds
K. Versions History

A. Dedicated Server Features

The Halo Dedicated Server v1.02 includes:

* Stand-alone application.
* Flexible multiple instances support.
* Client RCon (Remote Console) functionality.
* Command line execution.
* Kicking and banning players.
* Pre-defined / custom game type and map rotation support.
* Password protected servers.

B. System Requirements

Halo Dedicated Server requires a personal computer with the following
minimum requirements:

* Multimedia personal computer with a 733 MHz or higher processor.
* Windows 98 SE, Windows Me, Windows 2000 Service Pack 1, or Windows XP.

* 128 Megabytes (MB) of RAM.
* 200 MB of available hard disk space.
* Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device.
* Broadband internet connection.

These differ from the retail version of Halo for the PC by not requiring:
* 8× CD-ROM drive.
* 32 MB 3D hardware-transform-and-lighting-capable video display.
* Sound card and speakers or headphones.
* DirectX 9.0b.

To run an optimal Halo Dedicated Server, a personal computer with the
following requirements is recommended:
* Personal computer with a 1.4 GHz or higher processor.
* Windows XP or Windows 2003 Server (with all service packs installed)
* 256 Megabytes (MB) of RAM or more.
* 200 GB of available hard disk space.
* Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device.

When running multiple instances on a server, these requirements have to be
adjusted to account for the additional resources required.

C. Installation

Halo Dedicated Server is released in two different self-extracting files:

Halo_DS_1_02.exe
This self-extracting file includes the Halo Dedicated Server binary files.
When we release updates to the dedicated server, these will be the only
files you need to update.

Halo_DS_Maps_1_02.exe
This self-extracting file includes the multiplayer maps required to run Halo
Dedicated Server. You only need to download these once. If you already have
the full retail Halo game installed on your server, you do not need to
download the maps at all; the server will use the maps that were installed
by the game.

To install: double-click these files and follow the on-screen instructions.

D. Running Halo Dedicated Server

1. Browse to your Halo Dedicated Server installation directory.

2. Double-click haloded.exe.

This will open a console window and you will have access to the Halo
Dedicated Server console command line.

E. init.txt configuration file

Halo Dedicated Server uses init.txt file (located in the installation
directory) to pre-set some of the server options and setup map cycling. Any
console command can be invoked in the init.txt file (see Console Commands
below
for a list of available console commands).

For example, to launch a server with the following parameters:
* Name: "Halo_DS"
* Listed on the GameSpy Master Server list? Yes
* Maximum number players: 12
* Password: "halo"
* Timeout between maps rotations: 15 seconds

Create the following init.txt file:

sv_name Halo_DS
sv_public True
sv_maxplayers 12
sv_password halo
sv_mapcycle_timeout 15

To setup map cycling, you need to create a game entries map cycling list (a
game entry is a map name and a game type). To do so, simply use the
sv_mapcycle_add command in the init.txt file.

For example, to have the following maps and game types cycle:
* Timberland CTF
* Danger Canyon Assault
* Gephyrophobia Slayer
* Blood Gulch Crazy King

Add the following lines to the init.txt file:

sv_mapcycle_add timberland CTF
sv_mapcycle_add dangercanyon assault
sv_mapcycle_add gephyrophobia slayer
sv_mapcycle_add bloodgulch "crazy king"

Then, to start the dedicated server, use the following command:
sv_mapcycle_begin.

Every time you launch haloded.exe, it will look for init.txt for
initialization
(unless you specify a different file using -exec. See below for more details
on
-exec).

For the previous example, the final init.txt file would look like this:

sv_name Halo_DS
sv_public True
sv_maxplayers 12
sv_password halo
sv_mapcycle_timeout 15
sv_mapcycle_add timberland CTF
sv_mapcycle_add dangercanyon assault
sv_mapcycle_add gephyrophobia slayer
sv_mapcycle_add bloodgulch "crazy king"
sv_mapcycle_begin

The default game types available are the following:

oddball
slayer
juggernaut
king
crazy king
race
ctf
assault
team slayer
team oddball
team race

Classic game variants are also supported as default game types (check out
the
retail version of Halo for a list of all classic game variants).

You can create custom game types (using the full retail version of Halo) and
include these game types on your server rotation. This would enable you, for
example, to include a Rockets only game on your server rotation. To do so,
follow these steps:

* Launch the full retail version of Halo.
* Under Multiplayer, choose Edit Game Types.
* Create a new game type (refer to the Halo documentation if you need
help to do this).
* Save your new game type.
* Quit Halo.
* Open your Halo save games folder (by default, this would be "My
Documents\My Games\Halo\savegames" ).
* You will see the name of the custom game type you created as a folder
directory.
* Make sure this folder is available on your server (in the same location
on disk).
* Use the name of your custom game type in your mapcycle.txt file.

With this release, the dedicated server is dependent on access to your save
games folder. This will be addressed in an upcoming release.

F. Running multiple instances

Halo Dedicated Server supports multiple instances running on one computer.
Obviously, each of these instances must be using a different network port.
See
below for instructions on how to launch multiple instances of Halo Dedicated
Server. The maximum number of instances that can be run on a server is 8.

When running multiple instances, each instance will use its own init.txt
file.

Here is an example on how to run multiple instances, assuming Halo Dedicated
Server is installed in the E:\HaloPC folder:

E:\HaloPC\haloded.exe -exec e:\halopc\init1.txt -cpu 0 -port 2301
E:\HaloPC\haloded.exe -exec e:\halopc\init2.txt -cpu 1 -port 2305
E:\HaloPC\haloded.exe -exec e:\halopc\init3.txt -cpu 0 -port 2307

Three command line arguments are specific to running Halo Dedicated Server
with
multiple instances:

-exec
Specify which init.txt file to use for this instance of the dedicated
server.
The name of this file can be any name.

-cpu
When using a multi-processor computer (SMP) server, it is possible to
instruct
Halo Dedicated Server to run on a specific CPU. To do so, use the -cpu n
command line argument (where n is a given CPU, 0 being the first one).

-port
Different instances must, obviously, use different ports. -port is used to
specify the port for the instance being launched. If a port is not specified
the server will automatically choose an open port though the chosen port is
not
reported.

G. Using RCon

By default RCon (remote connection) to a server is disabled. To enable it,
you
must specify an RCon password. You do this using the following console
command:

sv_rcon_password password

Once RCon is enabled on a server, any client can send it commands using the
following console command:

rcon password command argument

password is the RCon password to the server the client is connected to.
command is one of the server console commands (see Console Commands below).
argument is the argument to the server console command.

H. Console Commands

The following commands are server specific console commands:

cls
Clear the console text.

help [command]
Tell you about the command.

quit
Quit Halo for the PC dedicated server.

sv_ban [player name or index]
Ban the player with the given name or index. However, this doesn't kick them
out of the game however.

sv_banlist
Show the list of the banned players.

sv_end_game
End the currently running game. This will proceed to the next game in the
map
cycling game entries list.

sv_kick [player index or name]
Kick the player with the given name or index out of the game.

sv_map [map name] [game variant]
Start a game with the indicated map and game variant. When the game is over,
this game will restart itself. This command supersedes any map cycle the
server
has.

sv_mapcycle
Show game list.

sv_mapcycle_add [map name] [game variant]
Append this game entry (map name and game type) to the end of the game list.

sv_mapcycle_begin
Start the map cycling with the specified game entries.

sv_mapcycle_del [index]
Delete the game entry from the map cycling game list (use sv_mapcycle to get
game IDs).

sv_mapcycle_timeout n
Time in seconds to restart the next game in the game list after game is
finished (this determines how long clients are sitting at the post carnage
report screen).

sv_map_next
End the current game and skip to the next game in the map cycling game
entries
list.

sv_map_restart
Restart the game.

sv_maxplayers n (Default value is 16)
Set the maximum number players. This should be done in the init.txt file,
before map cycling begins.

sv_name [string] (Default value is "Halo" )
Set the server name (15 characters max). This should be done in the init.txt
file, before map cycling begins.

sv_password [string]
Set password for server. This should be done in the init.txt file, before
map
cycling begins.

sv_players
List the players and their indices for reference in banning and kicking
players
from the dedicated server.

sv_public [true, false] (Default value is true)
Determine if the server will be listed in the GameSpy Master Server list
(true)
or not (false). This should be done in the init.txt file, before map cycling
begins. Note: setting this to false is equivalent to hosting a LAN game.

sv_rcon_password [string]
Set the RCon password. To remove the password, thus disabling RCon, specify
an
empty string "" as the password.

sv_status [true, false]
Used to continually show the status of the dedicated server in the console.

sv_unban [player name]
Allow the player with the given name to join the server again.

I. Getting Help

Get Halo Dedicated Server help on the Gearbox Software community forums at
the
following address:
http://www.gearboxsoftware.com/for [...] erverAdmin

Halo Dedicated Server engineers regularly browse these forums and answer
frequently asked questions.

NOTE: HALO DEDICATED SERVER IS NOT SUPPORTED BY MICROSOFT CUSTOMER SUPPORT.

J. Known Issues and Workarounds

Console does not recognize Battlecreek, Derelict, or Chiron map names.
You must use the actual multiplayer map file name. Here is a table with the
in-game name of the map and its associated file name:

In-game name
File name
Battle
Creek
beavercreek
Sidewinder
sidewinder
Damnation
damnation
Rat
Race
ratrace
Prisoner
prisoner
Hang 'Em High
hamgemhigh
Chill
Out
chillout
Derelict
carousel
Boarding Action
boardingaction
Blood
Gulch
bloodgulch
Wizard
wizard
Chiron TL34
putput
Longest
longest
Ice
Fields
icefields
Death Island
deathisland
Danger
Canyon
dangercanyon
Infinity
infinity
Timberland
timberland
Gephyrophobia
gephyrophobia

Using sv_map, host is unable to launch a game using a game variant with
spaces
in it: Sv_map takes multiple arguments. You need to add quotes around spaces
in
the second argument (game variant) in order for this to work. For example,
sv_map mapname "game variant".

Console is unable to clear the server password: You need to enter an "empty"
password to clear it from the console. Enter sv_password "".

K. Versions History

v1.00 - 9/9/2003 - Halo Dedicated Server v1.00 private release

v1.01 - 10/1/2003 - Halo Dedicated Server v1.01 public pre-release
* Basic version of the dedicated server release to the community due to the
high-demand.

v1.02 - 10/7/2003 - Halo Dedicated Server v1.02 public release
* Multiple instances support.
* RCon support.
* Halo Dedicated Server instructions released.
--
Thanks,
Nick Kritselis [MS]
--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.


"Jim" <lurkyeah1@cox.net> wrote in message
news:10a201c49ad1$e00f2db0$a601280a@phx.gbl...
> what do i need to do to play on my own dedicated server?
> do i need to change port numbers? if so how do i do this?
> if you know please help me!!!
> thank you