This is a description how to set up a Nexuiz server so that it can be used in the Nexuiz ladders or tourneys. I recommend that you read this guide thoroughly, because if you followed everything you won't ever have to deal with big changes of your config again, at least not during Nexuiz v2.5.x. The only updates you might have to do is downloading and overwriting the ladder configs and restart the server. That's it.

For those of you who remember setting up their old v2.4.2 server together with the tourney mod: the tourney mod is not used anymore, so you can delete your "tourney" folder and all that - all config files just go into your regular data folder again.

Anyways, just follow steps described here:

1) First of all, if you run a ladder server for ladders that use custom maps (you can find out about that by going to the rules page of the corresponding ladder, look at the last paragraph, you will see the custom maps as a link) then download these maps to the data directory of your server
2) I recommend that you download the configuration files for all ladders, not just the one you want the server to be used for (the reason will be explained in just a moment). Download the:
- Common ladder config
- 1on1 ladder config
- 2on2 TDM ladder config
- 3on3 CTF ladder config
and put them into your data directory. Please note that it is not recommended to change anything in these ladder configs, because you might be asked to update one or more of these configs, and all your modifications would be overwritten/lost.

3) Create a NEW config-file for your ladder server (start from scratch please) in your data folder

Here is an example for that config file (e.g. my_ladder_server.cfg):

Code: Select all

set hostname "My XonX ladder server"
set port 26500
set sv_public 0 //your decision whether it is public or not
maxplayers 8
set sv_motd "Welcome to my XonX ladder server! \n It is set to the required ladder-specific rules"
set rcon_password "" //change to your personal pw
set sv_adminnick "Admin"
set sv_checkforpacketsduringsleep 1 //optional
set sv_maxrate 20000 //more is usually not needed
set sv_status_privacy 0 //set to 1 if you want to hide IP addresses of players

exec ladder_1on1dm.cfg //could also be any other ladder, e.g. ladder_2on2tdm.cfg

As you can see, it consists of these values:

• hostname
• port
• sv_public 0 or 1 (0 is recommended, though)
• maxplayers: from now on maxplayers may be greater than the specified player count of the ladder, in order to allow spectators. you can choose the maxplayers as you wish, a good idea is to have 1 or 2 spectator slots, but you can also decide not to have any, which means that you would set maxplayers to the exact player count. For a 1on1 server you'd set maxplayers to 4 if you want to have 2 playerslots and 2 spectator slots
• sv_motd: your server's message of the day
• other volontary, server-dependant settings, like rcon_password, sv_adminnick, sv_checkforpacketsduringsleep, etc.
• exec ladder-specific-config.cfg (e.g. exec ladder_1on1dm.cfg if you create a 1on1 ladder server)

Note 1: In case you wondered why sys_ticrate was not set, the reason is that it is set to 0.03125 in the common ladder config. Using this ticrate reduced the lag by up to 30ms in my measurements and alters the physics a bit (especially for laserjumps).

Note 2: You might also wonder why there is no g_maplist set. The reason is that the ladder configs will overwrite the g_maplist variable anyway, so that it contains all the maps that are used in the ladder. As a consequence, only the maps of the corresponding ladder will be shown in the mapvote selection menu that automatically shows up at the end of a match. Players can, however, vote manually for any other map that exists on the server!

4) If you still have the maps Strength and BloodprisonCTF as custom pk3 files from v2.3, delete them please, because they are part of Nexuiz v2.5 already! It is recommended to use a fresh installation of Nexuiz v2.5 on your server anyway!
5) IMPORTANT Starting your server works a bit different now! In previous Nexuiz versions you were using something like

Code: Select all

./nexuiz-linux-x86_64-dedicated +exec my_ladder_server.cfg

However, now you would do this:

Code: Select all

./nexuiz-linux-x86_64-dedicated +serverconfig my_ladder_server.cfg

This means that instead of doing +exec my_ladder_server.cfg you just do +serverconfig my_ladder_server.cfg - this actually sets the variable serverconfig to my_ladder_server.cfg and will make sure that my_ladder_server.cfg will be automatically executed. (Sidenote for the ones who are interested why this was done: doing it this way, we can finally put QC commands like "addtolist" into your server config. What actually happens is that a dummy map is loaded first, as then QC commands can be executed. After that, my_ladder_server.cfg is executed automatically).
Please note that the Nexuiz/server/ directory provides sample startup scripts for you.

If you closely followed the afore mentioned steps you should have a working ladder server that runs with the ladder specific rules and settings. If you would like that your server gets added to the official list of ladder servers on the Nexuiz ladders page, contact me, either in irc, this forum (you can reply here as well) or via the PM system of the ladder page.

New feature: changable ladder modes:
Beginning with the new configs you had to download in the first steps there are now aliases that you as server admin can add to the list of votable commands (there is a new alias which does that, called addvote, so you are no longer setting or extending the sv_vote_commands cvar anymore!). These aliases are called 1on1dm, 2on2tdm and 3on3ctf - if a player votes for them, (let's say a player votes for 2on2tdm), the server changes its mode (in this case: 2on2 tdm ladder mode). This allows you to run only one server instance and the players can change it to run either 1on1 DM, 2on2 TDM or 3on3 CTF as each particular situation requires it. You should really consider to use this feature, for the following 2 benefits:
1) Some server admins decided to provide servers for all ladders, which meant that they had to provide 3 servers. Now it would suffice if they only provided 2 servers which are flexible to be used in any ladder mode. The fewer server instances you have running on your server, the better the overall performance of all server instances will be!
2) Imagine that, at one evening, a lot of players want to play a certain game mode, e.g. 1on1. In case of v2.4.2 it could happen that all 1on1 ladder servers (that the players had a decent ping to) were already full. Now this can be prevented if you allow your servers that are started as 2on2 or 3on3 server to be used in all modes.

To allow players to vote for these aliases, you'll simply have to add them. You can do so by adding the following line(s) to your my_ladder_server.cfg file from above:

Code: Select all

addvote 1on1dm
addvote 2on2tdm
addvote 3on3ctf

Of course you can decide to only add 2 of the 3 aliases. However, don't forget to add the alias that switches the ladder mode back to the one you started your server with, so if your exec command was e.g. for ladder_1on1dm.cfg, you should have the 1on1dm alias votable, so that players can switch back again to the "original" mode of the server.

There are also prerequisites that you need to be aware of, if you allow that your server is used in 2 or more modes:

• As mentioned at the beginning, make sure that you have all ladder server configs downloaded to your data dir!
• Make sure that your maxplayers value is set to a number that matches the size of the "biggest" mode you want to allow. The problem is that the maxplayers value can not be changed anymore after the server was started. In case you allow the 3on3ctf alias to be voted for, your maxplayers must be at least 6.
• Make sure to use a generic hostname, e.g. "My 1on1/2on2/3on3 ladder server"
• Although the players can find out whether they can vote for ladder mode changes by looking at the host name or using the "vhelp" command, it would be nice if you added this information to your sv_motd as well

I will try to keep this guide updated!

bump

what a short tutorial
xD

Its just lots of text, not really much to do

I can setup a ladder server in Washington DC... give me a few days to get organized.

Actually everyone that hosted a ladder server for 2.4.2 should switch to 2.5 and update their servers with the config as mentioned here or i guess the server will be delistet as official ladder server soon.. As the rules require you to play on a current nexuiz ladder server

LOL esteel. You are a funnybunny sometimes. Have you already noticed the current ladder server list?

http://www.planetnexuiz.com/ladder/inde ... %20servers

mwaha!

what btw was the votecall for changing a ladder server from ctf back to 1on1 ?

Hehe, well its the truth, there are no other 2.5 ladder servers. Well i just setup the DCC ladder servers, think they will soon be added to that list

Its: vcall 1on1dm

spinfusor 2.5 is up

added, thx

IMO, should be votable for 5v5ctf and ons (with appropriate maps -- and yes, there ARE ons maps, I've checked around).

There are no ladders for that.. admins however are free to add that to their servers ofc. But that will make the ladder servers a bit confusing if you ask me..

Well then there should be ladders for 5v5 and ons

2v2 ladder server admins: please update your

- Common ladder config
- 2on2 TDM ladder config

Just overwrite your old config. If your server only supports one game mode you will have to re-execute that config (i.e. ladder_2on2tdm) manually. Otherwise, if you allow several game modes, just vote for another gamemode, so that these settings take effect (or, you can also restart the server, it doesn't matter, in the end it's only important that ladder_2on2tdm is executed to take over the new settings)


This is based on the poll/discussion here: http://forums.alientrap.local/viewtopic.php?t=4053