Help with a Server

[Guest]

Hello, im trying to set up a server for MTAVC on my home PC, i am running on a network with broadband, and i cant seem to set up a server for MTAVC, can someone please help me, cos all other servers are laggy and cheaty,

[zeRo-liMit]

What specifically are you having trouble with? You should just browse to your MTA install directory, edit your mtaserver.cfg, and then run mtaserver.exe.

It's not too difficult - if you have a specific question, make sure to ask it.

[Guest]

well .. 1st of all .. i am on a lan .. so i dont no what to put for the IP addy .. and Game name, and when i try to connect via MTAVC, it just says error on connection or timed out .. can u help me with either of them >

btw .. is it right it shuld come up with a Comman promt box?

[zeRo-liMit]

For the IP, you need to put the IP of the machine itself - go to "start", "run" from your task bar. Then in the "run" box, type CMD, and then you should have a command prompt. Type "ipconfig" and it should give you your IP address. This is what you will put in your .cfg file.

Here is part of mine for an example.

# ServerName

# Required: Yes and MUST have a length of atleast 3

# Purpose: Defines the name in which the Server will be known as. Useful for ASE support and the upcoming Listing Server

# Notes:

# None

ServerName "zeRo's MTA Stunt 0.2.2 - http://www.ring-o-matic.com/mta.htm"

# GameIPAddress

# Required: No. Will set to default if no explicit specification.

# Purpose: Defines which IP address GAME server will listen on.

# Notes:

# Must be in IP address form. Comment this line out for default.

GameIPAddress "192.168.0.2"

# AdminIPAddress

# Required: No. Will set to default if no explicit specification.

# Purpose: Defines which IP address ADMIN server will listen on.

# Notes:

# Must be in IP address form. Comment this line out for default.

AdminIPAddress "192.168.0.2"

# ServerPort

# Required: Yes and MUST be greater than 0

# Purpose: Defines the port in which the Server will listen on for incoming connections.

# Notes:

# This port must not be used by any other process and MUST be opened for UDP traffic on your firewall

ServerPort 2004

You don't even need to configure the other options if you don't want. The server should run if you just give it an IP. Keep in mind that you shouldn't try to join the server from the machine you're running it on. So you would want to use a different computer to test it. Also, when the server is running, you're supposed to just have the dos window. Nothing GUI with dedicated servers.

[Guest]

yes . this is what i mean. i am on a LAN so it will give me my LAN IP addresss beeing 192.168.9.*** but if i have found out my actual IP, but becuase i am on a LAN we need are own server to connect all the PC's up, and to allow net, but this server is also a Linux Fire wall , so i dont noif I can connect and if other ppl can too .. this is the problem i am having hosting any Online game with that stupid linux fire wall. So even if i TRY to use a diff pc .. they shall use the same IP, will this still work?

[Cray]

If you plan on letting outside connections (Internet), then you will have to run the Server on your Linux Box and open up the appropriate ports.

If you are planning to just keep it LAN, then just run it on one of your LAN's computer, connect to localhost for the "Server" computer, and the LAN IP for the rest of the Computers.

[Dgtadude]

I had the same Porblem once , Firewall

[zeRo-liMit]

.. they shall use the same IP, will this still work?

Well, this will be a problem if they are using the same IP. You can't have two nodes on the same physical network with identical IP addresses (unless they are on different subnets).

What you need to do is figure out what the IP of the linux box/router is (hopefully it's different than your other PCs) and put that address in the server .cfg file for "gameIpaddress." This will still work fine for online games. You will show up in ASE with your WAN address listed. ASE doesn't look at your .cfg file for that, so you needn't worry.

If you get that all done, what you will need to do is put the address of the linux box/router into the MTA client on your playing machine to connect to it while you are on the local LAN. People outside your network will connect by using your WAN address which they will find in ASE.

Hope that helps some.

[Guest]

BTW: all the lan pc's are using the same network IP, but a different ending .. so say one wa 192.168.9.200 the other may be 192.168.9.150 etc etc

lol also .. BTW.. what is WAN?!?!?

no no no .. lol soz .. i may have got u a bit confused. I have 5 PC's 4 of which are connected to a LAN. the 5th one is my Linux Firewall/server/gatewall etc. .. the linux box i was talking about wasnt the server. its a PC in a box lol .. with linux on it .. so what you are saying .. is IF i can get my real IP address, not my lan .. i enter this in, and run it in .. which comeputer? mine.. or the firewall .. cos if its the firewall .. thats impossibly as its SmoothWall linux .. some of u PC ppl will no what im talking about

[zeRo-liMit]

Alrighty, this all makes a lot more sense now.

Your IP addresses are class "C" - take this for example: 192.168.9.150

"192.168.9" is the network portion of the address, and "150" is the node portion of the address. You computers must have the same "network" portion to communicate with eachother, and the nodes must be different.

There, you just had a networking lesson.

A WAN address is the address used on the "internet" side of your firewall/router. It is a totally different network* (see lesson above) than your regular LAN IPs. Your internet provider assigns this address, and you can't change it. You don't need to worry about this one unless you want to call your friends up and tell them to connect to your server. If you are planning to have people play by looking you up on ASE, you don't need to worry about it at all - ASE will do the work for you.

As for LAN play, and actual server setup. I'm familiar with smoothwall and, as you said, you can't put anything on that machine other than smoothwall. What you want to do is put the MTA server on your slowest machine, or one that you won't care to play on. Then do what I said above to check the IP address of that machine (the one you wish to have the server on) or check it any other way you like.

Once you have the address of the machine you wish to use as the server, open up your mtaserver.cfg (on your server machine now) and put the address in there under GameIPAddress like I have in my example above. That address should look like 192.168.9.XXX. Then give it a name, and run mtaserver.exe.

Now if you want to play on your fancy new server, go to a different machine and open up your MTA client. Enter the IP address of the server (the one you put in the mtaserver.cfg) and the port that is listed in your .cfg (see my example above again). You should now be able to connect to your own server.

Some things to check when editing the .cfg file - make sure you delete the # in front of whatever you're changing, otherwise it will ignore what you put in there. Also make sure to have " " around the value (see example above again).

You should be all set - as for getting internet users on your server, I'm not familiar enough with smoothwall to explain how to open ports off the top of my head, but you can let it run for a couple days and see if anybody connects to you. If you can't get any internet players, read your smoothwall documentation about opening ports (if that ability exists) and open 2003, 2126, and 4003 (if you left them default in the mtaserver.cfg).

[Guest]

thank you VERY much , i shall try that as soon as possibly .. in fact i might try it now. if this doesnt work .. i shall go back to the old fashion way .. *grabs sleigh hammer*.. *walk down stairs to the smoothwall server.. and gives it a nice coule of beats* ^^

[Trust]

is it possible to run a non-dedicated server on mta:vc 0.2.2?

if so, plz tell me how because i also want to play on my own server

thx

[zeRo-liMit]

is it possible to run a non-dedicated server on mta:vc 0.2.2?

Without actually testing it, I do know for sure that you can start a dedicated server and then connect to it from the same machine using your MTA client. Whether or not it works, and how well (think possible lag, and crashes) will be up to you to test, as I'm at work right now. It's generally not recommended as this defeats the purpose of a dedicated server, but MTA really has no other option, so give it a shot.

Try to follow what I said above to get your IP address, and then search for, or browse to mtaserver.cfg, put that address next to "GameIPAddress" (see example above) and enter that same address in your MTA client. Fire MTA up, and see what it does.