Source Dedicated Server

The Source Dedicated Server (or srcds, or just DS) is a tool that runs the server component of a Source game without the client component. In other words, it simulates the game without drawing it. The DS is chiefly used by server providers who want to serve up as many games from the same computer as they can.

This page, however, is aimed at mod developers who want to run srcds on their home computer. Doing this is a must if you are creating a multiplayer mod as the behaviour of dedicated servers differs from that of listenservers (those started from the main menu) in some areas. Crashes that only happen on a DS are entirely possible!

Connectivity

No matter which type of server you are using, your computer must be able to receive unsolicited incoming connections. This is exactly what routers and software firewalls exist to prevent, so if you are using either you will have to reconfigure. Refer to the manufacturer instructions for how to do this.

The ports srcds officially requires are:

• 27015 TCP/UDP (game transmission, pings and RCON)
• 27020 UDP (SourceTV transmission)

It has also been spotted opening connections on 27005 and 51840 UDP, but these may be outbound only.

Tip:Pinging your own server will fail with some routers and/or ISPs. The most reliable way to test whether your connection is open is either to get a friend to try connecting, or to install the Microsoft Network Monitor (apply the filter Udp.Port == 27015) and watch for requests coming in from random people around the world. Note that the heartbeats you will see being sent to the two master servers do not mean that the connection is open.

Tip:If you've opened and forwarded the correct ports and still can't receive connections, the panic button on many routers is DMZ ('Demilitarised Zone') mode. This removes all security entirely, including DOS protection, and sends all unsolicited traffic to a specified computer. Make sure your software and OS are all up to date before you do this.

Note:A residential internet connections may not have the upload capacity to support large games.

Setting up

Administering a dedicated server is exactly the same as administering a listenserver. Setting it up is quite different however:

Tip:You can pass console commands as command line parameters with '+'. e.g. +map my_map.

Source 2006 - Steam

Episode One mods running on Windows can run srcds the easy way, which is through Steam. This way the DS will use the game content you already have downloaded and will not require admin privileges to install.

Install the Source Dedicated Server, run it once, then create a shortcut to srcds.exe -console -steam -game <vproject> (the GUI slows the server down and is buggy). You must also set the starting directory to the location of Steam's executable.

Source 2007 / Linux - HLDS Update Tool

The engine build used by the Orange Box DSes on Steam ("Source Multiplayer", and also one for each of the Steamworks mods) differs from the one that mods built with the 2007 SDK code require, and you will receive an error about "SetupArrayProps_R" if you try to use it with your own server binary.

You must instead use the HLDS Update Tool, which installs a standalone dedicated server. This doesn't require Steam to be running, but also doesn't read data that Steam has downloaded -- meaning that it requires a separate install of the game your are running from, including all textures and sounds. If you don't have 2.5GB free space on your hard drive you're out of luck.

1. Install the Update Tool:
   • Windows: Just run the installer
   • Linux:
     1. If you have a 64-bit distribution, make sure you have ia32-libs or you will be told that the .bin file doesn't exist.
     2. Open a terminal and browse to a suitable folder
     3. Execute wget http://storefront.steampowered.com/download/hldsupdatetool.bin
     4. Execute chmod +x hldsupdatetool.bin
     5. Execute ./hldsupdatetool.bin
     6. The real update tool is ./steam.bin
2. Run the update tool with -command update -game orangebox. Optionally, add -dir <path> to download to a custom location.
3. Unless you actually want to download everything again, cancel the tool with Ctrl+C once it starts on materials. You can skip the bulk of the downloading by extracting the GCFs already on your system with GCFScape instead.
   • You will need to extract sounds, materials and models; do the "source X" GCFs before the "source 2007 X" ones.
   • You should end up with <server_path>\hl2 from your GCFs and <server_path>\orangebox from the update tool.
   • You may want to run the update tool again after extracting to make sure that everything is correct.
4. To start the server, run orangebox\srcds.exe -console -game <vproject>.

Warning:The HLDS update tool does not provide Lost Coast, even though SDK Base does. Multiplayer mods should either not use anything from Lost Coast, or include what they do use in their dedicated server download.

Note:Connecting to a Source 2007 Steam DS may result in a "Steam Validation Rejected" error unless <account>\source 2007 dedicated server\steam_appid.txt contains the AppID of the game you are running.

Bug:A Steam TF2 DS will not load correctly if its game folder is anywhere other than <server dir>\tf\. Don't copy your custom content over to fix this: instead, create a symbolic link.  [todo tested in ?]

See Also

• Half-Life Dedicated Server (for GoldSrc)
• Server Plugins
• Open Source Server Plugin List
• Command Line Options

External Links

• Setting up a Steam Source Dedicated Server
• Optimizing a Dedicated Server
• Official Windows DS forum