tserver.html - vaccinewars - be a doctor and try to vaccinate the world
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     9 Setting up and running a dopewars server
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Setting up and running a dopewars server

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Multiplayer games of dopewars require a running dopewars server; this
    17 mediates the interactions between each player (each player runs a
    18 client which connects to this server). The server
    19 runs the game, generating drug prices and the like, and instructs the clients
    20 accordingly. The server can be run on any machine that can be reached over
    21 the network by clients (so you don't have to run it on the same machine that
    22 you run your client on, for example, unless your firewall blocks the dopewars
    23 port).

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Single player games do not require a server (although you can still connect
    26 to one if you like) as a "virtual server" is run by the dopewars client.

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The dopewars server can be heavily customised by means of the
    29 configuration files. For example, you can
    30 change the names of all the game locations so that the game is set in your
    31 home city rather than New York. Any players that then connect to your
    32 customised server will play this customised game.

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Running a server

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All the code for the dopewars server is included in the same binary as the
    44 standard client. To run the binary in server mode, specify the -s or
    45 -S command line option. The type of
    46 server that runs depends on how you configured the binary; by default, on
    47 Windows systems a simple graphical window containing the server output and
    48 a line for entering server commands is used
    49 (an "interactive" server) while on Unix systems a text-mode server that
    50 accepts no input ("noninteractive") is used.

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Interacting with the text-mode server

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Once started, the text-mode server does not accept commands directly. This
    55 is problematic if you want to adjust settings, eject players, etc. To send
    56 commands to a running server, run dopewars with the -A
    57 command line option. (This should only work
    58 from the machine running the dopewars server, not over the network, and only
    59 for the user that started the server, as it uses a Unix-domain socket for the
    60 communication.) Also, by default the text-mode server sends its log output to
    61 standard output; you may wish to instead log to a file with the -l
    62 option.

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Running as a Windows service

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On Windows systems, the graphical server has one major drawback; it can
    67 only run while you are logged on. As soon as you log out, the server is
    68 killed. To get around this limitation, dopewars
    69 supports being run as a "Windows Service".
    70 The disadvantage of the server in this configuration is that server commands
    71 cannot be issued once the server is running. This limitation should be
    72 fixed in a future release of dopewars.

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Private and public: the dopewars metaserver

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By default, a server reports its status to the dopewars
    77 metaserver. It does this on startup and
    78 shutdown, and whenever players join or leave the game. In addition, you
    79 can force a report (under Unix systems) by sending the dopewars server
    80 process a SIGUSR1 signal. The server will "remind" the metaserver that it
    81 exists by ensuring that a report is sent at least once every 3 hours or so,
    82 regardless. A "status report" comprises contact details for the server,
    83 a count of the number of active players, and current high scores.

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The metaserver also has a web interface, which is used by dopewars clients to
    86 obtain the list of servers, and can also be viewed with a web browser
    87 here.

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Whether your server connects to the metaserver can be configured with the
    90 MetaServer.Active configuration
    91 file setting, or the -s and -S 
    92 command line options.

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N.B. Your machine may have trouble connecting with
    95 the metaserver in some circumstances, most notably if you are using an
    96 enforced proxy server or your DNS does not correctly resolve your IP address
    97 to your domain name. In such cases, you may be unable to connect to the
    98 metaserver, or it may register your server with an incorrect name. For
    99 information on getting round these difficulties, see the
   100 metaserver page.

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   107   Last update: 05-12-2020

   108   Valid XHTML 1.1
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