How To: Build a Multiplayer PC Gaming Server

networking

LAN-based game servers are also a popular alternative offering for conventional arcades, and an entire business is springing up around the "PC room" and "LAN arena" concepts. Multiplayer game boxes are also appropriate for hobby/game store environments and other recreation centers. And for an ISP or ASP with spare bandwidth and an urge to diversify, they make an interesting side offering.

In this TechBuilder recipe, I'll show you how to build a multiplayer game server. While this system is inexpensive, it is powerful enough to manage both popular first-person/tactical combat games like Battlefield Vietnam, and leading cooperative and competitive role-playing games such as Neverwinter Nights.

Ingredients

Here's what you'll need to build this system:

id
unit-1659132512259
type
Sponsored post
Players
CPU Speed Required
Up to 8
933 MHz
9 to 16
1.6 GHz
17 to 32
2.4 GHz
More than 32
3.0 GHz

17 Steps To Building a Game Server

Now that you have your components assembled, let's start building the game servers.

1. Download TightVNC, and install it on the server PC. Allow the software to be registered as a system service. The default configuration settings are acceptable. But be sure to assign a strong password for VNC logins.

2. Install the Battlefield Vietnam server. Download the latest version (1.21 at the time of this writing), and run the bfv server executable to start the install.

The only significant configuration question is the decision to install PunkBuster, which should be allowed. PunkBuster is an anti-cheating mechanism, and in a LAN environment, cheating should be less of an issue. For Internet play, some players may resist using it. PunkBuster enforcement can be disabled from within the game server, so it may be safely installed to provide the option. It's part of the normal install and the configuration screen.

3. Launch the game server from the Windows Start Menu, under EA Games/Battlefield Vietnam Server/Run Dedicated Server. When the server launches, it presents a seven-tab configuration window. In the General tab, set a password for access to the server, if desired. The maximum number of players, also found in the General tab, should be stress-tested before being placed into production, if at all possible. But if the configuration guidelines in our Ingredients section are followed, there should be no surprises. At the bottom of the General tab, choose whether connections should be accepted from the Internet at large or only over the LAN (that is, from local IP addresses).

4. While still in the General tab, use the Bandwidth Limit step if the game will allow remote connections, and if bandwidth constraints are a potential problem. Values range from 64 Kbps to 8.2 Mbps. Conservatively estimate that each player needs about 80 Kbps for a full-speed gaming experience.

As the screen shot below shows, the Battlefield server may be throttled for constrained environments.

5. The Battlefield Vietnam server includes all of the game's standard maps and combat scenarios. Clicking on the Mods/Maps tab, you can designate which maps may be played for each of the game's four play modes: Custom Combat, Evolution, Conquest, or Cooperative. Each game type offers a different range of maps. Select Game Mode, then click the maps you wish to provide in that mode. Then click the right-arrow icon to add them to the game list. As the next screen shot shows, EA includes all of the standard Battlefield maps in the dedicated server:

6. The Gameplay and Advanced tabs both feature low-level details best configured by the game operator. The one technical item of note in the Advanced tab is the Spectator options. Spectators are users who cannot play; though they log onto the server, they can only follow the action virtually. While Spectators use less bandwidth than players, if your users are playing in a constrained environment, Spectators should be shut off to maximize performance for the participants.

Similarly, the Custom Combat tab includes many visual and rules enhancement changes a game admin may make to individualize the experience for players.

7. Click on the IP Settings tab. Here, "Detect automatically" may be left checked if the server has only one NIC, and traffic may be carried out over port 15567, the game's default port. But if the server is behind a firewall or router, the router will need to be adjusted to forward traffic over the gameplay port to the server. By unchecking Detect Automatically, you can set a different value; you can specify both the internal IP the game server should use and the port for gameplay traffic.

8. The configuration is ready. Click Start Server to begin the game. After a brief delay, the command console will appear, providing game status data. When the server is running and players are logged in, the admin may monitor game performance, as the following screen shot shows:

9. To join a Battlefield Vietnam game on your new server, install the Battlefield Vietnam gameplay client on a computer on the LAN. Then start a Multiplayer game, scanning for Local servers. The new server should automatically be detected, and the game can begin. As the next screen shot shows, Battlefield Vietnam servers can be automatically located by the game, meaning players are up and running with just a few clicks:

10. Next, we will install the Neverwinter Nights (NWN) server. Download the latest version of the dedicated server (1.65 at the time of this writing), and unzip it to a suitable hard-drive directory. There is no automated installer process for the NWN server.

11. Start the server by running nwserver.exe from the directory you just created. The management console will appear, as shown here:

12. Provide a name for the server. This will help identify the server to your players. A NWN server supports no more than 12 simultaneous players, and most of the role-playing adventures supported by NWN are designed for even smaller groups. So distinctive names will make it easier for players to distinguish between multiple servers on a network.

13. Most of the NWN server settings are best left to the game admin, such as Difficulty--which determines the types of rules and the challenge level which will be enforced--and Level, which determines how powerful characters in the game may become. Server AutoSave, measured in minutes, should only be set to a low number if the server appears unstable, as the AutoSave image allows players to recover their progress if the server should go down. A setting of 0 is disabled. A "safe" value without much disruption to gameplay would be between 15 and 30.

14. The server supports up to three different passwords: one for players to log in, one for the DM (dungeon master) to log in and referee the game, and a third for server-level configuration. In most cases, at least a server and DM password should be configured. Simply enter the password or passwords you wish to enforce in the appropriate blank.

15. By default, the NWN server uses port 5121. To use a different port, launch nwserver.exe from a command prompt window with the "port switch (as in, "nwserver.exe "port 1000" to use IP port 1000). If the port is behind a firewall or address translation, then route Port 5121, or whichever port is designated, to the game server.

16. Before a game can begin, you must load a game module or scenario. Select one from the drop-down list marked Module Name, then select Load. This launches the server, which will now listen for NWN clients. The screen shot below shows a NWN server that has loaded a scenario and has one logged-in player:

17. NWN players join the game by selecting a Multiplayer game and scanning for LAN servers. The server should automatically be detected, and a new game can begin. In the next screen shot, Neverwinter Nights has automatically located valid servers and provided details on the available scenarios.

There are literally dozens of games with free servers that can add diversity to any entertainment center's value proposition. With a properly configured and robust gaming server, all you'll need is a group of eager gamers.

JASON COMPTON is a technology writer who has covered topics ranging from 8-bit entertainment to supercomputing for more than a decade.