Docs / Running a server

Installing a server

Unpacking the server, naming it, the first run that makes its key, and the command-line switches.

#Unpack it

Download the server for Windows or Linux and unpack it into a folder of its own. Everything the server writes stays in that folder. The download holds no Soldier Front data: copy your Soldier Front installation's data folder into it, or name that folder as client_data in server.cfg.

On Linux, the archive keeps the programs runnable; if you copied the folder another way, chmod +x legacysf-server tools/lsfpack. A data folder copied from Windows may have its folders in another case (Area for area): the server finds them either way.

#Name it

Open server.cfg and give the server its name (3 to 48 characters, shown in the list), and if you like a region and a motd, the message every player reads on joining. The rest can wait: server.cfg has every setting.

#The first run

Run the server once:

Windows:  LegacySFServer.exe
Linux:    ./legacysf-server

It makes server.key, the server's identity, and then stops: it has no registration yet, and a server never starts without one. Keep server.key safe and to yourself. Never send it anywhere, and never put it in a backup that leaves your hands.

Next: register it.

#Checking it

LegacySFServer.exe --check        ./legacysf-server --check

reads server.cfg, the data and the packs, says what is wrong or that all is well, and stops. It talks to nobody. Every value is checked when the server starts too: one out of range stops it with the line and the reason, never a guess.

#The command line

Ctrl+C (or SIGTERM on Linux) saves and stops the server. A crash writes a report to logs/.