Server Help

While your Game Server is running, the GAR Master Server will periodically be contacted to advertise your Game Server. Players obtain a list of server from a Master Server, and they will be able to connect to your server.

Configuration

Config data is saved in "ServerConfig/ServerConfig.txt". It consists of the following entries:
  • Name: custom name for your server, up to 32 chars.
  • IP: Leave as 'auto' unless you are running the Game Server on a web server. If running the Game Server on a web server, set IP to the url of the web server. Doing so will make GAR Client connection to your server much easier and eliminate the need to do any manual port forwarding. (but is only possible if you are running a web server).
  • Max Players: Sets the max players allowed to connect to your server. The default is 8 players. The max is 32 players. The min is 4 players. Do not set above 16 players unless you have a business class connection or web host connection. Typical home connections likely will not have the up bandwidth to support 16-32 players. To monitor how much bandwidth your server is using, run a free bandwidth meter such as Free Meter.
  • StatsWriteDirectory: The folder in which 'playerStats.txt' is located. When set to 'default' the folder is 'GARInstallDirectory/Stats'. If you want public stats on your server, change this directory to a publicly accessable HTML directory. Make sure the folder is also writable by GarServer.exe. Note that public stats REQUIRES PHP. See the Stats section below for more info.
  • Reserve Slots: There are always 2 reserve slots no matter the maximum number of players allowed. These slots are for yourself (i.e. the server operator) and a friend or associate. The purpose of reserve slots are to ensure that you can always log into your own server no matter how many other players log in. Because two slots are always reserved, the number of non-reserved players that can log in is always max-2. For example, if your server can host up to 8 players, 6 people can log in at one time and 2 slots are reserved for 2 other special players. You are able to define who is allowed to log into the reserve slots. Only players on 'ServerConfig/ReserveList.txt' can connect to reserve slots. Remember to put your own account on the list!.
Ports

Game Server port is fixed to 50005.

Public Stats

To enable public stats on your server, your machine must be running PHP. The following files are involved, original copies of both are located in the 'Stats' directory.
  • 'playerStats.txt': where raw players stats are written hourly.
  • 'garStats.php': this file generates the raw stats file into a sortable HTML page.
To enable public stats do the following:
  • Drop both files into a publicly accessable web folder.
  • In your 'ServerConfig' file, set 'statsWriteDirectory' to the folder path. For example, 'statsWriteDirectory C:\WebFolder\GarStats'.
  • Restart the server and your web stats should be active.
  • Note that you can modify 'garStats.php' with a text editor like NotePad to customize the stats page as you wish. Make sure PHP has write permission on the stats folder. Web stats auto-generate hourly, but you can manually update stats with a button on the Players tab.
Console Commands

The following console commands can be typed into the command box. Hit the Send button to execute them. Note that you can copy/paste to or from all windows and logs.
  • say msg: Broadcasts a chat message to all players on the server.
  • servername name: Renames your server. 32 characters max. It may take at 60 seconds to update on the master server list.
  • maxplayers value: Changes the max number of players. The max is 32 and the min is 4. Note that typical home broadband connections will likely not be able to host more than 8-16 players. This limit is mainly due to typical restrictions on upload rates, which scale exponentially because all players require real-time updates on all other players in the game.
  • reserve name: Adds a player to the reserve list.
  • unreserve name: Removes player from the reserve list.
  • kickplayer name: Kicks a player from the server.
  • banplayer name: Kicks and bans a player account and the player's ip. If the player is not in game, the name is simply added to the ban list. Banned names are in 'ServerConfig/BannedNames.txt'. Banned ips are in 'ServerConfig/BannedIPs.txt'.
  • banip ip: Adds an ip to the ban list.
  • unbanplayer name: Removes name from banlist.
  • unbanip ip: Removes ip from banlist.
  • kill: Turns server thread off, but the GUI continues to run.
  • start: Restarts the Game Server. Must have been previously stopped.
  • serverip ip: Changes your server IP. 32 characters max. Do this only if you are running a GAR server on a machine that also hosts a web site. For example, if your website is 'myurl.com' type 'serverip myurl.com'.
Firewalls and Routers

If you want to host a game over the internet through a firewall, you will need to give GAR permission to access the network. GAR uses port 50005 to send UDP packets over the internet. Make sure that both your software firewall and your router's firewall allow UDP traffic through these ports.

If you are hosting a GAR Game Server behind a router, you might also have to forward port 50005 to the PC that is hosting the GAR Game server. More information about port forwarding and your specific router can be found at www.portforward.com. Also check the gar.eecs.ucf.edu forums. Note that in general port forwarding is simple: You usually just need to enter the control panel for your hardware (which is sometimes accessed through a web browser) and instruct it to forward port 50005 to the PC.

Connecting To Your Own LAN Server

If you want to log into your own server, do not try to log in from the usual server list. Because it is on a local machine (or local LAN), you should click the very bottom button ('LAN/LOCALHOST') on the GAR Client's Multiplayer menu. That will cause your client to log into your own server. Also remember to put your username on the reserve list so that you have a slot reserved to always log into your server.

Account Management

You can browse these files easily. All information is stored in text files. Accounts contain user stats and weapons. The server also stores the most popular guns. Note that the Spawning Pool can be modified if you do not want guns from this pre-evolved pool to sometimes appear on your server. You can simply remove guns from the directory, or put new ones in.

Note that absolutely no personal information is stored for any player exept Steam ID, which is required to connect to any Steam game.

Server cgNEAT

The server is where evolution happens in multiplayer mode. The server creates new guns and sends them out to the clients at appropriate times. More info on the AI technology that creates the weapons can be found at on the GAR website.

Server Logs

Events on the server can be followed in the various logs. If you ever want to keep a record, you can simply copy the log and paste it into a text file.

GAR and Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)

Due to a variety of issues related to VPNs, GAR may or may not work if a client or server is connected to a VPN. Therefore we cannot provide any support troubleshooting VPN issues.
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