Our Left 4 Dead Server.

[T-Bone]

Long story short I'm wondering how we can make use of our server. Normally the existing system works fine and it'll put you through to any random server and thats ok but a) Some servers are using rubbish mods/utilising horrible collections and b) It seems a shame not to use our own.

Now, from reading the steam group description it apparantly should be obvious and it should appear to anyone in the group but it doesn't and perhaps some more info would be good. Im also guessing we can just connect to it via the console using the connect command and I believe the port is 27015? That's cool but whats the full address, is it DNS-ed?

Also do we have anyway of manipulating the maps from within the server such as the admin mod we used to have on our NS or CS servers?

 

[Iron_fist]

the connect string for the private server is the usual promethius.thehavennet.org.uk:27019
the public server is
promethius.thehavennet.org.uk:27027

the public server should announce to the steam group, i'll take a look see if i can fix it once i'm out of my lecture. As for the map control the campaign and difficulty can be changed through the vote system or with Rcon

while i'm thinking about it do we want the public to be VS rather than just a campaign as that seems to be what is being played most at the moment.

 

[Ronin Storm]

I find the public voting system to be the best way to change difficulty and campaign.

The way server announcing works is weird and needs a poke; I don't know why THNers don't preferentially go to the public server...

 

[T-Bone]

There are a few problems with the voting system and also due to the fact that when you connect to the server you cannot form a lobby straight away and when playing on it there is a bug where even though the number of the votes makes for a positive result it does not carry out the vote. Thats why I'm asking for some sort of rCon mod so we can make use of the server properly. Let's say for example I wanted to form a versus game with some of my mates. I could connect to the server and then id have to go through the issues of telling them how to connect just to make a lobby, as I cant make a lobby by myself.

Also, as Iron First mentioned it would make more sense for the versus server to be public and the campaign server to be private.

EDIT:- Im not sure if I understand you're second line Ronin but if I do the reason is that when you make your game it connects you to a random available server and you have no say what that server is. It doesnt have a traditional server/hoining system like other games.

 

[Ronin Storm]

I'll let Iron poke the configurations about as needed. Ultimately, I'd like to keep at least one campaign server for uncompeted THN use but the other server can do whatever works to be most useful.

 

[midgert]

Would be awesome to play on our server

 

[T-Bone]

I'm guessing no one has fixed this yet? Let me explain what happened tonight and why I would like this sorted. Myself, KillCrazy, Midgert and Belegon were playing an expert campaign, working towards the achievment. We got DCed from the public server we were on, which in itself was very annoying as it's a hard thing to do. So I said "I know, lets play on our server, it's reliable and it's been over a week since it was going to be sorted. Still, no it hasn't.

I would like to make a little list of things that need sorted and why and hopefully someone can sort it.

1. We need an rcon or mani-admin plugin and here's why. When you connect to our server using the console (Which is the only way at the moment) it fires you straight in game on the wrong settings. In order to fully sort it you then have to return to a lobby as not all options can be changed from the voting system. Then wehn you sort the game seetings and reconnect, it connect to a random server, thus making our server useless.

2. We need it to come up on the main menu, if thats possible like you said it was.

3. We should probably also take the campiagn maps off of the public server or have seperate campaign/public server.

Please sort this as soon as possible.

Thank you from everyone on THN who plays Left 4 Dead.

P.S. If no one else wants to sort it give me access and I'll do it myself.

Failed to handle reservation request.

 

[Ronin Storm]

I've done a very fast piece of research on admin mods.

Looks like Mani Admin isn't/won't be updated for L4D. However, SourceMod does support L4D, though the 1.2 release that does support it is still in development and, while available, isn't considered to be a release candidate yet.

Need to leave the rest for Iron or elD to look at. Guys?

 

[Traxata]

1. We need an rcon or mani-admin plugin and here's why. When you connect to our server using the console (Which is the only way at the moment) it fires you straight in game on the wrong settings. In order to fully sort it you then have to return to a lobby as not all options can be changed from the voting system. Then wehn you sort the game seetings and reconnect, it connect to a random server, thus making our server useless.

What settings are you trying to change?

 

[Ronin Storm]

I'm having a look, on and off, right now. Trying a separate install, which will have the same config as the public server has currently, but should hopefully work this time.

 

[T-Bone]

What settings are you trying to change?

Well the main thing it doesn't let you do is switch the stage of the campaign your on, and thats what annoyed us tonight.

 

[Ronin Storm]

Okay...

I've installed a separate L4D server as public but locked it to our steamgroup (so not that public, I guess). You should now see that server whenever you load up L4D and have the option to connect to it directly. However, backing out to the lobby will mean you're off into limbo and reconnecting goes to a random server. I haven't found a solution of this so far and actually my reading is leading me to believe that the whole steamgroup functionality is working as intended, now.

I think the lobby is a red herring here. Echoing Trax, what is it that you need to configure that can't be done via voting?

[edit]Seeing T-Bone's reply...[/edit]

I understand that campaign stage is a sticking point. Would SourceMod sort that out?

 

[Traxata]

You realise, if you're trying to complete all levels on expert, you can't do that? you have to play from start to finish the entire level, switching chapters will 'void' the expert achievement(provided that's what you're going for here)

 

[Ronin Storm]

I've spent a further 45 minutes fighting with the whole sv_search_key business, which doesn't seem to work at all.

If you want to try, the public server (which now appears for your Steam Group servers) has the sv_search_key "thehavennet".

 

[T-Bone]

You realise, if you're trying to complete all levels on expert, you can't do that? you have to play from start to finish the entire level, switching chapters will 'void' the expert achievement(provided that's what you're going for here)

Of course I do. But when you've already nearly finished the campaign it becomes a matter of pride to just want to finish it regardless. Even if we weren't doing the expert mode it's still a core part of the game I'd like to be able to access while playing on our server.

EDIT:- I only see one server and it's always telling me it's full.

 

[Ronin Storm]

EDIT:- I only see one server and it's always telling me it's full.

That's partly because the other server neither announced to master and also had a password.

I've removed the password from the private server and set it to announce so it has effectively become a "public" Steam Group only server.

Now you have two to choose from. Thing is, they seem to fill up insanely quickly. No sooner was the private server made public than a THNer leapt on.

 

[Traxata]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the steam group only server, will allow you to connect, switch to lobby, and re-join that server because you're in the steam group (provided it's empty ) Maybe this will help you for the short-term T-Bone.

 

[Ronin Storm]

Doesn't appear to work that way, unfortunately. It seems as though you connect, drop to lobby, then connect to a random server after that... mad, but that's what I've been experiencing.

 

[BiG D]

Doesn't appear to work that way, unfortunately. It seems as though you connect, drop to lobby, then connect to a random server after that... mad, but that's what I've been experiencing.

Yeah, the L4D lobby/server "system" is a total mess. I understand what Valve was trying to accomplish, but they really botched it.

 

[Iron_fist]

biggest mistake was either not giving an easy option to choose which server to use or making the lobby a client side thing rather than server side