Here is a more in-depth explanation into some of the features
that can change the server.
1) config/config.h defines :
AUTOMOTD - Use this if you're not going to run the update daemon.
This will check you .motd and rebuild it every once in a
while. Don't use both AUTOMOTD and the update daemon.
CHAIN_REACTION - This will not give credit for chain-reaction and
will also report how a player died.
CHECKMESG - log god or all messages. You should use LOGALL and
LOGGOD parameters in .sysdef with these.
ERIKPLAGUE - Eric Mehlhaff's planet plague code that was used for
SINL 93.
FEATURES - This is for client/server communication. You can specify
options in the .features file that some servers may have.
INL_POP - This is the planet pop code used in SINL 93.
NEED_EXIT - Some systems need exit to be defined in socket.c
NO_PLANET_PLAGUE - Don't allow planet plaguing. Don't use this with
ERIKPLAGUE.
PING - Allow ping stats support. This may increase the network load a
little.
RSA - Use RSA verification. Some method of verification is recommended.
RSA is the most accepted method now.
SHOW_RSA - Display some messages like failed RSA verification message
and type of client on entry of player.
RESETGALAXY - Every time a conquer occurs reset the galaxy.
SELF_RESET - galaxy will reset if daemon dies.
SHORT_PACKETS - Use short packets code. This may increase the load on
the server but will decrease the network load by up to %50.
SHORT_THRESHOLD - More support for Short packets. If you define
SHORT_PACKETS it's a good idea to use this also.
SURRENDER_SHORT - Cut the surrender time in half when the genocide
counter starts.
SPEEDUP - Some misc. improvements to make the daemon faster.
TWO_RACE - Conquer only a 1/4 of the galaxy for the galaxy to reset.
SENDFLAGS - Print flags used in the compile on the MOTD.
CHECK_ENV - Check the environment variable NTSERV_PATH for the
location of system files.
GPPRINT - Print the path that is being used to find the system files.
ONCHECK - trekon (xbiff) support for checking if the logins.
NEWMASK - Use a newer tournament mask function that is less rigid
than older version. Doesn't take preferences into account.
RCD - Support Receiver variable distresses. (Saves on a lot of network
traffic).
FLAT_BONUS - 5x bonus for killing last army on a planet
BASEPRACTICE - Base training server. (Need special robots, see
README.basep).
NEW_CREDIT - give 1 planet for destroying, two planets for taking.
SBFUEL_FIX - fix starbase re-fueling
NEW_ETEMP - Wreck's etemp fix
DOGFIGHT - .sysdef interface for dogfight robot
VOTING - allow voting mode
ALLOW_EJECT - define to allow players to eject others (only when
VOTING is defined).
NO_BRUTALITY - disallow fighting between waiting players in the
dogfighting mode (only when DOGFIGHT is defined).
ROBOT_OBSERVER_OFFSET - define to ensure that the moderation robot
is always in slot g.
SB_RAPID_COOLDOWN - allows for twice the normal rate of weapon
cool down; useful on base-practice.
ALLOW_PRACTICE_ROBOT_SB - allows practice robots to be refit into
starbases if defined.
2) .sysdef parameters:
All parameters follow the rule: <PARAM> <VALUE>
1 = TRUE, 0 = FALSE
CLUE - (0 or 1) Turn on clue checking
HUNTERKILLER - (0 or 1) Have the hunterkiller on the server
RESETGALAXY - (0 or 1) reset the galaxy every time the daemon starts
LOGALL - (0 or 1) log all messages. Use with CHECKMESG.
LOGGOD - (0 or 1) log messages with "god:" at the beginning. Use with
CHECKMESG.
CHECKMESG - (0 or 1) check message logging.
DOOSHER - (0 or 1) Enable the auto-doosher.
WHYMESS - (0 or 1) with .mk define CHAIN_REACTION will report how a
player died.
SHOWSYSDEF - (0 or 1) will show some of the sysdef options on the
motd.
PLANET_MOVE - (0 or 1) Not recommended. Will move the planets around.
TOURN - ( >3 ) Number of players needed on each side for t-mode.
CLASSICTOURN - (0 or 1) Emulate the old behavior of tournamentMask()
by removing the restrictions on joining a diagonal race if 2
players are present on the opposing diagonal, and remove the
logic not allowing teams to grow past 4 humans before T mode
starts.
REPORT_USERS (0 or 1) Report users on the metaservers if enabled.
Disabling this option is useful for bot servers such as
base-practice servers so they always report the server
as empty.
SHIPS - ( SC, DD, CA, BB, AS, SB ) Type of ships that are allowed at
the server.
WEAPONS - (TRACTOR, PLASMA) Special weapons that are allowed.
PLKILLS - ( >=0 ) Number of kills needed to get plasmas.
DDRANK - ( 0 - 7 ) Rank needed to get a DD.
0 = Ensign , 7 = Admiral
DD_MINIMAL_OFFENSE - ( >=0.0 ) Minimal offense required to get a
destroyer.
GARANK - ( 0 - 7 ) Rank needed to get a GA.
0 = Ensign , 7 = Admiral
SBRANK - ( 0 - 7 ) Rank needed to get a starbase.
0 = Ensign , 7 = Admiral
SB_MINIMAL_OFFENSE - ( >=0.0 ) Minimal offense required to get a
starbase.
RESTRICT_BOMB (0 or 1) - Disable bombing out of t-mode.
NO_UNWARRING_BOMBING - Don't allow 3rd space bombing at any time.
HOCKEY - (0 or 1) Turn on hockey mode. Mutually exclusive with
all other non-standard server modes.
INL - (0 or 1) Turn on INL (clue game) mode. Mutually exclusive
with all other non-standard server modes.
CHAOS - (0 or 1) Turn on chaos mode. Ships are more powerful and
re-generate faster. Mutually exclusive with all other
non-standard server modes.
TOPGUN - (0 or 1) Misc things to make playing harder and only clueful
players may like.. Mutually exclusive with all other non-
standard server modes.
PRET - (0 or 1) Enable pre-t entertainment mode. Mutually exclusive
with all other non-standard server modes.
PRET_GUEST - (0 or 1) Use 'guest' logins for pre-t robots if set.
PRET_PLANETS - (1-10) Set win condition for pre-t mode. This is
the number of planets a team must be up by in order to
win a round of pre-t entertainment.
PRET_SAVE_GALAXY - (0 or 1) If set galaxy is saved on t-mode to
pre-t transitions and if t-mode starts again within
PRET_GALAXY_LIFETIME seconds the galaxy will be restored
when t-mode starts.
PRET_GALAXY_LIFETIME - (integer seconds) Number of seconds the saved
t-mode galaxy is eligible to be restored when t-mode starts
again.
PRET_SAVE_ARMIES - (0 or 1) If set armies carried by players at the
start of Pre-T will get returned to the players home planet.
This will occur just prior to the galaxy being saved if
PRET_SAVE_GALAXY is enabled.
NEWTURN - (0 or 1) Different turning speeds.
HIDDEN - (0 or 1) Enemy players that are far away from a friendly ship
during t-mode will be hidden.
MAXLOAD - (0 or 1) The maximum load allowed on the server's machine.
PLANETS - (0 - 39) The planets the will be the home planets. There are
4 params here. The order is fed, rom, kli, and then ori.
CONFIRM - (0 or 1) Use binary confirmation.
UDP - (0 or 1) Allow UDP packets. Reduces lag.
PING_FREQ - ( >1 ) how often to ping in seconds (default 1)
PING_ILOSS_INTERVAL - ( >0 ) the interval in seconds over which
incremental loss statistics are kept (iloss_sc, iloss_cs)
PING_GHOSTBUST - (0 or 1) whether or not to allow ghostbusting based on
the absence of ping responses from a client.
PING_GHOSTBUST_INTERVAL - ( >0) based on PING_GHOSTBUST and PING_FREQ,
the number of unanswered pings before ghostbusting a player.
GHOSTBUST_TIMER - ( >0 ) Timer setting to ghostbust a client using the
normal ghostbust routines.
MAX_POP - Set the maximum number of armies a planet can pop too.
ERROR_LEVEL - How much errors/debugging is sent to the ERROR file.
Only 1-3 are valid.
START_ARMIES - How many planets are initially put on a planet.
VECTOR - (0 or 1) Use vector torps instead of normal torps.
BASEPRACTICE - (0 or 1) Used to put server in basepractice mode.
TRANSWARP_ENABLE - (o or 1) Turn on transwarp capabilities.
TRANSWARP_SPEED - (0 or 1) How fast transwap is.
WHITELIST_INDIV - (0 or 1) Allow whitelist to overide :i messages
WHITELIST_TEAM - (0 or 1) Allow whitelist to overide :t messages
WHITELIST_ALL - (0 or 1) Allow whitelist to overide :a messages
LAME_REFIT - (0 or 1) If 1 use the historic ship refit criteria;
if 0 use the criteria the original developers intended
(>25% fuel, >25% shields, >75% hull). Defaults to
classical criteria.
LAME_BASE_REFIT - (0 or 1) Same as LAME_REFIT but exclusively
for starbases.
Dog-Fighter Specific Defines:
CONTESTSIZE - ( >0) Number of the contestants needed
before starting.
NUMMATCH - ( >0) Number of matches per contest.
SAVE_DOG_STAT - (0 or 1) Save the player stats?
(not implemented yet..).
In addition ship characteristics can be changed. The list of
characteristics that can be changed are:
TURNS, ACCS, TORPDAMAGE, PHASERDAMAGE, PHASERFUSE, PLASMADAMAGE,
TORPSPEED, TORPFUSE, TORPTURNS, PLASMASPEED, PLASMAFUSE, PLAMSATURNS,
MAXSPEED, REPAIR, MAXFUEL, TORPCOST, PLASMACOST, PHASERCOST,
DETCOST, WARPCOST, CLOAKCOST, RECHARGE, ACCINT, DECINT, MAXSHIELD,
MAXDAMAGE, MAXEGNTEMP, MAXWPNTEMP, EGNCOOLRATE, WPNCOOLRATE,
MAXARMIES, WIDTH, HEIGHT, TYPE, MASS, TRACTSTR, TRACTRNG.
To set ship characteristics you need to do something like the
following:
SHIP=1
BB PHASERCOST 945
AS TORPCOST 210
! MaxWpnTemp should ONLY be defined when non-chaos mode.
SB MAXWPNTEMP 1500
END
Unless SHIP is 1 the stats between SHIP and END will not be read in.
This example sets the NEWSHIP defines found at some servers. A '!'
is a comment.
3) .time file.
The time file is an array field that is 7 by 24. Each line is for the
days of the week and each character in the line is for the hours.
Line 0 is Sun. Line 6 is Sat. Char. 0 is 12am and char 23 is 11pm.
Allowable characters are:
X - Non-playable hours. The server is down.
C - Clue hour. The server is up and checking for clue.
Anything else is interpreted as playable.
4) .features file.
The .features file specifies the features specific to a client that
are allowed at a server. There are two formats for a line in the
features file. The client type is gotten from the RSA client type
field.
1) <Client Type>: <Features>
EX:
BerkRick Moo: SMARTMACRO NEWMACRO
This method doesn't check for the version of the client.
It is assumed that every version of this client will have
these features.
2) <Client Type>*confirm:<Version>: <Features>
EX:
BerkRick Moo*confirm:2.00.15: WHY_DEAD
This method checks the version sent by the client to see if
the client is new enough to have this feature. The client
has to have a version >= to the version specified to have
the server send the message to the client. The Version field
in is in the format of: Version:PatchLevel.
5) .banned file, clue-bypass file.
These both use a similar format. The .banned file lists players that are
banned from the server. The .clue-bypass lists players that don't need
to go through clue checking.
Each line in these files should follow the format:
<login>@<domain>
The domain field can contain the total domain such as
guzzler.ecst.csuchico.edu or can contain "*"s for all names such as
*.ecst.csuchico.edu would include all machines in the .ecst.csuchico.edu
domain.
Under Solaris 2.5.1 the wildcard "*" does not work. If wish to ban
all login attempts from rpi.edu, I must have something like this in my
.banned file:
leemy@rpi.edu
If I do a leemy@*.rpi.edu the ban does not work. If the "*" wildcard
method does not work try this way.
6) Robot configuration
The newbie and pre-t robots accept commands from players by
default. To prevent potential abuse this feature may be
deactivated by editing robotd/defs.h and changing the line:
#undef BOTS_IGNORE_COMMANDS
to
#define BOTS_IGNORE_COMMANDS
This change will require the bots to be re-compiled and
reinstalled.