AssaultCube Server

To set-up the 3D shooter AssualtCube we first downloaded the Linux installation package, the AssaultCube homepage has a sourceForge link to the Linux package as well as Windows and Mac files http://assault.cubers.net/

Once downloaded we extracted the zipped files into the folder 1.1.0.4 which is the version number of the game. First thing to do was actually load the game and run a quick test, so we doubled clicked on AssaultCube.sh, the loading screen popped up and after about 2 minutes the game finally loaded. However we found that the graphics card in the server PC was clearly not up to the task of running this fairly basic game, even my 5 year old Acer laptop did not struggle with this task!

Playing the game on the server was not the priority, running the AssaultCube server was. We then proceeded to read the online wiki and documentation, relating to the server set-up on Linux. AssaultCube comes bundled with a file called server_wizard.sh , this file as the name suggests aids in the server set up, and leads you though various parameters so you can customise the server.

We typed the following into the terminal to begin the process sudo -u root ./server_wizard.sh we were then prompted with following options, pressing return to move onto the next option:

Server Description
Max Clients
Password
Admin Password
Message of the Day
Server Port

Once we had entered our parameters a file called server_autogenerated.sh is generated. We then attempted to start the server with the command sudo -u root ./server_autogenerated.sh this failed to run the server and we were getting server port issues, within the terminal. We then researched the issue online and found a solution, the link to this solution is below.

http://forum.cubers.net/thread-5669.html

After applying the new port value, we then ended up with the server_autogenerated.sh file as per the below image.

The parameters we have set here are purely for initial testing, the crucial ones are the number of players and the port number.

We then started the server by typing in the following command sudo -u root ./server_autogenerated.sh and the server started, there were a few errors associated with connecting to the internet, but we expected these as we done have access to the Universities router and port forwarding rules.

The next step was to view the server from another PC and attempt to connect, we both installed AssaultCube on our laptops, one of us running Linux and the other Windows. The server was connected by a switch which inturn was connected to an ethernet port in the class room, our laptops were connected via WiFi to the EAL network. We both loaded AssualtCube, then via the menu selected Multiplayer, then Join a LAN game, but neither of us could see any servers. We decided to both use ethernet connections to the same switch as the server, this way we could eliminate any issues to do with subnets. After connecting both laptops to the same switch, and carrying out a search both of us could see the games server. We promptly joined and carried out a quick test game, just to confirm everything was working. A few screen shots of our game can be seen below, with another showing the server screen updating with game information: