How to properly Setup a Serious Sam 2 Server

[Capt. Crusher]

Ok Go! Seriously I would love to know how to set one up. I've spent the better part of a day trying to figure out / find instructions on how to setup a server that I can ACTUALLY connect to on my LAN. I can create a server instance and connect to it from the Internet from my game but not my LAN so my family can play. So Any help or directions on how to do it and do not send me the link for the SS2 Server Utility. I need to know how to set this up WITHOUT IT as it's properly nerfed itself on my server today.

I look forward to this topic.

[wiebe]

I would like to know this as well. I do not seem to be able to connect to a dedicated server on the local network. I tried with lan mode on and off, firewalls off, the server pc in DMZ in the router, another lan connection on a 2nd pair of NICs, I enter the server's IPs in both Internet and Lan game, it just will not go. This used to work fine.

[ElBebergas]

You can see it at youtube, but for good dedicated server I recomend you to rent a host for your server, if you dont know what is the host is a company who you give money and helps to carry all the weight of you doing that technical stuff. Just use Google up server hosts and find the one that suites you.

[wiebe]

@WarriorDelGaming: Thanks for your reply. Setting up the server is not really the issue.

My friend can connect fine via the internet to my dedicated server. But there is no way I can connect via lan to it. Not by any means. I also tried to run the dedicated server on the same pc and connect to localhost/127.0.0.1, same result, does not work.

If the 'View Active Connections' tool from my firewall is correct, sam2.exe never makes any connection except when listing the internet games - no connection shows when entering an IP to connect to (be it from LAN or internet game), and no connection shows when listing lan servers. It would seem they broke a few things with the update.

[[UFO] rad87gn]

I run SS TSE, BFE, Revolutions, and SS2 dedicated servers all at once and can game anything I own at the same time including any SS games. Can join and leave all servers fine. I can restart Steam and not affect any of them. The old "easy launch" tools for the old SS 2 doesn't work for me anymore since the gamestop removal happened.

I run all my servers on my gaming PC (3770K, 16GB RAM, 110/10 internet) and can play any game I own on top of it without affecting 16 players on each server. If you have a decent PC and internet you can host fine without spending money on using someone elses server. Or a dedicated machine works as well and is the most recommended but seems to work fine for me. I leave my PC run 24/7. The important thing is to have not only good download speeds but also good upload speeds for Internet. With all my servers being heavily used at once it doesn't take much internet or CPU usage. I can also do game downloads at the same time and not slow anyone down. (Crazy I know).

When I jump on my own dedicated servers for all SS games I connect like I'm connecting to any other dedicated server out there on the public side. I don't connect directly to the local host. Doing this is also a good test to see if your dedicated server is actually showing up on the public side. Sometimes it may appear running on your side but may not be unless you verify on the public side it's showing up in the public server list. Also make sure when you get updates to shut the servers down, download the patch, and restart otherwise you'll be in version mismatch lala land.

For SS2 Dedicated I did the following for a co-op game on Serious difficulty (my game is on my drive D: so change the pathing to how your system is) There are other ways to do it but works for me:

1) I setup my router to port forward 25600-25617 (UDP and TCP)
2) Edit the file named: D:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Serious Sam 2\Content\SeriousSam2\Config\DedicatedServer.cfg

I put the following in the file (you can change it to how you want the game)

[DedicatedServer]

sam_sgpGameOptions.sgp_bFriendlyFire = 0;
sam_sgpGameOptions.sgp_iExtraEnemyStrength = 0;
sam_sgpGameOptions.sgp_iEnemyStrengthPerPlayer = 25;
sam_sgpGameOptions.sgp_ctMaxLives = 25;
sam_sgpGameOptions.sgp_ctMaxPlayers = 16;
sam_sgpGameOptions.sgp_bInfiniteAmmoInCoop = 0;
sam_sgpGameOptions.sgp_bWeaponStaysInCoop = 1;
sam_sgpGameOptions.sgp_bAmmoStaysInCoop = 1;
sam_sgpGameOptions.sgp_bHealthAndArmorStayInCoop = 1;
net_fProblemsTimeout = 120;
net_bClientsMayPause = 0;

[Sam2Game]

sam_sgpGameOptions.sgp_gdGameDifficulty = 5;

3) Created D:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Serious Sam 2\SS 2 Dedicated Server.bat

I put the following in the file (The "DedicatedServer.exe" section is all one line until the "goto start" section which is a new line):

:start
D:
cd \Steam\SteamApps\common\Serious Sam 2\bin
DedicatedServer.exe +lan 0 +port 25600 +fps 120 +sessionname "My Dedicated Server Name" +level "Content/SeriousSam2/Levels/01_Mdigbo/1_1_Jungle/1_1_Jungle.wld" +rconpass "myrconpassword" +gameoptions "Content/SeriousSam2/Config/DedicatedServer.cfg"
goto start

4) I created a shortcut to the batch file under my Start menu
5) Click on the shortcut to SS 2 Dedicated Server.bat
6) DOS window pops up and should show "Pausing server - no players" when it's ready to go

Let me know if I missed something or if anyone has a better method of doing it.

Unfortunately, I have no experience trying to setup a LAN only dedicated server game so no help there but thought this would help others trying to setup a dedicated server since not much info is out there. But, I'm guessing it's something in this section: DedicatedServer.exe +lan 0 +port 25600. It could very well be a bug since the code has been massively changed since the removal of gamespy.

[[UFO] rad87gn]

There was an annoucement for SS2 Beta while back. Unless the beta has been released to full version with Steamworks capability I don't think the original version works anymore for dedicated servers.

"Yeehaaa! Serious Sam 2 now uses Steamworks for online play!
Jun 13
This update eliminates the need for Gamespy since the service has been announced to be officially closed on May 31st of this year."

[DarkBloodKing]

Thanks bro.

[HeX0R]

Just in case someone finds that thread here.
There have been some more Game Options introduced with the latest update, which are nowhere mentioned:

sam_sgpGameOptions.sgp_bEnableSprinting = 1;
sam_sgpGameOptions.sgp_bRespawnInPlaceInCoop = 1;
sam_sgpGameOptions.sgp_bUseLives = 1;
sam_sgpGameOptions.sgp_bDisableSeriousBombs = 0;
sam_sgpGameOptions.sgp_ctPrivateSlots = 0;
sam_sgpGameOptions.sgp_bUseComboWeapons = 1;

[Edit]
I forgot:
sgp_bInfiniteAmmoInCoop has been renamed to sgp_bInfiniteAmmo