How to create a dedicated server (Windows)

[Zorbn]

Title says it all, I just want to create a server to play lan but using the ingame server creator does not work so I think I will create a dedicated one.

[SnapperTheTwig]

Don't bother with the dedicated server if you can't get the in-game one to work. The dedicated server is identical to the in-game one, just that its installed in a different directory.

Instead try looking at the common problems that people are having:
- Make sure that windows firewall isn't blocking vtclient or vtserver

If you are playing on LAN you may be running into issues "finding" the server (because it has to rendezvous with a hand-shaking server and you may be behind a symmetric NAT)

What to do then?
1. Host the game normally.
2. Tell your friend to connect to you via direct connect (Multiplayer->Direct connect) and type in your local IP address.
You can fetch your local IP address by entering the game, pressing "t" to open the chat, then typing /ip. It'll then spit out something like
"Your ip address is 192.168.0.2"

[Zorbn]

Thank you for the reply! Direct connect did the trick!

[SnapperTheTwig]

Sweet!

[Xuande]

EDIT: Pending, see dev post below.

Just want to add a note to this thread, in case anyone else who is a frequent LAN user comes by:

Voxel Turf does not support single-copy LAN play nor does it support offline LAN play (possibly the non-Steam version does, but the Voxel Turf website doesn't allow for new account creation anymore). You can Direct Connect (which is technically LAN), but you still require an online connection to do this on any PCs involved, so its impossible to use LAN features while offline.

[Zorbn]

Do you mean that you cannot play in steam offline mode in order to exploit steam in-home sharing so that you only need one copy? I don't think that that is an intentional feature in any game. However I may be wrong. In my experience anybody who wants to play needs to buy a copy, especially if the game uses steam integration for their multiplayer. In that case yes, you do have to buy multiple copies.

[SnapperTheTwig]

I'm not sure how Steam in-home sharing works, that may let multiple people play with 1 copy. I haven't explicitly enabled or disabled it.

You can by pass the LAN server as a launch option when you start the game. (Right click Voxel Turf, click launch options and type in the IP address of the host, eg 192.168.0.2). This will tell the client to log into that address on startup.

This is the old fashioned way of running LAN, like when my friends and I hooked up laptops to a network switch on the kitchen table. You can't use "find server" or any of that jazz because that does require an internet connection to reach the matchmaking servers.

You'll have to launch the server via command line if you want to load a save.
vtserver.exe --saveGame "savename" --genmap 2048 2048 --gameMode "Turf"

[Zorbn]

Thanks for the clarification SnapperTheTwig, hope that is able to help you Xuande

[Xuande]

Originally posted by SnapperTheTwig:

I'm not sure how Steam in-home sharing works, that may let multiple people play with 1 copy. I haven't explicitly enabled or disabled it.

You can by pass the LAN server as a launch option when you start the game. (Right click Voxel Turf, click launch options and type in the IP address of the host, eg 192.168.0.2). This will tell the client to log into that address on startup.

This is the old fashioned way of running LAN, like when my friends and I hooked up laptops to a network switch on the kitchen table. You can't use "find server" or any of that jazz because that does require an internet connection to reach the matchmaking servers.

You'll have to launch the server via command line if you want to load a save.
vtserver.exe --saveGame "savename" --genmap 2048 2048 --gameMode "Turf"

Thanks for the reply. I'll fiddle around with it later today. Steam Sharing isn't what I use to make LAN work, and wouldn't work anyway - players beyond the first would still have to be in Offline Mode. It isn't like Sony/Microsoft console sharing where people can outright treat their digital libraries like Netflix, which is honestly a good thing (fewer publishers would being their games to Steam if that were the case.)

EDIT: Okay, I did try the above method. The client does try to connect to the server, and the result is a "Connection to server has timed out" popup. I tried changing alias to fix this, but it seems that Voxel Turf assigns each player a number based on their Steam ID, so I'm assuming the connection is being blocked because of that. Additionally, I see a "* Server resolved" message each time I try to connect, if that matters at all. I'll try again later, but I know the problem isn't with my LAN setup - I even do same-port direct connect play with Thea on a regular basis.

When I attempt to use Steam Offline Mode, and click on Multiplayer, all the options are greyed out with the tooltip stating that its because Steam is in Offline Mode. This certainly makes sense for hosting/joining online servers, but doesn't make much sense for direct connect.

If I try to launch the game while Steam isn't running, I get a login screen, presumably to enable players who bought in before Steam Greenlight and to put up a barrier against piracy. Naturally I don't have a login, and the demo mode predictably has its limitations.

The way that many of the games I own handle it (Examples: Civilization series,Spellsworn) is to block online connections in Steam Offline Mode, but allow a separate LAN option. Each player beyond the first can set an alias via Steam settings once they're in Offline Mode. Doing it this way requires only one Steam account.

Some other games, while they don't function in Steam Offline properly, will run without a Steam dependency or are sold in non-DRM forms. In these cases the solution is simple, just use whichever connection option that isn't Steam-dependent.

And finally, there's many games that simply don't offer any LAN support at all and want you to buy one copy per user even in family use-cases. I do have several Steam accounts for this purpose, but the game in question has to either be exceptional or very cheap for me to consider doing this. Usually I end up regretting it (Chaos Reborn...), but I made an exception for Age of Wonders III and a few other games.

Do you mean that you cannot play in steam offline mode in order to exploit steam in-home sharing so that you only need one copy? I don't think that that is an intentional feature in any game. However I may be wrong.

You are mistaken. This is an intentional feature of some games. Granted, its a dying feature in a world where seemingly everyone is playing online-only to connect to their friends, but it does exist and should be praised when it exists. Sometimes it exists but isn't promoted (Civilization IV-V-VI all have the feature, but PR would deny it. And yet, there's an option in Civ VI for setting your LAN alias, so the feature clearly exists intentionally), and sometimes the developer is fine with it (Spellsworn, which sold me on buying a game I wouldn't have bought otherwise. Thea, which impressed me so much despite buying in late that I'm a backer for their Thea 2 Kickstarter.)

The way you combat piracy and increase sales isn't to lock down your game, its to offer a product that holds more value than whatever the pirates are offering (this is Gabe's stance, I happen to agree with it.) Frequent updates, bug fixes, pro-consumer decisions (region free), these are things that make scouring the web for an out-of-date and possibly virus-ridden download unattractive. In a world where DLC exists to fund continued support of a product because $60 hasn't scaled with development costs of high-budget games (I own Europa Universalis IV and most of the DLC. They support LAN for a $5 entry fee, which I thought was fair because I only had to buy the DLC one time), asking a family to buy 2-4 copies of a game and possibly 2-4 copies of all DLC is asinine.

My use-case is simple. I have a wife, and two sons that are of highschool age. One of the things we like to do as a family is to play games together. On PC, that often means owning multiple setups because many games can't be played on one screen in multiplayer. I've done that (I have a gaming PC, decent-spec laptop, a budget gaming PC, and a few notebooks for lighter stuff), but the tricky part is finding out which games support LAN play at a time when few consumers care and many developers would rather I buy four copies (which means I buy zero) than buy one copy.

[SnapperTheTwig]

Some points:
- Yes you do need a unique steam id per player. The game uses your steam id heavily.
- The login screen is for pre-greenlight accounts (most of these players have migrated to steam anyway)
- You can't use steam accounts with multiplayer in offline mode as the server does a check to make sure that the connecting user has a valid steam ticket. Offline players can't get a ticket as they are in offline mode. The host is omitted from this check.
- Can you try in *online* mode and using steam family sharing?

[Xuande]

I can try this, but last I checked Steam Family Sharing doesn't let you go online with more than one account playing a game/software at a time. I would often do my RPG Maker work on my main account in offline mode while someone else played an online game, but anytime I forgot to go offline first it would block them from launching (or boot me out of RPG Maker, which has no online dependencies itself.)

[SnapperTheTwig]

Ah okay. I may have an idea to get this to work (re-enable offline LAN play), but it will take a little work won't be in today's update. I'll have to think it over first.

Standard No promises/time depending/etc disclaimer here.

[Xuande]

Just got done setting Steam Family Sharing up (Steam Guard is a pain on secondary accounts, needing a different device to authenticate for each one! I had to pull an old account up so that nobody would have their phone pinged during school hours), and as expected, when my main account launched the game, the secondary account could not launch.

I appreciate the quick response and effort. I realize my use case isn't a common one, and at the very least I don't plan on refunding the copy I have bought (pushing two hours at this point regardless). If push comes to shove and you can't or won't enable a working version of offline LAN, I understand. Nonetheless, thanks for your time.