How to set up and manage a server

[David Cernat]

Introduction

Simply hosting a tes3mp server is easy. Start tes3mp-server.exe and, assuming your chosen port (25565 by default) is forwarded correctly in your router, people can already find your server in the server browser and join it.

However, to run a successful server, there are various settings and commands you should know about, with more constantly being added.

Most importantly, you should know how to set yourself as an admin, how to promote people to moderators, how to kick and ban people, and how to change server script options. This guide is about that and more.

Basic server configuration

Open the file tes3mp-server-default.cfg to change the most basic parts of the server's configuration.

The file has three sections: [General], [Plugins] and [MasterServer]. A rundown of every setting in each one follows:


[General]

localAddress lets you the select the address on the local machine at which your server is reachable, but is only relevant if you have more than one networking interface. The default value of 0.0.0.0 – which lets the server listen on all available interfaces – should be fine for most situations.

port is the port on which your server listens for connections. You need to forward it to your computer's local IP in your router for your server to be accessible from the public internet.

players is the maximum number of players allowed on your server.

hostname is the public name of your server.

logLevel lets you select how much debug information should be printed to the server's console window and its accompanying log from your Documents\My Games\OpenMW folder.

password lets you protect your server with a password.


[Plugins]

home lets you set the path of the folder containing subfolders with the server data, Lua libraries and Lua scripts. In my own Windows builds, I've called the folder server, but you can call it anything and put it anywhere.

plugins lets you put in a comma-delimited list of Lua scripts that should be loaded by the server. Use this to load your own Lua scripts if you don't want to tinker with the default ones.


[MasterServer]

enabled can have a value of true or false and sets whether your server communicates with the tes3mp master server or not. If it does, your server will show up in people's server browsers.

address lets you select the address of the master server being used. The default one should work fine unless you want to run your own master server.

port is the port at which to connect to the master server.

rate is the rate at which updated information about this server should be sent to the master server.

How to make yourself an admin

The server doesn't set any player as an admin by default – so you'll have to set yourself as one manually.

Once you've connected to your server and registered an account, open up its matching player data file in server/data/player. For instance, if your account's name is James, open up server/data/player/James.json

Find the settings section inside it and then change this:

"staffRank":0

Into this:

"staffRank":2

Note that, if you set it to 1, you'll merely be a moderator.

If you're still on version 0.6, note that the setting is called "admin" instead of "staffRank".

Script configuration

To configure the default scripts that come with tes3mp, open up server/scripts/config.lua

Here you can set many different options, including:

* Whether the console is enabled or disabled by default for new players
* The default difficulty on the server
* The cell and position that players spawn in upon registering
* Where players should respawn
* The penalty for dying
* The speed at which time passes

More options will be added as time goes by.

The server's plugin list

Servers enforce a specific list of .esm and .esp files for all clients trying to join them. To change that list, edit server/data/requiredDataFiles.json

Because of how frequently this topic is asked about, you can find more details in the Frequently Asked Questions.

Server commands

There is a number of server commands that can be used ingame in the chat window. Some of them can be used by everyone, some of them require you to be at least a moderator, and some require you to be an admin. You can type in /help in the chat window to see them, but they are listed here as well for convenience.


Regular commands

/players or /list displays a window with a list of all the players on the server and their corresponding player IDs.

/me <text> sends a message displayed in the third person.

local <text> sends a message that only players in your area can read.

/anim <animation> or /a <animation> lets to play an animation applicable to your character's race and gender. Use it with an incorrect animation name to get a list of correct ones.

/speech <type> <index> or /s <type> <index> lets you play a speech file applicable to your character's race and gender. Use it with an incorrect type and/or index to get a list of correct ones.



Moderator commands

/kick <pid> lets you kick a player from the server.

/ban ip <ip> lets you ban a specific IP or IP range, without attaching the ban to a specific player.

/ban name <name> lets you ban a specific player name and all IP addresses that have been used by them. They are also prevented from logging in as that player with a new IP.

/unban ip <ip> and /unban name <name> can be used to cancel bans from the above.

/banlist ips can be used to print all banned IPs, while /banlist names can be used to print all banned names.

/ipaddresses <name> can be used to print all the IPs that have been used by a player.

/sethour <value> lets you set the current hour on the server.

/teleport <pid> or /tp <pid> lets you teleport a certain player to you. Example: /teleport 1

/teleport all or /tp all lets you teleport all players to you.

/teleportto <pid> or /tpto <pid> lets you teleport yourself to another player.

/cells displays a window with a list of all the cells loaded on the server and the number of players that have each one loaded.

/setattr <pid> <attribute> <value> lets you set a player's attribute to a certain value. Example: /setattr 3 intelligence 50

/setskill <pid> <skill> <value> lets you set a player's skill to a certain value. Example: /setskill 2 acrobatics 100


Admin commands

/addmoderator <pid> lets you turn someone into a moderator and is equivalent to giving them an admin value of 1 in their player data file.

/removemoderator <pid> lets you demote a moderator into a regular user.

/setconsole <pid> on/off/default lets you enable, disable or revert to default a player's ability to use their console. Example: /console 1 off

/setdifficulty <pid> <value>/default lets you set or revert to default the difficulty for a player.

/setbedrest <pid> <value>/default lets you set or revert to default a player's ability to rest in beds.

/setwildrest <pid> <value>/default lets you set or revert to default a player's ability to rest in the wilderness.

/setwait <pid> <value>/default lets you set or revert to default a player's ability to wait.

/runconsole <pid> <command> lets you run a certain console command on a player.

/werewolf <pid> on/off lets you enable or disable a player's werewolf state.

Resetting a server's world

You can reset the changes made to cells by deleting files in your server/data/cell folder. The filenames for interior cells always have the cell's ingame name, while the filenames for exterior cells always have the cell's exterior coordinates.

You can also reset global data by deleting server/data/world/world.json, which – depending on which data you have chosen to share across players in config.lua – can clear all journal entries, faction membership, dialogue topics and quest kill counts.

Make sure you restart the server for the reset to apply properly.


This guide will be updated as new server settings and commands get added. If you'd like to request any, feel free to do so.

[Cole Wolfsson]

Thanks

[Praetor Invicta]

Im sure lots of people either dont know how to port forward or simply cant (due to roomates), so many people use programs like hamatchi. I was hoping for instructions on how to incorporate hamatchi into the new multiplayer system. Any tips, instructions or advice?

[David Cernat]

I don't have Hamachi installed, so you'll have to check if this works fine:

Use your Hamachi IP as your localAddress in tes3mp-server-default.cfg, then have your friends connect to it directly by using it as their destinationAddress in tes3mp-client-default.cfg and then running tes3mp.exe

[Praetor Invicta]

Postat inițial de David C.:

I don't have Hamachi installed, so you'll have to check if this works fine:

Use your Hamachi IP as your localAddress in tes3mp-server-default.cfg, then have your friends connect to it directly by using it as their destinationAddress in tes3mp-client-default.cfg and then running tes3mp.exe

Thanks for the assist... I already tried that and I would just get a "sendto code -1 for char 5 and length 1464" warning and a message telling me that i cannot connect to the master server. I know there is a way to use Hamatchi as it says I can use it on openmw's main news page talking about MP, but im not sure exactly how this is supposed to work...

[David Cernat]

Praetor, what do you make of this?

http://i.imgur.com/owFtDL0.png

[Praetor Invicta]

Postat inițial de David C.:

Praetor, what do you make of this?

http://i.imgur.com/owFtDL0.png

Im now wondering if there is more to my issue then just Hamatchi then... I will have to retry everything... carefully. Check antivirus, firewall, etc... Im just hoping I can fix it. Im a bit short on time these next few days.

Im wondering if the issue is related to something else...

Worst case scenario, id have to track down the old owner of my router and get the password for its settings so I can try port forwarding... and convince my roomates to let me...

Whatever the case, I appreciate the help.

[David Cernat]

You can try a Hamachi alternative. I haven't heard of anyone having problems with them.

[Crimsonblod]

Postat inițial de Praetor Americanus:

Worst case scenario, id have to track down the old owner of my router and get the password for its settings so I can try port forwarding... and convince my roomates to let me...

Hey, so, you should be able to just do a factory reset for your router and then set it up with a new password and such, just FYI. Usually you do this by holding the reset button for a bit, but you can google how for your specific router.

[drivbycheckmate]

Either the IP address is wrong or a firewall on either system is blocking
UDP packets on the port you have chosen.

I get this error when trying to join my own server. In the server browser it says the ping is 1. When I port forwarded I used 25565 for both UDP and TCP. I'm using my computers IP for the local IP option. As a note I have all my windows firewalls off and am using windows 10.


Here is my document, tell me if anything is wrong in it please:

[General]
localAddress = (my ip)
port = 25565
maximumPlayers = 64
hostname = Homie Hangout Place (HHP)
# 0 - Verbose (spam), 1 - Info, 2 - Warnings, 3 - Errors, 4 - Only fatal errors
logLevel = 0
password =

[Plugins]
home = ./mp-stuff
plugins = server.lua

[MasterServer]
address = master.tes3mp.com
enabled = true
port = 25560
rate = 10000


Sorry if the answer was in the FAQ or something,I tried looking through some other forums but couldn't find any answers. Thanks for any feedback!

[David Cernat]

If you leave "localhost" as your destinationAddress in tes3mp-client-default.cfg, you can always connect to yourself by running tes3mp.exe

[drivbycheckmate]

Postat inițial de David C.:

If you leave "localhost" as your localAddress, you can always connect to yourself by running tes3mp.exe

Where is "localhost" located? Also by doing this, will it allow me and my friends to play with one another?

[Don't blame me, blame yourself]

Moderator commands

/kick <pid> lets you kick a player from the server.

/ban ip <ip> lets you ban a specific IP or IP range, without attaching the ban to a specific player.

/ban name <name> lets you ban a specific player name and all IP addresses that have been used by them. They are also prevented from logging in as that player with a new IP.

/unban ip <ip> and /unban name <name> can be used to cancel bans from the above.

/banlist ips can be used to print all banned IPs, while /banlist names can be used to print all banned names.

/ipaddresses <name> can be used to print all the IPs that have been used by a player.

/time <value> lets you set the current time on the server.

/teleport <pid> or /tp <pid> lets you teleport a certain player to you. Example: /teleport 1

/teleport all or /tp all lets you teleport all players to you.

/teleportto <pid> or /tpto <pid> lets you teleport yourself to another player.

/cells displays a window with a list of all the cells loaded on the server and the number of players that have each one loaded.

/setattr <pid> <attribute> <value> lets you set a player's attribute to a certain value. Example: /setattr 3 intelligence 50

/setskill <pid> <skill> <value> lets you set a player's skill to a certain value. Example: /setskill 2 acrobatics 100

/superman sets your Acrobatics to 400 and your Athletics and Speed to 100.


Admin commands

/console <pid> on/off/default lets you enable, disable or revert to default a player's ability to use their console. Example: /console 1 off

/difficulty <pid> <value>/default lets you set or revert to default the difficulty for a player.

/addmoderator <pid> lets you turn someone into a moderator and is equivalent to giving them an admin value of 1 in their player data file.

/removemoderator <pid> lets you demote a moderator into a regular user.

I cant get any of these to pop up in the chat window when /help is displayed, the only commands that pop up are /message, /me, /local, /list, and /suicide.

I know im probably not recognizing something obvious but i cant figure it out.

[David Cernat]

collinsmith12853, have you followed the instructions required to make yourself an admin?


drivbycheckmate, as long as your ports are forwarded correctly, your friends should be able to join you either by:

1) Simply using the server browser

or

2) Putting in your external IP as their destinationAddress in their tes3mp-client-default.cfg and then running tes3mp.exe

Meanwhile, you can always use "destinationAddress = localhost" in your tes3mp-client-default.cfg and then run tes3mp.exe to join yourself.

That being said, it's unclear what you've put under "localAddress" in your tes3mp-server-default.cfg, and you are better off just leaving that as the default "0.0.0.0"

[drivbycheckmate]

Wow, thanks. All it was was my ip needing to be 0.0.0.0 instead of my computer's ip. Thanks so much for your time!

[Arcade Dan]

I have my port forwarded and I have set it up according to the post. I can not have my friends join neither through the browser or just via IP. I have set my IP to 0.0.0.0 . I am able to join via localhost, but my friend just gets connection failed.

What is the issue?