VPS Server Setup - Steam CMD

This guides intention is to give you all the information you might need to get a server functioning for Ground Branch. It has indepth settings descriptions and pictures to help support the information contained.

Requirements

For the best results in running a Ground Branch Server you will need one of the following:

• A dedicated computer with a router supporting public connections
  
• A VPS (Virtual Private Server)

The minimum hardware requirement is yet to be decided but I have successfuly ran a VPS GB server on 2x Core 4.0Ghz machine with 2gb of ram. This was with 30 Terrorists and 8 players but not tested with 16 players in PvP so bear that in mind.

Ports Open:
7777 UDP
27015 UDP

Getting Started - VPS Specs

My Setup

Component
Processor	4x 4.0Ghz
Ram	12Gb
HDD	100Gb SSD
OS	Windows Server 2012 R2

These specs are way above what is required but I currently run 2 x GB servers with 40% reserve. This guide will focus on the VPS setup, however a dedicated machine can mirror alot of the information with only minor changes.

1. SteamCMD

What is SteamCMD

Originally posted by Steam CMD Website:

The Steam Console Client or SteamCMD is a command-line version of the Steam client. Its primary use is to install and update various dedicated servers available on Steam using a command-line interface. It works with games that use the SteamPipe content system.

Downloading SteamCMD

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamCMD and scroll down to the "Downloading SteamCMD" number 2 section.

Installing SteamCMD

• On your server, create a folder called "SteamCMD"
  
• Extract the steamcmd.exe inside the folder you have created
  
• Run the steamcmd.exe
  
• The program will begin to install the necessary files and folders.

2. SteamCMD GUI

SteamCMD-GUI

Originally posted by creator of SteamCMD-GUI:

SteamCMD-GUI allows the user to use [SteamCMD] on Windows without command lines and/or batch files using a very simple and intuitive graphical interface.

Downloading SteamCMD-GUI

https://github.com/DioJoestar/SteamCMD-GUI/releases/tag/3.1.0.2

Installing SteamCMD-GUI

• On your server, create a folder called "SteamCMD-GUI"
  
• Extract the SteamCMD GUI.exe inside the folder you have created
  
• Run SteamCMD GUI.exe
  
• The program will install some additional files and launch.

3. Getting Ground Branch Dedicated Server files

Now it all comes together. In this section we will get the groundbranch server files, using SteamCMD facilitated by SteamCMD GUI.

• Launch SteamCMD GUI.exe, found in the folder created from the previous section
  
• The program will launch showing (The colours are for reference so you wont see them)
  
• In the Red box, select "Browse" then select your SteamCMD folder, created earlier
  
• In the Green box, select "Add Custom", enter "Ground Branch Server" and then "476400" for AppID
  
• Ensure that it says "Ground Branch Server" to the left of the "Add Custom" button (Green Box)
  
• Create a folder Called "Ground Branch Server", then in the Orange box select "Browse" and point it to it.
  
• Click the Blue Box, "Update/Install" to begin the download of the Ground Branch Server files.

4. Server Startup

We now have what we need to begin startup.

• Browse to your Ground Branch Server folder, created earlier
  
• You should see this
• Go to the "_CommonRedist", "vcredist", "2015" and launch etheir the X86 (32 bit OS) or X64(64 bit OS) vcredist.exe
  
• This will makesure you have all the prerequisites for your server to function
  
• Go back to the main Ground Branch folder and now run the DedicatedServer.bat, this will launch 2 CMD windows and that is your server running.
  
• Close these two windows down as we will be setting up admin and customizing in the next section

4a Updating and Running the Server

Running the Server

Open the DedicatedServer.bat

Shutting Server Down

Open the KillServer.bat (Close the windows instead if running multiple servers or it will shut all of them down instead of just one)

Updating the Server

• Open SteamCMD-GUI
  
• 
• From the dropdown list Select Ground Branch Server
  
• Orange - Point the program to your Ground Branch Server folder
  
• Blue - Select "Update / Install" to update

5. Server Customization

So now we have functional server but lets make it our own.

DedicatedServer.bat

You can Right click and edit this file which contains the starting parameters for the first map, this however is overriden by the maplist.ini

Server Config files

The files you need are located: Your Folder\GroundBranch\ServerConfig

Admin.ini

This file contains the different teirs of Admin which include:

AdminGroups=(Name="SuperAdmin",Commands=("all"))
AdminGroups=(Name="Admin",Commands=("say","kick","ban","kill","changemap","nextmap"))
AdminGroups=(Name="Moderator",Commands=("kick","ban","changemap","nextmap"))
AdminGroups=(Name="ElevatedPlayer",Commands=("changemap","nextmap"))

It also contains the names, steamid and contact info of the people who are part of each teir.

Admins=(Name="User",UniqueId="000000000000:0",ContactInfo="n/a",Group="SuperAdmin")

To setup an admin
Red - The Name of the person (Does not have to be the same as ingame)
Green - The Steam ID of the person (Add :0 to the end of it or it won't work)
Blue - Contact info, put N/A if you don't want to add any or add an email address
Brown - The permissions the person has as part of the group seen above.

AdminSetupPassword.txt

This contains the password for ingame admin setup, it is an alternate way of setting up an admin but not a super admin. While connected to your server, open the command line (Usually the button left of 1 on the top row) and type "admin setup PASSWORD". The PASSWORD being the text in this file.

MapList.ini

This contains the maplist with the various settings assoiated with it, will be covered in a later section.

Server.ini

This file contains the server name, MOTD (Message of the Day), Password, spectator password, Max players
Green - The Name of the Server
Yellow - The Message of the day
Orange - The server password, leave blank if you don't want one
Blue - The SpectatorOnlyPassword, allow only people who have the password to use the spectate command
Purple - The max player count (Will only impact players not AI), this can be set to obsurd numbers but currently GB only recomends 8 for Co op and 16 for PvP - If you do wish to set it to the highest for co op then 24 is the Max the maps will support (Not recommended)

TeamKill.ini

Allows setting the maximum a person can kill players of their own team before being banned.
MaxTeamKills=10 - The amount of players killed before being removed
BanTime=5 - How long they are removed for in minutes

Vote.ini

This file is the voting parameters for non admin players ingame.









Red - How long in seconds the voting period lastes
Orange - How long after a successful vote do you have to wait before voting again
Yellow - How long after a failed vote do you have to wait before voting again
Dark Green - Allows voting a player to a tempory admin position (Change map / Next Map)
Light Green - Allows voting to change the map
Dark Blue - Allows voting to the next map in the maplist
Light Blue - Allows voting on the removal of players
Brown - Changes the Enemy count in Terrorist Hunt gamemode (Max 30 at this time)

6. Ingame Admin

I will now show you how to use the ingame admin and set a maplist.

Admin Commands

Server Settings

The ingame version of the .ini file we changed earlier

Map list

Red - The settings for the current map including Gamemode (Example - Terrorist Hunt mode) with the times shown in minutes, The AI advanced settings are still awaiting further documentation.
Blue - The current Maps and time of day (Currently a bug exists were any tankership map in rotation will cause a spawn bug, change map manually to avoid this.
Purple - The map rotation with selected per-map options
Green - Left and right addes and removes maps for rotation // Up and Down change the order they are played in.
Orange - Submits your new maplist which is saved in the maplist.ini or Reverts back your settings before submission
Red X - Removes all maps in Rotation

Admin List

Shows current admin permissions of players who were added via ingame.

Trouble Shooting

I will keep this section open for possible issues encountered, post in the comments below and I will help you as best as I can.

I get an error when trying to launch

Makesure you are launching the "DedicatedServer.bat" and not the groundbranch,exe

[A Nun]

For me adding :0 to users names was not needed

[A Nun]

Hi

I am having some issues accessing the ingame admin - I have tried with my numeric and custom steam id but I get the same issue:

LogNet: Warning: SteamSockets: Could not find connection information for sender xxxxxxx:-1 (handle: xxxx)

Anyone know what this might be?

[Hyena]

wait im confused to what to put down for inbound and local ports

[johnyfive]

I had the same problem as several others have commented on regarding the server only being visible under the LAN tab.

For me the solution was to forward 7777 UDP and 27015 UDP, which Joe told me to do in this guide under the Requirements section.

Port forwarding is slightly different for your specific gateway, which is (typically) provided by your ISP. Port forwarding is usually simple enough to do manually with a little help from Google but there is free software which could help if you're really stuck. Some ISP's provide their own.

In general you'll need to enter your gateway's default (internal) IP address (Windows users can open the command prompt and type "ipconfig" to see it) in your web browser and login as admin. The default admin name and password can often be found on the label on your gateway. Navigate to the port forwarding section and create those two port forwarding entries.

[The Wonderful Tartiflette]

My server is only on LAN too can somebody can help me ?

[tunes]

My server it's not on the server browser, only on lan.

[diveyez]

That app id gives a "No Subscription" error now.

[diveyez]

Linux Dedi Version yet?

[TonySenior]

Now this is a well written Tutorial, Thank you very much :)
Btw do you have a "list" of commands to use in the .ini files, as an example how many % of players it takes to win a vote, "i would like 100%"

[Goatah]

open the console and type admin