Running your own Dedicated Server or LAN

Describes the process for running a Photon Server on your own computer, allowing other players to connect directly to you for a fast connection.

Quick Start Guide

Here's step-by-step instructions for getting your server running. For more details, see the sections further down.

• Go to https://www.photonengine.com/en/OnPremise/Download (may require account setup)
  
• Under "Photon Server SDKs", within the "Server" heading, click the download link
  
• Double-click on the downloaded .exe to extract the files to a folder on your computer
  
• In the new folder, under deploy / Bin_Win64 (or the folder matching your system specs) run PhotonControl.exe
  
• In your taskbar, open Photon Control and go to Game Server IP Config
  
• If running a LAN, set it to Local IP. If running a server accessible online, set it to Public IP. Take a note of this IP address, you'll need it later.
  
• If running server accessible online, additionally go into [Folder where you installed Photon Server] / src-server/Loadbalancing/Loadbalancing/App.config and change the value for PublicIPAddress to the IP Address you selected in Game Server IP Config
  
• In PhotonControl, select 'Loadbalancing (MyCloud)', then 'Install Service'. A confirmation window will appear.
  
• In PhotonControl, select 'Loadbalancing (MyCloud)', then 'Start Service'.
  
• Go into Disco Dodgeball, Options / Network and specify the IP address and port (5055 or 5056) in the configuration and hit 'Connect'

Why run your own server?

By default, Disco Dodgeball connects you to other players via a handful of relay servers around the world (Washington DC, Amsterdam, Singapore, Melbourne, and Tokyo). The benefit of this setup is that anybody can create their own public room in-game, and others can join, without any additional setup work on their end. The downside is that even next-door-neighbors would need to connect via these relay servers, even if they are hundreds of miles away from it.

With a bit of setup work it is possible to run a Photon Server on your local machine. Then players would connect directly to that machine, giving you very low latency. You can use this as well to create a LAN setup.

Some limitations: Currently, if you create your own server it is not publicly browsable by other players in the game. They have to directly enter the connection information in-game. This will likely be changed in the near future.

Downloading and Installing Server Software

The networking in RRDDD is handled by the Photon server software, which is free to download. Note the server software will only run on Windows.

Full system requirements: https://doc.photonengine.com/en/onpremise/current/getting-started/requirements

First, open Photon's download page: https://www.photonengine.com/en/OnPremise/Download

Under Photon Server SDKs / Server, click the download link.

Extract the downloaded files to a folder, this will be the root of your photon server root. Go into the server files and open a folder called "deploy". Here you will find the folders "Bin_Win32", "Bin_Win32xp", "Bin_Win64", "Bin_Win64xp". open the folder that supports your current running system.

• Bin_Win32 supports: Windows 8.1 32Bit, Windows 8 32Bit, Windows 7 32Bit, Windows Visa 32Bit, Windows Server 2008 sp2 32Bit
  
• Bin_Win32xp Supports: Windows xp 32Bit, ?windows server 2003?
  
• Bin_Win64 supports: Windows 8.1 64Bit, Windows 8 64Bit, Windows 7 64Bit, Windows Visa 64Bit, Windows Server 2008 sp2 64Bit, Windows Server 2012 R2 64Bit
  
• Bin_Win64xp Supports: Windows xp 64Bit

Optional License

By default, you can have up to 20 concurrent users on your server. You can optionally download a free license from photon's server page[www.photonengine.com] that will allow up to 100 concurrent users. Once you download the license, place it in the Deploy folder that matches your operating system.

It is important to note that the computer running the server must have internet access in order to validate the license. If you are running a LAN without internet access, don't install a license or Photon Server will not be able to run.

Launching the Server

Run PhotonControl.exe from within the Deploy folder that matches your operating system. You will notice that an icon will appear on the right side of the task bar. This is how you access the server to stop and start the services.

Within Photon Control go to Game Server IP Config. Choose "Set Local IP" if you are running a LAN or "Set Public IP" if you want your server accessible over the internet.

If you are running a Public server, then you additionally need to go into [Your Photon Root Folder]/src-server/Loadbalancing/Loadbalancing/App.config and change the PublicIPAddress setting to match the public IP you selected above.

Then go to the option "Loadbalancing (MyCloud)", and choose "Install service". You should be prompted that the install finished, then go back to the load balancing option and click "start service". you should see the icon flashing, and then turn a solid color.

When it is finished you can test by going to Photon Control / Loadbalancing / Run TestClient. You'll see a window pop up. If there are no errors then you can confirm your server is running correctly. Hit Return in this window to stop the test rooms and then you can close the window. Note that if you're running a Public server, it's possible that the TestClient will not work correctly; however you may still be able to join your server from other computers.

Connecting to the Server

Open Disco Dodgeball and go to Options > Network.

Change the connection type dropdown to "Local network".

Enter in the IP address that you set within Photon Control's "Game Server IP Config".

Set Port to 5055.

Hit 'Connect'.

All players connected to your server will effectively be in the same lobby. You can have multiple rooms active at the same time on this server. Any public rooms that players create will be listed on the Find Match panel for all other players connected to that server.

(Note this is different than many server setups, where one server equals a single room.)

Troubleshooting

Others can't connect

Your firewall may be blocking incoming traffic on various ports needed for proper communication with your server.

• Open "Windows Firewall with Advanced Security
  
• Click Inbound Rules
  
• Click New Rule
  
• Select Port, hit Next
  
• Select TCP, in Specific Local Ports enter “5050, 5055, 4530, 843, 943”. Hit Next
  
• Make sure ‘allow the connection’ is selected, hit Next
  
• Make sure Domain, Private, and Public are checked, hit Next
  
• Give it a name (e.g. “Photon TCP”)
  
• Back again within Inbound Rules, click New Rule
  
• Select Port, hit Next
  
• Select UDP, in Specific Local Ports enter “5050, 5055, 4530”. Hit Next
  
• Make sure ‘allow the connection’ is selected, hit Next
  
• Make sure Domain, Private, and Public are checked, hit Next
  
• Give it a name (e.g. “Photon UDP”)

You may need to use Port Forwarding. This allows your router to redirect the flow of traffic to a computer on a port and allows people to connect to the computer hosting your server. You will need to access your router setup page. This varies from router to router but to connect to the page, you enter the default gateway into the address bar of your web browser. (ex 192.168.1.1). here a video on port forwarding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp-R-eHiQco

Port Options
UDP: 5055, 5056, 5057
TCP/UDP: 4520

Photon Icon blinks a few times but never starts or stays on

• It's possible you have a license authentication issue. If your computer does not have internet access, you should not include a license file within the Deploy folder. Delete the license and try running the service. This is important if running a LAN without an external internet connection.

Service appears to start but Disco Dodgeball will not connect

• You may simply need to restart the service. Click on the PhotonControl icon in your taskbar, go to LoadBalancing, then 'Stop Service', then choose 'Start Service' (sometimes this works better than Restart Service). You may also want to try 'Exit Photon Control' and launching it again.
  
  
• Your IP address may also have changed. Click on the PhotonControl icon in your taskbar and choose "Game Server IP Config". Make sure that the selected IP address matches one of the available options in that list, and that the IP address chosen matches what you are entering into Options / Network / IP Address within Disco Dodgeball.

Can't join your own server

You may need a Loopback. Microsoft Windows provides this tool.

• Open the Add Hardware Wizard (click on the Start Menu and type hdwwiz)
  
• Hit Next
  
• Select ‘Install hardware that I manually select from a list’ and hit Next
  
• Select Network Adapters from the list and hit Next
  
• Choose Microsoft from the list of manufacturers
  
• Select Microsoft Loopback Adapter from the list of Network Adapters
  
• Click Next, and Next again, then Finish once it has completed
  
• Open Network and Sharing Center
  
• Click ‘Change Adapter Settings’
  
• Double-click on the icon that says ‘Microsoft Loopback Adapter’ in its description
  
• Hit Properties
  
• Under the Networking tab, Hit Configure
  
• Under Advanced, make sure teh Network Address property is select and type in your Public IP address in the Value field

Go to your network settings and choose "Change adapter Settings"
Open the properties of the network connection with the label 'Microsoft Loopback Adapter'
Select "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)" and hit the Properties button.
Select "Use the following IP address"
You need to put your WAN IP address in there, you can find it here: http://whatismyipaddress.com/
Put 255.0.0.0 in Subnet mask
hit ok

Stop your Photon Service. Exit and re-open it. Now when you head to "Game Server IP-Config" you must see your Public IP twice, one for Public and the other for Local IP. Now select one of them. Both should have a check.

Start the service in LoadBalancing if it hasn't yet. Now run TestClient. The log should be completely clear.

Launch the game. Go to Options->Network->Select Network: Local Network

Write down your LOCAL IP ADDRESS. This should be such one as 192.168.1.xx (it depends on your configuration)

Make sure port is 5055. Hit "Connect".

Sources: http://steamcommunity.com/app/270450/discussions/1/523897653309868963/ and http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/615086038676188026/

[Chillin Turt]

It might be a dumb question but, when you say "In your taskbar, open Photon Control and go to Game Server IP Config", what do you mean by taskbar? I can't find where to go or what to do at that part.