Setting Up A Steam Ns Server

<div class="IPBDescription">How to do it from scratch</div> Setting up a steam NS server from scratch isn't very hard.

First, get an email address OTHER than your personal steam account.

Second, get the HLDS from <a href='http://www.fileplanet.com/files/130000/130426.shtml' target='_blank'>http://www.fileplanet.com/files/130000/130426.shtml</a>

Install said HLDS.

<i>Run the HLDS updater and create an account.</i> Select "Start Menu->Run" and then type in cmd in the run dialog. Navigate to your install directory. <i>Then type "hldsupdatetool -create youremail@yourserver.com your_password" where "your_password" is whatever you want it to be.</i> Then type "hldsupdatetool -update ricochet . youremail@yourserver.com your_password Y". This will update the HLDS. If you're planning on running any of the other mods, you have to update each individually (when ns becomes offically on steam, substitute ns for ricochet - i suggest ricochet because it hasn't had a steam content update other than the HLDS).

Get the NS server version 2.0 from <a href='http://www.fileplanet.com/files/120000/128458.shtml' target='_blank'>http://www.fileplanet.com/files/120000/128458.shtml</a>

Install it to your installation directory.

Get the NS server version 2.01 from <a href='http://www.fileplanet.com/files/110000/116917.shtml' target='_blank'>http://www.fileplanet.com/files/110000/116917.shtml</a>

Extract the file and overwrite the .dlls it should prompt you for.

Next, edit your server's settings. These are all located in your ns folder in the server.cfg file. There are two that you should add that are not there: "sv_contact" and "log on". "log on" enables logging on your server, and "sv_contact" provides a way for users to contact the admin - whether it be a website address or a email address - it's always good to have an easy way for the server's gamers to find an admin. Note that right now, logging is only really helpful in seeing if anyone is trying to hack the server using rcon since steam ids are not working right now for NS and once players enter the game their unique ids are all the same. It is also not suggested that you specify an rcon password, as it is sent as text and can be sniffed out on the internet. One setting that is good to change is mp_timelimit, as people seem to get bored of playing the same map for 60 minutes, especially if the aliens are taking it in 3 minutes each time. Specifying 15 minutes for a timelimit gives a good map rotation, and prevents the same map from running again and again. Note that this is how long the map will run before a new map will start, but the new map won't start until a round is completed. You probably ought to change "hostname" too, since that's what the server's title will be and you don't want your server known as "Natural Selection v2.0" since that's not distinctive (of course, this is up to you).

Next, get <a href='http://metamod.org/dl/dlls/metamod.dll.zip' target='_blank'>metamod</a> - <a href='http://www.metamod.org' target='_blank'>http://www.metamod.org</a> - install the metamod.dll to "INSTALL_DIRECTORY\NS\Addons\Metamod\dlls". Create a blank txt file in "INSTALL_DIRECTORY\ns\Addons\Metamod" named plugins.ini.

Next, edit the liblist.gam file in your ns installation directory (INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY\ns\liblist.gam). Change:<!--c1--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>CODE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='CODE'><!--ec1-->gamedll "dlls\ns.dll"
gamedll_linux "dlls/ns_i386.so"<!--c2--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--ec2-->to:<!--c1--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>CODE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='CODE'><!--ec1-->gamedll "addons\metamod\dlls\metamod.dll"
gamedll_linux "addons/metamod/dlls/metamod_i386.so"<!--c2--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--ec2-->

Next, I suggest you get two metamod plugins - <a href='http://hullu.xtragaming.com/files/unstuck_mm-1.00.zip' target='_blank'>unstuck</a> and <a href='http://hullu.xtragaming.com/files/booster_mm-1.70.zip' target='_blank'>hldsbooster</a>. Extract the unstuck_mm.dll to "INSTALL_DIRECTORY\ns\Addons\unstuck". Extract the booster_mm.dll to "INSTALL_DIRECTORY\ns\Addons\booster".

Change the contents of plugins.ini (that you created just a little bit ago) to be<!--c1--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>CODE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='CODE'><!--ec1-->win32 addons/booster/booster_mm.dll
win32 addons/unstuck/unstuck_mm.dll<!--c2--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--ec2-->

Create a shortcut on your desktop to HLDS. It should be something like this:

<!--c1--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>CODE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='CODE'><!--ec1-->"INSTALL_DIRECTORY\hlds.exe" -game ns +map ns_eclipse -maxplayers 20 -console<!--c2--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--ec2-->

Double click the shortcut and you're good to go!

*<i>edits are in italics</i>