Dedicated server
Contents
Setting up a dedicated server
If you don't want to go through the hassle yourself and want to pay for a hosting service Arctic VR provides a server hosting service and is trusted in the community. https://www.arctic-vr.com/server-hosting
There are no Windows binaries, this guide is exclusively for Ubuntu/Debian/Debian-like Linux distros. Possible to run with other distros, but some of the commands won't work and you will need to know enough to figure out the software install of dependencies on your own.
If you are considering hosting from home, please read that section of the wiki first.
This guide assumes you know the basics of using a bash terminal: ssh'ing into a server, running bash commands, editing text files, etc.
If you have no experience using bash, maybe start here. Editing text files via commandline is often a challenge. Suggest using nano and reading guide here
If you are new to linux and accessing your server from Windows, highly suggest using MobaXterm as your SSH client as that can make required editing of text files easier using built in editor instead of the native linux command line editors.
And finally, ask yourself why you want to setup a server? If you look at the list, there are many, many more servers than players. If you don't have a team, discord community, or group of friends ready to play on your server, chances are it will go unused. Got one of these... great, let's go.
Server Requirements
Pavlovserver can only be hosted under Linux. This can be running as a VM under windows, but this will increase the complexity of the setup beyond this guide.
Ubuntu 18.04 x86_64 and Ubuntu 19/04 amd64 and Ubuntu 20.04 are confirmed working. Ubuntu 15.04 x86 is known to fail to install using this guide. Recommend not running on "minimal" images as some tools are missing.
- 2GB RAM + 1GB RAM per each additional server
- 2.3Ghz Dual Core CPU for a 10 player server + 1 additional CPU per server.
- 3.2 Ghz core will support up to ~24 players on a larger server.
- Pavlovserver is single threaded. More CPUs only help if you are running more servers. More clockspeed = higher performance = more users per server.
Hosting at home
When hosting at home there are additional requirements regarding networking: Your router has to support port-forwarding and hair-pinning/LoopbackNAT, techniques necessary to allow your server to be found and to talk back to the client. please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_forwarding and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hairpinning for more info and google for these terms in addition to your router model to find guides on how to enable/configure it properly. If you have modern Router, it may have these features already enabled, in this case you just have to configure port-forwarding. If you can see your server but not join it while others can, this is indicative of a failure of LoopbackNAT.
A second challenge to hosting at home is CGNAT (Carrier grade NAT: https://www.a10networks.com/blog/carrier-grade-nat/). Just like NAT on your home network that has to be gotten around w/ port-forwarding, CGNAT breaks the ability of external connections to be made back to your server, but the controls are solely in your ISPs hands. Sometimes if you ask, you can be removed from CGNAT pools and/or assigned a static IP. CGNAT rollouts are becoming very common now, so if your server worked then doesn't allow connections now, your ISP may have made this change.
You can check whether you’re on a CGNAT network by visiting a Web site such as ipaddress.com or whatsmyip.com and comparing the IP address listed to the public/WAN IP address assigned to your Internet gateway. To find your gateway’s public IP address, check the status page in the administrative interface. If the two IP addresses differ, you’re likely on a CGNAT network. If so, this problem must be resolved before you go any further.
Not understanding these requirements and configuration is a frequent cause of failed setups and questions in discord. Don't skip this if you are trying to host from home
There are serious security implications of hosting this software at home. None of the devs are security experts and there has been no security review of the code. You are opening up your system to the world and publicity advertising this fact. Expect that any system hosting this software is open to compromise from the Internet and act accordingly. If your router offers a DMZ network, use it. Consider hosting on a cloud based server and think twice before running this software on any system that contains data you care about or has access to networks and computers you care about.
Hosting Providers
Considering the suggested server specs, you may be interested in the following hosting providers:
Provider | Base CPU | Details Arctic VR | 4.5 GHz | https://www.arctic-vr.com/server-hosting VULTR | 4.0 GHz | https://www.vultr.com/products/high-frequency-compute/ Google Cloud Platform | 3.2 GHz | https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/cpu-platforms Amazon Web Services | 4.0 Ghz | https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/z1d/ packet.com | 3.5 GHz | https://www.packet.com/cloud/servers/c1-small/ ZAP-Hosting | 3.0 GHz | https://zap-hosting.com/en/pavlov-vr-server-hosting/ OVH | 4.5 GHz | https://www.ovh.com.au/dedicated-servers/game/ Smishcraft | 3.6 Ghz | https://billing.smishcraft.com/index.php/store/pavlov-vr
ARCTIC VR
Arctic VR is a hosting provider specific to Pavlov. They offer both EU and NA servers. The In-Game Advanced Admin Menu is exclusive to the ArcticVR hosting service.
You can find more about them here: https://www.arctic-vr.com/server-hosting
VULTR
Consider using a referral from the community:
Carlos: https://www.vultr.com/?ref=8615589-6G
Carrot: https://www.vultr.com/?ref=8689348
Archaeo: https://www.vultr.com/?ref=8653652-6G
Google Cloud Platform (90 day free credit available)
The below configuration is successfully running 4 pavlov instances with ~15 total maps and up to players per server. If you want more maps use larger boot disk. Both can dynamically be scaled based on popularity.
Menu -> compute engine -> VM instances create instance - region: wherever you like - machine type: n1-highcpu-4 (4 vCPUs, 3.6 GB memory) - boot disk: Ubuntu 20.04 - boot disk -> size: 25gb - network tags: pavlov-server - [create] Menu -> Vpc network -> firewall rules [Create firewall rule] Name: pavlov server Target Tags: pavlov-server Source IP Ranges: 0.0.0.0/0 Protocols and Ports -> Specified protocols and ports -> UDP: 7777, 8177 Protocols and Ports -> Specified protocols and ports -> TCP: 7777, 8177 (SHACK) Protocols and Ports -> Specified protocols and ports -> TCP: {RCON port} [save]
Amazon Web Services (30 day free credit available)
Login -> Change Region: Choose your region Services -> Compute -> EC2 -> Create Choose an AMI: Ubuntu 18.04 Instance Type: z1d.large Instance Details -> Tenancy: Dedicated (optional: this will more than triple the cost) Storage: 50gb disk (or whatever, you're in control of the map roster) Security Groups: Create a new Security Group Security group name: pavlov-server Description: pavlov server Rules: Type: Custom ICMP Rule - IPV4 / Protocol: Echo Request Type: Custom UDP Rule / Port Range: 7777 / Source: 0.0.0.0/0 Type: Custom UDP Rule / Port Range: 8177 / Source: 0.0.0.0/0 Type: SSH (optional, but I assume you wanna SSH in..) Launch -> Create new Keypair -> Download -> Launch Once it's started, SSH in like: $ ssh -i your-key.pem ubuntu@you-server-details.amazonaws.com (I use cmder on Windows, if you're using putty or mobaxterm or something, might be different)
Prerequisites
Install dependencies and create the `steam` user. (You only need to do this once):
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y gdb curl lib32gcc1 libc++-dev && sudo useradd -m steam
Login as the steam user. (You will need to do this each time you connect to your server):
sudo su -l steam -s /bin/bash
Install Steam:
mkdir ~/Steam && cd ~/Steam && curl -sqL "https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steamcmd_linux.tar.gz" | tar zxvf -
Install the Pavlov Server (You will need to to do this each time there is a Pavlov Server update):
cd ~/Steam && ./steamcmd.sh +login anonymous +force_install_dir /home/steam/pavlovserver +app_update 622970 +exit
For those intending to host the PC BETA you will need to install this specific version of the server as opposed to the one above. If you are hosting for Standard PC, skip this step
cd ~/Steam && ./steamcmd.sh +login anonymous +force_install_dir /home/steam/pavlovserver +app_update 622970 -beta beta_server +exit
For those intending to host for Shack (Quest) you will need to install this specific version of the server as opposed to the one above. If you are hosting for PC, skip this step
cd ~/Steam && ./steamcmd.sh +login anonymous +force_install_dir /home/steam/pavlovserver +app_update 622970 -beta shack +exit
Make the PavlovServer script executable. (You only need to do this once):
chmod +x ~/pavlovserver/PavlovServer.sh
Server Configuration
Before starting the server we need to configure it. Start by creating some directories:
mkdir -p /home/steam/pavlovserver/Pavlov/Saved/Logs mkdir -p /home/steam/pavlovserver/Pavlov/Saved/Config/LinuxServer
Configuring Game.ini
Create a new Game.ini file using following command to open an editor and copy/paste the following block into it then save it
nano /home/steam/pavlovserver/Pavlov/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/Game.ini
[/Script/Pavlov.DedicatedServer] bEnabled=true ServerName="My dedicated server" MaxPlayers=50 bSecured=true bCustomServer=true bWhitelist=false RefreshListTime=120 LimitedAmmoType=0 TickRate=90 TimeLimit=60 Password=0000 MapRotation=(MapId="UGC1668673188", GameMode="SND") MapRotation=(MapId="datacenter", GameMode="SND") MapRotation=(MapId="sand", GameMode="DM")
- bEnabled - whether the server appears in the server list (unconfirmed)
- ServerName - name it will be listed as. (approx 35 chars max)
- MaxPlayers - See suggested specs for limits
- bSecured - enabled Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC)
- bCustomServer - activates some new modding tools (save and http functions)
- bWhitelist - Only allow users in whitelist.txt to join
- RefreshListTime - sets how often the running server checks for updates in ban/whitelist/mod files
- LimitedAmmoType - sets limited ammo mode (experimental) 0-2 unlimited,generic,specific
- TimeLimit - sets time limit for each map
- TickRate - sets the server tickrate. (so far minimum stable seems around 50 and max around 120)
- Password - PIN number for server
- MapRotation - you can add multiple of these. The MapId must be “UGC” followed by the map ID. you can find the map id in the URL of the steam workshop page.
Available game modes as of 9/1/2021: SND, TDM, DM, GUN, ZWV, WW2GUN, TANKTDM, KOTH (TTT - Shack Only)
Maps running a Custom Game Mode (TTT (on PC), BR, Duel, etc.) don't care which GameMode you chose, as long as it isn't Shack TTT, which will always override.
UGC###### are for custom maps from steam workshop (PC Only). Find the map you want in the workshop. This is the URL for Mirage (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1661803933). To put Mirage in your rotation UGC1661803933 would be the correct MapId
Firewall/Port forwarding
Using the default settings there are two UDP ports (7777, 8177) that need to be allowed to access the server either by firewall setup or port forwarding.
You may also need to allow Pings (ICMP) for the server's true latency to appear in the master list.
If you are running multiple servers and have set additional ports (see http://wiki.pavlov-vr.com/index.php?title=Dedicated_server#Running_multiple_servers_on_one_host) then you need to allow access to the defined port plus the port 400 higher. So if you use 7000 as your port, then UDP 7000 and 7400 need to be open
If you have setup rcon via RconSettings.txt (below) then that port also need to be allowed access via TCP
If you are running Shack/Quest and want to have maps that are downloadable from your server, your server ports (ex. 7777 & 8177) must also be open via TCP
Shack Maps (Quest)
If you try to use the steps above to add maps for Shack, youll run into issues very quickly. This is because Shack has no affiliation to Steam, and therefore cannot use Steam Workshop maps like above. In the future, these steps will apply to PC servers as well, allowing a server to hold the map itsself, instead of offloading to Steam.
To get started, first create the directory to hold the maps
mkdir -p /home/steam/pavlovserver/Pavlov/Saved/maps
You can use any number of methods to move the map files onto the server, but ill go over the two simplest, starting with a GUI approach
Download and install CyberDuck onto your "home" PC (Whatever PC you use for access to the server, but not the server itsself): https://cyberduck.io/
Next, download and unzip your map of choice from https://www.pavlovquest.com/ , im going to use Cheeto's WW2 Items test (http://www.mediafire.com/file/emyt9bs1z9u9ykw/SVR_Cheeto_Items.zip/file ) for this example, you do what you like
In the top left corner, open a connection, set the connection type to SFTP, and fill in the rest of the information. User will be root, password is whatever you set the root pw as (toor in Ubuntu by default)
In the directory dropdown (itll say /root) go back to /
Follow the directories until we arrive back at our "maps" folderhome/steam/pavlovserver/Pavlov/Saved/maps
Drag and drop the unzipped map folder into the main window, in this case itll be SVR_Cheeto_Items
Hit Allow
Youll now see a folder named SVR_Cheeto_Items, and within it should be nothing but 3 files. If there is another folder in it, move this folder to the maps directory, otherwise the server wont work. The 3 files (2 PAK one JSON) should be in home/steam/pavlovserver/Pavlov/Saved/maps/SVR_Cheeto_Items, no more, no less.
To actually play the map, youll need to add the map's folder name to your Game.ini. This replaces the MapID section, so for our example it would be
MapRotation=(MapId="SVR_Cheeto_Items", GameMode="TDM")
And thats all! Disconnect CyberDuck from your server before playing, otherwise youll have difficulty joining.
Adding Shack Maps over Command Line Interface
A bit more complicated, but adding maps over CLI has its benefits
First, CD to the maps directory you made above
cd ~/pavlovserver/Pavlov/Saved/maps
Download the map files from whatever you use to upload them. To do this, you can either use curl or wget
curl -O insertURLhere
To keep with the Items example:
curl -O http://download2275.mediafire.com/7pucyqp8opdg/emyt9bs1z9u9ykw/SVR_Cheeto_Items.zip
Next, unzip the file. If this next step errors out, saying the command is unknown, switch back to the root user (su root), and install unzip (sudo apt install unzip), then return here.
unzip SVR_Cheeto_Items.zip
Now finish like before by adding the map to your Game.ini
nano /home/steam/pavlovserver/Pavlov/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/Game.ini
MapRotation=(MapId="SVR_Cheeto_Items", GameMode="TDM")
Admin/Moderator list (optional)
If you add moderators to your server, they will have an "admin panel" in their menu which will allow them to:
- kill player
- teleport to player
- kick player
- ban player (note this ban is only in memory and clears when server restarts. If you want it to be permanent, use blacklist.txt file (below) and/or Rcon ban command)
- rotate to next map
nano ~/pavlovserver/Pavlov/Saved/Config/mods.txt
Example Mod List:
76541198397498572 #Optional Comment: Player name 76541198397498573 #Some Other Player
ArcticVR Admin Menu
Arctic-VR Offers a more advanced In-Game Admin menu that is exclusive to their hosting service. Features include:
- Switch Maps+Modes
- Teleport Players to Players
- Change Player Skins
- Control Player Buying+Cash
- Spawn Items
- Clean up corpses + guns
- Spawn Bots
- Spawn Items for other players
- Control Teams + Balance/Shuffle Teams
- ResetSND
- And More
You can read more about the ArcticVR admin menu on their website: https://www.arctic-vr.com/server-admin-menu
Blacklist/Whitelist (optional)
If you want the ability to ban players or only allow players based on their steamID you can use blacklist.txt and whitelist.txt to define these players
Both files should be written in ~/pavlovserver/Pavlov/Saved/Config/ and have same format as Mod list above.
Note that blacklist.txt has to exist if you want to use Rcon ban and whitelist.txt is only used if bWhitelist=true in Game.ini
Currently bans actioned by admins in-game are only held in memory and not written to blacklist.txt. As such, they go away when server is rebooted.
Handy tools for finding steamIDs
Steam ID finder: https://steamidfinder.com/lookup/
You want to enter in the steamID64 format.
This tool can convert or lookup IDs: https://steamid.io/
If you are looking for a steamID of a player that has been on your server recently this is technique to find them:
grep -i playername ~/pavlovserver/Pavlov/Saved/Logs/* | grep TicketValidation
Starting the server
cd ~/pavlovserver && ./PavlovServer.sh
That's it, your server will be automatically broadcast to the master server! :)
Two handy tools to determine quickly if your server is broadcasting are Pablub (PC only) and Horde (Shack) and Horde (PC version)
Note that when you close your terminal, the server will go down. See the "supervisors" section below for how to prevent this.
Supervising the server using systemd
Running ./PavlovServer.sh in your interactive shell is easy, but the server will shut down when you close your terminal. If you want to run the server in the background, you'll want to run it under a supervisor. There are many options, ranging from the simple (nohup, screen or tmux), to the more robust (supervisord, systemd).
Systemd is running by default on Ubuntu Linux, so we'll use that here.
To run the server as a systemd service, create the file /etc/systemd/system/pavlovserver.service (as root) by typing "sudo nano (or other editor you want to use) /etc/systemd/system/pavlovserver.service" with the contents
[Unit] Description=Pavlov VR dedicated server [Service] Type=simple WorkingDirectory=/home/steam/pavlovserver ExecStart=/home/steam/pavlovserver/PavlovServer.sh RestartSec=1 Restart=always User=steam Group=steam [Install] WantedBy = multi-user.target
Change the user or paths as appropriate. After saving the service file, to start, restart, stop, or monitor the server:
sudo systemctl start pavlovserver sudo systemctl restart pavlovserver sudo systemctl stop pavlovserver sudo systemctl status pavlovserver
To view the logs:
sudo journalctl -u pavlovserver # to live-tail the logs sudo journalctl -u pavlovserver -f
If you want to run the pavlov server as soon as your server boots (e.g. a VPS you turn on and off), add pavlov as a startup service:
sudo systemctl enable pavlovserver
Rcon Overview and Commands
To enable Rcon access create config file "/home/steam/pavlovserver/Pavlov/Saved/Config/RconSettings.txt"
Example RconSettings.txt file:
Password=ChangeThisPassword Port=9100
You must specify a port for the Rcon server to use as well as a Password (use a different port per sever instance if running multiple server instances off the same hardware)
Ban/Unban
If you want Ban/Unban to work create file /home/steam/pavlovserver/Pavlov/Saved/Config/blacklist.txt writable by user running server.
Commands:
Help -Returns the full list of commands Ban {SteamID} -Bans the player from the server (adds them to blacklist.txt) Kick {SteamID} -Kicks the player from the server Kill {SteamID} -Kills the player Unban {SteamID} -Unbans the player from the server (tries to remove the unique id from blacklist.txt) RotateMap -Rotates to the next map in the game.ini SwitchMap {MapName/ID} {GameMode} -Switches to the map/gamemode specified, ex "SwitchMap DataCenter TDM" or "SwitchMap UGC1080326389 DM" SwitchTeam {SteamID} {TeamId} -Switches the specified players team GiveItem {SteamID} {ItemId} -Give the specified player the Item GiveCash {SteamID} {CashAmt} -Give the specified player cash GiveTeamCash {TeamId} {CashAmt} -Gives all members of the teamId cash InspectPlayer {SteamID} -Returns information about the player specified (PlayerName, Cash, KDA, TeamId etc) RefreshList -Returns a list of players on the server (unique/steamId) ServerInfo -Returns information about the server (ServerName, CurrentMap, PlayerCount/MaxPlayerCount etc) Disconnect -Disconnects the player from Rcon ResetSND -Resets the match back to round 1 keeping the same teams SetPlayerSkin {SteamID} {SkinId} -Sets the skin for the specified player (clown, prisoner, naked, farmer, russian, nato) SetLimitedAmmoType {0-2} -Sets the limited ammo type for the duration of the match
Make sure whatever port you used is open in your firewall for TCP connections.
To test connecting to the rcon port use netcat:
nc {ip address} {port}For the password use the md5 hash of the password in the file (this may change in the future). You can get this using
echo -n password | md5sum
If successful you should get an Authenticated=1 reply
Tools available to access Rcon interface
A good first place to start is the Horde web interface. You can find your PC server at https://pavlovhorde.com/pcServers and Shack servers at https://pavlovhorde.com/.
Enter the port and the md5sum hash of the password and connect to your server using this site. You will of course expose your credentials to the admin, but Chingghis is a trusted member of the community unlikely to turn you into a clown using RCON.
If you want private control of your server, you will need to do a bit more work for it. At the simplest, using netcat (nc) as described above will give you basic access to all commands
If you want to batch commands (i.e. for moving players on to teams and triggering ResetSnd) the following script can be useful to call a pre-written batch files of commands. Call with your batch file as the first argument to the script. The file should have one command per line with first line being the hashed password as above.
#!/bin/bash function slowcat(){ while read; do sleep .05; echo "$REPLY"; done; } cat $1 | slowcat | nc {ip address} {port}
Example batchfile:
8b96753b29612d8c98d6b696140b5d9f ResetSnd Disconnect
At the next level of complexity and utility you can checkout either of the two commandline programs available on github. Both of these provide a simple interface to Rcon via interactive text console interface:
https://github.com/vankruptgames/PavlovVR-Rcon
https://github.com/d0n/pavlovadm
For the ultimate in both control and complexity of setup, use pavlov-bot. This is a discord bot that will listen for commands in your discord channel and execute them. Supports all Rcon commands with handy features such as discord role based authentication and authorisation, player, map and team aliases (No more SteamIDs or UGC####). For shack users it has been updated to support EOS ids, so should be fully functional for both server versions
https://github.com/makupi/pavlov-bot
PavlovRconWebserver is an interface designed to be usable from everywhere all the time. (also in VR over desktop view) Feature video
Features: SSH tunnel your rcon connection, mutliserver administration, most rcon commands from the wiki, map(realtime steam workshop maps)/item selector, control over browser(Android,IOS,Windows,Linux,etc), Roles: Admins/Users(Moderators)
https://github.com/devinSpitz/PavlovRconWebserver
(While functional, the PavlovRconWebserver looks to have gone into a development pause before being completed)
Rcon access from within VR
PavlovRconWebserver is being designed to be accessible within VR using virtual desktop view. There is also a workable method using either built in access to your windows desktop via SteamVR or other tools like OVRDrop. Details are a bit complex, but the general overview is as follows:
- On your gaming rig install Cygwin (https://cygwin.com/install.html). This is a well known opensource program to give you linux tools on your windows system. During install, there is an option to install additional packages. Find the "nc" package to install netcat.
- Once cygwin is installed, open up a cygwin terminal window and test access to the server using nc as described above. Once that is proven working, create wrapper script given above in /usr/local/bin/rcon_file.sh (within Cygwin) and a batchfile as described above and test. A very handy one for SND allows you to call ResetSnd so that once teams are sorted the game can start.
- Create a desktop shortcut that calls Cygwin, then your script and batchfile with following: C:\cygwin64\bin\mintty.exe -i /Cygwin-Terminal.ico /bin/bash -l -c "/usr/local/bin/rcon_file.sh ~/rcon_reset.txt" where rcon_reset.txt is your batchfile. Test this shortcut. It may be then handy to pin this to taskbar for easier access when viewing virtual desktop from within VR.
- If all goes well, you can now trigger a set of commands from within VR after a quick glance to your desktop.
Advanced Server Administration
Running multiple servers on one host
- Make multiple server installs by defining a separate install dir for each server.
- Run each server with a unique port. eg: ./PavlovServer.sh -PORT="Desired Port"
- The Server will use the Desired Port and the Port 400 above (Example: You choose 8200 as Port. So Port 8600 will be used as well)
- Ensure the ports are forwarded and opened in your firewall
To duplicate directories:
be in the steam home folder
cp -r pavlovserver pavlovserver1
/home/steam/pavlovserver1/PavlovServer.sh -PORT=[Desired Port]
Default Map ID's
datacenter
sand
bridge
containeryard
prisonbreak (Siberia)
hospital (Zombies map)
killhouse
range
tutorial
(BETA only)
station
stalingrad
santorini
industry
Troubleshooting
To run the server without outputting the heartbeat:
./PavlovServer.sh | sed '/heartbeat/d'
To monitor the logs (without heartbeat) from another terminal:
tail -f -n10000 /home/steam/pavlovserver/Pavlov/Saved/Logs/Pavlov.log | grep -v 'Sending heartbeat to masterserver'
Check your CPU Clock Speed with:
lscpu | grep MHz
Map wont load (kicks to datacenter)
try deleting all the downloaded workshop maps with:
sudo rm -rf /tmp/workshop/7777/content/555160/*for all maps or
sudo rm -rf /tmp/workshop/7777/content/555160/whatever-UGCfor specific map
Server kicks all players at end of SND game with "Connection Lost"
This looks to be a bug related to PavTV. If you don't care about PavTV, you can stop this behaviour by either firewalling off egress to port 80 of 147.75.74.75 or blackhole the traffic with
sudo route add 147.75.74.75 gw 127.0.0.1 lo
This IP address may change, so if this stops working raise the issue in #pc-custom-servers
Getting Help
There's a #pc-custom-servers channel on the official Pavlov Discord - https://discord.gg/Pavlov-VR. Lots of helpful people there!