| Application: | UT Server Config |
| Version: | 1.0 |
| Programmer: | Simon "Psychic" McVittie |
| Contact: | psychic_313@bigfoot.com |
| Web site: | http://www.ParadoxProductions.U4L.com |
| Written in: | Borland Delphi 3 |
| Requirements: | MS Windows 95 or later (only tested on 98 - NT or 2000 users, please tell me how you get on) 640x480 desktop resolution (800x600 is much better) |
| Runtimes: | None required |
| Testing: | Developed and tested on Windows 98 and Unreal Tournament 420. |
Unzip to a folder of your choice with "use folder names" switched on. If your unzip utility can't do this, unzip to the folder, create a subfolder called "presets", and put all *.ut_pre files in it. When you run the application for the first time, it will create a Registry entry (less than a kilobyte) to store your settings.
From the main menu, choose Options, Uninstall. This will delete UT Server Config's registry key and exit the program. You can then delete the folder you installed into.
If you want to uninstall manually, you can run Regedit (c:\windows\regedit.exe on most systems) and delete the key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Paradox Productions\UT Server Config". It is a good idea to back up your Registry (c:\windows\system.dat and c:\windows\user.dat on most systems) first.
User manual
This application is designed to make it easier to set up a quick UT game on a listen server, over a LAN or the Internet. It was inspired by a LAN game for which I set up the server to use Bonus Pack models, but forgot the skins. Lacking textures, Skaarj and Nali players (one or two on each team) were completely invisible, apart from their disembodied weapons floating around the map.
The problem, as I see it, is that UT is designed as a dedicated-server game. If you run a dedicated server, you will generally leave it running for long periods of time with exactly the same settings, and you won't bother installing mods you don't use. Dedicated server ops probably won't mind poking around in the settings with Notepad, because, once set up, a UT server won't need any changes for a while.
However, setting up "listen server" games on your own PC, the same one you try out mods and play botmatches on, could do with slightly simpler configuration. Hopefully, you should be able to run a listen-server game with mods fairly easily just using this program and the Unreal Tournament graphical interface.
Use this window to set the paths to the files this program uses. UT Server Config supports replacement INI files for both the system and user configuration (usually UnrealTournament.ini and User.ini). Optionally, you can set it up to ask you which file to use whenever one is required - unless you need to, don't enable this feature, as it quickly becomes annoying.
The Unreal Tournament server maintains a list of the packages it uses for mods, mutators, skins, models and voice packs. Many UMOD-format mods attempt to add themselves to this package list, but it doesn't always work (Epic has changed the behavior of the command needed to do so in at least one patch). Besides, since anyone joining your server has to download all of your ServerPackages that they don't have, it's a good idea to only have packages you need on this list.
To get started, click "Load from INI" to import the ServerPackages you already have. Alternatively, for a clean start, you can just leave the list blank.
Click the "UT (v420) Standard Packages" button to add the packages you need in the list, whatever else you're running. The program will ignore any which are already in the list, so don't worry about creating duplicate entries. If you have an earlier version of UT, I'm fairly sure the standard packages required are the same. If you have Epic's Bonus Pack, click "Epic Bonus Pack (v100)" to fix any missing packages here as well.
The "other presets" button selects from a range of preset package lists. Each preset loads all the files required for a mod - I've included presets for a variety of models, mutators and modifications such as Infiltration 2.75 (the current version, at the time of writing). I deliberately haven't included skins (far too much typing!). If you want to make a preset (for a mod you've written, for example) then see the Advanced section below.
For mods which don't have a preset, it's usually quite easy to find the appropriate files. If the documentation tells you to put "Serverpackages=MyMod" or whatever in your INI file, this is the file you need to select (this one would probably be System\MyMod.u, for example). If not, then click the appropriate button and have a look for the correct files (the name is usually fairly obvious).
There are several ways to do this. If you have uninstalled or deleted some old mods but forgotten to take them out of your ServerPackages, click "Remove packages where the file doesn't exist". UT Server Config uses the same method UT does to find each package, and removes any package it can't find.
To remove packages which you still have but just don't want to use, click on them in the list and click "Remove selected package(s)". To search out particular packages in a large list, use the text filter on the right (select a comparison in the first box, type some text in the second and click Remove). This filter is not case-sensitive, so typing "relics", "RELICS" or even "reLiCs" will all remove "Relics" from your packages list.
Click "Save to INI" to write your new, improved package list to the Unreal Tournament configuration files.
UT Server Config makes it possible to have a large number of bot configurations and save a random selection of 32 into Unreal Tournament. These are stored in files with extension *.UT_BOTLIB. A sample bot library is included, containing the 32 default UT bots.
You can open an existing bot library, or import your UT bots into a new or existing one. When opening a library you can choose to open it as a new file, or to append the bots to your existing list (using the "Open & Append" button).
The bot library manager isn't designed as a bot editor, and setting new skins, models etc. isn't particularly user-friendly yet. The best approach is to create bots in UT and import them. There isn't an option to detect duplicate bots yet, but you can sort the entire list by name and remove duplicates by hand.
As before, choose "Write to INI" to export your bots. You are presented with a checklist of all the bots in the current library, and various options to filter bots. For example, before playing Instagib, you might want to remove all your super-accurate sniper bots (the Accuracy slider has a huge effect on a bot's skill, especially in Instagib games). There is an option here for server operators to remove all bots which aren't available in the server packages, so you can have a long list of bots for normal use, and use a slightly smaller selection for multiplayer.
When you click "Export" in the export dialog box, 32 bots are randomly selected from those which are ticked in the checklist, and are written to the UT configuration files in a random order. If there aren't 32 available bots, the remaining slots are taken by Male Commandos called Bot_n, where n is the slot number (so if you export 30 bots, UT Server Config will add Bot_31 and Bot_32).
Advanced
If you write a mod which uses more than one server package, you may wish to make a UT Server Config preset for it. These can be written in the text editor of your choice. The first line must be your mod's name and version (usually the same as the filename), the second line should be a one-line description (not currently used, but later versions will support this) and the third line should be your web address (leave it blank if you don't have one, and a default message will be shown instead).
The third and subsequent lines are the server package names without paths or extensions, as they would appear in the ServerPackages= lines.
As an example, here's my Infiltration 2.75 preset file.
Infiltration UT v275 Unreal Tournament with real-world weapons http://www.planetunreal.com/infiltration InfiltrationUT InfAdds CommandoSkins_iCall your file <your mod name and version>.UT_PRE, include it with your mod and instruct users to place it in the Presets subfolder of their UT Server Config install folder. Optionally, you can e-mail me the preset file at psychic_313@bigfoot.com for inclusion in the archive on my site, although I can't guarantee your mod will be included.
By downloading, distributing or running this application you agree to the following - if you don't agree then don't run it:
This application is freeware and comes with no warranty at all. I accept no responsibility for any damage to your system, data, or anything else for that matter, caused by this program or any Paradox Productions product. Any problems are entirely your responsibility.
You may not copy or distribute this application except in accordance with the following conditions:
This application may be distributed in any way (disk, CD, network, Internet etc), as long as you don't try to make money out of it, and you distribute the whole unmodified Zip file (including the executable, this documentation and all other supporting files). If you intend to distribute it on a large scale (e.g. host a mirror download), please contact me at psychic_313@bigfoot.com so I can make sure you get any future updates.
This application may not be sold or distributed for money without my express permission. You may not distribute modified versions of this application without my permission.
Program and documentation (c) Simon McVittie 2000. Unreal, Borland, Delphi, Windows and all other trademarks mentioned are acknowledged to be the property of their respective owners.