Games

Adding new games

The control panel supports the launch and basic control of any game servers and applications. If the panel does not contain a game you need, you can add it.

To add a new game, go to “Administration” → “Games”, then select “Add Game”.

After adding the game, add the first mod of this game and specify the the game server start parameters.

Fields

Code

Game code is a unique value. Usually, this is a game name abbreviation, for example for “7 Day To Die”, the code is 7d2d. The code must be unique. You can enter any, but it must be unique.

Start code

Start code is usually specified in the start parameters. This value can be anything, but more often it matches the game code. It may match with other games.

Game name

Just enter the full game name.

Game engine

Game engine is the system where the game is written. Half-Life, Counter-Strike are written in the GoldSource engine.

Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike Source are written in Source. Sometimes you do not know the game engine, in this case, you can enter the game code or some game abbreviation.

For games written in GoldSource and Source, enter the exact engine name. For games written in Unity, it’s better to enter some game abbreviation, for example Rust is written in Unity, but the engine name is rust. Minecraft is written without using any engine, so the engine name is also “Minecraft”.

Engine version

Numeric or string value of the engine version. You can specify any semantic value, for example, “legacy”, “beta”, and so on.

Steam App ID

Game server ID on Steam. Used to install the server through SteamCMD. You can find SteamID on Steam official wiki, or in the SteamDB.

Steam App Set Config

Additional options for installing the server through SteamCMD. You can find some values on Steam official wiki

Local repository

Path on the dedicated server to the archive or to the directory with the game build used as a template. This path must exist on the dedicated server where a new game server is installed. When adding a new game server, the archive will be unpacked into the game server working directory.

The following archives are supported: Zip, 7z, Tar, XZ, Bzip, GZip.

RAR archives are not supported.

Examples

Example game server working directory /srv/gameap/servers/example-server

Remote repository

Link to a remote source. This must be a URL to an HTTP or FTP resource. Archive must be accessible via direct link without any intermediate pages that require waiting or additional action. Links to Yandex Disk, Google Drive, etc. are not supported.

Ready-made builds live in the GameAP repository — cdn.gameap.com worldwide and cdn.gameap.ru for Russia. The file list cannot be browsed: directory listing is disabled and only direct links work. Rather than looking for them by hand, use the Upgrade games button — the bundled game configurations already contain the right URLs, see Games Import.

Examples

Example game server working directory /srv/gameap/servers/example-server

Adding new mods

Each game can have many mods, each has its own features, settings, startup parameters, configuration files, etc.

To add a new game, go to “Administration” → “Games”, then select “Add Mod”

Fields

Game

The game which the mod belongs to.

Name

Mod name. This may be the name of the addon, build, kernel, any feature, etc. Enter the full name at your discretion.

Repositories

The mod may have its own set of files and settings written over the files of the main build. You can include any additional plugins, additional content, sounds, music, etc., in the file archive. Local repository fields are optional.

The following archives are supported: Zip, 7z, Tar, XZ, Bzip, GZip.

RAR archives are not supported.

Local repository

Path on the dedicated server to the archive or to the directory with the game mod files used as a template. This path must exist on the dedicated server where a new game server is installed. When installing the game server, the archive will be unzipped over the main build into the game server working directory.

The following archives are supported: Zip, 7z, Tar, XZ, Bzip, GZip.

RAR archives are not supported.

Examples

Example game server working directory /srv/gameap/servers/example-server

Remote repository

Link to a remote source. This must be a URL to an HTTP or FTP resource. Archive must be accessible via direct link without any intermediate pages that require waiting or additional action. Links to Yandex Disk, Google Drive, etc. are not supported.

Ready-made builds live in the GameAP repository — cdn.gameap.com worldwide and cdn.gameap.ru for Russia. The file list cannot be browsed: directory listing is disabled and only direct links work. Rather than looking for them by hand, use the Upgrade games button — the bundled game configurations already contain the right URLs, see Games Import.

Examples

Example game server working directory /srv/gameap/servers/example-server

Editing mods

After the mod is created, open it for editing: “Administration” → “Games”, then pick the mod in the game’s mod list. The editor is split into tabs:

Main settings

Mod name

Repositories

Repositories are set separately for Linux and Windows nodes: Local Repository (Linux), Local Repository (Windows), Remote Repository (Linux), Remote Repository (Windows). Read more in Adding new mods, repositories.

Default start commands

There are two fields: Start Command (Linux) and Start Command (Windows). When a game server is created for this mod with an empty start command, the field matching the node’s operating system is copied into it. If that field is empty too, the start command has to be entered for every game server by hand — a game server cannot be started without one.

You can use shortcodes in start commands; they are replaced with the values of server variables. A shortcode is a word without spaces in braces {, }, for example {ip}, {port}, {maxplayers}.

Basis shortcodes

These shortcodes are always available; they do not require adding variables to the mod.

User-defined shortcodes

You define these shortcodes yourself for each mod in the Vars tab; they are replaced with the values of the game server’s settings. Read more in Variables.

Two rules apply when a command is rendered:

• Built-in shortcodes win: a variable named port or dir does not change the built-in value.
• Every variable is substituted in three spellings — exactly as named, all lowercase and all UPPERCASE. A variable maxplayers also replaces {MAXPLAYERS}, and a variable imported from a Pelican egg as SERVER_NAME also replaces {server_name}. Other mixed-case spellings are left as is.

Variables

Variables are declared in the Vars tab. Each variable becomes a setting of every game server of this mod and a shortcode {variable} for the start command. Users edit the values on the server page, in the Settings tab — see Game servers.

Types

Whatever the type, the value is stored and substituted into commands as a string.

Switch. The two values are 1 and 0 by default and can be changed (up to 64 characters each, they must differ). Value when disabled may be empty — handy for flags that are either present in the command or not. The default value must equal one of the two.

Select. Every option has a Value — the string that is stored and substituted, up to 64 characters, unique within the list — and an optional Label shown to the user (up to 128 characters; equals the value when empty). At least one option is required. With Allow a custom value enabled the user may type a value that is not in the list; such a value is checked against the length and pattern rules below.

Validation

Rules from the Validation block are checked when a server setting is saved; a value that breaks them is rejected. Rules apply to non-empty values only — an empty value is rejected by Required and nothing else.

For a Select the option list is a rule in itself: a value outside the list is rejected unless custom values are allowed. A textual value without a Maximum length rule is still capped at 4096 characters.

Translations

Info, Description and option labels are written in English. Translations for other panel languages are added in the Translations block of the variable (Info and Description) and, for a Select, by the languages button next to each option (its Label). Pick the Language — a lowercase locale code such as ru, uk or pt-br — and enter the translated text. en cannot be added: the English text is taken from the main fields. Each language may be used once. The user sees the text in the panel’s current language; when there is no translation, the English text is shown.

Examples

Metadata

The Metadata tab holds arbitrary Key / Value pairs attached to the mod. The daemon reads container settings from them when the node runs game servers in Docker or Podman: docker_image, docker_workdir, docker_volumes, docker_installation_script and the other docker_* keys. A key is looked up in order: server variables, then the mod’s metadata, then the game’s metadata; values must be strings. The ? button next to the Key field opens the Metadata keys reference, which lists the known keys with an example for each; they are described in Process Managers.

RCON commands

These commands are set in the Game Servers Commands tab. They allow more advanced game server administration. If the game supports working with RCON or if the console is supported, you can do the following: kick players from the server, ban players, change the server map, send text messages to the common chat, set a password.

Some features may be limited by the game itself or by the mod. For example, not all game servers support server login with a password.

Kick command

You can set the RCON command to kick a player from the server.

You can set shortcodes for the command that will be replaced with the data of a certain player

For many GoldSource/Source games, this is the command:

kick #{id}

Ban command

You can set a command that will be used for a temporary or permanent ban of a player on the server.

You can set shortcodes for the command that will be replaced with the data of a certain player

For many GoldSource games (Half-Life, Counter-Strike 1.6, etc.) running AMX Mod X, this is the command:

amx_ban "{name}" {time} "{reason}"

Name (nickname) change command

With this command, you can change the selected player’s nickname.

You can set shortcodes for the command that will be replaced with the data of a certain player

For many GoldSource games (Half-Life, Counter-Strike 1.6, etc.) running AMX Mod X, this is the command:

amx_nick #{id} {new_name}

Restart command

You can set the command to soft restart the server, without restarting the game server process. Usually, this command restarts the game map or round. Not supported by many games.

For many GoldSource/Source games, this is the command:

restart

Map change command

With this command, you can change the game server map.

For many GoldSource/Source games, this is the command:

changelevel {map}

Send message command

With this command, you can send a text chat message to all players on the server.

For many GoldSource games (Half-Life, Counter-Strike 1.6, etc.) running AMX Mod X, this is the command:

amx_say "{msg}"

Set/change password command

You can set a password for the game server, so only players who know this password, can log in.

For many GoldSource/Source games, this is the command:

password {password}

Fast RCON commands

In the Fast RCON commands tab you can add your own RCON commands — for example a server status command, statistics or a list of recently disconnected players. They appear as buttons in the server’s RCON console; a click sends the command.

The label can be translated: the languages button next to the entry opens the same Translations block as for variables — en is not allowed, the English text is taken from Info.