Revision as of 04:21, 28 January 2014

System Requirements

ALFA strongly recommends that all game servers run a 64-bit OS for the operating system that runs nwn2server. A 32-bit OS does not provide enough address space for many modules to function reliably when hosted by nwn2server.

If nwn2server is hosted in a virtual machine, ALFA recommends that either VMware or Hyper-V be used for the virtualization infrastructure. Both of these products have both been validated and are functional in production use for live servers.

Specifically noted, VirtualBox should not be used or the game will not function properly, on account of bugs in VirtualBox's timer handling (often manifests as perception not working over time or other time-based systems in the game malfunctioning).

It is preferred that the Windows version (Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 or higher are strongly recommended) used to host the game server be a version that supports acting as a Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) host, typically Professional (or higher) editions. Server editions also include Remote Desktop Protocol host functionality. RDP provides a superior remote administration experience as compared to VNC.

The recommended memory size to allocate to a game server instance is 4GB. This may be adjusted based on the actual memory consumption of a module, but 2GB provides plenty of headroom for most of our servers.

The Linux utility instance of a game server cluster can be assigned 128MB of memory or potentially even less. Multiple game server instances that are physically colocated may share the same Linux utility instance (which is recommended in such a configuration).

Prerequisites

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Service Pack 1 Redistributable Package MFC Security Update
• Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)
• Windows Management Framework Core -- For operating systems older than Windows 7. Only need Windows PowerShell 2.0.

NWNx4

ALFA uses NWNx4 to host all of its live servers.

While this document cannot replace the documentation provided with NWNx4, a brief explanation can be offered: NWNx4 is an application which runs alongside the nwn2server application, communicating with, running processes for, and altering the data within to achieve functionality which cannot be created without such means.

The NWNx4 application works with a number of community-generated plugins-- libraries of functions and hooks, which are either called from the NWN scripting language or which intercept standard functions or functionality to correct bugs-- which are required for the proper function of ALFA's core ruleset.

Download the files from ACR.

• nwn2server directory -- These files go in the same folder as nwn2server.exe.
• nwnx4 directory -- These files go into your NWNx4 folder.

NWNx4 is configured through the nwnx.ini file, which is plain text and contains help text to describe the function of each setting, which is installed to the NWNx4 install directory. Once configured, a server is run through NWNx4 by running one of the NWNx4 executables. The started application will also start nwn2server.

Currently Used Plugins

Server Folder Files

• NWNScriptJIT.dll -- NWScript JIT support, C# script support
• NWNScriptJITIntrinsics.dll -- NWScript JIT support, C# script support
• AuroraServerNetLayer.dll -- bug fixes

NWNx4 Folder Files

• NWNx4_Hook.dll -- Allows script hooking in the first place.
• NWNScriptCompiler.exe -- Required to allow the content patcher to recompile a module. Take from AdvancedScriptCompiler\NWNScriptCompiler.exe on the ACR repository.
• xp_AuroraServerNWScript.dll -- Script improvements, C# support, allows workarounds of engine limitations.
• xp_bugfix.dll -- Bug fixes
• xp_craft.dll -- Customization of items during live play
• xp_mysql.dll -- Allows communication with SQL databases
• xp_objectattributes.dll -- Allows the modification of creatures during live play
• xp_ServerVault.dll -- Allows vault reads / writes to occur without stopping the main server process
• xp_srvadmin.dll -- Allows scripts to carry out server administration actions.
• xp_system.dll --
• xp_time.dll --
• MySql.Data.dll -- MySQL client library for CLR scripts.

Configuration

• AuroraServerNWScript.ini

  AllowManagedScripts=1

• xp_craft.ini
  • Set the database directory to proper location of the Campaign Database on the machine
• AuroraServerVault.ini
  • The text within the configuration file explains how to configure the plugin. If this configuration fails, players will be unable to see their vaults.
  • Typical configuration is to set LocalServerVaultPath=C:\NWN2User\servervaut , RemoteServerVaultPath=\\alfavault\alfa\vault , SpoolPath=C:\NWN2User\servervaultspool . The key is that RemoteServerVaultPath points to the network mount that connects to SSHFS, and LocalServerVaultPath points to nwn2server's configured server vault directory (must be a LOCAL directory), and SpoolPath points to a local directory that is used as a "scratch" holding area for BICs waiting to be uploaded. nwnx.ini
  • The text within the configuration file explains how to configure the plugin. If this configuration fails, the server will default to inappropriate settings (such as PvP, download server, or custom GUIs) or requiring the module to be started manually after nwn2server.exe stops.