Dedicated Server not found on Master Server

#1 And while I'm on the subject, what do I need the Master Server for at all? I have a dedicated server hosted on the Internet. Can't my client connect directly to it? And if so how?

#2 Same problem. Why doesn't it work?

#3 Richard,

If you don't know what the master server does, then why are you using it? :)
You can connect directly to the game server, yes - but the master server is there to easily show a list of all servers available to you, and in return you can connect to these.

#4 Maybe it's being blocked by a firewall. Torque pings the server to see if it is there and if it gets no reply is assumes it is not. So if there is a firewall that is blocking pings, Torque cannot find the server.

#5 As Stefan said, the purpose of the "Garage Games Master Server" is to allow for a single place where people can go to find non-dedicated (permanent) servers that people have set up temporarily on their home systems--useful for mod-style games where anyone can host up a new mod.

It's not really intended to interact with dedicated servers for games that provide their own servers, with static ip address/domain name tags. If you have a permanent server, you absolutely don't need the Garage Games Master Server (although you will probably want to have your own internal master server if you have more than one "game world/shard/whatever you wind up calling it".

#6 Except, firewalls aren't blocking it, because if we change it back to FPS Starter Kit gametype, it gets lists of those servers.

However, if we rename it, to say, Project Shadow, like mine is, then even if someone else hosts the temporary Project Shadow gametype server, when we query the Master, it does not show the server.

#7 I'm puzzled. Sifting through all the scripts and files I see no reason it shouldn't work. Simply changing the settings of the FPS Starter Kit to another name should make it work.

#8 Any ideas?

#9 I'd actually like to know the answer to this as well. Why is it so difficult to break away from the "FPS Starter Kit" server type? Where else is the code depending on it?

#10 I remember having a similar problem when dealing with turning the starter kit into the codebase for my project. It was not a simple process -- not sure I figured it out entirely my self, though I do currently have it working. Basically, what I figured out is that you should pick one simple value and use it for everything you might think would work :)

NOTE: many of these are probably unnescisary to change or update; like i said I havn't really gone thru the source code to find out what does what in terms of this yet, but this is what I changed:

server/scripts/game.cs

function onServerCreated()
{
   // Server::GameType is sent to the master server.
   // This variable should uniquely identify your game and/or mod.
   $Server::GameType = "holotag";
(etc) 
}

server/defaults.cs and server/prefs.cs

$Pref::Server::Info = "holotag";

client/prefs.cs

$Pref::Server::Info = "HoloTAG v. a02";

(I think that's it)

Also, make sure you have all your RegionMask values set the same. Pretty much every piece of code i've seen has this set to 2.

Depending, your GameType values too (usually set to DeathMatch -- especially if you're only just working with the SK here).

Hope this helps

#11 Huh, so you didn't change the $Pref::Server::Name then?

Anyway, this is nice to know! Thanks!

#12 $Pref::Server::Name can be anything you want. Doesn't actually affect connection. I'm assuming you've played some FPS like Unreal Tournament before; you know how each server in the multiplayer browser has a name? (though with UT these days it's usually some stupid "Our clan's 1337 server!" kind of thing). Basically $Pref::Server::Name is just what your server will show up as in the multiplayer browser. My current project has it set to something like "Just another server..." by default, and I've added a box in the create server dialog that allows you to change the server name (just link it to the above mentioned variable).

Anyways, i don't know how a simple answer got to taking up an entire paragraph -- $Pref::Server::Name is just what your server shows up as in the LAN or Master browser server list. No effect on master server. Going to shut up and go to bed now. ;)

#13 I have every single thing I can find about GameType set to "shadows", and the regionmasks are/were set to "2".

So I make a dedicated server. Load up Torque too, click query LAN, says Ping Servers and loads the list and shows my dedicated server.

I click Query Master, it sits there, no progress, then finally says "No Servers Found." -_-

#14 Once again, the "Master Server" isn't there for dedicated server builds. It's there so people can "host multiplayer" in a client build, and be noticed by others.

#15 So you're saying if I host one in-game on another computer, it should show up?

I wasn't aware that the master didn't display dedicated. (noob)

#16 I'm not saying that it won't, I'm saying that's not what it's designed out of the box to do. You are probably going to need to do a lot more besides set server variables to get a dedicated build working against the Master Server (although, as I also mentioned above, it doesn't make much sense to advertise a dedicated build on the Garage Games master server, so I would imagine not many people have done it before).

#17 Ahh, well I didn't realize there was a GameType in the game.cs to change, woops!

#18 I haven't been able to get my game up on the master server's list either, much to my surprise. This is not just with the dedicated build, but also with the standard build. I know I am behind a firewall, but if the game is FPS Starter Kit, it is listed, and other people have even joined the game. I have changed every instance of FPS Starter Kit to my game's name (using VS's search in files), to no avail. Would someone describe what changes are necessary to make for the game to be listed on the master server (dedicated build or otherwise)?

#19 Yeah, I still can't get MP to work right either. Sent my code off to Leo, hopefully he can see what's the matter. =/

#20 @C2:
With the version of the game you sent me, unmodified, LAN query worked just fine, but no master yet. Going to try running it with my own master server from this resource. Will update when there's anything new