Setting up Linux HLDS 3.1.1.1

[rmrf]

I am trying to set up an HLDS(Half Life Dedicated Server) on my linux box for a LAN party I will be having and we will be playing TFC. I don't want any authentication because it is only going to be on the LAN, and I am cutting off internet access. I have tried running the server with sv_lan 1 and -nomaster, it seems like it starts fine, I can run a status check, and it shows all the server information. When I try to test with my machine, I can not pick up the game in the LAN browse list. Is it impossible now that valve has brought all of their games to the steam platform, or is there a way to get this to work? Thanks to anyone who can help me solve this problem.

 

[drag]

Not sure at all....
Stupid DRM stuff. (your just trying to pirate HL2:CS with all your freinds, aren't you?!!? 😛 )

However if you can't figure out a way around it you can still connect your server to the internet without allowing access to the rest of the LAN. For instance you could setup your router/firewall to deny all access in and out of your network and setup a ssh/ppp tunnel from your server to the internet for the purposes of authentication. Or if your ISP has dial up access aviable to you you can setup your server to go over the phone lines on a seperate network completely. Or maybe put 2 nic cards in your server. If you don't have one laying around you can get cheapies at most places for around 8-10 bucks.

These things wouldn't be hard to setup. Just a couple extra route commands once you get the network setup.

Maybe try the forums at Linux-gamers.net and see if anybody knows the work arounds for Steam autentication without the internet. Don't know were to even start, personally.

 

[rmrf]

Thanks for the quick reply! Actually, I just want to play TFC. I suppose that we could just fire up a TFC server from one of the machines that we are gaming from, and all connect to that, but I wanted to try my hand at setting up a linux server and playing off of that. I was pretty pissed when I started the server up and it told me to visit steampowered.com 🙁

I just thought there was a way to set up the server so that there was no authentication for back in the day when the internet wasn't as prevelant as it is now. I haven't tried disabling my internet connection, do you think that could be the reason it keeps trying to authenticate to a server? Oh well, thanks for the link, hopefully I can figure this out.

EDIT: I tried disabling my internet connection, and it just hangs when I try to start the server with this information:

Console initialized.
Protocol version 46
Exe version 3.1.1.1
Exe build: 22:35:19 Apr 29 2003 (2378)

this is the command I am using to start the server:

./hlds_run +ip xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx -game tfc -sv_lan 1 +maxplayers 8 +map badlands

should I be doing something else? I am using the default server.cfg and am just passing this information thought the cli.

 

[drag]

Oh! Your just setting up a Halflife 1 server and it's asking for Steam stuff? (I don't have any experiance with the first half life and gaming, I was a hardcore-type Quake2/3mods player for a long time, never cared much for HL or counterstrike.)

Well that is very queer.

here is a mailing list for it., if you sign up for it (usually very quick) you can search thru the archives and maybe find the answers your looking for. You can always unsubscribe later.

here is a page for it looks like it checks and updates itself using a steam account. Do you have a steam account to use?

Wish I could help you more, but I don't know much about HLDS.

 

[rmrf]

Thanks a lot for your replies drag. I wouldn't really have a problem with updating it to the steam version of the server, but some of the guys that are coming over do not have steam accounts, and do not want to transfer their existing key to a steam account because of the things valve has changed within the game. It just seems like there should be a way to bypass any of the WON/Steam stuff so that it can be installed and started on a LAN without an internet connection.

 

[drag]

In a sane world, yes that would make sense. But this is Valve and Steam we are dealing with and these are the guys that allow downloads of games using steam, but then again penalize people that buy the game thru the retail stores by putting cd protection on that version of the installation media... Weird stuff.

I saw in one forums I was searching thru that you can use a older version of HDLS that isn't steam enabled. Don't know much about that, though.

Also you may be able to run a Halflife server, possibly, from Linux without it. If your server is fast enough you can actually run Half-life in Wine (straight free version of wine, not wineX/Cedega). I bought HL a while ago and it ran fine in Linux. Never bothered to play it online though with CS or whatever, I only have so much time and I have Ut2004, Quake3, and Doom3 to occupy my time.

So if you can run that mod in Linux with Wine (not all mods work for all games, I don't know about team fortress) then you can use the Linux box as a sort-of ghetto dedicated HL server, if that is indeed how it works.

Also I forgot about this webpage., it's dedicated to running HL on Linux, so if these guys can't help, nobody can. (assuming that it's active enough for you to get a response)

(edit: Actually it looks pretty dead..)


maybe try these folks