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Tribes2 Server Setup Guide

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README.md

Tribes 2 Server Setup Guide by ChocoTaco

A guide for setting up a Tribes 2 server via vps, ssh, and vnc

Discord: Tribes 2 Discord

Tacoserver: Tacoserver Github

Target Environment

This guide is for Debian 12 (Bookworm)
This could probably work on other distros varying packages and commands

Choosing a host

Any VPS host could probably run a t2 server depending on how much you want to pay...
Vultr is probably to easiest to use - https://www.vultr.com/
Linode probably a great option too (Now Akamai) - https://www.linode.com/
GCE (Google Compute Engine) being probably the more difficult option - https://cloud.google.com/compute/
I'm sure there's others

Connecting to your vps

SSH as root into your vps (Your root password can usually be found on your host vps website): https://www.linode.com/docs/guides/connect-to-server-over-ssh-on-windows/

In Linux use

 ssh root@ip.address -L 5901:localhost:5901

Setting up Debian

Once youre in... make a user and set a password. Change t2server as whatever username you want...
```
 adduser t2server
```
Then...
```
 usermod -aG sudo t2server
```
Update packages
```
 sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
```

Log out as root and log back in as t2server or your newly created user. This is very important...

Install desktop

 sudo apt install xfce4 xfce4-goodies tightvncserver xfonts-base firefox-esr synaptic file-roller git winetricks htop curl zenity

Start vnc server, make password...8 characters
```
 vncserver
```
Kill vnc server
```
 vncserver -kill :1
```
Open vnc config file
```
 nano ~/.vnc/xstartup
```
Copy this inside xstartup at the end, ctrl-o save, ctrl-x to exit. This says to start our desktop when we start our vnc
```
 #!/bin/bash
 xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
 startxfce4 &
```
Repair permissions
```
 sudo chmod +x ~/.vnc/xstartup
```

Installing WINE

Install the wine repo by following the directions here: https://wiki.winehq.org/Debian

  sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 &&
  sudo mkdir -pm755 /etc/apt/keyrings &&
  sudo wget -O /etc/apt/keyrings/winehq-archive.key https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key &&
  sudo wget -NP /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/debian/dists/bookworm/winehq-bookworm.sources &&
  sudo apt update

This will install wine-development, typically theres no issues.
```
 sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-stable
```
If you want the development branch install winehq-devel

Get all the files

Download:

 wget https://www.the-construct.net/downloads/tribes2/tribes2gsi.exe &&
 wget https://www.tribesnext.com/files/TribesNext_rc2a.exe &&
 wget https://tribes2stats.com/files/mods/classic_v152.zip &&
 git clone https://github.com/ChocoTaco1/TacoServer &&
 git clone https://github.com/ChocoTaco1/TacoMaps &&
 wget https://www.dropbox.com/s/bvh9631a4mtuisf/msvcrt-ruby190.zip &&
 wget https://www.dropbox.com/s/tt4utbqkzh791y8/SetPerfCounter.zip

Start your VNC Server

Change 1800x950 to be whatever resolution you want
```
 vncserver -geometry 1800x950
```
Use Real VNC for windows - https://www.realvnc.com/en/
Use Reminna for linux - https://remmina.org/
Setup to use localhost:5901 while youre logged into the server using ssh. Enter your 8 character vnc password. You should be greeted with a Debian desktop.

Setup T2

Install T2 in wine (Typically installs to /home/t2server/.wine/drive_c/Dynamix).
```
 wine Tribes2gsi.exe
```
Install Tribesnext_rc2a
```
 wine TribesNext_rc2a.exe
```
Update Classic to 1.5.2 (1.0 is included in Tribes2gsi) Just delete classic folder in Gamedata and extract classic 1.5.2 there
Extract TacoServer to Classic (Overwriting any existing files)
Extract Tacomaps to Classic/maps/
Extract msvcrt-ruby190 to Gamedata (Overwriting any existing files)
Extract Perf Counter to Classic/scripts/autoexec (This locks server to HighPerformanceCounter=0)

Optional: Download Loop's sha1 fix (Extract Server.dll and wine-injector to GameData Folder, put t2csri_serverside_looped.cs in Gamedata/Classic/scripts/autoexec)
```
 wget https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gu5eixt8q078fnweahov3/t2-auth-faster.zip?rlkey=gy4u4789ylfhvr1iqi2zp30bz&st=ka7s1r74
```
Loop's fix requires vcrun22 to work...
```
 winetricks -q --force vcrun2022
```

Firewall (Optional)

Install iptables

 sudo apt install iptables iptables-persistent

Make sure iptable ports are open

 sudo iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
 sudo iptables -I INPUT -p udp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
 sudo iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 28000 -j ACCEPT
 sudo iptables -I INPUT -p udp --dport 28000 -j ACCEPT

Also make sure ports are open within the host service youre using with their firewall. Make sure to open port 22 for your ssh port as well.

Starting the Server

Start t2 server (without loop's fix)

 taskset -c 0 wineconsole Tribes2.exe -dedicated -mod Classic

Start t2 server (with loop's fix)

 taskset -c 0 wine wine_injector.exe Server.dll Tribes2.exe 28000 -dedicated -mod Classic

taskset -c 0 is locking the server process to one cpu only

Using a bash script

Ideally you can start your server with a bash script ie: sh startserver.sh

 #!/bin/sh
 BASEDIR=/home/t2server/.wine/drive_c/Dynamix/Tribes2/GameData/
 cd ${BASEDIR}

 while true; do
 	echo "Waiting 30 seconds for all wine processes to close..."
 	sleep 30
 	wineserver -k9 && killall wine && kill $(lsof -t -i:28000) && kill $(lsof -t -i:80) && killall winedevice.exe
 	echo "Removing dsos..."
 	find ${BASEDIR} -name \*.dso -execdir /bin/rm {} \;
 	echo "Starting Tribes2 server..."
 	WINEDEBUG=-all,-fixme taskset -c 0 wineconsole Tribes2.exe -dedicated -mod Classic
 done

Update the start command with whatever you choose to use regarding loop's fix
You can create a shortcut to this start server script by right-clicking on the desktop and choosing create a launcher
```
 Name: Start Server | Command: sh /home/t2server/startserver.sh | Click "Start in Terminal"
```

Other Things

For security you can use an ssh key to login
Make sure to use Vultr Firewall or something to lock down all ports except 80, 28000, and 22 (ssh)
Adding an ftp server can also help with file management, granted you locked down the ports
Higher Priorty: To allow your user to set a higher priority use add at the end of... (I wouldnt recommend this on shared cpus)
```
 sudo nano /etc/security/limits.conf

 @t2server        -          nice          -20
```
New startup would be something with nice -n -5 added...
```
 nice -n -5 taskset -c 0 wineconsole Tribes2.exe -dedicated -mod Classic
```

Post Preview Patch

Updating a server to the newly released preview:

Visit Thread: https://tribesnext.com/forum/discussion/4430/preview-qol-fixes-update
Back up your server T2 folder
Download the latest release
Use wine `TribesNEXT_XXXXXXXXX_preview.exe` to initiate the installer for wine
Or in windows execute the exe
Install to your server T2 GameData folder
If you're using Loops fix or anything like that, remove it from the launch parameters

To take advantage of extra bandwidth set,

$pref::Net::PacketRateToClient = 64;
$pref::Net::PacketSize = 1000;

To prevent the new UE box from popping up set,
```
$pref::Engine::ExitOnException = true;
```
If you don't want the linux icon showing up use
```
$Host::Linux = 0;
```

Loadingscreen Safeguards:

To ensure clients dont get stuck on the loading screen these changes need to be made
https://github.com/ChocoTaco1/TacoServer/commit/7cd1cb8815e19990ab5a0cf632aedc82726333ed

Success!

If everything is setup correctly your server should show up on the master server within a few minutes

Good Luck!