Ya Say you would like to Run a Alien Assault Game Server And Youd Like to Run it on a Windows Machine. But you say you Heard it was Impossible, A Bitch to get Working, Or Just Didnt perform. You know what, It's All True.
That is Unless your Me. Or have taken the Time to figure it out for Yourself. My Name is Lord Venger and I run the Alien Assault - Empires of Blood Server.
Tonight is Your Lucky Night for I am going to Give Away My Magic . I am going to Show You My Path to Running a Fast Alien Assault Game Server on Windows.......
This Works on the Following, Your Problems or issue's may Vary. Home Server running Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Visnetic Website v3.19, MySql v4.0.18, Php v4.3.4 Using the Php4isapi.dll file, Fast Cpu, Scsi Drives, And a High Speed Cable Connection.
INSTALLATION
First Have the website, mysql, and php installed and running correctly. I have found with these games you want to Create the empty database First. Installs goes much Smoother. Also you will want the programs MySQL Control Center And the php script Mysql admin. Both will make working with Mysql Much Easier. For Php you will want PhpInfo to Check Php Settings. All are Free Online. The Install is probably the Best I have seen in this type of game. It went Pretty smooth for me and there's Nothing I can add here.
THE ISSUE'S
For Me It wasn't the Install where I had my issues it was in the Scheduler, Yep the Dreaded Scheduler. I found under Windows there is No Practical Way to run the Game Scheduler. Yes, you can keep a minimized / open window with the Scheduler address running all the time But this isnt really a fix. I have a tendencey to Close minimized windows, the updater is Slow, And there's No way to have it Start on Bootup. I just Never found a Way to do This to My Satisfaction.
Included in the Game Package is a Windows Cron Program. I found this Did and Didnt Work for me. It Works Fine as far as Updateing the game Scheduler But for Some Reason I Never Appeared in the Lists. Having a AA Server isnt much good if people dont know it's There. Also the Cron Writes a Log file Each time its run. At 6 Minute updates,Thats a Lot of log files.
This left me high and dry. I Searched high and low. I tried this, I tried that. It either just Didnt work Or Didnt Work Correctly. I Spent Days/Weeks on this Issue. What to do, What to do. And Then I Found It. The Secret, The Holy grail.
MY MAGIC
The Fix for this issue is a Commerical Program that I Stumbled across in My Search. It was Designed for a Completely Different Reason but Has 2 very Unique Properties. The Program is called Secure IE.
Http://www.secureie.com
Secure IE is Basically a Parnoid Replacement \ Addon to Internet Exploer. It gives full control over scripts, java, things like that. Thats Useless for Alien Assault. The Grail is When you open a Secure IE window there is a Timer Switch.
And this Timer Switch will Refresh that Screen to whatever time You Set. Plus for Me, I finally started to Appear in the Listings. Hmmm, Ok That works Better then the plain IE window and its automated but its Still a Window And how do I have it Run in the Background and on Bootup. Ahhhhh, Here's Your Iceing
You can Save the Timer Set Browser Window to a File. I foget the name But its Not a EXE or bat file. I think its called a workbook. And not only do you get a file But you Can Run it from Your Windows Scheduler. Just Create a New Task and Point it to the File and Set it to Run in the Background at System Startup.
NOW I had a Windows Server Successfully Running Alien Assault with the Updater working And I was being listed in the Server Page. SWEET......
BUT WHAT ABOUT PERFORMANCE
Well I had a few glitches. The bigger the DB the longer it takes the updater to run and at 6 minute intervals you Know when the updater is running. The game Worked But the performance wasnt really what I was hoping for.
Then in playing with the Php.Ini settings I came across some Must Switches and found a Must Program. You Must Enable Zlib compression in the Php.ini, this is done by 2 settings not far into the Php.ini file.
Then farther down you will see wear they talk of Extensions. You will want to Enable the following Extensions - extension=php_gd2.dll, extension=php_w32api.dll. Finally make sure you Set the Home Directory and Extensions Directory.
The GD2.dll is for Game Graphics and the w32api.dll is just that. The Win32Api for Php (I Think). These are Both a Must. The Other Must is a Php Script called MMCache. This program Creates a cache space for scripts to run in. I Set a 32 meg Cache and pretty much My Whole Game Runs from Cache.
The Performance is like Night and Day. I have a Different Game Server Now. I have Finally achieved what I set out to Build. A Fast, Reliable Windows Alien Assault Game Server. Now I feel like My Bottleneck is the Cable Modem. Am I as Fast as the guy spending money to have a game Hosted on a Commerical Server, Probably Not. But I Run My Server from My BackRoom, I have Total Control, and I offer a Personnal Touch. Stop By, Check US Out....
I guess that about Covers it. This should get you Started and in Return for Me Turning you on to this Most Valued Info. If by Chance You get the Newest version of Secure IE and feel like shooting me a email attachment, Feel Free
LoRDVnGr
Http://OutLands.ws/gameroom/alien_assault