Server configuration

Contents

Overview
Starting the Server
Setting Preferences
General Settings
Pickup Settings
Connecting
Advanced

Red Ace Squadron Pro has a plethora of new server configuration options. You can change these options in order to control who can play on your Server as well as how the game will be played.

The installer program will install an desktop icon called 'Start Red Ace Squadron Pro Server'. Double click on this icon to launch the server program.

The server will initially start up with whatever configuration was previously set. You can only edit the configuration when the server isn't 'connected'. However you can always see what the current configuration is by going to the menu option 'File>View Preferences...'. A box should appear looking something like the image below

You can now see all of the current settings used on the server, but you cannot edit any of them. This can be useful if you have players on your server and you just want to check what the Server password is. A description of each of these options will be given in the section 'Setting Peferences'.

To edit the server options the server must first be disconnected. Use the menu option 'File>Disconnect'. After a couple of seconds, control will return to the program and a message will appear on the main menu saying 'Service Stopped.'. Now go to 'File>Preferences...' and you will be taken to a dialog box similar to the 'View Preferences', except you can now edit the fields.

The Server must be 'Connected' in order for other Players to connect to your Server and play a game. So once you have set your Preferences, goto 'File>Connect' to connect your server.

If you want to use the Preferences you have made again in the future, it's a good idea to Save them off. You can do this via the menu option 'File>Save Preferences'. Additionally if you edit your Preferences, when you exit you will be asked if you want to save your Preferences. Saving will overwrite the server.ini file - which is what holds your servers configuration details.

Server Name

This is the name that your Server will be listed under. The name will appear both in GameSpy as well on the Client when you are connected to the Server. If you leave this field blank, the server will automatically generate a name from the name of the logged in user, and the current time.

Game Type

You should this field to describe briefly what kind of game you have configured. The game type will appear both on GameSpy as well as on the Clients multiplayer screen, when you are connected to the Server. The default that is set is 'DEATHMATCH'.

Password Protected

Use this option to password protect your server. If you leave this field blank the server will not be password protected, and any Player can connect to your Server whatever password they have set. If a Client tries to connect to a password protected Server with the wrong password then the error 'Password is incorrect for this server' will appear. The Player on the Client will need to select 'Server Password' - and set the password to the same value set on the Server.

IMPORTANT: The password feature is upper and lower case sensitive. For example if your password is 'MontyPython' where the "M" in Monty and the "P" in Python is in capitals with no space, and you type it in 'monty python' in lowercase with a space, IT WILL NOT WORK! The host server password and the player password must MATCH EXACTLY. It is suggested you use all lowercase with no spaces.

Also note that space characters and other symbols are also taken into account. Therefore for the password to be blank - there must be no characters in this field, not even spaces.

Start Landscape

Can be used for selecting the landscape the multiplayer game will start on. This can be changed at the end of the game by players when they can vote for the landscape they want for the next game.

Max Players

You can use this option to set the maximum amount of players that can play on your server. You cannot have more than 8 players in a multiplayer game.

Plane Visible on Map

You can use this option to control how Players will appear on the map/radar during your multiplayer game. How the map shows other players can dramatically change the kinds of strategies that work in a game. The options are

• Always - Planes will always be shown.
• Above height - Planes will be shown if they are flying above the height specified in 'Visible Height' field. If a plane is below this height it will fade out until it is completely invisible. Great for making sneak attacks!
• Above height or landed - Same as 'Above height' except Planes will also be shown if they are landed. This stops people from hiding landed on the landscape. This is the default option.
• Never - No Planes are visible on the map. Its basic dogfighting all the way!
• Classic - Implements the map/radar in a very similar way to the original Red Ace Squadron game. If planes are outside the radar/map area they will always appear whatever their height. Once in radar range they can be invisible if the plane is close to sea level

Visible height

When using the modes 'Above height' or 'Above Height or Landed' this option controls how high a plane needs to be to be visible. Thus the smaller this value is then the more difficult it is to make sneaky low level attacks.

These settings are used to configure the times when pickups appear. Times are specified in milliseconds (ms), so 2000 means 2 seconds, and 500 means half a second.

The defaults for weapons are 500 (1/2 second) for initial pickup, and 500 (1/2 second) for repeat pickups.
The defaults for health are 25000 (25 seconds) for initial pickup, and 15000 (15 seconds) for repeat pickups.

NOTE! IF you select BOMBS, you need to disable ROCKETS. As there is NO BOMB Pick Ups on the multiplay levels. If you fly through the Rocket pickup, your Bombs will be lost and replaced with a batch of Rockets. The only way to get BOMBS again is be killed or crash.

Spawn with

This column determines what a plane has when it enters the game - either after it has been killed, or when it first joins the game. If the box is ticked then a plane will have this Pick Up when it's added to the game. The 'Amount' column determines how many of the Pick Up the plane has when its created. For example if you tick 'Spawn with' for 'Bombs' and set the amount to 10, then when a player enters the game or rejoins a game after being destroyed it will have 10 Bombs.

Pick up

This column determines if a Pick Up is available to pick up from the Pick Up Factories on the landscape. Note that the Pick Up Factories are of predetermined type for a particular landscape, so you will only be able to get a Pick Up from a Factory if there is a Factory of that type actually on that landscape.

Initial Time

If you have a Pick Up enabled, then you can determine how long it takes for the actual Pick Up to appear from the start of the game. The number is specifed in seconds. If you set this to a large value, it means it will take a long time for the Pick Up to become available from the Factory.

Next Time

Determines how long it takes after a Pick Up from a Pick Up Factory has been picked up by a Player before a new Pick Up will appear. The number is specified in seconds. If you make the number small (say 0.5 seconds) a new Pick Up will appear almost immediately after it has been picked up.

Amount

Determines how many of an Ordinance Type you will receive when you pick up the Pick Up. For example if you set Bombs 'Amount' to 15, then when you pick up Bombs from a Pick Up Factory you will receive 10 Bombs. If you have 'spawn with' enabled then you'll recieve 10 Bombs whenever you enter the game world (either by dying or joining the game).

Bombs

This row controls options to do with bombs.

Missiles

Determines the amount of Missiles/Rockets you get on getting a Pick Up, or when entering the game if you have 'Spawn with' enabled.

Boost

Controls 'Boost' options. Boost allows your aircraft to travel rapidly if you hold down the space bar.

Repair

Controls the options on the 'Repair' Pick Up. Currently there aren't any Pick Up Factories on the maps which are of the 'Repair' type - so this is for future use.

Health

Controls the options for 'Health' Pick Up. Health will repair some of the damage on your Plane if you pick it up.

Defaults

Will set all of the settings to their defaults. The defaults are actually defined in a file server.defaults.ini in the same directory as the executable if you want to set your own defaults.

The first thing to understand is that a Red Ace Squadron Pro Client cannot and will not work with the older Red Ace Squadron servers. Also the original Red Ace Squadron cannot connect to a Red Ace Squadron server.

You can only connect a Client and a Server if they are running the same version of the software. With Pro, the version number of the Server will be listed when it is started up. With the Client it is listed at the bottom of the main menu screen. Make sure these numbers are the same!

With a Pro Client version of the game, you will be given a message saying you have the wrong version if you try and connect to the wrong version of server.

NOTE! With the original version the Client - if it is unable to connect because the Server is the wrong version it will say 'TOO MANY PLAYERS ON SERVER!'. This is unfortunately a hangover of the old networking software and cannot be fixed on the new server.

All of the settings for the server are held in a file called 'server.ini' held in the same directory as the game executable. You can edit this file with Notepad if you wish to. If you look in server.defaults.ini file in the same directory it gives text descriptions of how the file is constructed.

You can keep a set of settings in different files, and rename them to server.ini when you want to use them.