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phantasm

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  1. Many ET servers download a file when you connect that overwrites your standard ET menu with a custom menu. This custom menu has extra buttons that reconnect players to the server it came from. Some custom menus have many extra features, like forum links or config editors. These menus are controversial, but widely used. In this tutorial I will give you bare-bones directions on how to make a one-button pk3 menu for your server. There are two ways to do this - take one from another server and convert it to your server name and IP address, or make your own from scratch. I will show you how to make your own from scratch. It only requires that you make two files, and save them into two folders, and them compress it as a .pk3 file. You can use winzip, winrar, or Pakscape to create a pk3 file. A "pk3" is a type of compressed file used by ET and other quake 3 games. I will show you how to use Pakscape because it is a commonly used free program. You can download Pakscape here: http://www.gamefront...es/10423976�� or just google "download pakscape" to see many other links. Open Pakscape and click File -> New. Then right click in the white space under "Name" and select Object -> New Directory. Name this directory "scripts". Repeat this step and create another folder called "ui". See below: Now, go to your desktop or wherever you like to work on your computer, and create a file called my.campaign with a text editor (Notepad is fine). The file type must be ".campaign" not .txt or .doc. You can name it whatever you like, but it must be a .campaign file. Inside this file, paste this text: { name "original maps" shortname "cmpgn_test" description "The most popular ET maps." maps "battery;fueldump;goldrush;oasis" mapTC 374 374 type "wolfmp" } Don't worry about what maps are in here, this is just a way to embed a campaign file within your pk3 file so that ET will distribute it to your players. You don't want to add any non-original maps here or it will force your players to download them whether they need them or not, and just add to the volume of files they have to wait to download when they connect. Now, go back to your Pakscape file and open the scripts folder, then right click in the open space under the word "Name" and select Object -> Import File... then select your my.campaign file that you just made above. ======================================================================================================================================= Now there is one file that needs to go into the "ui" folder. You need to make it outside of Pakscape, on your desktop or wherever you like to work. You cannot make or modify a file within Pakscape. You can open a file and see the contents, but any changes you make will not be saved. You must export a file first before you can save it. If you open a file within pakscape and modify it and hit save, it will appear as though you have modified it, but your changes will not be saved. The file name you need to create and import into the "ui" folder is always called "main.menu" Here are the contents of "main.menu". Copy the text below and save it as "main.menu". Change the "YOUR SERVER NAME" to whatever you want in the button, and then change the IP address and port to your IP address and port. You can add more buttons by following the pattern below. #include "ui/menudef.h" // Defines // #define WINDOW_X 16 #define WINDOW_Y 16 #define WINDOW_WIDTH 608 #define WINDOW_HEIGHT 448 #define GROUP_NAME "grpMain" // Macros // #include "ui/menumacros.h" // Opener // menuDef { name "main_opener" visible 0 fullscreen 0 rect WINDOW_X WINDOW_Y WINDOW_WIDTH WINDOW_HEIGHT onOpen { open fadebox_black ; open background_1 ; setmenuitemcolor fadebox_black fadebox backcolor 0 0 0 1 ; fadeoutmenu fadebox_black ; open main ; clearcvar ui_profile_create_error ; exec "set cl_noprint 1;exec forum.cfg;set cl_noprint 0" ; close main_opener } } // Main Menu // menuDef { name "main" visible 0 fullscreen 0 rect WINDOW_X WINDOW_Y WINDOW_WIDTH WINDOW_HEIGHT style WINDOW_STYLE_GRADIENT onOpen { conditionalscript cl_profile 1 ( "clearFocus" ) ( "close main ; open profile_create_initial_opener" ) // ydnar conditionalscript ROldModeCheck 2 ( "clearFocus ; open vid_confirm" ) ( "clearFocus" ) conditionalscript cl_autoupdate 1 ( "checkautoupdate" ) ( "clearFocus" ) } onEsc { clearFocus ; close main open quit } // Background // itemDef { rect 0 0 WINDOW_WIDTH WINDOW_HEIGHT style WINDOW_STYLE_FILLED backcolor 0 0 0 0 border WINDOW_BORDER_FULL bordercolor 0 0 0 0 bordersize 0 visible 0 decoration } BUTTON( 6, WINDOW_HEIGHT-448, .22*(WINDOW_WIDTH-24), 16, "YOUR SERVERNAME", .2, 12, close main; exec "connect 12.34.56.78:27960" ) BUTTON( 6, WINDOW_HEIGHT-472, .22*(WINDOW_WIDTH-24), 16, "^7PLAY ONLINE", .2, 12, close main ; /*close backgroundmusic ; open backgroundmusic_server ;*/ uiScript UpdateFilter ; uiScript ServerSortDown 4 ; open playonline ) BUTTON( 6, WINDOW_HEIGHT-496, .22*(WINDOW_WIDTH-24), 16, "^7HOST GAME", .2, 12, close main ; /*close backgroundmusic ; open backgroundmusic_server ;*/ uiScript loadArenas ; uiScript initHostGameFeatures ; open hostgame ) BUTTON( 6, WINDOW_HEIGHT-520, .22*(WINDOW_WIDTH-24), 16, "^7REPLAYS", .2, 12, close main ; open viewreplay ) BUTTON( 6, WINDOW_HEIGHT-544, .22*(WINDOW_WIDTH-24), 16, "^7MODS", .2, 12, close main ; open mods ) BUTTON( 6, WINDOW_HEIGHT-568, .22*(WINDOW_WIDTH-24), 16, "^7OPTIONS", .2, 12, close main ; open options ) BUTTON( 6, WINDOW_HEIGHT-592, .22*(WINDOW_WIDTH-24), 16, "^7PROFILE", .2, 12, close main ; open profile ) BUTTON( 6, WINDOW_HEIGHT-616, .22*(WINDOW_WIDTH-24), 16, "^7EXIT GAME", .2, 12, clearFocus ; uiScript Quit ) } ======================================================================================================================================= Now, go back to Pakscape, and import "main.menu" into the "ui" folder. Then save the whole file as something like ~~~~~whatever_001.pk3 The tildas (~~~~) put it at the end of the files that get loaded when ET starts, causing it to overwrite the earlier files that have been loaded on the player's computer, so that you menu appears instead of the standard server menu, or someone else's menu. Some admins create very long names like ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~whatever.pk3, but this can cause problems if there are too many characters in the name. The numbers should be used as a way to increment your changes to the menu, so that you can use 001, 002, 003 etc each time you modify something. This way the 002 will be loaded on the player's computer after the 001 version has been loaded, allowing the newer menu to overwrite the older one. This helps you manage change control, so you can tell when you are looking at your files which version you are distributing. Whenever you make a change to a pk3 file, always change the name so you do not different versions of the same file name out there. Having numbers at the end makes this easy to change. ======================================================================================================================================= Now, in your server config file, within your mod, you must specify the name of the campaign file so it knows what file to download. In jaymod use this: set g_campaignFile "my.campaign" (must be the same as the name of your campaign file within the "scripts" folder in your pk3 file) In silent mod use this: set g_campaignFile "/yourfolderpath/silent/my.campaign" other mods are very similar. Also, you must place a copy of the pk3 file into your etmain folder on your server, and also put a copy of the same file in the etmain folder on your redirect server (the storage server used to download maps faster).
  2. When you rent a server, regardless of the game, you need a tool to upload the files directly from your home computer to the file directory on the server. The most commonly used tool is Filezilla. This is a free program available here: http://filezilla-pro...g/download.php/ or at other websites. After you install it, you will open it and see something like this: The circled areas are where you need to enter your server ftp link, your username, your password, and your port number (usually 21). This information will be provided to you when you rent a server. After you have connected for the first time, Filezilla stores the link in the drop-down button next to the "Quickconnect" button (see below). To navigate from folder to folder within Filezilla, click the ".." folders at the top of each set of directories (circled in picture below). It is a little different than using Windows Explorer, but with practice it becomes quite easy. To move a file from one side to the other, simply double-click on it. It will be transferred from one computer to the other by Filezilla. To copy over a folder, right-click on it and select "Download". To open a file, right-click on it and select "View/Edit". You may need to select "open with notepad" if that file extension has not yet been assigned a program on your computer.
  3. When your rent a new server, you will be given account information that will allow you to access and control the server from within. You will use a control panel and a program like Filezilla to transfer files. Your control panel will allow you to easily turn the server on or off. It uses scripts that are executed when you click on the button so you do not have to type in a huge command string by hand. A file transfer program like Filezilla will allow you to upload and download files to and from the actual machine that your game is running on. Filezilla is free and relatively easy to use. You need to set up a server config so that your server name and many other settings are set the way you want it. A default ET server will very rarely get any players. You need to copy over any additional maps or modified files you want to run. There are hundreds of maps available. Over 200 of them work with the newest version of omni-bot (omnibot 0.81). There are also many mods and various add-ons available. These all have to transferred to the server into the proper file to work properly. The most popular mods are jaymod, silent mod, no quarter, n!tmod, etpub, and etpro. Each mod is quite unique. You will need to download the mod and unzip it to upload it to your server. Put it in the game on the same folder level as your etmain folder. Each mod has its own server config. This runs in place of the server.cfg inside etmain. If you change your server config name from the default, be sure to get the name changed in your command line. You will need to decide how to run your maps. By default, ET runs the standard 6 maps over and over forever. To add new maps, first locate a reliable copy that has not been modified. This is very important. Some admins modify the maps without changing the name, or they open and rezip them and change the size without even realizing it. They may be trying to fix a map bug, or trying to make it fun, but they end up making every player who downloads it from their server to get kicked off the next server they go to that has the proper copy. As a server manager, you have a responsibility to ensure that you are not distributing bad copies of maps or mods. Always remember to change the name if you change anything that gets distributed to the clients. You can change the order of your maps in the objectivecycle.cfg file. Then when your server runs, use "exec objectivecycle.cfg" at the end of the file to start up the cycle of maps that you have chosen. You can also use a config file for each map. These files are named after the map and executed when the map in question loads. This config will change game variables for that map. These changes will be in place on the next map unless another config or mapscript resets the variable. The default.cfg file in your mapconfigs folder allows you to set values for every map that would otherwise be reset by the server. It is good for changing a variable such as g_gravity that would otherwise be set back to normal each map. Also it is good for running forcecvars each map. Anything else should go into your server.cfg file, to be run once when your server is first started. Running many cvars at the beginning of each map is unnecessary, and may cause problems with the game (especially jaymod). Remember that every ET mod has its own bugs, and that they are made for free by busy people. When you have trouble on your server, be sure to use Google to look for the problem. Very often you will find other people have had the same problem. Sometimes there are fixes, sometimes not. Most of your problems initially will be server config issues. There is a large jaymod.pdf file inside jaymod that has about 300 pages of notes. Learning jaymod can be daunting. Think of it as a college course and put forth the same amount of effort you would use to get good grades in school. Learn every cvar and study what happens when you change them. You might be surprised at the infinite ways you can customize this old game.
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