HowTo: Move Settings from a Commandline Into the .ini Files

[Dubious]

In the original release it was necessary to manually specify a large number of settings in the command line. As part of the patch a significant amount of these settings are no longer required. In fact, they may actually be HURTING you. The software now automatically detects some settings that used to be required. Other settings have been optionally moved into the .ini files.


If your server no longer appears in the browser, the problem may be caused by unnecessary settings in the command line.


It used to be that this was a 'standard' command line:

ut3.exe server vCTF-Suspense?Game=UTGameContent.UTVehicleCTFGame_Content?GameMode=3?numplay=4?maxplayers=12?NumPublicConnections=12?NumPrivateConnections=0?NumOpenPublicConnections=12?NumOpenPrivateConnections=0?bShouldAdvertise=True?bIsDedicated=True?PureServer=1?timelimit=20?goalscore=5?botskill=3?AdminPassword=MyAdminPassword  -login=MyGamespyLogin -password=MyGamespyPassword -unattended

Since applying the patch, this exact same command line can be shortened to this:

ut3.exe server vCTF-Suspense?Game=UTGameContent.UTVehicleCTFGame_Content?numplay=4?maxplayers=12?botskill=5?AdminPassword=MyAdminPassword  -login=MyGamespyLogin -password=MyGamespyPassword -unattended

In fact, if I really wanted to push this to be as short as possible, this works too:

ut3.exe server vCTF-Suspense?numplay=4?Botskill=5  -login=MyGamespyLogin -password=MyGamespyPassword -unattended

So, how did I get it so short? Its simple, yet complicated.

The short answer is that almost all of these settings are now located in the .ini files. If you know what to change then you can change it, and remove it from the command line. When the server starts it will read the .ini files and load your desired settings.

The long answer is that these settings are scattered throughout the .ini file(s) so there are a lot of places to edit them. Below are some examples. Obviously you will have to modify these to suit your desired gametype and settings.

-----

Old commandline setting:
- ?Game=UTGameContent.UTVehicleCTFGame_Content

New UTGame.ini file setting:
- [Engine.GameInfo]
- DefaultServerGame=UTGameContent.UTVehicleCTFGame_C ontent

-----

Old commandline setting:
- ?GameMode=3

New UTGame.ini file setting:
- [not needed] - The server now knows to set the GameMode to 3 when its set to load a UTVehicleCTFGame. Same goes for any other gametype.

-----

Old commandline setting:
- ?numplay=4

New UTGame.ini file setting:
- [not found] - I can't find an .ini setting that states the desired # of bots

-----

Old commandline setting:
- ?maxplayers=12

New UTGame.ini file setting:
- [Engine.GameInfo]
- MaxPlayers=12

-----

Old commandline settings:
- ?NumPublicConnections=12
- ?NumPrivateConnections=0
- ?NumOpenPublicConnections=12
- ?NumOpenPrivateConnections=0

New UTGame.ini file setting:
- [not needed] - The server automatically determines these settings.

-----

Old commandline setting:
- ?bShouldAdvertise=True

New UTGame.ini file setting:
- [not needed / none found] - The server now advertises itself by default. I could find no setting in an .ini file to control this. I suspect that you can disable server advertisement by using this in the commandline as '?ShouldAdvertise=False' if you wanted.

-----

Old commandline setting:
- ?bIsDedicated=True

New UTGame.ini file setting:
- [not needed] - The server now knows whether it is operating in dedicated mode or not.

-----

Old commandline setting:
- ?PureServer=1

New UTGame.ini file setting:
- [not needed] - The server now knows whether it is "pure" or not.

-----

Old commandline setting:
- ?timelimit=20

New UTGame.ini file setting:
- [UTGameContent.UTVehicleCTFGame_Content]
- TimeLimit=20

-----

Old commandline setting:
- ?goalscore=5

New UTGame.ini file setting:
- [UTGameContent.UTVehicleCTFGame_Content]
- GoalScore=5

-----

Old commandline setting:
- ?botskill=3

New UTGame.ini file setting:
- [not found] - I can't find an .ini setting that states the desired botskill. Leaving this out of the commandline sets the botskill to Average.

-----

Old commandline setting:
- ?ServerDescription=This Is My Server Description

New UTGame.ini file setting:
- [Engine.GameReplicationInfo]
- ServerName=This Is My Server Description

-----

Old commandline setting:
- ?AdminPassword=MyAdminPassword

New UTGame.ini file setting:
- [Engine.AccessControl]
- AdminPassword=MyAdminPassword

-----

Old commandline setting:
- ?GamePassword=MyGamePassword

New UTGame.ini file setting:
- [Engine.AccessControl]
- GamePassword=MyGamePassword

-----

So there you have it. Your commandline can be VERY short as long as you hard-code the settings in your .ini files.

[sCaryDeth]

Wow holmes. Someone at Epic should be paying you for the tremendous amount of support you've been giving the UT community.

Thanks for the tips. I'll get to work on cleaning up my command line asap!

[Bob!!!!!!]

That's a big help, thanks for all your hard work. I have some other stuff in my command line, do you know if it is needed and what it does?

?OwningPlayerName=
?PingInMs=
?bIsListPlay=
?bUsesArbitration=
?bUsesPresence=

[Dubious]

I have some other stuff in my command line, do you know if it is needed and what it does?

?OwningPlayerName=
?PingInMs=
?bIsListPlay=
?bUsesArbitration=
?bUsesPresence=

None of that is needed for any reason AT ALL that I can think of. You can completely rip that out and have no ill effects.

[Haunting]

Bump, Bump, Bump this to the top of the forum

[hanuta]

hm, is there a way to bring the game and the adminpassword to the ini?
i mean its a security problem in linux, when we get the linux server.
everyone who has shell access to the linux box can see the admin/game pw.
i dont want this!


cheers
hanu

[Mr_Beanie]

Hi thanks for the hot tip, With your help i was able to narrow down the exact problem, the -nohomedir in the command line was the culprit. remove that and youre good to go. but shortening your command lines wont hurt either but just dont forget to remove -nohomedir if you use it

[Dubious]

Hi thanks for the hot tip, With your help i was able to narrow down the exact problem, the -nohomedir in the command line was the culprit. remove that and youre good to go. but shortening your command lines wont hurt either but just dont forget to remove -nohomedir if you use it

Some people require the -nohomedir switch. Like me, for example. It causes no problems and is a legitimate command switch. If you do not want to use it, but still need your .ini files stored in a specific location then you can use the '-configsubdir=xxxxxx' command switch.

[Mr_Beanie]

well the nohomedir command sets the server to go to the main ut config directory because the earlier versions would search for the my documents directory configs. since being patched it doesnt seem to do that anymore and defaults the way its meant to. If it doesnt cause problems for some good stuff but i found that when i removed it it worked like it should still using the configs in the default directory.

[Dubious]

well the nohomedir command sets the server to go to the main ut config directory because the earlier versions would search for the my documents directory configs. since being patched it doesnt seem to do that anymore and defaults the way its meant to. If it doesnt cause problems for some good stuff but i found that when i removed it it worked like it should still using the configs in the default directory.

You are correct in its usage - it does change the config file location. And even with the first patch installed it still does that. You are the first person who has said that it stopped working for them. I suspect that there may be something else working here but if you fixed it to your liking then thats all that matters.

[Ice Nine]

Well, I've tried all this, and my server still doesn't advertise. *sigh*

I'm pretty dismayed at the lack of QA from Epic these days.

[Dubious]

Well, I've tried all this, and my server still doesn't advertise. *sigh*

Since you only have two posts to your credit I will assume that you haven't had this problem troubleshot yet. You should try it. This thread is specifically related to people who had a functioning, advertising server prior to applying the patch, but since have lost the advertisement function.

The most common root cause of not being able to see your server in the server browser is a failing Gamespy login/password. Even if you think you are fine, go ahead and login to the game as a player, using your server username/password. Make sure that it works. Remember that your server must have its own unique login.

The second most common root cause is that your server is running a mutator, and you forget to set your server browser search parameters to 'Any' for "pure" servers.

The third most common root cause is that you have a software firewall active on your PC and did not set an exception / open necessary ports for UT3.

[Entil'Zha]

I just took this from my ut2004.ini and it works

UTGame.ini
[Engine.AccessControl]
AdminPassword=xxxxx
GamePassword=xxxxx

[Mr_Beanie]

I apologize for my earlier post. as i was wrong about the -nohomedir apparently this is not the culprit. I guess just shortening the command line works.

[Dubious]

I just took this from my ut2004.ini and it works

UTGame.ini
[Engine.AccessControl]
AdminPassword=xxxxx
GamePassword=xxxxx

Nice efforts - I will have to check that out.