Dedicated Server Hosting Guide

Welcome, below you will find information on how to host a dedicated server on Linux and Windows.

Before you start you will need ports 7777 and 27015 forwarded. There are many port forwarding guides available on the Internet so we will not be going over that process.

To run multiple instances on same server you can use -PORT, -QUERYPORT, -GAMEINI, and -ENGINEINI parameters to specify different ports & config files for different server instances, just remember to use full path when referring to those files.

example:

./MordhauServer.sh -Port=7778 -QueryPort=27016 -GAMEINI=/home/*username*/steam/mordhau/Mordhau/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/Game2.ini -ENGINEINI=/home/*username*/steam/mordhau/Mordhau/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/Engine2.ini

It is worth noting the Unreal Engine reserves 3 ports after the designated port number and you should separate your ports by 5 or more to prevent any connection issues.

Linux setup

Install SteamCMD dependencies

$ sudo apt-get install lib32gcc1

As the root user, create a separate user as follows under which we will run the server. We do this as a security precaution: you should never run the server as root.

$ useradd -m steam

Now, we'll swap to the newly created account:

$ su - steam

Or if you aren't currently logged in as root, use:

$ sudo -iu steam

Now, we can install SteamCMD. This installs it in the current directory:

$ curl -sqL "https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steamcmd_linux.tar.gz" | tar zxvf -

SteamCMD allows us to download and install the server and any updates that we may need at a later date. We'll create a simple SteamCMD script that we can run whenever we want to update our server. Create a file in the current directory with the following contents; I named mine update_mordhau.txt:

@ShutdownOnFailedCommand 1 @NoPromptForPassword 1 force_install_dir ./mordhau app_update 629800 validate quit

As you can see, the command app_update 629800 is the one that installs the server executable, with 629800 being the Steam app ID we want to install (Mordhau Dedicated Server). We also ask SteamCMD to install Mordhau to the mordhau folder in the current directory.

Running the script for the first time will cause SteamCMD to download the contents of the server application to your computer entirely. Any subsequent runs of this script will simply check for an update and install it if available. We can run it with:

$ ./steamcmd.sh +login <your_username> <your_password> +runscript update_mordhau.txt

Make sure to replace <your_username> and <your_password> with your steam login information (you should omit the angle brackets). Here you may be asked to enter a code from the Steam Mobile Authenticator. Note that if you used a package manager to install SteamCMD, you may need to use simply steamcmd instead of ./steamcmd.sh.

This should initiate a fairly large download, so this may take a few minutes or hours depending on the network bandwidth of the server. Just remember to run the above command when you want to update your server to a new Mordhau patch.

See the SteamCMD documentation for more information on how to use SteamCMD.

If you want to install multiple servers onto a single machine you can make another update_mordhau.txt file and name it update_mordhau2.txt and then in the contents of the new update_mordhau2.txt change the install directory from ./mordhau to ./mordhau2 and save it. When you run the steamcmd to download the contents again make sure to use:

$ ./steamcmd.sh +login <your_username> <your_password> +runscript update_mordhau2.txt

This should install an entire new directory of mordhau files that can be configured for a second server. To start the second server on a different port use the start up script:

./MordhauServer.sh -Port=7778 -QueryPort=27016

Install Game Server Dependencies

At this point you should have all the required files to run the server in the mordhau folder. Unfortunately, we still need to install a few more things before we can start the server. If you try and run the server at this point, you'll get some errors relating to libraries not being found. We need to install these dependencies manually, so let's go ahead and do that. Note that the following is very distro-specific: you'll have to use your own intuition for which package is correct if you aren't using a distro that uses apt (or maybe search the comments for a list of library names for your specific package manager).

Using apt, you can run the following (you'll need root access for this, temporarily):

$ sudo apt-get install -y libfontconfig1 libpangocairo-1.0-0 libnss3 libgconf2-4 libxi6 libxcursor1 libxss1 libxcomposite1 libasound2 libxdamage1 libxtst6 libatk1.0-0 libxrandr2

Configuring and Running the Server

Finally, we can now start thinking about how we want to configure the server. First, navigate to the folder where Mordhau is installed. If you've been following along, this will mean simply running cd mordhau.

In the root of the mordhau folder, there should be a file called MordhauServer.sh - this is the script that actually runs the server. We need to run this first to generate some .ini files we need later. We can execute it with:

./MordhauServer.sh

Press CTRL+C to stop the server when it's finished loading up.

Now the .ini files are ready to edit.

If you type ls, you will see a few folders. The server configuration files are stored in Mordhau/Saved/Config/LinuxServer. If you navigate there and see what files are there (cd Mordhau/Saved/Config/LinuxServer && ls) you will see a few .ini files. The one we will want to edit the most is Game.ini. So let's open up that file in your favourite command line text editor (you could also download the file, edit it on your host machine and upload it back - but editing it in place is much simpler). nano is one such simple text editor, so simply run: nano Game.ini.

You should see something like this:

[/Script/Mordhau.MordhauGameSession]

MaxSlots=16

ServerName=

ServerPassword=

AdminPassword=

Admins=

BannedPlayers=

[/Script/Mordhau.MordhauGameMode]

MapRotation=SKM_Contraband

MapRotation=FFA_ThePit

Admins are added via SteamID64 (Example: 76521138065219059) and allow using console commands without logging in with the admin password. Multiple admins require multiple "Admins=" lines. You can find your SteamID64 here: steamid.io

BannedPlayers is a list of blacklisted players that cannot join your server. You can add entries manually (with a similar syntax to the way you add admins).

Next, we see the MapRotation fields. When one map ends, the server loads the next entry in the MapRotation field. For example, if I just wanted Contraband Skirmish and Camp FFA (in that order), I'd write:

MapRotation=SKM_ContraBand

MapRotation=FFA_Camp

The map prefixes should be self-explanatory: SKM is Skirmish, FFA is FFA/Deathmatch, TDM is Team Deathmatch, etc.

Note that some people have reported issues with the Admins and MapRotation fields on the Windows dedicated server, saying that they simply don't work. If this is the case for you, try putting a '+' before each line that starts with Admins= or MapRotation= - this has fixed the issue for many.

If you want to change the tickrate of your server (default is 30, 60 or 120 may improve gameplay), you need to edit the Engine.ini file in the same folder. Add the following:

[/Script/OnlineSubsystemUtils.IpNetDriver]

NetServerMaxTickRate=60

Having configured everything we want to configure, we can finally run the server. In the root of the mordhau folder, there should be a file called MordhauServer.sh - this is the script that actually runs the server. We can execute it with:

./MordhauServer.sh

After 15s or so, your server should be up and running. The problem with this method is that it's tied to the current command line session - as soon as you close your SSH connection, the server will close too. We need to run it in the background, using this command:

nohup ./MordhauServer.sh &

Instead of displaying the output directly to your screen, this will write the server log to a file in the current directory named nohup.out. Type man nohup for more details on this behaviour. Alternatively you can use systemd to run your server in the background. See this link for more information.

When you want to shut down the server, you'll need to type ps -a (or ps -ax if you don't see it) and look for the process ID of the game server. Then, close it with kill <pid> where you replace <pid> with the process ID you just found.

Windows setup

Installing via SteamCMD

Download SteamCMD for Windows: https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steamcmd.zip

At the moment our most comprehensive tutorial is a Video

Installing via Steam tools

1. With Steam open, right click on your library and open up "tools"

2. Navigate to "MORDHAU Dedicated Server" and click install

3. Once you have the server files navigate to the location below or wherever you chose to install the server files.

"C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Mordhau Dedicated Server"

4.Create a shortcut of "MordhauServer.exe"

5. Right click your new shortcut and select properties

6. Edit the target field and add -log to the end of it so a console window is displayed upon launch.

"C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Mordhau Dedicated Server\MordhauServer.exe" -log

You will have to run the server once before it generates configuration files for you to edit.

Tweaks and configurations

Below you will find how to set the default game mode upon launching the server as well as changing the game modes available which is bound to the map rotation pool.

Adjusting duration & score

Edited in Game.ini

Skirmish:

Duration:

[/Game/Mordhau/Blueprints/GameModes/BP_SkirmishGameState.BP_SkirmishGameState_C]

RoundDuration=300

Deathmatch:

Score To Win:

[/Game/Mordhau/Blueprints/GameModes/BP_DeathmatchGameMode.BP_DeathmatchGameMode_C]

ScoreToWin=3000

Duration:

[/Game/Mordhau/Blueprints/GameModes/BP_DeathmatchGameState.BP_DeathmatchGameState_C]

MatchDurationMax=1200

Team Deathmatch:

Score To Win:

[/Game/Mordhau/Blueprints/GameModes/BP_TeamDeathmatchGameMode.BP_TeamDeathmatchGameMode_C]

TeamScoreToWin=1000

Duration:

[/Game/Mordhau/Blueprints/GameModes/BP_TeamDeathmatchGameState.BP_TeamDeathmatchGameState_C]

MatchDurationMax=1200

Setting a default game mode

The default gamemode is chosen by ServerDefaultMap variable in /Mordhau/Saved/Config/*Server/Engine.ini, below are couple of examples for different default gamemodes:

For Horde:

[/Script/EngineSettings.GameMapsSettings]

ServerDefaultMap=/Game/Mordhau/Maps/DuelCamp/HRD_Camp.HRD_Camp

For Frontlines:

[/Script/EngineSettings.GameMapsSettings]

ServerDefaultMap=/Game/Mordhau/Maps/TaigaMap/FL_Taiga.FL_Taiga<

Setting map rotation

For Map Rotation you add your maplist into /Mordhau/Saved/Config/*Server/Game.ini, under [/Script/Mordhau.MordhauGameMode]

Front Line:

MapRotation=FL_Taiga

MapRotation=FL_MountainPeak

MapRotation=FL_Camp

MapRotation=FL_Grad

Skirmish:

MapRotation=SKM_Contraband

MapRotation=SKM_Camp

MapRotation=SKM_Grad

MapRotation=SKM_ThePit

MapRotation=SKM_MountainPeak

MapRotation=SKM_Tourney

MapRotation=SKM_Taiga

MapRotation=SKM_Taiga_64

MapRotation=SKM_MountainPeak_64

MapRotation=SKM_Grad_64

MapRotation=SKM_Camp_64

Team Deathmatch:

MapRotation=TDM_Contraband

MapRotation=TDM_Camp

MapRotation=TDM_Camp_64

MapRotation=TDM_Grad

MapRotation=TDM_ThePit

MapRotation=TDM_MountainPeak

MapRotation=TDM_Taiga

MapRotation=TDM_Taiga_64

MapRotation=TDM_Tourney

Deathmatch/Free For All:

MapRotation=FFA_Contraband

MapRotation=FFA_Camp

MapRotation=FFA_Grad

MapRotation=FFA_ThePit

MapRotation=FFA_MountainPeak

MapRotation=FFA_Taiga

MapRotation=FFA_Tourney

Horde:

MapRotation=HRD_Camp

MapRotation=HRD_Grad

MapRotation=HRD_Taiga

MapRotation=HRD_MountainPeak

Battle Royale:

MapRotation=BR_Grad

MapRotation=BR_Taiga

Advanced Setups (optional)

How to setup systemd startup into screen sessions.

_{This is a decent amount of setup for a new user and make sure you have sudo access on your server.}

This will allow you to have your servers start directly after a reboot or whenever your machine is first powered on without doing anything. It will start them into screen sessions that are accessible by using " screen -r [Screenname] " command.

Create a start file in the users main directory called Start.sh to start each server. You can make as many of these as you need for however many servers. Just rename the file to Start2.sh or Start3.sh.

<code>nano Start.sh</code>

Paste the following script in and edit it to the director of your server start file. Change user name or folder name as needed.

#!/bin/sh

/home/steam/mordhau/MordhauServer.sh

For anymore than 1 server you will need to add the start parameters into this new start file. So for the second server you would use something like.

#!/bin/sh

/home/steam/mordhau2/MordhauServer.sh -port=7787 -queryport=27025

Make sure that the second start file points to the second servers folder directory instead of the first.

After you make this file you will need to do:

<code>chmod 0755 Start.sh</code>

Do this for each start file you have made to be able to execute it.

Now for the next step you will be making the actual systemd startup file that will tell your system to start the server into screen sessions for each individual server.

Remember that you can rename Mordhau in "Mordhau.service" to anything you want it to be named. Make sure its done for each server you have also.

Do the following command to create the file:

<code>sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/Mordhau.service</code>

Paste in the following and edit the user to whatever your user account is for your system. Also make sure to change the directory if yours differs from mine.

[Unit]

Description=Mordhau Server 1

[Service]

LimitMEMLOCK=infinity

Type=forking

RemainAfterExit=yes

User=steam

WorkingDirectory=/home/steam

ExecStart=/usr/bin/screen -dmS Mordhau1 /home/steam/start.sh

KillMode=none

[Install]

WantedBy=multi-user.target

The "Mordhau1" after -dmS will be what your screen sessions name will be so make sure to change this to something different for each server. And also change the start.sh file name at the end to whatever yours is called.

Save the file after making the necessary changes and then execute each of the following commands.

<code>sudo chmod 0755 /etc/systemd/system/Mordhau.service</code>

<code>sudo systemctl daemon-reload</code>

<code>sudo systemctl enable Mordhau</code>

The last command will differ based on what you named the service file above.

Now after doing this for each server after a reboot the system should automatically start each of these servers in a separate screen session.

To force the systemd files to start immediately use:

<code>sudo systemctl start Mordhau</code>

To switch to a screen session do the command:

<code>screen -r [screenname]</code>

[screenname] should have the brackets removed and just be the name of whatever your session is.

If you are done working in one screen you can do CTRL + A + D and it will minimize that screen but leave it running in the background. YOU MUST DO THIS BEFORE SWITCHING TO ANOTHER SCREEN

You can do:

<code>screen -ls </code>

To view all available screens that are running.

Console commands

AdminLogin Usage - "AdminLogin password" - Logs user in as server admin

m.ShowServerStats Usage - "m.ShowServerStats 1" - Shows players connected and server tick rate

PlayerList Usage - "PlayerList" - Displays all the connected players session ID-SteamID-Username e.g. 88 - 12345566780 - PlayerOne

Kick Usage - "Kick username/SteamID/session ID" - Kicks player from server _{- Note you can wrap a player name in quotations if they have a space in their name or just use their session ID number from playerlist}

Ban Usage - "Ban username/SteamID/session ID duration reason" - Bans player from server _{- Note you can wrap a player name in quotations if they have a space in their name or just use their session ID number from playerlist}

AddBots Usage - "Addbots 5" - Adds desired number of AI bots to the server

RemoveBots Usage - "Removebots 5" - Removes desired number of AI bots from the server

References and information sources

• Linux setup guide by Vin¢