This guide will help you run your own Disco Dodgeball server that you and other nearby players can access online with lower latency than the default servers provided by the game.

There are a lot of instructions, but they should be pretty easy to follow. The high-level requirements are:

• Pick a computer that is running Windows and has constant internet access (a computer you own or rent like Amazon EC2) to be your server
  
• Download Photon Server and run it
  
• Download the Disco Dodgeball Server Application and run it
  
• Run the client version of Disco Dodgeball, connect to your server, and create a room on it

The computer you choose to be your server must be running Windows, as it is required for both the Photon Server application as well as the Disco Dodgeball server application.

Additionally, you will probably need to configure some ports and firewall rules to allow the necessary connections.

Add the following Inbound rules:

• Type UDP for ports: 5050, 5055, 4530, 5056, 5057, 8766, 27016
  
• Type TCP for ports: 5055, 4530

If you are renting a server with it's own security settings, you'll need to open those ports in the proper security group as well.

On your server you will need the Photon Server application configured and running to handle room creation and send messages back and forth between players. These steps will tell you how to get it running on your server.


First, open Photon's download page: https://www.photonengine.com/en/OnPremise/Download

Under Photon Server SDKs / Server, click the download link.

Extract the downloaded files to a folder, this will be the root of your photon server root. Go into the server files and open a folder called "deploy". Here you will find the folders "Bin_Win32", "Bin_Win32xp", "Bin_Win64", "Bin_Win64xp". open the folder that supports your current running system.

• Bin_Win32 supports: Windows 8.1 32Bit, Windows 8 32Bit, Windows 7 32Bit, Windows Visa 32Bit, Windows Server 2008 sp2 32Bit
  
• Bin_Win32xp Supports: Windows xp 32Bit, ?windows server 2003?
  
• Bin_Win64 supports: Windows 8.1 64Bit, Windows 8 64Bit, Windows 7 64Bit, Windows Visa 64Bit, Windows Server 2008 sp2 64Bit, Windows Server 2012 R2 64Bit
  
• Bin_Win64xp Supports: Windows xp 64Bit

By default, you can have up to 20 concurrent users on your server. You can optionally download a free license from photon's server page[www.photonengine.com] that will allow up to 100 concurrent users. Once you download the license, place it in the Deploy folder that matches your operating system.


Run PhotonControl.exe from within the Deploy folder that matches your operating system. You will notice that an icon will appear on the right side of the task bar. This is how you access the server to stop and start the services.

Within Photon Control go to Game Server IP Config. Choose "Set Public IP".

Go into [Your Photon Root Folder]/src-server/Loadbalancing/Loadbalancing/App.config and change the PublicIPAddress setting to match the public IP you selected above.

Then go to the option "Loadbalancing (MyCloud)", and choose "Install service". You should be prompted that the install finished, then go back to the load balancing option and click "start service". you should see the icon flashing, and then turn a solid color.

Note that 'Run TestClient' option may not be successful with Public IPs, but you'll still be able to connect from other computers.

• Log in to the Steam client
  
• Click on Library
  
• Select "Tools" from the drop-down menu
  
• Locate "Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball Dedicated Server" and right-click on it
  
• Select "Install Game" from the pop-up menu
  
• Double-click on it once it is installed

• Create a folder on your computer for steamcmd (e.g. C:\steamcmd)
  
• Download steamcmd from: https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steamcmd.zip
  
• Extract / save to a folder on your desktop. (It’s a good idea to not put SteamCMD directly on your desktop because it will download a bunch of smaller files and folders that sit next to steamcmd when you run it.)
  
• Double-click on SteamCMD to run it (OR follow the .bat file instructions below)
  
• This may trigger some updates. When complete, you should be in a terminal window with the prompt “Steam>”
  
• type "login anonymous" (no quotes) in the "Steam>" prompt.
  
• Optional Step: Change the install directory for the DD server. Note: If you skip this, it'll be installed within \SteamCMD\steamapps\common\Disco Dodgeball Server. To change the install path, type "force_install_dir <path>" where <path> is a location on your computer, using backslashes between folders. e.g. "force_install_dir c:\users\administrator\desktop\dodgeserver". If the folder doesn’t exist at that location, one will be created.
  
• Download the DD server tool by typing "app_update 426660" (no quotes) in the "Steam>" prompt
  
• type "quit" (no quotes) to log off and exit steamcmd.
  
• Double-click on Disco Dodgeball Server.exe to launch it.

Note: You can automate much of the SteamCMD work with a batch file:

• Open a new text file in notepad
  
• Paste in (without quotes): "steamcmd.exe +login anonymous +app_update 426660 +quit"
  
• Save the file into the same directory as SteamCMD as a type ".bat" (whatever filename you want)
  
• From then on, you can just double-click on the .bat file and it will install or update Disco Dodgeball server into the install directory you specified earlier.

You shouldn't need to update the Disco Dodgeball Server application very often - it runs independently of the main game version. But every now and then new features may be added. If you want to update the version of Disco Dodgeball Server running on your machine:

Close Disco Dodgeball Server.

If using the Steam Client:

Open Steam Client
Click on Library / Tools
Locate Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball Server
Right-click on it, choose 'Properties'
Click on 'Local Files' tab
Click 'Verify integrity of tool cache'
Wait for it to finish

Note: Steam will likely keep Disco Dodgeball Server up-to-date automatically whenever you quit and restart Steam, but the steps above allow you to update manually.

If using SteamCMD:

Follow the install instructions above after opening SteamCMD.
You can skip the step where you specify the install directory, that only needs to be done once.
It's recommended that you create the batch file, because then you can just double-click to run that batch file and Disco Dodgeball Server will update in one step.

At this point, you've installed the Disco Dodgeball Server application on your computer. If you have the full Steam client, run it via the Tools menu. If you have it installed on your desktop via steamcmd, open it like any other application.

This application gives you controls to configure connection settings, start up the server, shut it down, and add commands that can restrict the kinds of matches that can be played.


All you need to do is hit "Start Server" and it will register your server with Steam and make it discoverable for other players within the main Disco Dodgeball game.

In most cases, you should leave the IP Address, Game Port, Steam Port, and Query Port blank so that the defaults are used. The IP Address will be autodetected to match the address of the computer running the server app. Game Port defaults to 5055 which matches the default port of Photon.

The Steam port defaults to 8766, and is the local port used to communicate with the steam servers.

The Query port defaults to 27016 and is the port that will manage server browser related duties and info pings from clients.

Additionally, you have the option of using 'Steam Auth' and 'VAC'. Steam Auth will validate users joining your server against Steam, which causes players joining the server to take a few extra seconds.

VAC Auth enables VAC Protection on the server. It runs like every other VAC-protected server on Steam - it has the potential to apply VAC bans to user accounts that have known cheats running. There's not a lot of Disco Dodgeball hackers so this is not a strictly necessary option.

Once launching the server, hit 'Status'. It may show that the IP is 0 for a few seconds immediately after starting it, but very soon it should reflect the correct IP of the computer you're running the server from.

When you want to close the server, hit 'Shut Down'. The server will shut down automatically if you close the server app, so you'll need to keep this window open as long as you want to run the server.

There are also input fields for Server Name, Max Players, and 'Command'. These can be entered before or after your server is launched (just hit enter when done changing the text). See below for more information on how Admin Commands are used.

Admin commands are used to restrict the types of modes / maps / etc. that can be played on your server. Additionally they can be used to elevate certain players to mods or ban other players from your server.

These are all entered using the 'Command' input field. Just type in the command, hit enter, and you'll see an update in the output log. Hit the 'Status' button to see a list of all active server commands.

Previously entered commands will persist if you shut down the server and launch it again, but will reset to defaults if you fully exit the Server application.

• mode [mode] [on/off/only/reset]
  
• mode reset
  
• map [mapname] [on/off/only/reset]
  
• map reset
  
• bots [easy/med/hard/off] [on/off/only/reset]
  
• bots reset
  
• player [ban/mute/mod/reset] [steamid]
  
• player reset
  
• team [1/2] [on/off/only/reset]
  
• team reset
  
• powerups [on/off] [on/off/only/reset]
  
• powerups reset
  
• modifier [modifier] [on/off/only/reset]
  
• modifier reset
  
• all reset

Examples:

• "mode deathmatch off" prevents Deathmatch from being selected as a game mode.
  
• "mode superball only" forces all matches to be of type Super Ball.
  
• "mode superball reset" reverts any commands entered for mode Super Ball.
  
• "mode reset" reverts all game mode restrictions to default.
  
• "map arena off" prevents Arena from being selected as a map.
  
• "map radius only" forces all matches to be played on the Radius map.
  
• "bots hard only" forces all matches to be played with Hard Bots enabled.
  
• "player 76561198114323090 ban" prevents that Steam user from joining the server.
  
• "player 76561198114323090 mod" makes that Steam user a mod of the server.
  
• "team 1 only" forces all matches to be FFA.
  
• "powerups on only" forces powerup pickups to be on.
  
• "powerups off only" forces powerup pickups to be off.
  
• "modifier alljetpack on" forces 'all jetpack' modifier to always be on.
  
• "modifier alljetpack off" disables the 'all jetpack' modifier so it can't be selected.
  
• "modifier alljetpack only" disables all modifiers except 'all jetpack', but doesn't force it on.
  
• "modifier none only" disables all modifiers.

Command Categories

Command Values for categories: mode, map, team, powerups, modifier

Command Values for category 'player'

Values:

The [steamid] parameter can be retrieved by taking the URL of the player's Steam profile and adding "?xml=1" (no quotes) to the end. In the resulting XML file look for the value in the steamID64 tag.

To find a Steam Group's Steam ID (if you want to make an entire group/clan mods), find the group's URL and append "/memberslistxml/?xml=1" (no quotes) to the end.

Note: Mods are able to kick / ban players from rooms, but not from the server.

• randommode
  
• deathmatch
  
• scorebattle
  
• superball
  
• elimination
  
• hoops
  
• grandprix
  
• capturethecube
  
• kingpin
  
• horde
  
• juggernaut
  
• airraid
  
• timetrials
  
• fugitive
  
• laserjetpacks
  
• galaxyjam
  
• attrition
  
• duckhunter
  
• headhunter
  
• kartrace
  
• hoopdefense
  
• hunterhunted
  
• pinball
  
• teamwork

• randomlevel
  
• arena
  
• radius
  
• airborne
  
• chasm
  
• reactor
  
• cage
  
• temple
  
• vortex
  
• nexus
  
• octagon
  
• trifecta

• alljetpack
  
• allsuperboost
  
• allpogojump
  
• allbigball
  
• alllaserball
  
• allhoming
  
• allboomerang
  
• allfireball
  
• lowgravity
  
• highgravity
  
• bighead
  
• superbounce
  
• fastrespawn
  
• slowrespawn
  
• stackpowerups
  
• blocking
  
• harmlesscatches
  
• airbrake
  
• slickcharge
  
• chargeabsorb
  
• groundpound
  
• nopowercubethrows
  
• glowinthedark
  
• incognito
  
• bigballs

Once you have your server fully running (Photon is running, and you've launched the server within the Disco Dodgeball Server application), you will be able to join your server within the main Disco Dodgeball client.

You can connect by going to Options / Network, choosing Community Server, and joining the server within the list that appears. Once you are connected, you can find matches, create matches, or use QuickPlay just like if you were connected to the default dedicated servers.

Similarly, you can jump right to the Find Match panel, select 'Community Servers' in the left-side connection list, and view the server list there.

Note that anyone connected to your server can create a room, and your server can host multiple rooms simultaneously.

You can also confirm your server is running by opening the Steam client, go to View / Servers, and change the Game to Disco Dodgeball Servers. Currently you can't join a game from this list but this is planned future functionality.