advice for new server admin

[Aileras]

I volunteered to admin on the server I play on most, but am a bit lost. I have the rconpassword and the server cfg file and I've read the commands here: http://www.joz3d.net/html/q3console.html just not sure about a few things.

In particular when should I kick a player if at all? This is an all weapons server and seems to be a lot of players that like to just stand in a corner and autofire. Some are good at it and are spawns camping, while others I think, just like the sound of the explosions and are really bad at it. In any case any suggestions if its a good idea to kick a player or just leave them be. Also is there a permanent ban in the game? I did kick someone and they just came right back.

Also what are the main console commands I need to know and how do you edit the server itself ie; changing maps and changing the number of bots and their levels etc.

Any help would be amazing. I've been searching google and most of the web resources are coming up 404

thanks much for any help 

[Gig]

Some useful links:
(DO NOT LINK) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/Command_console
(DO NOT LINK) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/Servers
(DO NOT LINK) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/Manual/Multiplayer
(DO NOT LINK) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/Manual/Multiplayer/Advanced
(DO NOT LINK) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/Configuration_examples
(DO NOT LINK) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/Special_game_options

https://github.com/OpenArena/gamecode/wiki/Admin

[Gig]

Did you find the above links useful, then?

About how to deal with camping, I'm not sure about what to suggest to you. Some people think camping isn't polite, others that it's boring, others that it's evil and others that's just a standard play tactic.
Some mods do include some anti-camp features, but iirc baseoa not.

... maybe you may ask for more opinions on the OA Discord server: http://openarena.ws/board/index.php?topic=5287.0

[Aileras]

Yes thank you for the links. I'm just not that tech savvy. The wiki pages are confusing to me, my old brain isn't what it used to be so I was looking for some direct input. The github link was interesting but I'm guessing thats something the server owner would have to install and I don't want to bother him if I don't have to. He has moved on to other endeavours, that's why I agreed to look after the server. I don't think discord will work on my xp pc.

The server is doing fine so no worries and thanks again for your time.

[Gig]

They actually exist some third party tools/bots to administer servers...
But the "admin" system described on github is integrated with the latest versions of OA, I think.
I never used it due to not being a server admin... it may just require to put some settings in some configuration file. I think you may use it to ban people... maybe it's possible also without using it, but I don't know... Maybe some actual server admin may read this thread and give you better infos.

Discord can be run from browser without the need to install the program or to register, and IIRC works well also with XP (just using Firefox or Chrome)

Feel free to ask more, if you need!

[Gig]

You can set bot_minplayers <number> to have the game add or remove bots automatically, to fit the requested number of players (per team in case of team-based modes). New bots will have the skill specified in g_spskill <number.dec> variable (5.0 is nightmare).
Bot_minplayers 0 will not automatically add or remove bots.
You can manually add bots with "addbot botname skill team" or something similar (like addbot sarge 4 red), I'm not sure about the order of the parameters.
You can manually kick bots like players (kick botname) or all of them at once with "kick allbots" (not supported in older gamecode).

To setup map change, you can either use a "classic" map rotation script (you can find examples under "configuration examples" link above) or with "autonextmap" feature (not supported in older gamecode): (DO NOT LINK) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/g_autonextmap

[Aileras]

Thank you Gig,

I looked at the server cfg file I was sent and it says "g_spskill 2" so if I'm reading right, that means it's at default already and I don't want to lower it anymore. But now I know how to change it, if need be.

As far as map rotation goes, this would mean I would have to edit the server cfg file and upload it to the server? This is the part that gets confusing to me. I only have access to the server through the console and would have to get the owner to edit it, is that right? Not something I want to bother him with, it's not that important. I know how to open new maps with /map <map name> just to have a little variety.

Thanks again for your help

[Gig]

A "map rotation script" is a series of user-generated variables in which each one contains a series of commands which include the command which invokes a new map "map <mapname>" and a command which invokes the next variable as nextmap.

This is a simple map rotation script:

set d1 "map aggressor; set nextmap vstr d2"
set d2 "map oa_dm1; set nextmap vstr d3"
set d3 "map wrackdm17; set nextmap vstr d1" // Restart loop
vstr d1 // first loop start - go to d1

"vstr <variable>" is the command which says to "run" the content of a variable as a command. "//" does simply mean what follows is a "comment". d1, d3, d3 are just the user-generated variables names, they may have been named as you prefer (v1, v2, v3; loopa, loopb, loopc; etc.) as long as you don't use the names of existing variables or commands.

I think a classical approach is to create such scripts in apposite .cfg files with a plain text editor to be uploaded in your <baseoa or mod> folder, so you can pre-configure different scripts and choose which map rotation script to run by just executing the cfg file you wish (e.g. "exec rotation1.cfg" or "exec rotation2.cfg"). Or automatically execute the script at startup by putting it in a file named autoexec.cfg.

However, if you don't want to upload files to the server and you don't need to pre-configure multiple scripts, I suppose you may use the console to create the required "user-created variables" using "seta <variable> <value>" (instead of "set <variable> <value>") and then "writeconfig" to have them saved (user-created variables made with "set" are not saved to config, IIRC). See (DO NOT LINK) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/Command_console#Set_variables for more infos on CVARS.
Then, you should just enter "vstr d1" when you will want to launch the script to start the rotation.

Note: IIRC, changing gametype breaks map rotation scripts (I don't know the reason, but I think it's this way since Q3A - After a gametype change, server admin has to start the rotation again, or the server will continue using the same map forever), so I would suggest to either do not allow voting for gametype, or to use "mappools" ((DO NOT LINK) h t t p s : / / openarena . wikia . com/wiki/G_autonextmap) instead of "map rotation scripts".