[Windows] - Server tool hosting guide for "Single Machine" server type

[RJS_Ares 45]

This guide will walk you through the “Single Machine” server type for Windows, which is the recommended method for hosting on a home network.

 

Please Note:

• It is recommended to host the server on a machine running Windows 10. 
• The machine running your server should be capable of running the game on High settings.
• For performance purposes, it is not recommended to play on the same machine you host on. (i.e. Best practice includes hosting the server on a dedicated machine).
• If you decide to host and play on the same machine, it is advisable to start your server and launch your lobby before you start your game.
• Before setting up your server and lobbies, it is recommended to open the following ports on your network:

Service	Port Type	Port Range
Steam	TCP/UDP	27015-27020
TSTFE_Lobbies	TCP/UDP	27070-27080
Unreal_Engine	TCP/UDP	7777-7790
TSTFE_MasterServer	TCP/UDP	1111

For assistance on opening your ports, contact your internet service provider or the hardware manufacturer for your gateway and/or router.

 

Downloading the Dedicated Server Tool

Once you own the Tip of the Spear: Task Force Elite game, you will be given access to the server tool, which is a separate app from the game. To download the server tool, navigate to your Steam library, filter down to "Tools," and scroll to the tool named Task Force Elite Dedicated Server.

 

Server and lobby setup

There are only 4 steps to setting up your server and launching your lobby. 

 

Step 1. Create an account for your master server
The first time you open the server tool, you’ll need to create an account to log into your master server. To start your server, simply follow the on-screen instructions.

 

Step 2. Log in to your master server
Once you have created your account, your master server will automatically start. To proceed, look for the “Log in” window. Please note: the “Log in” window may appear behind the master server, in which case you will need to select it from the start bar.

Step 3. Configure your lobby settings
From here, click the “Lobbies” tab, and configure your lobby settings. Disable weapons, create a censored word list, enable save server chat logs to be saved, and more

 

Step 4. Launch your lobby
Once your lobby is configured, click “Launch lobby.” A new black window with code will appear. Please note that this window will state: “LogTemp: Error: ATFE_GameSession (xx): steam.xxxx” -- note that this “Warning” and “Error” message is working as intended, and your lobby is functioning properly. (The “Warning” and “Error” messages are color coding limitations to make these strings of code more legible).

You can confirm your lobby is live by looking at the “Active lobbies” segment in your “Lobbies” tab of the tool.

 

User account types:
Admin: Can perform any and all functionality.
Moderator: Has permissions for all functionality except creating or removing accounts. 

 

Troubleshooting (FAQ):
Problem: I’m clicking “Log In” but nothing is happening. It just says “Make sure to start your server before logging in.”
Solution: Open the main screen of the server tool app titled TFE AdminTool and click the “Start Server” button, then attempt logging in.

Problem: I’ve started my server, but now I cannot manage my lobbies.
Solution: After clicking the “Start Server” button, look in the start bar for your log in window. It can hide behind the server browser on start-up.

Problem: I saved my default lobby, but it isn’t loading when I click on the lobbies tab.
Solution: After your server is running and you are logged in, click the Lobbies tab and press the “Load default lobby” button. This populates the fields with your default lobby settings.

Problem: I’ve launched my lobby, and now my game is not going past the loading screen.
Solution: Try quitting the User Interface for the server tool while keeping the black windows for your master server and lobbies running, then enter the game. Once you’re in the game, you can Alt+Tab back to Steam and re-launch the tool to access the interface to manage your lobby.

Problem: My lobbies aren’t showing in the server browser.
Solution: Make sure your ports are open and that you’ve refreshed the server browser.

Problem: I’ve forgotten the password to my master server.
Solution: Passwords cannot be reset. If you are the only admin, you will need to open the tool and go to System > Reset to Factory Settings. This will wipe your account and enable you to launch an all-new server.

[RJS_lllama loves you 337]

18 hours ago, RJS_Ares said:

• The machine running your server should be capable of running the game on High settings.

Does it mean dedicated needs GPU? O_o

[RJS_KawasakiWAW 74]

If you want to allow other admins to your server you will have to open this port as well Remote admin port: 1113 TCP/UDP

[mr_scary 11]

 

This file is irrelevant as steam is required.  
But will be when SteamCMD is able to be used instead of Steam

This is the .bat file I use to download & install game servers to a dedicated machine. 
you need only download Steamcmd, and edit the .bat file STEAMLOGIN=USERNAME PASSWORD or leave anonymous,
and edit directories respectively. 
it will download and install the server to that directory. And you will not need to install steam. 
If you have authentication setup with Steam you need to put in your code to login to Steamcmd

Update-Download.bat 

@echo off
@rem http://media.steampowered.com/installer/steamcmd.zip
SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
SET STEAMLOGIN=anonymous
SET TaskForceEliteDedicatedServerBRANCH=1170680
SET TaskForceEliteDedicatedServerPath=C:\GameServers\TaskForceEliteDedicatedServer
SET STEAMPATH=C:\Steamcmd


:: _________________________________________________________

echo.
echo     You are about to update Task Force Elite Server
echo        Dir: %TaskForceEliteDedicatedServerPath%
echo        Branch: %TaskForceEliteDedicatedServerBRANCH%
echo.
echo     Key "ENTER" to proceed
pause
%STEAMPATH%\steamcmd.exe +login %STEAMLOGIN% +force_install_dir %TaskForceEliteDedicatedServerPath% +"app_update %TaskForceEliteDedicatedServerBRANCH%" validate +quit
echo .
echo     Your Task Force Elite server is now up to date
echo     key "ENTER" to exit
pause

 

 

Edited December 8, 2020 by mr_scary
file not needed in current state of server

[mr_scary 11]

For some reason I cannot get the server to show in the list running on dedicated machine. 
Does it need to be launched from Steam? 
I installed via SteamCMD , also tried copying from steam apps to dedicated machine.

No issue running in steam. 
Launching via Steam works fine. even in custom Steam Library 

Perhaps I'm missing some parameters or authentication?

[mr_scary 11]

I have tried everything. 

The only way the server will work is login to steam and start the server. 

Another issues is when you logged into steam from another computer with the server running you cannot log into steam and play the game on you other computer. 

I found a workaround that is not ideal, 
you must login to steam, but DO NOT launch the server from within steam.
You must launch the server by browsing to the directory "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\TaskForceEliteDedicatedServer\communitytools" and clicking on the file "servermanager.exe" 
other wise you get a notification that you must log out of the other steam which in turns shuts down the server

 

Edited December 5, 2020 by mr_scary

[RJS_Jake 160]

1 hour ago, mr_scary said:

I have tried everything. 

The only way the server will work is login to steam and start the server. 

Another issues is when you logged into steam from another computer with the server running you cannot log into steam and play the game on you other computer. 

I found a workaround that is not ideal, 
you must login to steam, but DO NOT launch the server from within steam.
You must launch the server by browsing to the directory "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\TaskForceEliteDedicatedServer\communitytools" and clicking on the file "servermanager.exe" 
other wise you get a notification that you must log out of the other steam which in turns shuts down the server

 

The workaround is actually the only way to go if you want to both host and play the game in the same machine.
Or you can launch the tool the traditional way via steam launcher, once done setting up lobbies, you can close server manager, and your servers will remain running. Then you can launch game client normally.

[IcIshoot 153]

48 minutes ago, RJS_Jake said:

The workaround is actually the only way to go if you want to both host and play the game in the same machine.
Or you can launch the tool the traditional way via steam launcher, once done setting up lobbies, you can close server manager, and your servers will remain running. Then you can launch game client normally.

A theory I have is that the windows version doesn't check it's folder for steam_appid.txt to get the app id thus requiring the steam client being logged in. When starting the server with out steam logged in, in the logs steam says that that api could not be started, and it shows 0 as the app ID. I ran a filemonitor program and observed every file that TFE tried to read and never once was steam_appid.txt mentioned - it tried other files that do not exist like steam.cfg, steam_dev.cfg.

The Linux server gave the same steam error and app id of 0 also. But once I added steam_appid.txt to the same folder as the server binary, the server showed up on the list. Linux doesn't have a steam client logged in (people still cannot join - some other issue there.)

@mr_scary was testing while I typed this up and he discovered that once you start the server manager and a lobby, you can shut the steam client down. Though you have to re-login to start an other lobby - we didn't test map restarts.

Any ways, just food for thought. I'm just thrilled that thanks to talking to @mr_scary I can now put a server up when I want.

IcI

[RJS_Jake 160]

1 hour ago, icishoot said:

A theory I have is that the windows version doesn't check it's folder for steam_appid.txt to get the app id thus requiring the steam client being logged in. When starting the server with out steam logged in, in the logs steam says that that api could not be started, and it shows 0 as the app ID. I ran a filemonitor program and observed every file that TFE tried to read and never once was steam_appid.txt mentioned - it tried other files that do not exist like steam.cfg, steam_dev.cfg.

The Linux server gave the same steam error and app id of 0 also. But once I added steam_appid.txt to the same folder as the server binary, the server showed up on the list. Linux doesn't have a steam client logged in (people still cannot join - some other issue there.)

@mr_scary was testing while I typed this up and he discovered that once you start the server manager and a lobby, you can shut the steam client down. Though you have to re-login to start an other lobby - we didn't test map restarts.

Any ways, just food for thought. I'm just thrilled that thanks to talking to @mr_scary I can now put a server up when I want.

IcI

Linux has a file called steamclient.so, which is located in binaries folder. This is used for hosting without steam running on a linux machine. However I don't seem to find a similar file for Windows OS, nor getting the steamclient.so to work with Windows binaries. 

[Warrior 86]

@RJS_Ares Step 2. Log in to your master server

For me it is first ...
Step 2. start Server

Step 3. login to master server

Or is there something wrong with me?

Yes yes something is wrong with me but of course meant something wrong with the server setup 🤪😂

 

Edited December 5, 2020 by Warrior

[IcIshoot 153]

5 hours ago, RJS_Jake said:

Linux has a file called steamclient.so, which is located in binaries folder. This is used for hosting without steam running on a linux machine. However I don't seem to find a similar file for Windows OS, nor getting the steamclient.so to work with Windows binaries. 

I see a steamclient.dll/steamclient64.dll located in Steam\steamapps\common\TaskForceEliteDedicated\

I copied the files into the Win64 folder, started the server and watched the filemonitor utility, and saw that the server successfully interacted with the dlls. I expanded my filter to allow for any out of taskforcelite server process accessing the win64 folder, and found references to steam_appid.txt.

I figured I better verify - so I removed the dll's, redid the above - and saw "Name not found" errors when the server tried to load the dll's. And no reference to steam_appid.txt.


How ever, even when it accesses steam_appid.txt, it isn't pulling the appid out. That seems to be moving into an area that only developers have access too.

Of course, this is assuming that a windows version doesn't have limitations imposed by Valve/steam requiring the client to be logged in. Though according to the unreal documention, I am not seeing any thing like that.


IcI

[mr_scary 11]

9 hours ago, RJS_Jake said:

The workaround is actually the only way to go if you want to both host and play the game in the same machine.
Or you can launch the tool the traditional way via steam launcher, once done setting up lobbies, you can close server manager, and your servers will remain running. Then you can launch game client normally.

Actually this is using 2 different machines. 
1. for server 
2. for playing the game. 

I can launch the server without steam from within the directory, but steam must be running, and logged in

Is there no way to use SteamCMD.exe logged in as anonymous ? instead of SteamClient logged in with my account?

Thanks.

[E-Vnglst 12]

I'm trying to log into remote server. I have login creds. It gives me error: access code has wrong format

[Moreno 8]

So at this point in time, can squads or players not run a dedicated server with Steam Account? How is gaming companys going to run servers?

[mr_scary 11]

Yes You can run a dedicated server, but you have to have "Steam" installed on the machine, and be "logged into Steam" on that machine as well .

Edited February 7 by mr_scary

[Red Dog 7]

Shows the Battle room created successfully, but it does not show up in the lobby. What could I be missing? 

[IcIshoot 153]

@Red Dog make sure all ports are open.

Make sure you are logged into steam when creating the lobbies.
 

[Red Dog 7]

Yes I was logged into steam and I did open the ports in my router for

Steam	TCP/UDP	27015-27020
TSTFE_Lobbies	TCP/UDP	27070-27080
Unreal_Engine	TCP/UDP	7777-7790
TSTFE_MasterServer	TCP/UDP	1111

[Warrior 86]

And the firewall allow it to....

[Red Dog 7]

The server controller shows a different IP than the static IP given by my ISP

[Red Dog 7]

7 hours ago, Warrior said:

And the firewall allow it to....

to do what?

[IcIshoot 153]

if you have windows firewall enabled, you will also need to enable the server software / open ports in that. Simple test would be to disable the windows firewall for now.

What is the name of your server?

 

Edited February 15 by IcIshoot

[Red Dog 7]

The server name of the server is:  SMU Server

[Red Dog 7]

Firewall for all Steam/software are open 

[Moreno 8]

I am just curious. I am trying to run a dedicated server on a dedicated computer. But not have issues being able to play TFE on my computer with my steam account. Do I have to create a dedicated steam account and re-purchase the game in order to host?