Dedicated server
From TM Wiki
TrackMania dedicated commandline server tool
Description
The TrackMania dedicated server is a tool created by Nadeo that allows users to create an independent network (LAN or internet) game. It is basically the network portion of a regular TrackMania clientgame malted into a convenient, small but very flexible command-line program.
The dedicated server will allow you to create any type of networkgame that you can create with your copy of TrackMania but with the convenience of not having to load a disk and not having to be "online" yourself to run that game, as well as the ability to run the server on Linux.
With this server application, clans and organizations have a powerful tool at their disposal to shape their own dedicated server into a customized experience for players. Because the tool allows for local or external instructions via xml:rpc(en) calls, the creation of variations and cool new server features is only limited by the ability of the dedicated server manager to use prefabricated scripts or to make his own.
Special features of a given dedicated server can be:
- customized welcome and appreciation messages
- showing messages to players who are ranked first
- create global server rankings per player
- let players vote for maps that have to be canceled from, or added to the list
- vote for a specific map to be played next
- send personal messages
- The executable is the potential motor of a clan site that wants to show live statistics or events as they happen on the server
- and many many more...
History
The Dedicated server wasn't available right from the beginning of the TrackMania franchise. Back when TrackMania came out in 2003 it was only possible to host servers with the game client itself. Nadeo wasn't even really thinking about creating a dedicated server tool because in their vision, players were to be actively involved by their game and experience it with others in order to feel the passion of driving while they were hosting their server for others.
This all began to change when around half 2005 there was a topic on the late Digital Jesters(en) forum that had many pages with demands, criticisms and benefits as to why there should be a dedicated server. This topic was directed at Nadeo. The lead developer was actively involved in this discussion and many times participated therein. Although this topic alone didn't lead to the decision to create a dedicated server, the prospect of an increasingly popular game (that had a small but hardcore fan-base back then) added to the outlook Nadeo had to create TrackMania Nations that would make the franchise massively available throughout 2006, toppled the decision over to being positive about creating a dedicated server tool after all.
The first dedicated server was released alongside the re-release of the Original TrackMania game in October 2006. In the beta tests preceding this date it was clear that Nadeo's choice to let the server not only do its task as server but also allow it to be manipulated via xml:rpc(en) codes which it could receive on a local port, could inspire programmers to start their own scripts that would control parts of the server activities like restart, choose or insert/delete a map. The first concrete tool becoming available was FAST, released by Florian Schnell.
Even with the limited amount of controls back at the time, FAST became recognized as the father of all server control environments to come. Nowadays, you have very complex tools like Onyx, ServerMania, ASECO (the continuation of FAST) and many more.
Back to 2005 then, and when we were nearing the end of that year, a dedicated server version for TrackMania Sunrise: eXtreme was also released and was the same kind of command-line executable as the version for TrackMania Original, but of course it would serve TrackMania Sunrise: eXtreme games.
When TrackMania Nations ESWC came out at the end of January 2006, there would of course also be need of a dedicated server for this game and it was at that time that Nadeo decided to merge the two dedicated server programs (TMO and TMS:X) and change it into a hybrid executable that could run all three games from the same executable.
Because of the free nature of TrackMania Nations, the advantage of the dedicated server would be discovered by many clans and server hosters all over the world and with this occurrence, TrackMania Nations started to thrive as a serious gaming experience for racers and server hosters planet-wide.
In the beginning of February 2006, Nadeo would start updating and fixing the dedicated server executable in co-operation with those community members who became true dedicated server gurus. With Slig who carried the flag on this operation, shortcomings and disadvantages were eliminated, requested xml:rpc(en) commands were added and this process led to the release of the current stable release of TrackManiaServer on May 30th 2006.
As it stands now, one can not only control the server remotely via a website and xml:rpc(en) enabled machines, programmers now also have the freedom to process their desired records and statistics managing features into any database that can be accessed with any type that PHP can handle. This way, the TrackMania dedicated server can be the core piece of an advanced website which will be the center point of a given clan or competition. This will also greatly benefit the automation of tournament scoring and ranking.
On November 16th 2006, a new public beta of the dedicated server was compiled, especially for TrackMania United. Because of the optimized netcode, Manialinks, changed callbacks, added methods and methods that were removed, it was not possible to keep a unified and single binary that would serve all TrackMania games. This was subsequently updated multiple times with bug fixes and enhancements, until the final release on February 23, 2007.
So as of February 2007 there are 2 dedicated servers.
- The 2006-05-30 build, which is now the Legacy or Classic TrackMania server which can serve the following games:
- The 2007-02-23 build, which serves only TrackMania United.
If you want to know the technical details on how to operate this dedicated server you can start visiting this forum topic. Study the tutorials and discover the many great tools that go hand in hand with the program. translate...
