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Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop Server (Official setup)

By YOJIMBO and 1 collaborators

A guide to setup a dedicated server for the game quickly and correct.

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Created by

YOJIMBO
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Mithrand
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Category: Modding or Configuration, Multiplayer

Languages: English

Posted

Updated

23 Apr, 2017 @ 12:41pm

8 Aug, 2024 @ 12:06am

2,447	Unique Visitors
63	Current Favorites

Guide Index

Overview

What is a dedicated server

How to setup the dedicated server

Prerequisites

The network side

The server setup (Docker, Linux)

The server setup (Windows)

Optimizations

Workshop (optional)

Ranked servers (optional)

Comments

What is a dedicated server

A dedicated gaming server is a computer that hosts a video game for a client. This type of server enables a reliable, stable, and fast connection to your favorite online games.

How to setup the dedicated server

Reactive drop comes with a dedicated server depot. It's straightforward to setup, but it requires some time and effort to do correctly. In this guide, we will cover how to efficiently setup a dedicated server for the game Reactive Drop.

Prerequisites

Before you start, you need two things. Adequate hardware and access to your internet router. For the hardware, the requirements are:

Overall minimum:
OS: Windows 10 (older works, but is not officially supported)
CPU: 2 GHz
RAM: 1 GB free RAM
Bandwidth: 10 Mbps up and down

Recommended:
OS: Windows 10 or newer
CPU: 4-5 GHz
RAM: 4 GB free RAM
Bandwidth: 20 Mbps + static IP address for a public server

On the networking side, a dedicated server requires you to forward a port in your router, to the computer the server runs on.

The network side

In order to make your new server reachable for others, you need to forward a so called 'internet port' on your router to your pc. The port in this guide has the number 27050 of type UDP.

Every router is different, and vendors use different terminology. On internet are some excellent guides that explain how forwarding can be done:

https://www.wikihow.com/Set-Up-Port-Forwarding-on-a-Router

Remember, that you need to forward port 27050 or type UDP.

The server setup (Docker, Linux)

Windows users can skip this part.

Although the game doesn't officially support Linux, in practice in runs great on Linux and Steam Deck using Proton.

For those who prefer Linux, there is a pre-packaged Docker image available at:
https://github.com/mithrand0/reactive-drop-linux-server/

Instructions:
1. make sure you have installed 'Docker' on your system;
2. download the docker-compose.yml file to your system;
3. run 'docker compose pull; docker compose up'

That's all. Configuration can be done using environment variables, an example of this can be found in the docker-compose file.

The recommended configuration mentioned further below, is already included in this Docker image as default.

The server setup (Windows)

For the Windows setup, you can pick two flavors: manually or use a utility called 'Srcds Guardian'.

Srcds Guardian

This variance is the most easy to setup. It will take care of the installation, and will take updates, crashes, resource management out of your hands. You can find this utility here:
https://github.com/mithrand0/srcds-guardian

To setup a server with Srcds Guardian, download the release (1.2.0 / 8 Aug 2024) from here:
https://github.com/mithrand0/srcds-guardian/releases/download/1.2.0/SrcdsGuardian.exe

Create a new and empty folder, and put the SrcdsGuardian.exe in it. Next, create a small 'start.bat' file in the same folder, and put these contents in it:

SrcdsGuardian.exe -appid 582400 -ip 0.0.0.0 -port 27050 -game reactivedrop -maxplayers 8 +hostname "My First ReactiveDrop server" +exec server.cfg +map lobby

Next, click 'start.bat', that's it!

Srcds Guardian will automatically setup all required files for you, and manages updates, crashes and restarts for you.

(alternative) Manual setup

Manual setup is also possible, but more time consuming if you are not familiar with it. There are some excellent other guides out there, that cover such installation: https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1995371855

Optimizations

By default, a server is configured in a way, it meets the minimum requirements. If you run more players, challenges or custom maps, better settings are required.

Any settings can be put in the following file:

steamcmd/582400/reactivedrop/cfg/server.cfg

On official dedicated servers, we use the following configuration file as a baseline:

// steam region // https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Sv_region sv_region 255 sv_lan 0 // resources rd_override_fps_max 512 sv_memlimit 900 // rates sv_minrate 60000 sv_maxrate 200000 sv_minupdaterate 30 sv_maxupdaterate 60 sv_mincmdrate 30 sv_maxcmdrate 60 net_splitrate 2 net_splitpacket_maxrate 75000 net_maxcleartime 0.001 rd_adjust_sv_maxrate 0 // server client-side lag control settings sv_client_max_interp_ratio 2 sv_client_min_interp_ratio 0 sv_client_predict 1 sv_client_cmdrate_difference 0 // tweaks mod_dont_load_vertices 1 sv_mapspawn_nut_exec 0 // workshop fixes rd_workshop_update_every_round 1 // rd specific asw_marine_death_cam_slowdown 0 rd_override_allow_rotate_camera 1 rd_ready_mark_override 1 rd_server_shutdown_when_empty 1 // server engine settings asw_max_saves 5 sv_stats 0 sv_allow_wait_command 0 sv_allow_lobby_connect_only 1 sv_forcepreload 1 // server log settings log off con_timestamp 1 sv_logbans 1 sv_logblocks 0 sv_logecho 0 sv_logfile 0 sv_logflush 0 // disable uploads/downloads sv_allowdownload 0 sv_allowupload 0 // server remote connection protection settings sv_rcon_banpenalty 86400 sv_rcon_log 1 sv_rcon_maxfailures 2 sv_rcon_minfailures 1 sv_rcon_minfailuretime 3600

Workshop (optional)

Reactive drop has workshop support. The community has created a lot of additional maps, campaigns, challenges and other modifications. The good news, dedicated servers also have workshop support.

To have a server download workshop items, you can create a file:

steamcmd/582400/reactivedrop/cfg/workshop.cfg

In this file, you can place the workshop items you want to download, a small example with four workshop items:

rd_enable_workshop_item 1374886583 // ASB2 rd_enable_workshop_item 1517302956 // RNG rd_enable_workshop_item 1448556629 // RNG PRO rd_enable_workshop_item 1333152091 // Good Weapons

The part behind // on each line is optional.

On the next server restart, the server will now download and/or update these four workshop items.

Ranked servers (optional)

Ranked servers are sponsored by the community. They provide additional gameplay features and protection from cheaters. If you would like to have your server listed as official, you can follow the procedure mentioned on the contribution page. This is optional and not required, but appreciated for those who like to do this step.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/app/563560/discussions/0/3361397532258443696/

Ranked servers are sponsored by the community. They provide additional gameplay features and more extensive protection. For becoming a server to be ranked, we have the following requirements:

- the server should be non-modded, and as default as possible;
- the server should run default tickrate, to minimize issues;
- the server should have no secondary admins, besides the owner. If there are additional admins, the full list needs to be communicated before becoming ranked;
- the owner should have a well known track record in the community (no bans, toxicity or bad behavior in general);
- the server should be on a good network connection, with adequate hardware;
- preferably a (semi) fixed IP address.
- the desire to run a server for longer time. We don't want to add servers that are just temporary.

We consider ranked server owners, to be ambassadors of the game, and therefore expect such to represent the community in a positive way. For more details see:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/app/563560/discussions/0/3361397532263019924/

As mentioned in the server console, to applicate as ranked server, you can open a ticket at https://feedback.reactivedrop.com . A member of the team will contact you about the details.

38 Comments

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Mithrand [author] 18 Jan, 2024 @ 11:56pm

Session is no longer available is often (but not always) caused by misconfiguration. Without any details, it's hard to say what causes it. Can be router, firewall, or just configuration in general.

YOJIMBO [author] 14 Jan, 2024 @ 12:47am

In most cases there is a solution to every problem. First step is to identify the problem

Pee Warmer 13 Jan, 2024 @ 3:59pm

besides, isn't there any solution for this?

Pee Warmer 13 Jan, 2024 @ 2:26pm

well it's down for now, p2p is way easier to set up and it's not that bad

YOJIMBO [author] 13 Jan, 2024 @ 2:12pm

Server name and IP please

Pee Warmer 13 Jan, 2024 @ 2:11pm

"The session is no longer available"
I have absolutely no idea what causes this - I do have ports routed, I even tried connecting locally (had to change one option in provided config as it was blocking direct connections)

Map is also set to lobby, also after a while DS just crashes/closes

YOJIMBO [author] 13 Jun, 2022 @ 10:24am

yes berry, you do

berry 13 Jun, 2022 @ 8:31am

Do i need to do port forwarding to make it public?

Supreme Leader 20 May, 2022 @ 11:03am

Thanks! Also, how can I make the dedicated server private (friends-only)? I've tried sv_password but when connect to it from menu I got stuck on loading screen and has to shut down the game.

YOJIMBO [author] 20 May, 2022 @ 2:28am

It’s the amount of players that can join the server. Maximum amount of players for a coop game will still be 8.

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