HLDS Auto-restarter for MS:C v1.35

[TrupaJay]

"Fatal Error: W_LoadWadFile: couldn't load gfx.wad"When i click start hlsd. What do i do???

 

[Thothie]

Totally unrelated to this thread. The proper thread for that is here.

Most likely your HLDS is not installed properly.

 

[TrupaJay]

dude no its not thats what happend when i opened up that restarter and pushed launch hlds

 

[Thothie]

That error report is from HLDS - not the Restarter.

The restarter has to be placed in the same folder as the HLDS.exe and run from there. The Restarter's launch line must not include the path to the HLDS.exe. That's the only way I can think of that the Restarter could cause HLDS to generate that error (ie. failing to follow the installation instructions). The HLDS is basically telling you that it can't find its files.

 

[TrupaJay]

Yay! i got it to work except when ppl try to change maps with more than one player it crashes the server but doesnt start it back up because u have to hit the "ok". it works fine with one person in the server alone but with more it crashes. so i resorted to having the players change the map with "votemap". That works with as many players that you want. My problem was i was running my HLDS from steam making it so i didnt have all the updated files so i followed that tutorial on how to make a HLDS and i got it to work.
Thank You once again
-Trupa

PS: Also if anyone knows a way to fix that "Debug Memory crash error" when ppl try to change maps without the "Votemap" then i'd greatly appreciate it. If not then I can have the players "Votemap"

 

[Thothie]

If you are using this HLDS Auto-restarter (the one on the first page of this thread), and it's working properly, it should kill the HLDS and restart it within two minutes of a map-changing crash - even if the server is displaying an error with an 'ok' button to press. Since you seem to be using my AMX package, I suggest you use the AMX mode - it will kill the server if it fails to respond for more than 30 seconds (making max down time 1 minute).

 

[TrupaJay]

Oh alright cool thanks man. I'll try to purposely crash it and test if it restarts.

 

[TrupaJay]

It was working fine for me yesterday but now after i locked my pc every time i goto "luanch hlds" it opens consle but closes it and repeats until i hit puase autorestarter. How do i fix this?

edit: I've got Serverchecker working so if noone know whats wrong with it the i can deal with that.

 

[Thothie]

Blah, screwy beta thing, really need to get around to re-writing it.

Try deleting the c:\hlds\hlds_restart.ini file and re-inputting your command line. Otherwise, yeah, server checker, until I get back to this damn-ed thing. :/

 

[TrupaJay]

ok i did that and it worked for a while, then it did the same thing, now i cant get it to run with server checker or this one, i deleted it but it still doesnt work...

 

[Thothie]

Serverchecker is rebooting too? Well, at least it's not the restarter then. Somethin is up with your HLDS. Mayhaps there's a problem with the map it's starting on, or the amx config... Jeeze, could be quite a few things...

Open c:\hlds\msc\crashed.cfg with notepad, and change it to "map edana" - maybe the server is trying to change to an invalid map for some reason, and is just stuck on that loop.

PS. Do not try to start the restarter.exe with Serverchecker.

 

[TrupaJay]

Yay! that worked! thanks man your a load of help.

 

[Thothie]

FINALLY updated this thing... Here's the new info, repeated for sake of redundancy on the top post:

-= New Stuff in 1.3 =-
Thread Priority: You can now set the priority of the HLDS.EXE before you launch it. If you are running an MSC HLDS.EXE on your main PC's desktop (not recommended, but sometimes unavoidable) and find it interferes with what you are doing (lags the system), you could set the priority to "Below Normal". If you have a PC dedicated to MSC and nothing else, you could set it to "High". All the other usual settings are there. This only goes into effect when the HLDS.EXE is launched, so changing it does not affect the instance of the server that is currently active.

Max Downtime Allowed Slider: This determines how many minutes the server has to be unresponsive before the Restarter will assume it has locked and restart it. The default is 1 minute, but if you have a particularly slow CPU, it can be useful to set it a little higher to allow the server to recover from slow map changes, and the like, where it appears to be unresponsive. (Note: In clipboard mode, times are effectively doubled.)

New INI System: Once again you will lose your HLDS command line when you upgrade. However, this should be the last time that happens as I've replaced the funky sequence oriented INI, with a genuine dynamic type (can even be manually edited). Shouldn't be any more problems with the INI file.

Multi-Mod Support: If you change the mod folder and click the the "Reload-Prefs" button that appears, the Restarter will remember your settings for each mod you've used it for. Multiple instances of the Restarter should also be able to run on the same computer, to monitor multiple servers. (However, MSC hates other copies of the HLDS so much, I don't recommend trying it with this particular mod.)

Ye new download link: http://www.thothie.com/ms/hlds_restarter13.zip

Screenie:

More or less Complete Changelog

Actually have had this running for several weeks now without a hitch, just ironing out the various lil aesthetics. If you find, for some reason, the older versions worked better for you, they are linked on the top post.

 

[Iselore]

All hail Thothie!

 

[Thothie]

Upped to version 1.35:

NEW OPTION in 1.35 - Start HLDS on Load

This option causes the restarter to start the last configured HLDS as soon as the program loads (no need to press the 'Launch HLDS' button). With this, you can add a restarter.exe shortcut to your Windows Startup folder. This way, if your computer goes down due to power outage and restarts, the server will restart when Windows loads along with the auto-restarter.

During my two week 'vacation' there were two power outages, seems the server came back up from both, thanks to this.

Ye download: http://www.thothie.com/msc/hlds_restarter135.zip

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

So I have an issue with this.

My server is running AMX and I have the latest version of this autorestarter, all set up.

Checklist:
The file "heartbeat.amx" is in ...\hlds\msc\addons\amx\plugins.
The file "plugins.ini" has the line "heartbeat.amx ;server heatbeat for hlds_restarter by Thothie".

Whenever I start up my server, I get this error message in the console:

[AMX] Plugin file open error (plugin "heartbeat.amx")

What's going on, and, more importantly, how do I fix this?

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

Help...?

 

[Thothie]

Hrmm... Yer not running ModX or anything right?

Here's the AMX2006 version, in case it got corrupted somehow:
http://www.thothie.com/msc_dev2/heartbeat.amx

Here's the ModX version, in case you like having buggy as hell AMX
http://www.thothie.com/msc_dev2/heartbeat.amxx

Only other thing I could think would fux with it is if you have some odd plugin before it that is interfering or a semi-colon in your plugin.ini where there shouldn't be one.

The Standard MSC: AMX package comes installed with heartbeat.amx running proper.

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

Just reinstalled AMX, it doesn't give me any error message now, so I'm guessing the plugin loaded successfully. I'm now monitoring my server, because the previous time it restarted every two minutes (because heartbeat.txt could not be found because the plugin wasn't creating it).

Edit: It works, thanks!

 

[Thothie]

I seem to have VB5 working again, but I still can't port this project to VB6...

The new MSC File I/O has given me a better way to deal with the restarter, and thus I'm likely to release a new version very soon, that MSC will "magicially" realize is there, and communicate with. This will do away with all the various "methods" and will give us one solid system for detecting a locked server, unique to MSC.

I know Lord K wanted something changed in this program - but I keep forgetting what it was....

Are there any requests for simple changes to this program for the next release?

 

[Thothie]

I've a new version of this, designed exclusively for use with MSC (the current one will work with MSC in AMX mode - even without AMX) – and I managed to optimize and failsafe the code quite a bit… However, I've run into a snare with Vista.

Seems, every once in awhile - Vista will stop the launch process of HLDS, giving a "HLDS Launcher has stopped operating" - yadda yadda yadda. This window is not on the same thread as the HLDS - and it stops the HLDS restarter from killing the HLDS (presumably for debuggary). I’ve several programs that get fubarred on close similar as a result of this behavior.

I’ve disabled every damn Vista error reporting service I can find (save the eventlog – stopping that tends to cause ‘issues’) – and this damned window keeps coming up, and the usefulness of the restarter. (PS. Only reason I’m running a Vista HLDS is that I’ve not had the chance to add a new OS to this laptop – although it’s also good to know if Vista is going to kill MSC ahead of time.)

Maybe next time I catch this window I’ll grab the title – and maybe I can just $sendkeys to it to close it, or some such. Meantime, if anyone has any ideas about this issue – please tell. Like I said it’s an annoyance that occurs with other programs when Vista doesn’t like the way they close (Jed’s HLMV, Adobe Dimensions, old variants of Illustrator, amongst others), so it’d be useful to know a way around it.

 

[Thothie]

Great... It's titled "Microsoft Windows" - somehow I don't think $sendkeys is gonna work on that bugger. *sigh*

 

[Achilles123]

I know this sounds stupid, but how do you know what to put into the command line?

 

[Thothie]

It would vary with the size of the server you want to run, what port you want it on, etc. An example line is provided by the program that can be adjusted to your needs. Details about the command line options for the HLDS can be found yonder: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1824&start=0

Meh, as for the Vista issue... The problem seems to be part of the Windows Vista error reporting service that can't be entirely turned off. So far the only way I've found of disabeling it is to remove the file, which requires some artful permissions editing just to pull off. Until I get the time to do some research and find a dependable way of disabling WerFault.exe without potentially causing other issues... I’ve no real good solution for this.

 

[meazum]

Okay so after trying for a while trying to host a server using this and having problems all along (this is expected though, nothing ever works the first through thirtieth try) I've managed to iron out most problems but one really big one remains. When travelling or votemapping the map doesn't actually change. However, if I kill the server it loads the new map from crashed.cfg just fine.

Here's my server.cfg:

// Internet server (1 for LAN)
sv_lan 0

// Cuts down on verbosness of console (saves some memory and CPU time)
developer 0

// Player Vs. Player Settings (0 to disable, 1 only outside towns, 2 PvP anywhere)
ms_pklevel 0

// Number of characters that can be stored by each player on the server
// Set to 0 for client side characters
ms_serverchar 3

// Allow vote kicking (recommend disable, as is buggy)
ms_allowkickvote 0

// Allow voting for time
ms_allowtimevote 1

// Add your rcon password here
rcon_password "yeah, no, sorry."

// Voice comm settings (hiqh quality)
sv_voiceenable 1
sv_voicequality 5
sv_voicecodec voice_speex

// Allow all players to hear one another, regardless of team
sv_alltalk 1
sv_spectalk 1

// Custom Content Server for fast downloads, Feel free to make your own
sv_downloadurl "http://www.thothie.com/hlserv"

// Disable clients' ability to pause the server
pausable 0

// Player bounding boxes (collisions, not clipping, superfluous)
sv_clienttrace 3.5

// Maximum client movement speed (superfluous)
sv_maxspeed 600

//Newer MSC specific options:

//Server Restart/Reset System
ms_reset_if_empty 0 //reset the server 60 seconds after last person leaves if set to 1
ms_timelimit 20 //change the map to Edana if server is empty this many minutes

//Admin system
ms_admin_contact "[email protected]" //put your e-mail here for clients to reach you
ms_ban_to_cfg  1 //write permanent bans to the server/lisetnserver.cfg in addition to ms_bans.cfg
ms_chatlog 1 //log chat to files

//Vote system
msvote_ban_enable 1 //enable ban vote
msvote_ban_time 60 //length of ban from ban vote
msvote_farm_all_day 0 //allow voting for the map the players are on
msvote_kick_enable 1 //allow kick votes
msvote_map_enable 1 //allow map votes
msvote_map_type "all" //"all" or "root" (root for home towns only)
msvote_pvp_enable 1 //allow voting for PvP (resets after map change or subsequent vote)
 
//Execute Thothie's HLDS Restart writeid Loop Script 1.0
exec writeidloop.cfg