Hello everyone,

I've been a playing Raven since late 2003, and loved every minute of it. It's a bit saddening to see the players dwindle over the years - but with that being said it's lasted a lot longer than most online games have.
Anyways I'm here because I'd like your help on hosting a dedicated (I think the correct term after searching the web is Stand Alone) server for Raven Shield. I've found a few things here and there on the web, like server commands, but I need something a little more specific to start the server up And I've done a lot of hosting with Source games (specifically, Garry's Mod if you've heard of it) so I'm not exactly new to server hosting

- First off: Where do I download the actual SA server files and binaries?
I heard they can be copied off the disc. If the SA files are not updated already, what packages do I need to update them? On this page at games.on.net it has the RvS SA server 1.14 package, and then updates. Can I just download the dedicated server package for 1.60?

- Once I've got it installed, how exactly do I go about configuring it?
From what I've read, there's a Server INI file (similar to RavenShield.ini) that is the main way of configuring the server. What are a good numbers for rates? When sending maps or other files to clients are they limited to rates? When hosting a game on the Source engine, unless you setup a seperate "Fast Download" server on your machine any maps being downloaded will be restricted to the maximum in-game rate (30,000bps).

- How do I setup PunkBuster on my server?
I'm probably going to need the most help in this area because I've never had any experience with PB. Where can I get the installer files, and how to I set it up to properly download ban lists? Just because RvS is an older game, doesn't mean I want people to cheat. I've noticed more servers now are PB-less, and this dissapoints me.

-How do I setup map downloads?
I'm assuming RvS has a way to compress and send maps to people when joining. What tools can I use to compress them? Also, like I mentioned above, do I need to setup a separate Fast Download (or url redirect) server to get my full upload speed and not be limited to the in-game rates?

- Are there any useful in-game admin mods or any other utilities I should know about?
Most games use some kind of admin mod to help things out, because the default admin tools are rarely enough. I did do extensive searching on the web before coming to post this, but most of the information was missing or outdated (mainly outdated, that's why I'm coming here to post). I thought after reading this post: Raven Shield Dedicated Server that the http://www.ravenshieldmod.com/ website might have some useful mods. Well, of course the website is now closed... but instead of doing something useful like archiving it, they just put a message up saying sorry, we're closed. Real helpful.

Also Gunny Highway mentions in this thread: How do you run a dedicated server? a sticky with a useful PDF about server hosting, but has since gone down. It looks like it might of linked to an older RvS forum on Ubi's site that's no longer there because they made a mess of things by merging / deleting the old forum sections when R6: Letdown came around.

So I thank you all for any and all information you can give me to help me out I hope when I get it running I can continue to give players great experiences in Raven Shield and do my part to keep it going.

- Coolcody77

P.S. Almost forgot... Is the old RvS tech support forum deleted or was it merged with this one? I ask because there was a lot of good information posted in that section.

I found this, I hope it helps, Good Luck.

http://forums.firedaemon.com/showthread.php?t=63

This message has been edited. Last edited by: WT-VERITAS,