Starting Community Servers – Official Guide

Overview

Setup your own server to play with friends or make new friends.

Quick Start

Heres a quick way to get a server running on your computer.

Navigate to to your game files which are usually under
C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/SteamApps/common/Heat
Copy all of the files from that folder into a new folder. This new folder can be anywhere. The easiest place is on your desktop.
Once all of the files have been copied, run Server.exe inside of the new folder.
This will start then close a short while after. This is normal. It creates the configuration files the first time it is run.
Open Configuration/ServerSettings.cfg and change any settings you like. Make sure to save.
Now you can run Server.exe again and it will load completely.
Visit the Playing with Friends section below to learn how to enable your server to play with friends.
You can then connect to this server by running the game and direct connecting to the ip of localhost and the port of 7450 (default).

Configuring Your Server

All of the files located in the Configuration folder inside of your server files are used to configure your server.

File

Description

ServerSettings.cfg

This file is used to configure the overall settings of your server. Here you can change your server name in the lobby, whether or not it has a password, what port the server listens on, and more.

ConsoleSettings.cfg

This file will only be generated if you run the server by running Server.exe. This file can be used to enable auto-updating, remote consoles, auto-restarting, crash protection, and you can even perform some batch scripts when the server restarts such as backing up the saves folder.

Whitelist.cfg

This file contains all players who are white-listed on the server. A white-list is a list of players who are allowed to connect to the server. If the white-list is enabled, players who are not added the white-list will not be able to connect. This file is modified using a command, you can edit this file but it is recommended to use the command instead. For help with the command type /help whitelist into the game when playing as an administrator or into the server console.

Permissions.cfg

This file is used to keep track of user permissions on the server. It keeps track of who are administrators and is very flexible. This file can be used to create your own groups of users such as moderators who you want to limit what commands they can use. For instance you may not want moderators to be able to shutdown or restart a server or to ban users. See the Permisisons section below for more information on permissions.

Users.cfg

This file is used to keep track of who has played on your server. It is recommended that you do not modify this file unless you know what you are doing. For help with the command type /help registry.

DeathMessages.cfg

This file is currently not used but has not been turned off yet.

BannedPlayers.cfg

Holds the list of players who are banned. Type /help ban for help with the ban command.

ChatMutes.cfg

Holds the list of players who have their chat muted on the server. Type /help mutechat for help with the command.

VoiceMutes.cfg

Holds the list of players who have their voice chat muted on the server. Type /help mutevoice for help with the command.

Playing With Friends

Allowing the Sever through your Firewall

The first layer of security between your friends and your server is your firewall. We need to allow the server to see through the firewall so your friends can join.

Press the start button and type Allow an App through Windows Firewall. And choose that option.
Note: Windows 8 will not show a search field until you start typing.
Click the Change settings button near the top right of the window. Accept any popup that shows.
Click the Allow another app… button near the bottom right of the window.
Navigate to your server files, locate and select Heat.exe, then press open.
Windows should allow any ports used by Heat.exe through the firewall now.

Allowing the Server through your Router (Port Forwarding)

The second layer of security between your friends and your server is your router. Your router has it’s own firewall as well which we need to allow the server through. This is called port-forwarding. There is no universal, simple way to do this. Unfortunately every router has a different methods to port-forward and different interfaces to navigate through. There are plenty of websites to help you find out how to port forward using your router.

You will need to port forward these ports:
Game Port: Udp/Tcp 7450 (Can be changed in ServerSettings.cfg)
Async Port: Tcp 17450 (Can be changed in ServerSettings.cfg)
Steam Port: Udp/Tcp 27015 (Can be changed in ServerSettings.cfg)

Use this site to help you.
[link]

Setting Up A Dedicated Server

If you have your own dedicated server computer, here is how to download the server files and get a server running.

First we need to get the server files onto your dedicated server computer. You can either:
1. Install steam and install the game.
2. Use SteamCMD.
3. Download this file[www.playheat.net] and run it.
  When it asks for a user name enter anonymous.
  When it asks for an app id, enter 996600.
Now that you have the server files you can follow the quick start section above.
If you are running multiple game servers on the same dedicated computer, you will need to change the portNumber and the pingPort in ServerSettings.cfg. If you have RCon enabled you will also need to change the rConPort in ConsoleSettings.cfg.

Dedicated Server App ID: 996600

Turning on Automatic Updates

Now that you have a server running, you may want to enable automatic updates so your players can get back into the game as soon as steam updates.

Run your server at least once to generate the necessary config files.
Open Configuration/ConsoleSettings.cfg in a text editor.
Under the Auto Update section, change:
autoUpdate = ‘False’ updateCheckInterval = ‘0’ steamAppId = ‘996600’

to

autoUpdate = ‘True’ updateCheckInterval = ‘300’ # 5 minutes steamAppId = ‘996600’

then save your changes.
Start the server again and it should start downloading SteamCMD and create an Update folder.

This will check every 5 minutes to see if steam has an update. If it finds an update, it will download the update, then shutdown and restart the server.

It is normal for a black window to open and close while your server is running. This is SteamCMD checking for an update.

Permissions

We want to create a guide for permissions on Steam. For now however, you can visit this page which explains our permissions fairly well.
[link]

Here is a list of all commands with permissions for each.
[link]

FAQ

Q: I cannot connect to my server!?
A:

Make sure you have actually started the server by looking in the process list of the task manager (Ctrl + Alt + Delete)
Next make sure that you have allowed the app through the firewall. Press the windows key and type allow then choose the Allow a program through Windows Firewall. In the window that appeared, browse for the ROK.exe and add it to the exception list.

Q: I get error code 14 when connecting to my server!?
A: This is likely because you have not port forwarded your server or have not allowed your server through the firewall. Visit the Playing With Friends section for help with Port Forwarding and Firewall setup.

Q: I get disconnected without an error!
A: There is a known bug where the popup messages do not appear when you are disconnected by the server. You can try:

Restarting your game and steam.
Verify the integrity of your game files.

Even More

[link]
[link]

Heat Guide