Getting Started with AA Server Manager (AASM)
From AAManual
|
The AA Server Manager (AASM) gives you complete control when creating custom server configurations, or “server setups” for America’s Army. Whether you wish to create a LAN tournament or a standard server to host over the Internet, you can quickly and easily create the required configuration files. AASM features an easy to use server configuration Wizard. More advanced options are available by editing the completed setups for even more precise control. AASM also provides the capability to control and monitor servers remotely.
Installing AA Server Manager
AASM installation is simple and fast. Run the “setup.exe” included on your CD or in the ZIP file you’ve downloaded, follow the prompts, and you’re ready to get started.
Context Sensitive Help
AASM provides context sensitive help and there are many ways to access support. The AASM main menu contains built in documentation. Instructions and descriptions are built into menus and wizards. For instructions while using AASM, click Help on the main menu and select Help Topics.
Help Topics
Help Topics within AASM will provide much of what you’ll need to get up and running quickly. For even more detailed information, please consult this manual.
Creating Your First LAN Tournament Server Setup
We’ll begin with a tutorial on creating a server setup for a LAN tournament you plan to host. LAN tournaments often include several matches, and each match typically requires a new map and new Server Setup, or “configuration.” With AA Server Manger you have the ability to create configurations that rotate maps. You can also create several configurations to group together, and start rapidly from the AASM main menu. Tournaments are often handled just like the NCAA basketball tournament where each team plays one match against another team, and the winners move on to the next round. The losers are eliminated from the tournament.
Let’s move on and create the server setup for the first round. Start by clicking “File” on the task bar, and then click the “New Server Setup” option. Alternatively, you may click the “Create New Setup” button.
Tournament Server Wizard
For our purposes, we’ve decided the tournament will have two teams with six players on each side. In our example, we’ll create a very easy tournament setup consisting of a single match (single map configuration) of seven games. After three games we’ll set the teams to automatically switch sides, so that teams won’t have to re-log into the server to move from assault to defense. Most real tournaments will require more extensive setups including multiple maps per match and support for tie-breakers. For the purpose of our example, we will set our server configuration to play an additional round (of seven games) to break a tie. Given that AASM has support for advanced tournament setups, you should feel free to experiment and try new configurations to suit your tournament or match play needs.
Let’s move on and create the server setup for our single round tournament. The first choice we need to make in the AASM server configuration wizard is the type of setup we’re going to create. Click on “Create Tournament Setup” and this will start the tournament server configuration wizard.
Note : For more information on running and organizing Tournaments please consult the America's Army Tournament Mode Guide
Tournament Server Setup - Cyber-athlete Amateur League
AASM contains built in support for the Cyberathlete Amateur League. If you are creating a server for CAL play, highlighting “CYBERATHLETE AMATEUR LEAGUE” and then clicking “Select League” will take you to a special setup configuration for use with CAL (done in accordance with CAL league rules). If you are not creating a setup for CAL then click “Other/Non league” to continue with your tournament server setup.
Tournament Server Setup - Map Selection
The America’s Army Server Manager supports all of America’s Army’s most popular maps. Click the small down arrow adjacent to “MAP” to see the full map list. Scroll down the list until you see the map “Insurgent Camp”. When you select it, you’ll notice a picture of the map becomes visible, and the map’s description is shown on the right.
One of the important things you’ll do when creating your tournament server setups is to review the map descriptions. These map descriptions provide both an overview of the map, the map’s objectives, and information on how well each map plays in AA Tournament Mode.
Insurgent Camp is rated “Excellent” for Tournament Mode play, so we know this map will work well for our tournament match. Click on the highlighted “Next >” button at the bottom of the wizard and we’ll move on to selecting team names and passwords.
Note : Once you are finished with any section of the AASM Server wizard select “Next >” to advance to the next area. To go back and change an area simply click the “< Back” button.
Tournament Server Setup – Team Names and Side Select
America’s Army Tournament Mode allows tournament administrators, to quickly and easily slot players into teams by assigning each team a password. When a player joins a server in Tournament Mode he or she need only input a password to join their teammates. In this manner teams are easily setup and organized with minimum confusion. To expedite joining the proper team, tournament participants need only be given the password of the side they need to join. Joining and rejoining servers is no longer necessary to set teams up correctly in Tournament Mode.
In the “Team Names and Side Selection” section of the AASM server wizard you may assign the passwords and names for each team. In league play you may input clan names as team names or use generic titles. In our example generic team names are used. To make team names, simply input the name of each team in the “Team Name” text boxes provided, then select and input a password for each team in the “Team Password” text boxes provided. Remember to write your team passwords down, the players in your tournament will need these passwords to join their teammates. You can make the passwords as easy or difficult as you choose. If you do not know what the team names will be in your Tournament match you may select the box “Assign teams randomly.” Later we will show you how to let Team Captains input or change their team names when they join.
Note : Team Passwords are assigned so that Tournament participants do not inadvertently join the wrong team and cause delays. Team Passwords differ from Player Passwords. Player Passwords are used by Tournament participants to join the server, so that non participants do not inadvertently join your tournament server and interrupt play.
Tournament Server Setup - Players
Our tournament is going to be a “six on six” tournament meaning there are going to be six players on each team. The value of “4” is already selected for us. That’s because AASM automatically selects the minimum number of players that are recommended for play on each map. You’ll need to adjust this value to the actual number of players participating on each team in your tournament. If your not sure how many that will be, the AASM Tournament Server wizard will give you an idea of the minimum. The tournament we are designing will take place on a Local Area Network (“LAN”) at a local LAN gaming center. We need to make sure non-participants at the gaming center cannot join our tournament servers and interfere with tournament operation. We do this by setting a “Player Password”. The Player Password will need to be given to each tournament participant, and it’s recommended that you use a unique player password for each round of the tournament. This is done so those players on teams that lose cannot interfere with the later rounds. For our Tournament setup, we’ll enter “aasmtourney”, but you can pick any word or phrase you like. In AASM and America’s Army, passwords are case sensitive. This means that “AASMTOURNEY” is not the same as “aasmtourney”. It is a good idea to add some complexity to your server password so that there is less likelihood that it is guessed by non-participants.
Note : Player Passwords are often required to join servers running LAN and Internet tournaments. This is done so non participants do not inadvertently interrupt game-play. It is important to provide the Player Password to those participating so they may join the Tournament server.
Note : If you decide to keep your password simple, a pop up warning message will appear after you’re done inputting the Player Password. You may dismiss this message by simply clicking “Yes.”
Tournament Server Setup – Match Length
For our tournament match-up we’ve chosen a best of seven, so we’ll leave the default “Gamerounds per Match” set to seven. You can adjust this up or down as required for your tournament match.
The length of each “Game-round” in minutes is automatically set to the best value based on testing and previous Tournament experience for the map you’ve chosen. The AASM Tournament Server wizard is set to default to the appropriate times for the map chosen.
Tournament Server Setup – Time Out (Pause)
In any case where an emergency may arise, and at the request of a Team Captain a tournament official deems it is warranted, America’s Army Tournament Mode does support “Time-Outs.” So, America’s Army Server Manger also supports this option for tournament configurations. How these time outs are granted are at the sole discretion of tournament officials, league judges, or ladder rules.
Time-Out maximum length defaults to unlimited, but may be changed in the wizard by clicking the adjacent arrow and selecting another “Maximum Time-out length.
Note : For more information on Tournament Mode “Time Out” (Round Suspend) please consult the document “America’s Army Tournament Mode” located in your America’s Army /Help directory
Tournament Server Setup – Automatic Side Switching
To make Tournaments and matches as fair as possible it is necessary for teams to switch sides. This negates any possible advantages either side may have on a particular America’s Army map (level). To provide for this, America’s Army Tournament mode provides an automatic mechanism to switch entire teams. Since most matches within a tournament, including our original example, last seven games “Rounds to Play before Switching Sides” defaults to a value of “3” games (rounds). To change this, simply choose the number of games or “Rounds to Play before Switching Sides” by clicking the adjacent arrow.
To give Team Captains, administrators, and participants time to choose the appropriate class and agree on strategy or tactics, a delay is also provided (similar to the warm-up time) before the match or Tournament resumes. To select how long that delay will last simply click the arrow adjacent to “Post Switch Roster Setup Time” and select how long you’d like the delay to be in minutes. “Post Switch Roster Setup Time” defaults to a delay value of “1:00” minute in the AASM Tournament Server setup wizard.
Tournament Server Setup – Tie Breaking Rules
America’s Army contains more than a few scenarios where games within a match can end up in atie. In these cases, it’s necessary to have a way to break that tie. You may decide to set up another server configuration with similar settings in the case your match ends up tied. Or, you can set a method to break ties within America’s Army Server Manager.
The configuration wizard for Tournament Server setup’s defaults to playing additional rounds (games) until the tie is broken and a team is declared the winner. You may also choose to call the match a tie, or to break the tie by using highest team score.
Note : It is important to lay the ground rules for how your Tournament will handle ties before you start playing. It will be far more difficult to decide upon equitable tie breaking scenarios in the heat of battle. All tournament rules should be laid out clearly in advance so that Tournament administration rulings are not deemed arbitrary. For more information on running and organizing Tournaments please consult the document “America’s Army Tournament Mode” located in your America’s Army /Help directory.
Tournament Server Setup – Tie Breaking and Ending Options (ENDEX)
Once a team has lost more than half of the total rounds in a match or tournament, and has become mathematically eliminated that match or tournament may be ended immediately if you have implement the “ENDEX Rule” (End Exercise). The ENDEX Rule (much like a mercy rule) was included within America’s Army Tournament Mode to help speed the time for tournament completion.
The ENDEX Rule may dramatically shorten the time it takes to play large, heavily contested tournaments, within complex setups and was inspired by actual America’s Army tournaments. Simply click the box next to “Use the ENDEX Rule to short the tournament” to enable.
Now it’s time to set up the Administrator access for this server. The Administrators at our LAN tournament are going to be responsible for watching the action to determine everyone is following the rules as well as tracking match results. Using the next window we can adjust administrator options.
Tournament Server Setup – Administrators
In this section of the wizard we’ll set up the maximum number of administrators allowed to log in at once to our server. Simply click the arrow next to “Admins per Server” and scroll to your selection (two is typically a good number). We’ll also set our “Admin Password” in the text box adjacent. Simply click your mouse pointer in the text box and click once to start entering your password text. It’s best to add some complexity to your Admin Password and to keep it different from your server password (if your server is password protected, see: Tournament Server Setup - Players).
Note : If you decide to keep your password simple a pop up warning message will appear after you’re done inputting the Admin Password. You may dismiss this message by simply clicking “Yes.”
Tournament Server Setup – Mission Planning and Delay Times
The Mission Planning Period gives players a chance to get their America’s Army game fully loaded into their computer (things like the map, meshes, textures, and other graphics associated with the client need to be loaded into your computer’s memory). The Mission Planning Round also provides time for participants to select their classes (weapons), familiarize themselves with the map, and plan strategy. Five minutes is the typical time for a “Warm-up round” so AASM defaults to this setting. To change the “Mission Planning Period Length,” click the adjacent arrow and select a time in minutes.
AA Tournament Mode also provides a mechanism to adjust the amount of time between rounds; In order to speed tournaments or matches along this time defaults to”15” seconds. To provide more time for participants to rethink strategy or to simply move at a more leisurely pace this time may be adjusted upward by clicking the adjacent arrow and selecting a longer time period.
Tournament Setup Wizard – Scoreboard Operation
America’s Army Tournament Mode allows administrators to decide how teams can access the scoreboard during match play. America’s Army Server Manger allows you to configure these options quickly within the Tournament Server Setup wizard. In this manner tournament administrators may configure a server to meet the rules and requirements of ladders and tournament organizations. To move large tournaments along quickly and efficiently AASM defaults to “Scoreboard is only shown at the end of the match."
If your match-up is only a seven game affair or if you choose to run your tournament at a more measured pace, you may choose “Show scoreboard at the end of each game.” This setting is most commonly used for online tournaments, or ladders.
Tournament Server Setup – Network Type
If your server or tournament is to be run over the internet then select “Internet.” If you are playing over a LAN based local network selecting “LAN” will disable your server’s connection with Americas Army’s Authentication servers. Only tournaments run on the Internet may be advertised over the internet and appear in the America’s Army browser, or third party applications. If you are using a home based server you will need to enter you ISP (Internet Service Provider) external IP address in the text box: “Internet IP of Your Modem.”
Please do not enter: 192.168.1.1, this is the IP of your internet gateway, which may either be the address of your DSL or Cable gateway, or the address of your router. Internal IP addresses typically begin with 10, 172 and 192. To find your external IP please consult the Status area of your router’s setup software, or visit a website similar to: www.whatismyip.com.
Note : LAN server configurations made with America’s Army Server Manger will not communicate with AA Authentication, so honor will not be shown. Only Internet enabled configurations may be advertised in the AA browser, if you’d like to advertise your server please remember that you must also visit www. Americasarmy.com and register your server in the Account Manger.
Note : To run your server from home you will need to configure any firewall (or router) to redirect ports 1716 (UDP) and 1717 (UDP) to IP address 192.168.1.100 (or the internal IP of your server) on your local network.
Tournament Server Setup – Server Name
Here we’ll set up a name for our server, and decide exactly how we’d like it to appear in the America’s Army browser. If you’re setting your server up for the internet and have registered it at www.americasarmy.com, this is the name that will show up in America’s Army, and on third party internet browsers. To input a name for your server click in the text box adjacent to “Server Name:” click the left mouse button once, and input your text.
Tournament Server Setup – Setup Name
It is important that the name of a server setup helps you to remember the purpose of the setup. The default name generally explains what the setup is about, but doesn’t necessarily help you remember that you created this for the Frag Fest Fourth of July LAN tournament you are running. It’s generally a good idea to include the tournament name in the name of your server setups. For tournaments it’s also a good idea to include which tournament round the setup is intended for. It’s also important to change your “Server Setup Name” from the default to something more descriptive you can remember.
The “Server Setup Notes” let you type anything you want about this server setup. You may type anything you want here or leave it blank. The bottom arrowed field lets you enter the name of the tournament, or event, this tournament server setup is going to be used at. For our event we’ll enter the name “Frag fest tourney test.”
As we add configurations to our tournament, we’ll make sure they all go into this tournament category so they may be found easier, and run quickly.
Tournament Server Setup – Server Summary
Note that you can scroll this window up and down to read the entire summary. Any notes you may have entered are placed at the bottom of this text. Note that we’ve added the text: “Team Captain Run Tournament” to our default server configuration name. This will help us find and activate the correct configuration.
If everything looks good click “Finish” to create this tournament server setup and add it to the “Tournament Server Setups” section of the server setup list as shown below.
In the main AASM menu you’ll see your new tournament setup is highlighted and the summary you just saw is shown in the right window. Also note that the “Tournament Event” name is the group our tournament server setup was placed in. As you create more tournament server setups for this event just select the same tournament event name from the list (on the window where you first entered the tournament event name) and the new server setups will be placed in the same group.
Testing Your First Tournament Server Setup
Now that you’ve created your first tournament setup you can choose to test it out or run it on your PC – if you’ve got enough memory (at least 512MB of RAM) and America’s Army version 2.1 or later installed. If your system is configured properly the “Start Selected Server” button will be enabled, and simply clicking on it will start the server. You’ll see a “Server Monitor” window appear and it will show you all sorts of interesting things about the server as it starts up. You can ignore all of it as long as the last line shown says: “Game Engine Initialized” in green text as shown here:
Then use your “America’s Army” game client to join the server. For the most part you can ignore any of the red “WARNING” messages shown – they’re just informational messages from the server indicating non-standard settings which are not usually used for standard game-play servers but are used for tournament servers.
To actually join the game, go to the “Deployment” page and then click on “LAN”. Your game server should appear in the list as shown here:
To join the game select it in the list and then enter the game password in the “Password” field and click “Join”. When you are done trying out the server setup close the “America’s Army” program and return to your Windows desktop. Then switch to the “Server Monitor” window and click on the “Stop Server” button to stop the server. Once it stops close the “Server Monitor” by clicking on the “X” in the top-right corner. You’re now almost ready to use this tournament server setup in your LAN tournament – only one more step remains: Creating the files and E-Mailing them to the LAN administrators.
E-Mailing Your Tournament Setup
With the LAN tournament still selected in the server setup list click on the “File” menu and then click on the “E-Mail Server Setup” selection. This will create the required configuration and utility files needed to run the server as well as create automatically generated instructions as the text of your message. The only thing you have to do is pick who you’re E-Mailing to and click on the “Send” button. It’s that easy. If the person you are sending to also has the AA Server Manager they may use the attached Server Configuration file to load your server setup in their AASM program.
Finishing Up Your Tournament – Adding Server Setups to a Tournament
To finish up creating your tournament simply repeat the above steps for the other maps in your tournament. Typically you do not need to test each setup as described in the “Testing Your First LAN Tournament Server Setup“ section since the server setups created will work every time. However, it is always a good idea to review the summary at the end of the New Tournament wizard to make sure you’ve got your options set the way you want.
Ports to forward for an America’s Army Internet Server
To run your server from home you will need to configure any firewall (or router) to redirect ports 1716 (UDP) and 1717 (UDP) to IP address 192.168.1.100 (or the internal IP of your server PC) on your local network: UDP ports 1716 for the game, 1717 for the game query, 1718 for master server query, 8777 for standard UT query, 27900 for Game Spy and TCP port 20045 for Auth server.
Creating Your First Internet-Based Standard Server Setup
To create a server that will allow normal game play over the Internet is really easy. You can have your server up and running is just a few minutes. The first step in creating a “standard” server setup is to click on the “Create New Setup” button. Then from the following prompt below choose “Create Standard Play Setup.” This will open up the “Standard Server Setup” wizard that will walk you through the required options you’ll need to set to get your server setup configured. Creating a standard setup is similar to creating a tournament setup, except that tournament options are not available.
Note : Creating Standard Play configurations (or setups) and Tournament server configurations are very similar.
Standard Server Setup - Cyber-athlete Amateur League
AASM contains built in support for the Cyberathlete Amateur League. If you are creating a server for CAL play, highlighting “CYBERATHLETE AMATEUR LEAGUE” then selecting “Select League” will take you to a special setup configuration for use with CAL (done in accordance with CAL league rules). If you are not in such a league click “Other/Non league” to continue with your Tournament server setup.
Standard Server Setup – Map Selection
You can configure your server setup to provide only one map or to switch between two or more maps. For the purpose of this lesson let’s set up our server to switch between six (6) different maps. To configure the server setup to allow switching between maps we need to select the “Yes” option next to the “Would you like to have the server switch maps after matches?” prompt. When you select this you’ll see the page change as follows:
Standard Server Setup – Map Rotation
Note the addition of the “Maps to Rotate Through” options as well as the option to select how frequently the maps are switched. One of the keys to a successful server setup is not to switch the maps too frequently. Each time the server switches maps each player must reconnect to the server and reload the new map which can cause some players with slower machines to miss the first “round” of the match. However, having the server change too infrequently almost defeats the point of having a server that automatically switches maps.
A good setting for the number of matches to complete before switching maps is between three and five. This provides a good balance between variety, and how often players must reload the game maps. Next, you’ll need to select the maps we want to switch between. To do so click on the down arrow to the right of “Map:” and select the first map scroll the list and then click on the “>>” button to add it to the list of maps that will be rotated.
Note : Having a server switch maps automatically is often called “rotating” maps.
Now let’s suppose for a moment we decide (for whatever reason) that we really want the order to be “Pipeline SF” first and not “JRTC” Farm Raid. We can easily change the order by left clicking on the name of the map we want to move in the “rotation” by selecting it in the list and clicking on the “Up” or “Down” buttons.
Click on the “Pipeline SF” map in the right-hand map list and then click on the “Up” button three times. You’ll see it move to the top of the list.
Standard Server Setup – Players
Now that we’ve got our maps selected and put in the right order we’re ready to move on to deciding how many players will play on the server and whether or not to require a password for our game server. Select the number of “Players per Team” you’d like from the drop-down list (you may want to lower this number if your server is not very powerful or your Internet connection is not very fast).
To avoid letting the entire America’s Army player population join your server you can set a password. Simply click your mouse in the text box adjacent to “Player Password” and enter your password text. Each player that wants to join our server will need to enter this password in the entry field of their game’s deployment page before trying to join the game.
When you’ve got the options set click the “Next >” button and we’ll set up the length of the matches that will be played.
Note : If you decide to keep your password simple a pop up warning message will appear after you’re done inputting the Admin Password. You may dismiss this message by simply clicking “Yes.”
Standard Server Setup – Match Length
Typical matches are seven rounds in length, and a typical round is ten minutes long. You can choose to increase or decrease either of these values. However, we’ll use these standard match and game-round lengths. Once the values are set click “Next >” and we’ll adjust how many administrators will be allowed on the server and the administrator’s password.
Standard Server Setup – Administrators
The first thing to note is that you can have more than one administrator attached to a standard server at one time, but rarely is there need to do so. Generally this value is left at one and only one administrator may join the server. To access a game server in administrative mode you must have an administrator password set. Passwords must include at least four letters and/or numbers as well as at least one of these symbols: “#$!@”. Passwords are case sensitive which means “AASM#Test” is not the same as “AASM#TEST”.
Note : If you decide to keep your password simple a pop up warning message will appear after you’re done inputting the Admin Password. You may dismiss this message by simply clicking “Yes.”
Standard Server Setup – Network Type
We are creating an Internet based standard server so leaving the first option set to “Internet” is the right choice. We also want the server to show up in the In-Game Browser, so we’ll leave that option set to “Yes”. In other circumstances you may not want the server to show up in the ingame browser (for instance if you want to create a private server and don’t want the general public attempting to join the game).
Note : LAN server configurations made with America’s Army Server Manger will not communicate withAA Authentication, so honor will not be shown. Only Internet enabled configurations may be advertised in the AA browser, if you’d like to advertise your server please remember that you must also visit www. Americasarmy.com and register your server in the Account Manger.
Note : To run your server from home you will need to configure any firewall (or router) to redirect ports 1716 (UDP) and 1717 (UDP) to IP address 192.168.1.100 (or the internal IP of your server PC) on your local network.
Standard Server Setup – Server Name
Here we’ll set up a name for our server, and decide exactly how we’d like it to appear in the America’s Army browser. If you’re setting your server up for the internet and have registered it at www.americasarmy.com, this is the name that will show on third party internet browsers as well. To input a name for your server simply click in the text box adjacent to “Server Name:,” click the left mouse button once, and input your text.
Standard Server Setup – Setup Name
The AA Server Manager automatically tries to give your server setup a name that represents the configuration options you have selected. However, you may find it necessary or desirable to customize this. You may enter any name you want in the “Server Setup Name” field but if another server setup already uses this name you will be required to change it to something unique.
The “Server Setup Note” field can be used to put any notes or comments about this setup you feel will help you remember the purpose of this server setup.
Standard Server Setup – Server Summary
At this point it’s a very good idea to review the summary and make sure the options are what we want. By clicking “Finish” the AASM will automatically create a usable server setup that you can use to run an America’s Army server. As you become more experienced with the AASM you may want to check the “Edit advanced server setup options after clicking Finish” checkbox. Doing this will automatically open the “Edit Server Setup Options” dialog where you can customize every aspect of the server setup. For now, leave the box unchecked. You can always edit other server options later by simply selecting the server option from the server list and then using the “Edit, Edit Server Setup” menu command.
Testing Your Standard Server Setup
Now that you’ve created your first standard server setup you can choose to test it out or run it on your PC – if you’ve got enough memory (at least 512MB of RAM) and America’s Army version 2.1 or later installed. If your system is configured properly the “Start Selected Server” button will be enabled and simply clicking on it will start the server. You’ll see a “Server Monitor” window appear and it will show you all sorts of interesting things about the server as it starts up. You can ignore all of it as long as the last line shown says: “Game Engine Initialized” in green text as shown here:
Then use your “America’s Army” game to join the server (use the “Start, Programs, America’s Army, America’s Army” menu to start the game). To join your server click on it in the “Deployment” page of America’s Army. Your game server should appear in the list as shown above.
Note : To run your server from home you will need to configure any firewall (or router) to redirect ports 1716 (UDP) and 1717 (UDP) to IP address 192.168.1.100 (or the internal IP of your server PC) on your local network.
E-Mailing Your Standard Server Setup
With the Standard Server Setup you created still selected in the server setup list click on the “File” menu and then click on the “E-Mail Server Setup” selection. This will create the required configuration and utility files needed to run the server as well as create automatically generated instructions as the text of your message. The only thing you have to do is pick who you’re EMailing to and click on the “Send” button. It’s that easy. If the person you are sending to also has the AA Server Manager they may use the attached Server Configuration file to load your server setup in their AASM program.
Edit Server Setup – Advanced Configuration
America’s Army Server Manger allows you to edit your completed configurations to make any necessary changes. You may also configure some more advanced setup options by editing your server setups once you’ve completed them with the Server Wizard. To edit your server setups, simply click the desired configuration to highlight, select “Edit” from the main menu, and then click “Edit Server Setup.”
Note : You may edit server configurations that are currently running on your server. However, these changes are not implemented by America’s Army dynamically. In order for your changes to take effect you must first restart the server.
Edit Server Setup Options – Player Tab
Once you have selected the server you wish to edit, you will be brought to the Edit Server Setup Options wizard. By cycling (clicking) through the tabs you may make the more advanced changes to your setups. The Player Tab within the Edit Server Setup wizard allows you to make finer grained adjustments to Auto-Balance. It also provides a feature to setup servers for certain authorization account flags. These flags include armed forces specific branch flags (or tags).
Edit Server Setup Options – Spectators
The Spectator tab allows more flexibility in configuring player Spectating options for your server. Changing the server configuration to Spectators can view friends (same team) only and Spectators can view only players, will help to avoid the possibility of “ghosting” in online and LAN tournaments.
Note : “Ghosting” is a practice in online games whereby teammates that have been killed off (or eliminated from play, and put in Spectate Mode) communicate with their alive and still playing teammates (often utilizing voice communications) to indicate the known or possible locations of enemy combatants (the other team). The term “Ghosting” literally means coming back from the virtual dead to tell your virtual live teammates where the enemy is located. This practice may be eliminated by controlling how dead players see game play.
Preferences - Options
AASM allows users to set default parameters for configurations to make creating servers a breeze. In preferences administrators may input parameters that often will not change from one set up to the next such as administration password, and server name.
Important: It is best to leave the “Admin E-Mail Address” blank as anyone with a third-party server browser will have the ability to read this information and obtain your email address.
Preferences – Player Admin List
America’s Army server configurations allow for a mode of server administration termed: “Player Administrators” or Player Admins. In this mode administrators retain all of their administration rights and may play the game at the same time. The Player Administrator differs slightly from a typical administrator (termed: “Super Administrator”) that logs in with a server administration password. Player Administrators log in the same as ordinary players (no admin password is required), but do not reserve the same spectating capabilities of typical administrators (Super Administrators), as they cannot simply click their mouse to spectate players from either team. Player Administrators may, however, invoke the “Admin Spectate” administration command to spectate specific players from either team. To set Player Admins in your AASM Server configurations (setups) simply enter the full name (AA authorized name) of the player you’d like to set as a player admin into the text box next to “Player Name” and click “Add Player Admin,” then click the “Apply” button. Please note that when a player name is added to the Player Admin list they will become Player Admins on all subsequent server configurations until they are removed. To clear a Player Admin from a setup, simply edit their name out of your configuration (See: Edit Server Setup). To remove a Player Administration from all future AASM configurations simply highlight their name in preferences (as shown) and click the “Remove,” “Apply,” and “OK” buttons in sequence.
Note : Player Admins are disabled for Tournament Mode.
Preferences – Master Player Ban List
America’s Army Server Manager provides Ban List management capability. The master ban list is added to and read directly from sever configurations, not Punk Buster. To add a player to the ban list simply click “Add Ban Entry.” Also, remember to click “Apply” and “Ok” as you would any other Windows wizard.
You many ban players from your server by Player Name, Player IP or by Player MAC Address (Media Access Control, also known as the physical address of a network adapter). AASM provides capability to “Ban permanently” or to set an “Ending Date” for your ban. After entering the appropriate information simply click “Add” to initiate your ban.
Note : Bans added while a server is running will not activate until the server is restarted.
Run Server Setup – Start Selected Server
To start a completed server setup highlight it by click with your left mouse button, then click “Start Selected Server.” Alternatively, you may highlight a server and then click “File” and select the “Run Server Setup” option.
Managing Remote America’s Army Servers
The AA Server Manager gives you the ability to remotely control and configure America’s Army servers. For server-side information on setting up remote management please consult Getting Started with AASM Server Remote Control Utility
To manage your servers remotely click “Servers” in AASM, and then select “Manage Remote Servers.”
To manage a remote server highlight the server of your choice and then click “Control Server.” In addition to controlling servers, you can add new servers to your server list, and edit server details (including IP, list name, control Admin Name and Control Password. These parameters must be set up server side along with the AASM Remote Control Unit. For More information on setting up the AASM RCU on your server please consult the document: “Getting Started with the AASM RCU”). The Manage Remote Server wizard allows you to quickly and easily add servers to the America’s Army server manger. You can also quick remove servers by highlighting the server of your choice and selecting “Remove Server.” To add a server click “Add Server,” and input the information obtained from your installation of the AASM RCU.
Important: For more information on setting your server up for remote management consult Getting Started with AASM Server Remote Control Utility This document may also be found in your AASM directory. You will need this information to add a server to AASM for remote management.
Once you’ve selected a server, the Server Remote Control feature of AASM allows you to stop/re-start the server, monitor the server, view Punk Buster options, and add to the ban list remotely. You can also Manage Server Setups remotely. To add configurations to your America’s Army server (upload them) or edit configurations already on your server click “Manage Server Setups.”
Note : Changes made to a server while it is running will not activate until the server is restarted.'
Punk Buster options allow you to view logs, screenshots, and customize PunkBuster server options. When customizing PunkBuster options be sure and use the help button for more information.
When managing remote server setups you may update server setups already on your server by right clicking on an existing setup (or clicking Advanced Options on the menu bar), and then selecting “Update Server Setup” (left click). You may download setups from your server if you do not have a copy of the configuration locally by selecting “Download Setup from Server.” And you may download a setup and edit immediately “Edit Server Setup (Download then Edit).”
Again, changes to server configurations while a server is running with not take effect until the server is restarted. So, if you do decide to edit your server setup (Download then Edit) you’ll need to activate it by selecting “Activate Setup” for changes to take effect. If no configurations are running on your server, or if you wish to change configurations you may add a setup by selecting “Add Setup.”
To add a setup highlight your chosen setup and click “Add Setup.”
When you’ve added the setups you’ve selected (and you may add more than one) click “Activate Setup” to start the configuration on your server. You may also remove an available setup from the list by highlighting it and clicking “Remove Setup.” If you chose to remove a server a dialog will appear asking you to confirm your decision.
To activate one of your newly added configuration highlight and click “Activate Setup,” or double click your highlighted configuration. If there are players on your server you will see a warning message on your display as indicated above. A warning dialog will then appear. To dismiss the dialog and activate your setup simply click “Yes.”
Note : You may close AASM completely (this includes all windows and the monitor) once you’ve finished controlling your server. Closing out of AASM after controlling your server remotely has no effect. If you close AASM by accident you may simply reopen it and retrace the steps above to reestablish communication with your server
Managing Remote Servers – Error
The America’s Army Remote Server Manager will give an “AASM Remote Control Utility Not Found” error for one of several reasons. If you receive this error, first check to make sure the AASM RCU is running on your server. The AASM Remote Control Utility is a server side application that must be installed and run on your server in order for you to manage your server remotely. The AASM RCU is a separate executable that is included with the America’s Army Server Manager Software package.
If the AASM RCU is installed and running on your server, and you’ve followed the directions contained in the “Getting Started with the AASM RCU” documentation, please check that you’re Remote Admin Name, and Remote Passwords are configured correctly in both applications, and that they match. If the AASM RCU is running on your server it will indicate if you’ve tried to login with an improper Remote Admin Name, or Remote Admin Password.
Where are the Configuration (server ini) files created by AASM?
AASM saves finished server configuration files to the folder: /America's Army Server Setups located in: My Documents in Windows. Please do not attempt to edit AASM .cfg files located in your Server Setups folder in the AASM folder. These files are used exclusively by AASM and are not America’s Army server ini files.