bzfs(6)bzfs(6)NAMEbzfs - BZFlag game server
SYNOPSISbzfs [-a velocity rotation] [-admsg message] [-autoTeam]
[-b] [-badwords badwordfile] [-ban ip{,ip}*] [-banfile
filename] [-c] [-conf configfile] [-cr] [-d] [-density
num] [+f {good|bad|team||flag-id}[{count}]] [-f
{good|bad|flag-id}] [-fb] [-filterCallsigns] [-filterChat]
[-filterSimple] [-g] [-groupdb file] [-h] [-help]
[-helpmsg file name] [-i interface] [-j] [-lagdrop warn-
count] [-lagwarn time/ms] [-maxidle time/s] [-mp
{count|[rogue-count],[red-count],[green-count],[blue-
count],[purple-count],[observer-count]}] [-mps {max-
score}] [-ms shots] [-mts {max-score}] [-p port] [-passdb
file] [-passwd password] [-printscore] [-public descrip-
tion] [-publicaddr address[:port] [-publiclist url] [-q]
[+r] [-rabbit [score|killer|random] [-reportfile filename]
[-reportpipe command] [-requireudp] [+s flag-count] [-s
flag-count] [-sa] [-sb] [-sl id num] [-speedtol factor]
[-srvmsg message] [-st time] [-sw count] [-synctime] [-t]
[-tftimeout time-limit] [-time time-limit] [-timemanual]
[-tk] [-tkkr percent] [-userdb file] [-vars file] [-ver-
sion] [-vetoTime seconds] [-votePercentage percentage]
[-votesRequired num] [-voteTime seconds] [-world world-
file] [-worldsize world size]
DESCRIPTION
Bzfs is the server for BZFlag, and it must be running to
play. It can be run on any system on the network (includ-
ing a player's system or one without graphics). Terminat-
ing the server terminates the game in progress.
Options
-a velocity rotation
Enables inertia and sets the maximum
linear and angular accelerations.
The units are somewhat arbitrary so
you'll have to experiment to find
suitable values. The values must be
non-negative and higher values yield
greater inertia.
-admsg message Define a message which will be
broadcast to all players every 15
minutes.
-autoTeam Automatically assign players to
teams when they connect so that
there are an equal number of players
on all available teams. Players are
placed on teams that have the fewest
players, otherrwise they will be
placed on the weakest team. Weakest
team is the team with the lowest
combined kill ratio.
-b When -c is supplied, this option
randomly rotates the buildings.
-badwords badwordfile
Specify a file that contains bad
words that will be used when either
-filterCallsigns or -filterChat is
enabled.
-ban ip{,ip}* Prohibits connections from the
listed IP addresses. Trailing 255
bytes are treated as mask bytes.
-banfile filename
Specifies the name of a file where
bzfs will store the banlist. It will
load the banlist from this file when
it starts (if the file exists), and
write the banlist back to the file
when someone gets banned or
unbanned. If this option isn't
given the banlist will not be saved.
-c Enables the capture-the-flag style
game. By default this allocates one
team flag per team. This can be
modified see +f team. By default,
the free-for-all style is used.
-conf configfilename
Specifies the name of a configura-
tion file to be used to set all of
the bzfs options, rather than set-
ting them on the command line.
-cr Enables the capture-the-flag style
game with random map. You can
optionally specify a building den-
sity by providing an number (default
is 5). One team flag per team is
provided, but more can be added thru
+f team. By default, the free-for-
all style is used.
-d Increase debugging level. More -d
are used, more debugging info are
obtained.
-density num Specify density for buildings, i.e.
the higher the integer number, the
more buildings you will get. This
applies to automatically generated
maps only.
+f {good|bad|teamflag-id}[{count}]
Forces the existence of the given
flag. If specified multiple times
for the same flag-id, then that many
flags will appear. The good argu-
ment is equivalent to specifying +f
once for each kind of good flag.
Same goes for the bad argument. The
team argument adds a team flag to
each team, assuming that the game
style is capture the flag. The
optional {count} parameter allows
the specification of multiple flags
of the same type. Note that the
curly braces are required.
-f {good|bad|flag-id}
Disallows random flags of the given
type. Required flags given by the
+f option are still provided. The
bad argument is equivalent to speci-
fying -f once for each kind of bad
flag. Same goes for good, but you
probably do not want to do that.
-fb Allow flags on box buildings.
-filterCallsigns
Turn on the filtering of callsigns
and email addresses. Callsigns and
addresses are compared against bad
words provided via -badwords.
-filterChat Turn on the filtering of chat mes-
sages. Messages have words provided
via a -badwords file are replaced
with !@#$%^&* characters.
-filterSimple By default, all filtering is aggres-
sive, matching much more than what
is strictly listed in a -badwords
file for convenience. Providing
this option will make the -filter-
Callsigns and -filterChat compar-
isons exact match only.
-g Quit after serving one game.
-groupdb file Load groups from file
-h Buildings are given random heights.
-help Shows a help page and lists all the
valid flag id's.
-helpmsg file name
Create a help message accessible by
/help name, which prints the con-
tents of file. Restricted to 10
lines per help message.
-i interface Server will listen for and respond
to ``pings'' (sent via multicast) on
the given interface. The server
uses the first multicast enabled
interface by default. Clients use
this to find active servers on the
network. This is also the TCP/UDP/IP
address the server will listen on.
-j Allows jumping.
-lagdrop warn-count
Kicks players after warn-count lag
warnings.
-lagwarn time/ms
Send warnings to players that lag
more than time.
-maxidle time/s
Kick players that did not play
longer than time seconds. Pausing
players are not kicked. If a player
uttered a word recently, he will be
kicked after thrice the given time.
-mp {count|[rogue],[red],[green],[blue],[pur-
ple],[observer]}
Sets the maximum number of players,
total or per team. A single value
sets the total number of players
allowed. Five comma separated val-
ues set the maximum for each team.
If a count is left blank then no
limit is set for that team, except
for the limit on the total number of
players. Both forms may be pro-
vided.
-mps max-score Sets a maximum score for individual
players. The first player to reach
this score is declared the winner
and the game is over.
-ms shots Allows up to shots simultaneous
shots for each player. This is 1 by
default.
-mts max-score Sets a maximum score for teams. The
first team to reach this score is
declared the winner and the game is
over.
-p port Listen for game connections on port
instead of the default port. Use
-help to print the default port, or
use -d debug printing.
-passdb file Load passwords from file
-passwd password
Specify a server administrator pass-
word for use in remote administra-
tion such as /kick messages.
-printscore Write score to stdout whenever it
changes
-public description
Advertise this server on the inter-
net with the given description. By
default, a server will respond to
broadcast or multicast queries,
allowing clients to find servers on
the local subnet or accessible
through multicast routers. However,
this doesn't allow clients to find
servers not accessible via multi-
cast. The -public option causes the
server to register itself with a
bzfls server, which clients can
query to get a list of bzfs servers.
-publicaddr address[:port]
Advertise this server with the given
address and port. Only has an
effect when used with -public.
Normally a server advertises itself
at the local address and port. Some
servers are not accessible from the
internet at this address (for exam-
ple servers behind a firewall using
bzfrelay). Use this option to spec-
ify the address and/or port that
internet users should use to access
this server.
-publiclist url
Advertise this server on the bzfls
servers listed at url. Only has an
effect when used with -public. A
built-in url is used by default.
The BZFlag clients use the same
built-in url so, by default, clients
will see public servers automati-
cally. See bzfls for a description
of the format of url.
-q If specified, the server will not
listen for nor respond to ``pings''.
BZFlag sends out these pings to give
the user a list of available
servers. This effectively makes the
server private, especially if the -p
option is also used.
+r Makes most shots ricochet. Super
bullets, shock waves, and guided
missiles do not.
-rabbit [score|killer|random]
Enables the rabbit-hunt style game.
By default, the free-for-all style
is used. You must specify the algo-
rithm used to pick a new rabbit when
the old one dies. The score algo-
rithm uses a modified
wins/(wins+losses) score and picks
the top scoring player to be the new
rabbit. The killer algorithm speci-
fies a reverse tag game where who-
ever kills the rabbit becomes the
new rabbit. The random algorithm
randomly picks a new rabbit without
regard to score. (The score algo-
rithm is the original behavior.)
-reportfile filename
Write messages to the server admin
written using the /report command to
this file. If neither -reportfile or
-reportpipe is used the /report com-
mand will be disabled.
-reportpipe command
Pipe messages to the server admin
written using the /report command to
this program or shell command. See
-reportfile.
-requireudp Require clients to use parallel UDP.
If players fire before opening a UDP
channel, kick them off the server.
+s num-flags The server will have an extra num-
flags random super flags available
at all times. The -f option can be
used to restrict which types of
flags will be added. Required flags
given by the +f option are not
included in the num-flags total.
-s num-flags The server will have up to num-flags
random super flags available at any
time. The -f option can be used to
restrict which types of flags will
be added. Required flags given by
the +f option are not included in
the num-flags total.
-sa Antidote flags are provided for
players with bad flags.
-sb Allow spawns on box buildings.
-sl id num Restrict flag id to num shots.
-speedtol factor
Override the default speed auto kick
factor. The factor should not be
less then 1.0. The factor is a mul-
tiplier.
-srvmsg message
Define a server welcome message.
-st time Bad flags are automatically dropped
after time seconds.
-sw count Bad flags are automatically dropped
after count wins. Capturing a team
flag does not count as a win.
-synctime Forces all clients to use the same
time of day. The current time is
determined by the server's clock.
This disables the + and - keys on
the clients.
-t Adds teleporters to the game.
-tftimeout time-limit
If the last player in a team leaves
while someone else is carrying the
team flag, the team flag will not
reset until it is captured, or until
the player drops it and it is left
alone for some time. This option
specifies the number of seconds that
the flag should be left alone before
it is reset. The default value is
30.
-time time-limit
Sets a time limit on the game to
time-limit. The game will be
stopped time-limit seconds after the
first player connects.
-timemanual When using -time, the countdown will
start when the first player joins.
With -timemanual, the countdown has
to be started manually using the
/countdown command. This is useful
for matches.
-tk Changes the default behaviour where
a player dies when he kills a team-
mate. When using this option, he
will just get a -1 score penalty for
the kill but stay alive.
-tkkr percent Kicks players whose team killing to
normal kill ratio is greater than
percent [1-100]. A start up grace
period is given to players.
-userdb file Load group associations from file
-vars file Loads values for game configurable
variables from file. Entries are one
per line in the form: set variable
value. For a list of variables that
are configurable, in the the BZFlag
client, send a message with /set as
the text.
-version Prints the version number of the
executable.
-vetoTime seconds
Length of time in which a vote can
be vetoed
-votePercentage percentage
The percentage of yes votes needed
in order for the vote to be success-
ful
-votesRequired num
The number of voters needed to hold
a vote
-voteTime seconds
The length of time the players are
able to vote
-world world-file
Reads a specific world layout for
the game map.
-worldsize world-size
changes the size for random maps
Notes
The server uses nearly zero CPU time when nobody is play-
ing, and even during a game the server uses very little
CPU, so it's not a burden on the system to leave one run-
ning and it won't interfere with a player using the same
system (except on Windows 95, which really sucks at multi-
tasking). The server will continue to run until termi-
nated. If a game is in progress when the server goes
down, all players will be kicked off and the game will be
aborted without warning. The server resets itself when
all players have quit. All players must quit to reset the
server when a game is over (because of a score or time
limit).
The following game styles are recommended starting points.
-c [-b] Basic capture-the-flag game. It
teaches teamwork and dogfighting
skills.
-s -t Free-for-all with superflags and
teleporters. Teaches players how to
use superflags and teleporters for
maximum effect. You may want to
allow players to drop bad flags with
any of -sa, -st, and -sw.
Notice that the maximum number of shots for these styles
is one. Having only one shot greatly increases playabil-
ity and learning speed. Multiple shots decrease the
required skill level and make it virtually impossible for
even a skilled player to avoid getting shot for any length
of time. More experienced players will still dominate the
game, but beginners will have an easier time making kills.
Networking
Communication between the server and clients (i.e. between
bzfs and bzflag) during a game is via TCP and UDP. Use
the -help option to get the server's default port. If
there's a firewall between the server and client, the
firewall must accept connections from the client to this
port and forward them to the server. See bzfrelay for a
BZFlag firewall relay.
Clients can search for servers by sending broadcast UDP
packets. But they must be on the same local area network
for this to work. Clients can also find servers adver-
tised using -public by querying bzfls servers.
Game information is relayed through the server. Some com-
munication between clients, such as position and orienta-
tion information, is normally sent via UDP packets. Other
data, like flag grab and kill messages, are sent to the
server via TCP. The server then turns around and broad-
casts these packets to all players. Since being in a game
implies connection to the server, all players are guaran-
teed to get all messages sent via TCP. But the UDP pack-
ets may be discarded. If other players can see your tank
in the game but it never appears to move and shots go
through it, chances are high that your UDP connection is
not working.
GENERAL SERVER COMMANDS
/lagstats
Lists network delays, jitter and number of lost
resp. out of order packets by player. Example:
MrApathyCream 335 +- 10ms
Gerbol 210 +- 3ms
captain_macgyver 155 +- 0ms 12% lost/ooo
/idlestats
Displays the idle time in seconds for each player. A player is idle when
he is dead.
MrApathyCream: 0s
Gerbol: 80s
captain_macgyver: 13s
/flaghistory
Lists what flags players have grabbed in the past. Example:
MrApathyCream: (<-) (->) (O) (CB) (M) (B) (JM) (WA)
Gerbol: (L) (GM) (L) (GM) (CL) (ST) (GM) (L)
captain_macgyver: (SB) (SW)
/password {password}
Attempt to gain administrator status Example:
/password supersecretpassword
You are now an administrator!
/report {message}
Write a message to the server administrator. Example:
/report I like this map!
SERVER ADMINISTRATIVE COMMANDS
/shutdownserver
Stop serving BZFlag on this server
/superkill
Kick all players off the server
/gameover
Ends the current game
/flag reset {unused}
Repositions flags. If unused is specified, flags
carried by tanks are not effected.
/flag up
Removes all flags from the game
/flag show
Shows all flags with information Example:
0: p:-1 r:1 g:1 1:V s:1 p:159.1x43.2x0.0
1: p:2 r:1 g:1 1:SW s:1 p:209.1x143.2x10.0
2: p:-1 r:1 g:3 1:L s:1 p:-29.1x301.2x0.0
/kick {playerName}
Kick a named player off the server.Example:
/kick Gerbol
You were kicked off the server by MrApathyCream
/playerlist
List player names and IP addresses. Example:
/playerlist
[0]MrApathyCream: 35.23.65.44:4808 udp id
[1]Gerbol: 130.123.1.55:4909 udp id
[2]captain_macgyver: 15.32.122.51:3201 udp id
/ban {ipList} {duration} {reason}
Ban players using the specified IPs for certain length of time from using this server. Example:
/ban 35.23.43.66 2 cheating
bans player with specific ip for 2 minutes
/ban 35.23.*.*,47.23.17.*
bans all ips in this range forever
/ban 36.37.2.8 2h30m "ShootMe" was abusing players
bans specific ip for 2.5 hours with given reason
/banlist
List all of the IPs currently banned from this server. Example:
/banlist
IP Ban List
------------
35.23.43.66
47.23.17.*
/countdown
Starts the countdown sequence for a timed game. Example:
/countdown
/lagwarn
Dynamic change the maximum allowed lag time. Example:
/lagwarn 300
USER MANAGEMENT
Generally, you start with empty files for the user and
password databases. These are maintained by the server,
and modifiable through server commands. You will want to
specify a groups file that has whatever specific groups
you care to have on your server. These are laid out with
one line in the file per group, using the following for-
mat:
GROUP_NAME: perm1 perm2 perm3 ... permN
Group names cannot have spaces, quotes, or other special
characters in them.
This would be a sample line defining a "cop" group:
COPS:KICK BAN BANLIST UNBAN INFO
The server will automatically create three groups if they
are not specified in the groups file: DEFAULT, REGISTERED,
and ADMIN. ADMIN has every permission possible (similar to
granting admin powers via /password). REGISTERED presently
allows access to the voting system's /poll and /vote com-
mands. DEFAULT allows /lagstats, /idlestats, /flaghistory
and /report.
Once the server is running, users can register their call-
signs and admins can set their group memberships. Users
can use any command that their permissions allow. Every
user, registered or not, is part of the DEFAULT group.
When a user identifies, they become part of the REGISTERED
group.
The available permissions are as follows:
IDLESTATS /idlestats
LAGSTATS /lagstats
FLAGMOD /flag
FLAGHISTORY /flaghistory
LAGWARN /lagwarn
KICK /kick
BAN /ban
BANLIST /banlist
UNBAN /unban
COUNTDOWN /countdown
ENDGAME /endgame
SETVAR /set /reset
SHUTDOWNSERVER /shutdownserver
SUPERKILL /superkill
PLAYERLIST /playerlist
INFO not implemented
LISTPERMS not implemented
SHOWOTHERS not implemented
REMOVEPERMS /removegroup
SETPERMS /setgroup
SETALL use of all set/remove commands
SETPASSWORD not implemented
POLL /poll ban|kick
VOTE /vote
VETO /veto
REQUIREIDENTIFY user must /identify when using
this callsign
/register {password}
Register your current callsign to the specified
password. Passwords must be at least 3 characters
long, and the callsign may not contain quotes or
other non-alphanumeric/space characters
/identify {password}
Log in to a registered callsign
/setpass {password}
Changes your password
/ghost {callsign} {password}
Kicks off an impersonating player or ghost
/grouplist
Lists the available user groups
/groupperms
Lists the permissions for each group
/showgroup {callsign}
Lists the groups that a registered user is a member
of
/setgroup {callsign} {group}
Add a user to a group
/removegroup {callsign} {group}
Remove a user from a group
/reload
Reloads the user, group, and password files (for
synchronization between multiple servers on the
same machine)
/deregister [callsign]
With an argument, it deregisters another user's
callsign. Without, it removes your own registra-
tion.
/poll ban|kick|vote|veto [...]
Interact and make requests of the bzflag voting
system via the /poll command. The ban and kick
subcommands request a vote to respectively ban or
kick some player. The playername is expected as
the next argument. The vote and veto commands
behave identical to the /vote and /veto command
counterparts, expecting the same arguments in fol-
lowing. By default, you must be registered to
request and vote on a poll.
/vote yes|no
If there is a poll active, this command will place
a vote in favor or in opposition to the poll. Mul-
tiple languages are supported as a vote argument in
addition to "yes" and "no". By default, you must
be registered to vote on a poll.
/veto If there is a poll active, this will cancel the
poll. By default, you must be an admin to veto a
poll.
WORLDS
BZFlag worlds come in two varieties, randomly generated
ones, and human designed ones. By default, bzfs uses ran-
domly generated world unless you specify the -world com-
mand line or configuration file option. The world file
specified by the -world option is a text based file that
contains a list of world objects. This file can be created
using programs found on sourceforge.net through cvs, or
can be hand edited.
The format of this text file consists of any number of
objects listed in any order. The list of world types con-
sists of
box
pyramid
teleporter
link
base
world
weapon
Each object is described by placing the type on one line,
the word end on a following line, and a list of attributes
for that object, one per line, inbetween. Attributes may
be listed in any order. Attributes have default values,
and if that is good enough, the attribute need not be
listed. Words are always specified in lowercase. Line com-
ments can be specified by placing a # sign at the start of
the line. For documentation purposes, you can tag each
object by adding a name attribute. There is set limit to
the number of times you may use box, pyramid, teleporter,
link, base and weapon objects. You must only supply one
world object at most.
In the following examples, the values are the defaults.
The Box object
box
name example_box
position 0.0 0.0 0.0
size 30.0 30.0 9.42
rotation 0.0
end
The Pyramid object
pyramid
name example_pyramid
position 0.0 0.0 0.0
size 8.2 8.2 10.25
rotation 0.0
end
The Teleporter object
teleporter
name example_teleporter
position 0.0 0.0 0.0
size 5.06 4.48 20.16
rotation 0.0
border 1.12
end
The Link object
link
name example_link
from 0
to 0
end
The Base object
base
name example_base
position 0.0 0.0 0.0
size 60.0 60.0 0.0
rotation 0.0
color 0
end
The World object
world
name example_world
size 800.0
flagHeight 0.0
end
The Weapon object
weapon
name example_weapon
position 0.0 0.0 0.0
rotation 0.0
initdelay 10.0
delay 10.0 3.0 5.0 3.0
type V
end
SEE ALSObzflag(6), bzfls(6), bzfrelay(6)bzfs(6)
