This is an experimental configuration for ST:V Elite Force multiplayer servers, designed to be used with the new cMod engine.
While it is possible to run a server locally, I recommend using a VPS (Virtual Private Server) for performance and convenience. A suitable VPS can typically be obtained for $10/month or less, and some providers have hourly options if you have short-term needs.
Recommended Specs: 2GB RAM, 80GB disk space
Linux Distro: These instructions have been tested with Ubuntu 24, Ubuntu 22, and Debian 12. Other distros may require slightly different steps.
Location: Anywhere that is close to the players you expect to be using the server. New York and London are usually good options to have decent pings for a broad range of players.
The hosting provider should give you an IP address and root password (or SSH key-based login) for the VPS. You should also have a control panel with options to reboot the VPS or reset and reinstall the OS if something goes wrong.
On Windows, Linux, and Mac you can typically start a remote session with a command like ssh -l <username> <ip address> in a terminal/command prompt.
You can also install an SCP client such as WinSCP to make it easier to access and transfer files to the VPS.
Run updates:
apt update
apt upgrade
Install required packages:
apt install python3 git
Open firewall for typical port range used for EF servers:
ufw allow 27960:27970/udp
Create 'efservers' account. Set a password for the account. Press enter to skip other prompts.
adduser efservers
Allow efservers account to run background tasks:
loginctl enable-linger efservers
Reboot server to make sure updates are applied:
reboot
Configure git. The name and email are included in commits, but unless you plan to push commits from the server to a site like GitHub, the exact value doesn't matter (it doesn't need to be your real name or email). It just needs to be set to something to use git without errors.
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"
git config --global user.name "none"
git clone https://github.com/Chomenor/cmod-server-template
cd cmod-server-template
python3 resource_loader/run_export.py
Copy one of the servers (e.g. "standard" or "uam") from the "server_manager/templates" directory to the "server_manager/servers" directory. For example:
cp -rT server_manager/templates/standard server_manager/servers/myserver
Set 'active' to true. You can also set 'public' to true if you want the server to be listed on public server lists.
For servers that support multiple public IP addresses, the ip and ip6 fields should be set manually, but otherwise the defaults should usually be sufficient.
Also check the server_manager/servers/myserver/servercfg/scripts/start.lua file to adjust other server parameters.
git add -A
git commit -m "initial server setup"
Run the following command. Note that in some environments the first startup may take some time. When finished, use Ctrl+C to shut down the server.
python3 server_manager/manager.py
These steps should work in Linux distros using systemd (such as Debian and Ubuntu). For other environments, you may be able to find instructions for how to run a Python script as a background task or service.
First run this command to register the service:
python3 server_manager/register_service.py
Afterwards these commands can be used to control the server:
systemctl --user start efserver.service: Start running EF servers.
systemctl --user stop efserver.service: Stop running EF servers.
systemctl --user restart efserver.service: Restart all running EF servers.
You can also set the EF servers to start when the VPS is started. This allows servers to automatically come back online if the VPS is restarted by the host.
systemctl --user enable efserver.service: Start EF servers on VPS startup.
systemctl --user disable efserver.service: Don't start EF servers on VPS startup.
If you have multiple servers set up, and you only want to start/stop/restart a single server, you can edit the config.json file for that server and the manager script will automatically execute the change. To start or stop the server, set "active" to true or false. To restart the server, increment the "restart_count" value.
The Linux distro should be updated periodically. Log in to the root user and run these commands (or the equivalent for your distro):
apt update
apt upgrade
reboot
You can use git to merge updates to the server template since the server was set up. Log in to the efservers user and enter the template directory:
cd cmod-server-template
Use git to check for any uncommitted changes, and commit them if necessary:
git status
git add -A
git commit -m "my changes"
Merge updates:
git pull origin --no-rebase
Depending on the updates you might need to re-run the resource export and restart running servers:
python3 resource_loader/run_export.py
systemctl --user restart efserver.service
If you encounter conflicts, you may need to remove old servers from the "servers" directory and replace it with a new version from the "templates" directory.