******************************************************************************************** MECHINA TRIBES 2 SERVER MOD Version 1.1 http://www.mechina.com/mod/ ******************************************************************************************** Date: 5:51 PM 4/16/04 Tested with Tribes 2 version: 25034 About ----- Mechina is a client/server modification that attempts to bring a little of the Mecha universe to Tribes 2. Ranging from light assault platforms to heavy siege platforms built to last seemingly indefinitely in battle, HERCs strike fear into the hearts of every soldier alive. HERCs come pre-equipped with jump jets and can be customized to carry an array of different weapon types and specials. Each HERC has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. Win32 ----- - Pre-install Preparation: It is recommended you use a clean install of Tribes 2. If you have any scripts and you plan on running a dedicated server, un-install them or un-install Tribes 2 and re-install it and add the latest patches. Using the default installation options for Tribes 2 is always best when your dealing with mods because most mods look for Tribes 2 in the default directory "C:\Dynamix\Tribes2\GameData\". - Installing patches: It is highly recommended that you do NOT use the auto-update feature of Tribes 2 to install update patches. Instead go to a website such as http://www.planettribes.com/tribes2/recfiles.shtml and download the latest patch. Before you install it from your hard drive manually, make sure you clean your Tribes 2 server of ALL .dso files (see Removing .dso files) Once that is done, install the patch. - Removing .dso files: Best way to delete .dso files is to press your Windows "Start" button, go to "Find" then click on "Files or Folders..." . In the box labeled "Named" type in "*.dso" (without quotes). Then in the drop down box labeled "Look in:" , find the drive Tribes2 in installed on, then click the "Browse" button and find your C:\Dynamix\Tribes2 folder and select it. Make sure the check box labeled "Include subfolders" has a check mark in it. Now hit the "Find Now" button, it will list all of the .dso files in your Tribes 2 installation. Once the search is completed, click on the menu "File" and then click on "save search". This will save a shortcut of this search on to your desktop for future use. Now you should select all the files that came up in the search and delete them. - Installation: If you are running a previous version of Mechina, you must first uninstall it. You do this by using the supplied uninstall program. After you are finished running the uninstall program, you should go to your "\GameData\mechina\prefs\" folder and back up your ClientPrefs.cs and controls cs files. Then, delete the "\GameData\mechina\" folder and also any shortcuts created by the previous install. You are now ready to install the latest version. Simply download the Mechina installer and execute it, it will create a shortcut on your desktop and a folder to your start menu. When Mechina is executed using the supplied shortcut it automatically deletes base dso files to reduce the possibility of conflicts. Linux ----- - Installation: It is recommended you use a clean install of Tribes 2 and delete all *.dso files. If you are running a previous version of Mechina, you must first uninstall it. You do this by deleting the "~/.loki/tribes2/mechina/" folder and its contents. You should first however folder back up your ClientPrefs.cs and controls cs files. You are now ready to install the latest version. To install the Mechina mod on a Linux server simply extract the mechina*.tar.gz into "~/.loki/tribes2/" so that afterwards your path looks like: ~/.loki/tribes2/mechina/ Make sure to let it overwrite exisiting files. We cannot stress the fact enough that the "/mechina/" folder and subfolders MUST ALL BE IN LOWERCASE LETTERS OR THE MOD WILL NOT RUN! So make sure all folder names are lowercase and change if they are not. To run the standalone dedicated Mechina server, pass it the "-dedicated" and "-mod mechina" command line options, followed by the name of the first map, and the type of game to run. To start Mechina, you would do the following: Log in as the user you created to run Tribes 2 cd /path/to/installed/game ./tribes2d -online -mod mechina You can customize the advanced server settings by editing the file ~/.loki/tribes2/mechina/prefs/ServerPrefs.cs You can specify the number of bots to run on the command line by using the -bot # command line option. For example, to use the default map and game type with 10 bots, you would do the following: cd /path/to/installed/game ./tribes2d -dedicated -mod mechina -bot 10 If for some reason the server is crashing frequently, you can use the script "tribes2d-restart.sh" to automatically restart the dedicated server. This script will also look for updates on the internet when it starts, to keep your server up to date. cd /path/to/installed/game ./tribes2d -restart.sh -dedicated -mod mechina Server Configuration -------------------- a) Edit the "mechina.bat" file in the "...\Tribes2\GameData\" directory and change the default port for ispawn of 28000 if desired. b) Double click the shortcut that was created during the installation process. Select the launch mode from the menu. Let Tribes 2 load completely and then quit. We need to bring the Tribes 2 up and down so Mechina can write some server and client configuration files. c) Configure Mechina client and server options by going to your "...\Tribes2\GameData\mechina\prefs\" directory and opening up the "ServerPrefs.cs" and "ClientPrefs.cs" files with a text editor Detailed information -------------------- Detailed information about setting up the mod, gameplay and support requests are available on our website: http://www.mechina.com/mod/