Hi guys.

I know HLTV has a lot of problems right now, but I guess the will be fixed soon. I tried google to find tutorials that explain how to setup und use a HLTV server, but it didn't give me any usable results (or only for Windows).
So I'd like to ask if there is anyone who could write a small tutorial (just like Vadakill's tutorial for setting up a hlds_l) that covers the following points about HLTV server for LINUX:

- what hardware is required
- what software is required
- how to install/setup HLTV
- how to config the HLTV server
- customizations (like custom banners that a lot of HLTV servers use)
- HLTV demos (how to record them, what is different from player-demos, and so on)

I really hope somebody can find the time to write such a tutorial.

Sonja / Solaris

I'll consider writing one, but there doesn't seem to be much demand for it. Honestly, I really don't know much about running an HLTV server I've never run a one since bandwidth has always been a major concern for me.

I'll try to answer some questions with my own assumptions, which could be wrong, so take them with a grain of salt.

1. what hardware is required?

There's two ways of running a HLTV server as far as I know. A master server and a recast server. The master server connects and uses up one slot on the main game server and in exchange the master server itself allows the number of people you specify in the config to connect to it. Alternatively you can have other recasting servers to connect to the master server in order to increase the amount of spectators you can have. The only thing you need is to specify an additional slot on your main game server to allow the HLTV master server to connect and spectate.

2. What software is needed?

I think everything you need to run a HLTV server is already on your system. But you will need to configure it to do what you want. It also has "rcon" like privs that need to be specified.

3. How to install/setup HLTV?

No idea, haven't done it yet.


4. how to config the HLTV server

Same, haven't done it yet.


5. Customizations (like custom banners that a lot of HLTV servers use)

Ditto, no idea.


6. HLTV demos (how to record them, what is different from player-demos, and so on)

I'm assuming that the demos are recorded on the server, but to be totally honest I'm not completely sure about that. I think HLTV demos have all the data the server spits out so you can switch between any person at any time unlike standard demos which only show you what the person was looking at when he was taking the demo. If it's not that way, it should be

If you find the time to write such a tutorial I would really appreciate it. I'm not planning to run a HLTV server so other people can spectate (too much traffic) but I'd like to record HLTV demos so you can analyse a match afterwards from different perspectives.

/Hyper

Here is a guide:

http://www.slipgate.de/hltv/hltv.html

Its pretty old now, but it still contains a lot of relevant information. It was made by the guy who coded HLTV for Valve.

Theres only 2 problems I've encountered with HLTV (apart from the current bugs). First is it complaining about a library being missing. You have to add your hlds_l directory to the library path. (search this forum on how to do that) Second is when recording a demo you can't stop the demo until after the delay otherwise you'll cut off the end of the demo.

Those custom logos are more hassle than they are worth unless your broadcasting live games. I made one for a CS League I was running HLTV servers for and it worked great. But nobody saw them when they downloaded the demo, unless they had been watching the game live and had downloaded the logo.

Currently there is a bug if the server has sv_downloadurl in use then a HLTV cannot connect to the server. I imagine it will be fixed in a steam update very soon.

Tonight I used a 255 slot ClanBase HLTV so spec a 6v6, it was very successful. The proxy itself runs on Linux although I am not techninally proficient to the degree where I could tell you how it was done. I simply used;

rcon_address "hltvserverip"
rcon_port "hltvserverport"
rcon_password "hltvserverpass"
rcon serverpassword "gameserverpass"
rcon connect "gameserveraddress"

And it all worked great, which is brilliant as now the NS OpenCup can get the coverage it deserves. Anyone know if theres a way to get outside the HLTV 180second delay limit? I think 4mins would be more suitable for NS. This is exciting as it means there is now a point to shoutcasting too

This guide was helpful to me, the second section at least: http://www.tfleague.com/files/configs/TFL_HLTV_help.txt

The proxy itself was run on Linux, I am awaiting the download of demos and the HLTV server config.

Here is the HLTV demo produced by the proxy itself for those interested: http://www.clan-veterans.net/ns/amarc/Misc...8-ns_tanith.dem

Enjoy

Demos contain lots of "nothing" amarc. I once compressed a 100 Mb demo to 5Mb.

What I'm saying is, you should zip up your demos.

Ahh sorry mate totally slipped my mind was just about to go to bed when I finished uploading it, I'll zip it up now

Here ya go cheesy!

cbmatch-0404262008-n..> 28-Apr-2004 17:19 6.6M
http://www.clan-veterans.net/ns/amarc/Misc..._tanith.dem.bz2

Sorry for the lateness, hf