How to distribute a game made with Mirage Legacy
Welcome back to the official tutorial series! In this guide we will learn how to set up a server for public access, configure the client for connections and all the technical specifications you need to set up to get other people in your game.
SECTION 1 - Setting up Ports
This is the first and most important step in the process of creating a server ready for outside connections. The server by default is set to accept connections through the port 7001, and this can be changed via the "options.ini" file in the 'data' folder of the Server. Before we touch the client or server though, we need to configure your router. Setting up ports is a process that changes based on router model, so we'll take you over to the Portforward.com website in order to look up instructions on forwarding your ports, according to your router model. Be sure to forward port 7001.
You can check that this has been done successfully using their Port Check tool. Get a copy of the free program here: Portforward.com
SECTION 2 - Configuring your Client
Once you've successfully set it up, go into your Folder for Mirage Legacy and open up the Client folder, and then open up the "data files" folder. You should see something like this:
Let's configure your client for distribution right now. Go ahead and pop up the Config file, and you'll see text something like the text below, which I'll explain right now.
[Options]
Game_Name=Mirage Legacy - The name of the game
Username=aaa - The saved username
SavePass= 1 - Whether or not (0 or 1) the password should be saved in the records
IP=localhost - The IP it should connect to (localhost means the internal server, let's change this!)
Port= 7001 - The port the client will try to connect through
MenuMusic=Medieval Banquet - BL.mid - The music file to be played upon startup
Music= 0 - Whether or not Music will play in game
Sound= 0 - Whether or not Sound effects will play in game
Debug= 0 - Whether or not debug mode will be in effect (Don't touch this!)
Password=aaa - The stored password
We'll need to change the IP in the file. Let's go back to portforward.com and look at the top right corner of the frontpage. You will see "Your external IP is:" and your IP. Replace the "localhost" bit of the config file to the IP listed on that webpage. That is your External IP and is used for outside connections to connect to your server. Now, you've set the IP, so now take the time to edit the config file to your liking, change the name of the game and clear out the saved username and password.
I also recommend you open up the "news.txt" file and change the text there to something related to your game. Now that you have configured the client sucessfully, let's move on to your server. Save and close the files you've opened and go into the Server folder.
SECTION 2 - Configuring your Server
Now then, let's head over to the Server folder. Open the "data" folder and find "options.ini" We'll open this up and configure it. It should look like this.
[OPTIONS]
Game_Name=Mirage Legacy - The name of the game
Port= 7001 - The port the server will accept connections through
MOTD=Welcome to Mirage Legacy. - The Message of the Day sent to all players logging in
Website= voltisoft.com/miragelegacy - This will be presented as the official website for the game.
Let's go ahead and mess with the values to whatever you see fit. Keep the port to 7001 however. The server should be ready now, so let's go ahead and start the Server application and let it load.
SECTION 3 - Connecting to the Server.
This step is relatively simple and you've probably done it before. It's time to log in to the game! Let's go ahead and launch the client, and log in. You should be able to log into the game as you've done before. If you have, congratulations! You've finished the tutorial.
If you cannot connect to the client you should check that your server.exe program has been permitted access to the network in your firewall and double-check your router has had it's ports forwarded successfully.
This concludes our tutorial. Good luck with your game and thank you for using Legacy!
Happy Developing,
-Kevin.
