Note: If you intend to use ServerChecker I strongly advise you to read the whole Readme (except for the GPLicense which was added for the sake of completeness).
ServerChecker was created to keep our servers up and running. We run system-intensive mods on our servers and like all software they might not be free of bugs/crashes. ServerChecker has one big advantage over a batch file: It works from a user-perspective.
Scripts, FireDaemon and others would run the program in an infinite loop, counting on the server process to terminate when something happens. ServerChecker on the other hand communicates directly with the server the same way a player would, so if the server doesn't respond to user queries it will get restarted. On top of that, ServerChecker is completely free. No pro or pay-for-nothing versions...
Firstly, I created a basic console version of the program. The second version featured a Graphical User Interface and much more goodies. For this release I tweaked ServerChecker based on users feedback and own experiences with even more goodies.
We are using ServerChecker on all our Windows servers with success. Our servers now have an uptime we couldn't achieve before. Only maintenance will keep our servers down longer than half a minute.
Linux users that run a HL/HL2-based server also have the opportunity to run a perl-script made by [DumB]SGR with similar functionality. You can find it here.
Start and stop times can now be in any order so a server may start in the evening and stop in the morning.
Removed the nasty Local Time <-> GMT bug. May have corrected a small bug causing the server to keep starting/stopping as well.
In the next version a lot of new games will be supported. This is an extended list:
With thanks to [DumB]SGR for most of this list.
Some important notes:
I've decided to publish the source code of this program under GPL license.
You can find a description of the GPL license here.
If you alter any part of the source code and you think the change might be useful, then please let me
know about the change and I will include the changes and your credits in a next release.
This program is free, including the source code. I've written this to support our community, and the gaming community as a whole.
Money doesn't grow on our back though, and to keep our servers up every month, we heavily depend on donations from players who love
to play on our servers. If you like my work, we'd appreciate it very much if you'd donate to our community.
Here's how:
Paypal: hutch@tarnok.org
NoChex: hutch@tarnok.org
International bank transfer and mail are also possible. For details, visit our donations forum
Donating also provides you with rewards like reserved slot, nick protection, etc. If you've donated, make sure you post a reply in the donations thread
of the month, saying how generous you are, so we can verify it and load your steamid with goodies. Don't forget to mention you're a ServerChecker user...
The latest version can be obtained through our forum here.
This part provides a list of all servers monitored, and has buttons to add, remove, start and stop servers.
The server list contains info to identify the server and lists the current status of the server.
Possible Values:
| UP | Status | Description |
|---|---|---|
| UP | OK | All is fine. |
| Unknown | Starting Up... | ServerChecker is waiting for the server to start up. |
| Unknown | No Reply... | The server did not reply to ServerChecker queries. This may occur when: the server is changing maps, the specified startup time is not high enough or the server has crashed |
| Unknown | Stopping Server... | ServerChecker is currently stopping this server |
| DOWN | No Reply... | ServerChecker has detected that the server was unreachable. |
| DOWN | Stopped | The server was stopped successfully. |
Here you can edit the settings used to monitor the selected server in the Server Overview. All settings/changes, except Priority and Time control, can only be updated when the server is stopped.
The "View" menu has a shortcut to watch the logfile.
The "Pingbooster" menu controls the Windows Multimedia Timer.
- Clicking "Change Value..." brings up a window where you can change the precision.
- The "Run" item starts or stops the adjustment.
Since v3.0 ServerChecker automatically starts with window. This requires Windows to automatically login. If your server doesn't login automatically use Microsoft's TweakUI for XP/2K3 or TweakUI for 2K.
To disable this behaviour open your start menu, go to programs > Startup. Then right-click ServerChecker and choose delete.
This window controls the precision of the Windows Multimedia timer. It can only be changed when ServerChecker is not adjusting it. By default this value is 1, which is already tweaked!
Note: adjusting the precision of the timer is to be done with care. Mostly, this is done on HL/HL2 based servers. Doing this on other types of servers may or may not cause erratic behaviour and is untested by me.
To read more about Pingboosting click here.
This window contains the basic settings needed to add a new server. They are similar to the ones mentioned in the Server Details View.
All fields are obligatory except if you wish to monitor a "Normal Program", then Server IP and port shouldn't be entered.
For server IP, do NOT enter "127.0.0.1" or "localhost" because they use the MS TCP Loopback Interface and thus do not represent availability of the server to players.
c:\...\steam\steam.exe -applaunch 5Use this at OWN risk!
Windows Error Reporting is designed to give Microsoft feedback about malfunctioning programs.
The bad side of it is that it may require user input. I don't think you'll be logged into
your server at all times to wait for it popping up. This program can disable Windows Error
Reporting by changing some values in the Windows Registry.
To enable/disable the Error Reporting functions:
This site explains this nicely with some screenshots.
If you want to go sniffing around in the registry for the keys then this link
might be useful to find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting
and the meaning of the keys.
ErrorMode is another Registry value that controls what errors show a pop-up. This value will also be checked and changed in the next update. It can be found at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Windows and can only be changed with the registry editor. For more information about the values click through to the Microsoft MSDN library.
The first version of ServerChecker was pretty straightforward to program. This version however has increased complexity. Therefore it comes with no guarantee (as the GPL license specifies). Bugs are known to be in most programs and my program MAY not be an exception. If you'd like to see certain features added to the program (especially game support!), I'm willing to look into it. If you find a bug, please contact me and provide me with info on how te reproduce it. I'll try to fix it then, and include credits to you.
We have set up a bugtracking system where you can supply us with most feedback.
You can also contact me through our forum or on IRC(this link requires you to have a program like mIRC installed).
If you'd rather contact me personally you can send me a mail.
I will try to keep this readme updated. An updated version will appear here when available.
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