Etcher's Server Startup Tool.
- Before running ESST, you need to configure and start a multiplayer server at least once.
- If you want to deactivate the dedicated server feature, open
Saved Games\DCS\Config\dedicated.luaand set["enabled"] = false
- The following DCS files are added or modified:
Saved Games\DCS\Config\dedicated.lua: used to control the dedicated server behaviour. Set["enabled"] = falseto revert to standard DCS behaviour.Saved Games\DCS\Scripts\ESSTGameGUI.lua: this file controls the hooks for the DCS API and runs a UDP socket and is automatically added by ESST.C:\DCS World\MissionEditor\modules\me_authorization.lua: this file is edited to allow DCS to start directly in multiplayer server mode
NOTE: all files that are modified by ESST are backed-up before edition.
The main functionnalities are:
- Auto start and auto-restart DCS
- Discord bot able to send and receive commands
- Upload a Mission file to Discord to send it to the server
- Load missions
- Restart the server
- CPU usage alerts
- Server status
- Automatic download and activation of a mission file from a Github repository latest release
The tool is composed of three main parts:
- The DCS server manager: this is responsible for spawning (or connecting to) a DCS.exe process. It will also try it's best to keep it alive, and restart it in case it crashes. This has been made possible by Ciribob and his method to auto-start a server.
- A UDP socket: this little one is responsible for enabling
communication between DCS and ESST. Messages are sent back and forth
between the two of them. DCS sends regular updates with the status of
the server, the connected players list, etc., while ESST can send
command to DCS, for example asking it to exit gracefully before a
restart (this is achieved by installing a script in
Saved Games\DCS\Scripts\ESSTGameGUI.lua). - A Discord bot: this is a two communication between ESST and a Discord channel on the Wing's server. ESST publishes updates about the server status, and members of the server are able to send commands to the dedicated server via the same channel.
To see a list of commands available, type !help in the Discord
channel.
Along with the Discord commands that allow to upload missions file via drag-and-drop into a Discord channel, ESST also
Note: Since DCS is a 64 bit application, it is strongly recommended to have a 64 bits Python executable as well.
Note: ESST will only run with Python 3.6 and newer.
If you are able to get a working virtual environment on your own, feel free to skip the next step.
- Download and install Miniconda 64 bit
- Start a command prompt in the "Scripts" folder of your Miniconda installation
- Type:
conda create -n ESST python=3.6 - When Conda asks for confirmation, say yes.
- Activate your virtual environment with
activate ESST - The prompt will now have the
(ESST)prefix, indicating your virtual environment is activated
IMPORTANT: Remember to ALWAYS activate your environment before
running the esst script, otherwise Windows will not be able to find
the script.
First, you'll need to create a Discord application:
- Go to https://discordapp.com/developers/applications/me and click "New app"
- Give it a name and click "Create app"
- Click "Create a bot" and confirm
- Under "App bot", next to "token", click "click to reveal" and note the token. This will be your bot token
- Next, under "App details", copy your Client ID
- Got to https://discordapp.com/oauth2/authorize?client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID&scope=bot, replacing "YOUR_CLIENTID" in the URL with your actual ClientID
- Add the bot to the server of your choice
- On the server, make sure the bot has the right to manage channels, to
be able to create its channel if needed. If you prefer not to give
this role to the bot, you will need to create the channel indicated
in
DISCORD_CHANNELconfig value
IMPORTANT: the bot can only be added to ONE server for the time being.
Using a command prompt with your venv activcated, run the following command:
pip install esstThis will install ESST in your venv.
When the DCS application crashes, Windows will by default show a dialog, which will prevent ESST from restarting DCS. To disable that dialog, open an elevated command prompt and execute the following commands:
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting" /v "DontShowUI" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /freg add "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting" /v "DontShowUI" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /fCreate a file named esst.ini .
The location of esst.ini can be one of: * Arbitrary, and indicated
in the ESST_INI environment variable * In your user directory
(c:\users\<your name>\esst.ini) * In the directory of your choosing
(that directory will have to be the working directory when you run ESST)
A standard configuration file looks like this:
[main]
DEBUG = true (optional, default: false)
SAVED_GAMES_DIR = C:\path\to\Saved Games\DCS
[discord]
bot_name = My slick bot
channel = Some Discord Channel
token = DISCORD_TOKEN
motd = Hi guys!
[dcs]
PATH = C:\path\to\DCS World\bin\dcs.exe
SERVER_NAME = My awesome server
SERVER_PASSWORD = SERVER_SECRET_PASSWORD
SERVER_MAX_PLAYERS = 64
DCS_SERVER_STARTUP_TIME = 60 (optional, defaults: 120)
DCS_PING_INTERVAL = 20 (optional, default: 30)
[auto_mission] (optional)
github_owner = 132nd-vWing
github_token = SECRET_GITHUB_TOKEN (optional)
github_repo = 132nd-Virtual-Wing-Training-Mission-TblisiNote: all config values can be set either in the INI file, or in the
environment. The value PATH in the example below can be set in the
environment as DCS_PATH.
[dcs]
PATH = C:\path\to\DCS World\bin\dcs.exeThe [main] section has no prefix.
Note: case in the INI file does not matter, but environment variables must be upper-case.
debug: if true, debug messages will be printed on the consoleSAVED_GAMES_DIR: path to theDCSfolder inSaved Games
bot_name: the name of your botchannel: channel name to use on the server (it will be created by the bot if it doesn't exist)token: the token of your Discord bot
path: path to the DCS executable (dcs.exe)server_name: the name of the DCS multiplayer serverserver_password: the password for the DCS multiplayer serverserver_max_players: maximum amount of players allowed on the serverdcs_server_startup_time: this is the maximum amount of time allowed between the moment theDCS.exeprocess is running and the moment when an actual multiplayer server is running. If that time is exceeded, an alert will be sent on Discorddcs_ping_interval: this is the maximum amount of time between pings over which the server will be considered unresponsive and will be restarted (pings are sent to ESST by DCS every 5 seconds).
Those settings are optional. If provided, ESST will automatically
download the first *.miz asset from the latest release of a Github
repository, allowing you to simply upload your missions to Github, and
have ESST grab the latest version at startup.
github_owner: owner (organization or user) of the repositorygithub_repo: name of the repositorygithub_token: your personal Github token; this is provided to bypass the Github API rate-limitation error, but it's totally optional
Simply type esstat the command prompt, with your venv activated.
@echo off
echo waiting 30 seconds
ping 127.0.0.1 -n 30 > nul
call activate ESST
cd C:\Utils\ESST
pip install --upgrade --no-cache esst
esst
pauseThis batch file will: 1. Pause for 30 seconds (so you can run when the
computer starts) 2. Activate a virtual environment named ESST (note
that Miniconda\Scripts must be in the PATH for this to work) 3.
Change the working directory to C:\Utils\ESST, assuming that's where
your esst.ini file is located 4. Grabe the latest version of ESST 5.
Run ESST 6. Pause the script, to show the potential errors
ESST writes two log files, both located in Saved Games\DCS\Logs.
esst.logis the log for the main applicationesst-gamegui.logis the log for theESSTGameGUI.luascript