Hosting a new server
 

So, yeah, I am going to host a JJ2 server. A friend of mine who hostes a Minecraft server on his PC was so kind to agree with hosting a JJ2 server as well. Since the last two months I never thought of playing JJ2 online, on servers. Yes, I am a newbie. This is why I need help with hosting it. I've got a few questions to ask:

1. How do I choose certain maps for the server?
2. Does JJ2 work on Mac? If yes, how?
3. How can I enable and use commands in case I've got to kick or ban somebody? Also, how can I promote someone to be an administrator/moderator?
4. What should I choose: CTF or Battle?
5. Suggest me some maps :)
6. A name for the server? A good color for the name? :P
7. Any other tips? I really need some, since I never hosted a server!


Thanks for reading and for those who would like to help me!

If you do mean a dedicated server:

From my experience, it's not worth hosting a dedicated server. It'll usually just sit there empty, and you'll be wasting money on something that'll barely be used. The necessary dedicated servers are already there.

If you don't mean a dedicated server:

I'd suggest a less played, but popular gamemode. There's already plenty of CTF and battle servers out there. We don't need more servers, unless it fills a niche that the others don't.

Suggesting levels isn't something you can do on the flick of a switch. It takes time to find levels, and usually the best thing to do, is to find out for yourself.

If I recall, JJ2 works on mac but only on 1.23. But don't bother hosting with a mac at all, because the support with plus is nonexistent, which is practically essential for hosting. Without plus, making levellists and admin control is a real pain (infact, there's no admin control/commands in vanilla JJ2). Also, a much more limited gamemode choice. I can't join plusless servers either.

However, I recall Black Ninja was making plus work with mac, but there hasn't been any recent word on that.

I don't think there's much point in answering further if a mac is the only thing you have...so I'll leave it at here.

EDIT: I recall you can use WINE to get JJ2+, but I've never used it myself (and I heard it's complicated), so I'd be of no help.

As Treylina said, you can use Wine.

Also, a lot of the information you're asking for is in the Plus readme, so I advise giving that a quick look.

Oh well, I'll talk to the guy who's up to host the server, maybe he can change the Windows. It wont be dedicated though.

Beside Battle and CTF, which gamemode would be great for a server? I was thinking of making a Co-op using the maps from single player (From Castle to Hell). Also, I saw people using custom gamemodes, such as Frog Hunt. How can I do that?

One more question, which isn't related to the server: I found out how to play JJ2 on Android mobiles, without too much lag. Is there any thread about this on JCF? If no, should I make a thread about this? Some people might want to do this.

*sigh* Since when does a quick reply need to be moderated?

I'm not sure why your posts were moderated (it certainly wasn't by me!). Possibly there's some automatic anti-spam stuff that applies to users with low post counts - we've had problems with spambots before so I wouldn't be surprised if one of the other admins has added something. In any case I've approved your posts.

Check the plus readme, which brings lots of new gamemode types.

I don't recommend co-op because it's still rather broken. It has trouble cycling on levels with bosses, and tends to fully heal players who take a carrot.

One good dedicated server in the past was hosting Ground Force (aka Survivor) which is part of the default Treasure game mode. If you haven't played ground force yet, I highly recommend it for a less-intense but still competitive relaxing experience. Currently there aren't any dedicated servers purely for ground force.

:lol:

To me it's a novelty gamemode. If you're chances of winning rely on idling, standing on invisible blocks and everyone else making mistakes, I don't think it'll ever be viable competitively. That doesn't mean I dislike the gamemode though, I just think it's nothing more than a casual multiplayer experience.

There used to be a dedicated ground force server (it was Camel Beta I think?), but no one joined it. Maybe because it was plus only and that it also needs some admin organisation for it to work*.

*Well, it wouldn't require admin organisation if the levels were scripted, but that's plus only and requires prior effort.

Well, there's no reason to impose ground force on others, if it's not your favorite don't play it then. But, I had a lot of good training in survivor levels, really improving stuff like movement, dodging and acceleration. And it's fun because it's vastly different from other game modes. It's also untrue that no one joined Camel Beta.

All I was saying, is that I don't consider it a competitive gamemode, not whether I like it or not. From earlier;

"That doesn't mean I dislike the gamemode though, I just think it's nothing more than a casual multiplayer experience."

Whenever I saw camel beta, it was empty. What I mostly meant was figurative, not literal.

Mmmph, okay.

I love survivor/ground force ;-; I'd be totally down for a dedicated server of it, maybe I'll even start playing again regularly ;O