Multiplayer

This article covers the complete setup process for a Necesse Dedicated server.

If you want to set up a Linux dedicated server specifically, you can follow this guide.

中文开服教程请参考：Multiplayer Chinese

Dedicated Server vs in-game world hosting

It is not necessary to have a dedicated server in order to play multiplayer with others. Players can host their worlds in-game as well. A hosted world will be hosted on Steam, specifically in the location of your download region.

The one advantage a dedicated server offers is the server/world will always be online and accessible. In the case of world hosting, the owner of the world will need to be online and in the world for other players to join.

If your group won't be playing if the owner isn't online, your group can opt for in-game hosting instead.

Purchase a dedicated server

If you'd rather purchase a dedicated game server hosted by a 3rd party, some of them are:

• Shockbyte
• Pingperfect
• CitadelServers
• Game Host Bros
• Any VPS hosting service, like AWS EC2

Downloading Server Files

Downloading the server files can be performed in two different ways, which are:

Through Steam

Navigate to your Steam library and filter for tools

Identify 'Necesse Dedicated Server' and click install

Through SteamCMD

See Valve's developer wiki for how to download and install SteamCMD: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamCMD

Once installed, run SteamCMD by double-clicking the steamcmd.exe in the installation folder.

In the SteamCMD window, type in the following:

login anonymous

To change where the dedicated server is installed, use the command force_install_dir C:\Necesse That would tell SteamCMD to install the Necesse Dedicated server files to a folder called Necesse on your PC's C drive

Next, download the server files to the specified folder by typing:

app_update 1169370 validate

When the process has completed, it will say "Success! App '1169370' fully installed." You can then close Steam CMD by typing:

quit

Through download

You can also download the server files located at https://necessegame.com/server/

Port Forwarding

The protocol and default port for Necesse is UDP and port 14159. You will need to open these ports on your router and server's Windows Firewall.

Router

Login to your router.

Navigate to your routers port forwarding section.

Create the port forward entries in your router.

Windows Firewall

Navigate to Control Panel → System and Security → Windows Firewall.

Select "Advanced settings" and highlight "Inbound Rules" in the left pane.

Right click Inbound Rules and select "New Rule..."

Click the "Port" circle and click "Next"

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Select the protocol (UDP) and the port number (if you've followed this example, it would be 14159) in the "Specific local ports:" text box and click Next.

Select "Allow the connection" in the next window and click Next.

Select the network type as you see fit and click Next.

Name the rule "Necesse Server" and click Finish.

Port Forwarding Testing

Test that your ports are forwarded correctly by entering your public IP address and the port number on this site: https://portchecker.co/

Note that port checkers sometimes report false negatives, if you have done everything correct and you can see your server listening on a netstat scan, it may be worth checking if people can join anyway.

Running the server

To run the server, navigate to wherever you installed the server files, if you've followed the exact steps from this guide, it would be C:\Necesse

Locate the file called "StartServer.bat" and double-click it, a new window will appear, this is the dedicated server program.

You will be asked to name the world, type your desired world name into the text box and click "Enter"

If you want custom server options, type in "y" and click "Enter", if you do not, type "n" and click "Enter"

It will ask you to specify the "host port" this is the port we forwarded earlier, so type in 14159 and then click "Enter"

Then, it will ask for the amount of player slots, type in a number between 1 and 250, and click "Enter"

Next, it will ask whether you want a server password, if you do, type in the server password, don't type anything if you don't want a server password, and click "Enter"

It will ask you to specify custom spawn island, leave blank for random or enter a custom spawn island in the format: <x>,<y> and click "Enter"

Then you'll be asked to specify spawn seed, enter a random number or leave blank for random, and click "Enter"

You'll then be asked to choose whether to spawn the guide house, type in "y" for yes or "n" for no, and click "Enter"

Click "Enter" one final time, to start up the server.

Leave the dedicated server program window open to keep the server running, when you want to shut down the server, type "quit" into the text box and click "Enter" or click the X at the top right of the window.

How to join the server

Run the game from Steam

Click "Multiplayer"

Click "Add Server"

Type a name that will help you remember the server in the "Name" field

Type your public IPv4 address (which can be found here: https://whatismyipaddress.com/) in the "IP address" field

Type your server port which if you've followed this guide is 14159 in the "Port Number" field

Click "Add"

Your server will now appear in the "Multiplayer" menu, double-click it to join (or click it once then click "Join Server")

Configuring the server

If you want to change the configuration of your server (after the initial setup) you will need to edit some files. They can be edited using any Text Editor program, such as Notepad (pre-installed to all Windows based PC's)

Before editing any configuration files, you should ALWAYS stop your server first.

To navigate to the server's configuration files (and save files) type %appdata% into the Windows search bar, then double-click the "Necesse" folder

The server configuration file is named "server.cfg" and is located at C:\Users\YourPCUsernameHere\AppData\Roaming\Necesse\cfg

The world configuration file is named "worldSettings.cfg" and is located at C:\Users\YourPCUsernameHere\AppData\Roaming\Necesse\saves\YourWorldNamehere.zip

The world is in a Compressed (zipped) .zip folder by default, meaning you will have to extract the files contained inside by right-clicking and selecting "Extract Here" - rename the original YourWorldNameHere.zip to something different.

Then you need to edit the "worldSettings.cfg" file.

Then right-click the YourWorldNameHere folder, and hover over "Send to" and click "Compressed (zipped) folder"

File Locations

By default

The server configuration file is named "server.cfg" and is located at C:\Users\YourPCUsernameHere\AppData\Roaming\Necesse\cfg

The world configuration file is named "worldSettings.cfg" and is located at C:\Users\YourPCUsernameHere\AppData\Roaming\Necesse\saves\YourWorldNamehere.zip

The save data is the .zip named according to the world name, and is located at C:\Users\YourPCUsernameHere\AppData\Roaming\Necesse\saves\

The server logs are found at C:\Users\YourPCUsernameHere\AppData\Roaming\Necesse\logs

Customizations

Forcing configs to the game directory can be done with the -localdir parameter in bat file

Server and chat commands

Commands can be run from the server command line, or from the in-game chat if the user have the required permissions. If you are hosting or playing singleplayer, you have all command permissions. When joining a server, you start with user permissions. Permissions can be assigned with the /permissions set <name> <permission> command. If you start the server with the -owner <name> launch option, any player joining with this name will get owner permissions.

Commands that require cheats enabled will give a warning before attempting to use them. Using them will disable achievements on the world in which you use them.

Command	Permissions	Action	Cheats
/help [<page/command>]	User	Lists all commands or gives information about a specific command
/playtime	User	Shows your current playtime on the server
/me <action>	User	Declare an action to the entire server
/w, /whisper or /pm <player> <message>	User	Whisper a message to another player
/mypermissions	User	Shows your permission level
/die	User	Kills yourself
/performance [<includeServer>] [<seconds>]	User	Records server performance over some seconds and creates a file with the results
/createteam	User	Creates a new team for yourself
/leaveteam	User	Leaves your current team
/invite <player>	User	Invites a player to your team
/network	Moderator	Shows network usage this session
/players	Moderator	Lists players currently online
/playernames	Moderator	Lists all authentications and their names
/levels	Moderator	Lists currently loaded levels
/save	Moderator	Saves all data
/kick <player> [<message/reason>]	Moderator	Kicks player from the server
/say <message>	Moderator	Talks in the chat as Server
/mow <range> [<chance>]	Admin	Mows ground of grass in range with percent chance	✓
/time <set/add> [<amount>]	Admin	Sets/adds world time (can use (mid)day or (mid)night)	✓
/clearall [<global>]	Admin	Clears all entities	✓
/clearmobs [<global> [<type>]]	Admin	Clears all mobs or a specific type on your level or on all loaded levels	✓
/clearevents [<global> [<type>]]	Admin	Clears all events on your level or on all loaded levels	✓
/tp [<player1>] <player2/home/death/spawn>	Admin	Teleports player1 to player2 or other location	✓
/print <message>	Admin	Prints a message in the chat
/give [<player>] <item> [<amount>]	Admin	Gives item to player	✓
/buff [<player>] <buff> [<seconds>]	Admin	Gives buff to player	✓
/clearbuff [<player>] <buff>	Admin	Clears buff from player	✓
/reveal [<player>]	Admin	Reveals entire clients current level	✓
/setisland [<player>] <islandX> <islandY> [<dimension>]	Admin	Changes the island of the player	✓
/setdimension [<player>] <dimension>	Admin	Changes the dimension of player	✓
/hp [<player>] <health>	Admin	Sets the health of player	✓
/maxhp [<player>] <health>	Admin	Sets the max health of player	✓
/mana [<player>] <mana>	Admin	Sets the mana of player	✓
/maxmana [<player>] <mana>	Admin	Sets the max mana of player	✓
/hunger [<player>] <hunger>	Admin	Sets the hunger percent of player	✓
/deleteplayer <authentication/fullname>	Admin	Deletes a players files in the saved players folder
/settings <list/setting> [<arg>]	Admin	Change server world settings
/difficulty <list/difficulty>	Admin	Changes difficulty setting
/deathpenalty <list/penalty>	Admin	Changes death penalty setting
/raids <list/frequency>	Admin	Changes raids frequency setting
/pausewhenempty <0/1>	Admin	Enable/disable pause when empty setting
/maxlatency <seconds>	Admin	Sets the max latency before client timeout
/ban <authentication/name>	Admin	Bans a player
/unban <authentication/name>	Admin	Removes a ban
/bans	Admin	Lists all current bans
/rain [<islandX> <islandY> <dimension>] <start/clear>	Admin	Sets the rain on the level	✓
/enchant <clear/set/random> [<slot>] [<enchantID>]	Admin	Clears, sets or gives a random enchant (use -1 slot for selected item)	✓
/copyitem [<slot>]	Admin	Copies an item and all of its data	✓
/healmobs <health> [<range>] [<filter>]	Admin	Heals mobs around you	✓
/copyplayer <from> <to>	Admin	Copy a players inventory, position and health over to another	✓
/demo [<player>] [<setup> [<forceNew>]] [<builds>]	Admin	Setups up a world and/or build for player	✓
/getteam <player>	Admin	Gets the current team of the player
/clearteam <player>	Admin	Removes the player from his current team
/setteam <player> <team>	Admin	Sets the team of the player.
/setteamowner <team> <player>	Admin	Sets the owner of the team. The new owner must be part of the team already
/motd <clear/get/message>	Admin	Sets or clears the message of the day. Use \n for new line
/changename <player> <name>	Admin	Changes the name of a player
/sharemap [<from>] <to>	Admin	Shares your map discoveries with another player	✓
/stop, /exit or /quit	Owner	Saves and stops the server
/password [<password>]	Owner	Set a password of the server, blank will be no password
/permissions <list/set/get> [<authentication/name> [<permissions>]]	Owner	Sets a players permissions
/regen [<islandX> <islandY> <dimension>] [<biome>] [<seeded>]	Owner	Regenerates the entire level	✓
/allowcheats	Owner	Enables/allows cheats on this world (NOT REVERSIBLE)	✓
/itemgnd [<slot>] <set/get/clear> [<key> [<value>]]	Owner	Gets or sets item GND data	✓
/jobsearchrange <range>	Owner	Sets the job search tile range of settlers
/language <language>	Server	Sets server language settings

Server Parameters

The following parameters can be added to customize server configuration. Found in Necesse.jar under necesse.engine.platforms.desktop.server package, DesktopServerWrapper.class file.

Parameters not given will be loaded from server settings file.

Parameter	Description
-help	Shows this help menu
-nogui	Runs the server in terminal instead of opening the GUI
-settings <file>	Settings file path to load server settings from
-world <name>	World to load instead of being asked which to load
-port <port>	Port to host at
-slots <slots>	Amount of player slots
-owner <name>	Anyone that connects with this name, will get owner permissions
-motd <message>	Sets the message of the day. Use \\n for new line
-password <password>	The password for the server, blank for no password
-pausewhenempty <1/0>	Pauses the world when there are no players in server, defaults 0
-giveclientspower <1/0>	If the server should check client actions, a kind of anti-cheat. When off it will give a much smoother experience for clients. Defaults off.
-logging <1/0>	If on the server will generate a log file for each session, defaults 1
-logs <folder>	What folder to place the logs, if logging is enabled
-zipsaves <1/0>	If saves should be compressed, defaults to 1
-language <language>	Sets the language of the server, only used for occasional messages in log
-ip <address>	Binds the server IP to the address
-datadir <path>	Sets the path where cache, latest log, saves etc. are stored. Defaults to Necesse folder in appdata on different platforms
-localdir	Same as -datadir, but uses the local directory the server is launched from