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asheroto edited this page Feb 20, 2024 · 54 revisions

Info

seDirector is a game server management application with a focus on Source Engine based games.

Our website contains all-things-seDirector.

Our Discord server is where most everything is discussed.

You don't have to have an account to use seDirector, it's free. The Pro edition gives you access to additional features like the Discord Bot, API, running a script/exe on server events, and more. You can view the differences between Free and Pro editions by clicking Compare Free vs Pro in seDirector.

Supported Games

Right now, the following games are supported. In Q4 2023 we plan on releasing game server templates which will enable you to host any game. No additional games will become supported until game server templates are released.

List of supported games
  • Age of Chivalry
  • Alien Swarm
  • Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop
  • Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
  • Counter-Strike: Source
  • Counter-Strike 2
  • Day of Defeat: Source
  • D.I.P.R.I.P. Warm Up
  • Garry's Mod
  • Half-Life 2: Deathmatch
  • Dota 2
  • Insurgency
  • Left 4 Dead
  • Left 4 Dead 2
  • No More Room in Hell
  • Synergy
  • Team Fortress 2
  • Team Fortress 2 Classic
  • Zombie Panic! Source

Getting Started

The easiest way to get started is to watch the tutorial on YouTube.

When you start seDirector for the first time, you need to specify 2 things:

  • Default Directory to Browse
    • This sets the folder that will appear first whenever you click Browse anywhere in the program
  • SteamCMD Location
    • This is the update application for Source Engine games. Specify its location will allow seDirector to automatically update the games using this application.

Creating a Server

  • To create a new server, right-click in the server list area and click Add Server.
  • Set a name for the server, then click Browse to specify the location of the server's srcds.exe file.
  • Once you do that, seDirector will pick up all of the information about the game server.
  • Required settings of a server:
    • Name of game server (up to you)
    • srcds.exe location
    • Initial map

Installing Addons

  • Metamod & Sourcemod can be installed in seconds on the Addons tab
  • Click the link that says Does not exist next to addons
  • Right-click in the Addons list area and click New Add-On
  • Select the add-on then click Install/Change. Metamod must be installed before SourceMod.

Automatically Updating Your Server

  • For the server to automatically update, you must install the seDirector plugin
  • Install Metamod & SourceMod by clicking on the Addons tab
  • Then install the seDirector plugin on the Automation tab
  • For Garry's Mod, simply install the plugin, no addon is required
  • For CS:GO servers, please read the instructions in the Automation tab

BZ2 Compression

  • seDirector supports BZ2 compression of maps, sounds, materials, models, and resources
  • BZ2 compression runs every time you start the server or can be run manually
  • BZ2 files are created in the same folder
  • In order to use BZ2 compression, you must have Automatically compress uncompressed server content on server start enabled on the Optimization tab of the server properties
  • BZ2 compression occurs on all supported file extensions except for stock maps
    • Players already have all stock maps when they install/update the game, so there's no need to compress these
    • Stock map lists are built-in to seDirector and are usually updated every few months
    • In the near future, all stock sounds, materials, models, and resources, will also be excluded from BZ2 compression with Issue #82 — at the moment only stock maps are excluded
  • If you get a new/different version of a file (map/sound/material/etc) and it uses the same filename, you will need to delete the associated BZ2 file in order for seDirector to compress the changed file
    • In short: once a BZ2 file has been created, it will not be automatically recreated if the original file changes — this functionality may be different in the future with Issue #81

Supported File Extensions

Category File Extensions
Maps bsp, vpk, nav
Sounds mp3, wav
Materials png, vmt, vtf
Models vtx, vvd, phy, mdl
Resources ttf

FTP/SFTP/Local Sync

  • seDirector syncs (mirrors) your game resources like maps and sounds:

    • Use Local Sync to copy to a directory on the same system or network.
    • Use FTP/SFTP Sync for copying to a remote server.
  • Rules for syncing:

    • Only BZ2 files are mirror synced, keeping the structure of folders like maps, sounds, etc.
    • All other files and folders will be deleted from the destination.
    • Don't manually copy files to the destination; they'll be removed if not in your game directories.
  • When syncing happens:

    • Syncing occurs automatically every time you Start the server.
    • You can manually trigger it by running these in order:
      • Run BZ2 Compression
      • Run FTP/SFTP/Local Sync
  • How to enable sync features:

    • Local Sync
      • Open the server properties, Optimization tab.
      • Check Enable Directory Synchronization.
    • FTP/SFTP Sync
      • Open the server properties, Optimization tab.
      • Check Enable FTP/SFTP Synchronization .

New to game server administration?

  • We recommend following a dedicated server tutorial before you begin so you understand the basics of how to manage a game server. This includes things like configuring server.cfg, server hostname, port forwarding, making the server publicly accessible, etc.
    • Example tutorial. You can skip the parts that seDirector handles automatically like obtaining server files and creating bat files.
  • When you right-click on a server and go to Show/Hide, that will show you the server console of the game server. If you go to console while in-game, that's the in-game console. Some commands will only work in the server console, and some commands will only work in the in-game console. For example, meta version will check if Metamod is loaded and its version, sm plugins will check which SourceMod plugins are loaded, etc. Those commands won't work in-game, unless you use rcon. Conversely, sm_admin will only work in-game since it displays the admin menu of SourceMod.
  • When installing SourceMod for the first time, you will need to configure your admins, otherwise it will say You do not have access to this command. When it comes to SourceMod, the SourceMod Wiki is helpful as well as the SourceMod forums.
  • You must have a user profile running at all times while seDirector is running. If you sign off of the computer, it will close seDirector.
  • To ensure your game server is accessible, you might have to tweak your Windows Firewall settings and adjust your router's port forwarding. For Windows Firewall, simply add an Inbound Rule for srcds.exe. On your router, set up a port forwarding rule to allow TCP/UDP traffic on the game server's port.

Sharing Folders Between Game Servers

Currently, you must create a separate folder for each game. The reasons for this are discussed in detail on issue #63. Although we whole heartedly agree in saving space if possible, various issues can arise when sharing files between game servers. Text-based and other CFG files aren't a big deal, but other files can interfere with the file handles in the srcds.exe process.

In the future, we may be able to come up with a workaround that can uniquely identify resources that are shared vs unshared by processes, then create some type of file synchronization, but this is a long-term goal that cannot be easily achieved due to the ever-changing nature of games.

API Tutorial

See the API Tutorial on this page.

Troubleshooting / Support

See the Troubleshooting section on this page.