OK here's the brief. Someone came into the wfa channel and queried me. He basically was frustrated as hell setting up his server, was working on it for hours and came up to the wall. And I totally understand the feeling. Rather than give him a full lecture on reading the materials, I walked him into the admin world. Now I have several computers networked all around me, and two have q3 on it; one Linux and one w32, so I felt as though I fired up the helpdesk. Just wish I could get the dedicated Mac up without hacking it to death. Imagine a closet full of cubes....

Before each suggestion and instruction I have him I tested it out at my end so I could walk him through at his own speed. Needless to say, I didn't get all of the buffer. His first problem was getting rid of the demo error in the server console that some of us see on new server installs.... and i wanted to walk him through it step by step so i could catch errors as they happened. This guy was kind of embarrassed not understanding what was going on, so after i read this 10 times i made a simple step-by-step demonstration for it (at bottom of this page) to help people who are confused as well, because like it or not, setting up a server for the first time is confusing if you don't understand what's going on, and TOO much information is sometimes harmful.

so here ya go...

Start of [NEW]Admin buffer: Some Day
Session Ident: [NEW]Admin (somewhere@some.isp.com)
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<[NEW]Admin> anothere jail break
<{wf}shadowspawn> have u fired up the client on this machine before
<[NEW]Admin> no im just makeing this sever
<{wf}shadowspawn> do u have your keyfile on it
<[NEW]Admin> keyfile?
<{wf}shadowspawn> yeah
<{wf}shadowspawn> when u fire up the client and enter ur cd key it creates a keyfile
<[NEW]Admin> what is the client
<{wf}shadowspawn> copy ur working configs from ur client
<{wf}shadowspawn> the gameing machine
<{wf}shadowspawn> er
<{wf}shadowspawn> spelling
<{wf}shadowspawn> i knew i saw that before
<[NEW]Admin> do u have rocket aren3
<{wf}shadowspawn> when u first fire up the server it creates a default.cfg, but only if there is a keyfile in there with ur cd key
<[NEW]Admin> i never started this sever
<{wf}shadowspawn> u can always delete the default configs and it will create a new one if the keyfile is there. u will get an error for the first time only
<[NEW]Admin> im makeing it today
<{wf}shadowspawn> u should grab your client configs
<[NEW]Admin> how do i do that
<{wf}shadowspawn> oh copy them
<{wf}shadowspawn> to a floppy or over the network or whatever u can do
<[NEW]Admin> how can i delete the default
<{wf}shadowspawn> don't do it unless u have a copy of it, every server is different
<{wf}shadowspawn> the configs u need are:
<[NEW]Admin> how can i delete the default.cfg
<{wf}shadowspawn> it's not really the default.cfg it's the q3config
<[NEW]Admin> oh
<{wf}shadowspawn> remember to back it up
<{wf}shadowspawn> first
<[NEW]Admin> k
<[NEW]Admin> then
<{wf}shadowspawn> copy the client's baseq3\q3config, and a file called q3key 
<{wf}shadowspawn> both in the baseq3 directory
<[NEW]Admin> k hold
<{wf}shadowspawn> have u played wfa on the client machine before copy that one too
<{wf}shadowspawn> under /wfa
<[NEW]Admin> what is a client
<{wf}shadowspawn> it's the machine u played the game on before
<[NEW]Admin> oh
<{wf}shadowspawn> client-server
<{wf}shadowspawn> etc
<[NEW]Admin> oh
<[NEW]Admin> this is the only computer i played q3 wfa on
<[NEW]Admin> ok
<[NEW]Admin> i back them up now
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok now don't delete them. do u have a file called q3key in the baseq3 directory
<[NEW]Admin> yea
<{wf}shadowspawn> the server won't fire up without it
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok is it in the server's baseq3 ?
<[NEW]Admin> what
<{wf}shadowspawn> how many machines do i have and what kind of server are u making
<[NEW]Admin> wfa
<[NEW]Admin> pure i think
<[NEW]Admin> it says no cheats
<{wf}shadowspawn> is it a dedicated server and is it for playing alone or others to connect to
<{wf}shadowspawn> heh
<[NEW]Admin> the way they say how to make it off the internet that is what i did
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok have u ever played the wfa game on this server or is it the same machine
<[NEW]Admin> no
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok
<{wf}shadowspawn> just wanted to make sure.
<[NEW]Admin> i just started make this sever to day its new
<[NEW]Admin> i just started make this sever today its new
<[NEW]Admin> if i get it runnging
<{wf}shadowspawn> so now u have ur client's (game machine) q3config, and q3key file on the server's baseq3 directory
<[NEW]Admin> yes
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok now what about the q3config from the wfa directory
<{wf}shadowspawn> did u copy that one too
<[NEW]Admin> no
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok do that
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok what does that shortcut say in the batch file for the quake3.exe part
<[NEW]Admin> what
<[NEW]Admin> this is what it says
<[NEW]Admin> well
<[NEW]Admin> what i download off the internet
<[NEW]Admin> "D:\Program Files\Quake III Arena\quake3.exe" +set cvar_restart +set sv_cheats 0 +set dedicated 2 +set fs_game wfa +set com_hunkmegs 30 +set net_ip 7.27.55.11 +set g_gametype 4 +set net_port 27960 +exec wfa-server.cfg
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok we are going to try something simple go to command prompt
<[NEW]Admin> k
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> go to the quake3 directory where the quake3.exe is
<[NEW]Admin> what do i type
<{wf}shadowspawn> quake3 +set dedicated 2
<{wf}shadowspawn> it should just load the console
<[NEW]Admin> right now it says c:\windows>
<{wf}shadowspawn> get to your quake3 directory
<[NEW]Admin> wtf
<{wf}shadowspawn> where is quake3 installed
<[NEW]Admin> i went to d and it has d:program files\quake3\jail break2
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok just go into quake3
<[NEW]Admin> hey
<{wf}shadowspawn> yeah
<[NEW]Admin> i went to d and it says d:program files\quake3\jail break2
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok type in cd ..
<[NEW]Admin> can this mess up my com
<[NEW]Admin> can this mess up my computer
<{wf}shadowspawn> cd means change directory and anything can mess up your comp i learned
<[NEW]Admin> k
<[NEW]Admin> cd what
<{wf}shadowspawn> cd ..
<{wf}shadowspawn> two dots
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> now ur in the quake3 right
<[NEW]Admin> yea
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok type quake3 +set dedicated 2
<{wf}shadowspawn> and hit enter
<[NEW]Admin> but can something bad happen to com
<[NEW]Admin> but can something bad happen to computer
<{wf}shadowspawn> all ur doing is launching quake3 in dedicated server mode. i've seen computers lock up by doing less
<[NEW]Admin> k
<[NEW]Admin> im about to press enter
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok console should launch
<[NEW]Admin> yea
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok what's the last line say
<[NEW]Admin> Hitch warning: 789 msec frame time
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok good. is there a common initialization complete above that
<[NEW]Admin> yea
<[NEW]Admin> it says a port and a ip
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok does that ip and hostname say what it should
<{wf}shadowspawn> like how is this thing hooked up to the internet
<[NEW]Admin> what should it say
<{wf}shadowspawn> hm.
<{wf}shadowspawn> how are you getting this thing on the internet
<[NEW]Admin> cable
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok, are you sharing the cable modem 
<[NEW]Admin> yea we have 3 accounts
<{wf}shadowspawn> or have like two ip addresses or etc.
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok
<{wf}shadowspawn> that machine should be one of those ip addresses
<{wf}shadowspawn> is that what it says or is it blank
<[NEW]Admin> it say an ip
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok can u surf with this computer right now if u wanted to
<[NEW]Admin> suff the net?
<{wf}shadowspawn> surf
<{wf}shadowspawn> yeah
<[NEW]Admin> yea
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok. now is there any errors besides the hitch in the console
<{wf}shadowspawn> every time u scroll it causes a hitch its a pain in the ass
<[NEW]Admin> no i dont see anything that says error
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok. hold on a sec, let me think of a map
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok type map q3dm5 in the console
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> after it calms down it should give some resolves, did it?
<[NEW]Admin> p3dm5 with a slash
<{wf}shadowspawn> no just map q3dm5
<[NEW]Admin> what do i type map p3dm5
<{wf}shadowspawn> q
<{wf}shadowspawn> map q3dm5
<[NEW]Admin> k
<[NEW]Admin> it said sever didnt have cd
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok.
<{wf}shadowspawn> u have bots enabled. shut down the server
<[NEW]Admin> how
<{wf}shadowspawn> quit
<[NEW]Admin> k
<[NEW]Admin> then
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok find the q3config.cfg file and open it for editing
<[NEW]Admin> what one theres like 3
<{wf}shadowspawn> 3?
<{wf}shadowspawn> the only one in the baseq3 directory
<{wf}shadowspawn> sry
<[NEW]Admin> well theres more then 1 of thoes files 1 for wfa and reg
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok just pick the one called q3config.cfg in baseq3
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok look for the word bot
<{wf}shadowspawn> there should be alot
<[NEW]Admin> im the file
<[NEW]Admin> in notpad tho
<[NEW]Admin> hey
<{wf}shadowspawn> can u read it
<[NEW]Admin> i want a wfa seber
<{wf}shadowspawn> like is it garbage
<[NEW]Admin> i want a wfa sever
<{wf}shadowspawn> heh
<[NEW]Admin> yea
<{wf}shadowspawn> u'll get it
<[NEW]Admin> k
<[NEW]Admin> i dont see bot
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok ur in notepad right?
<[NEW]Admin> y
<{wf}shadowspawn> edit menu, the find bot
<{wf}shadowspawn> er type bot im
<{wf}shadowspawn> in
<[NEW]Admin> were
<{wf}shadowspawn> top of notepad click edit
<{wf}shadowspawn> and search
<[NEW]Admin> it didnt find none
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok now does this file look like garbage or is it legeble
<[NEW]Admin> were
<{wf}shadowspawn> like can u understand it
<{wf}shadowspawn> does it look orderly, etc.
<[NEW]Admin> no =(
<{wf}shadowspawn> or does it look all clumped
<{wf}shadowspawn> ah
<{wf}shadowspawn> shit man u need to enter in some stuff and if u do it wrong it won't work
<{wf}shadowspawn> u are so close
<{wf}shadowspawn> hm
<[NEW]Admin> hey
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok close notepad and copy that file
<{wf}shadowspawn> to somewhere else
<[NEW]Admin> if i cant keep the sever going can i get rid of it
<{wf}shadowspawn> get rid of what
<[NEW]Admin> the sever
<{wf}shadowspawn> i guess so
<{wf}shadowspawn> that's up to you
<[NEW]Admin> are u shure
<{wf}shadowspawn> what are u askin
<[NEW]Admin> and when i was in the console it showed my @home regiter
<{wf}shadowspawn> oh yeah that's because it finds it
<{wf}shadowspawn> don't worry about that
<[NEW]Admin> k
<[NEW]Admin> hold on brb
<[NEW]Admin> k
<[NEW]Admin> sorry
<[NEW]Admin> u there
<{wf}shadowspawn> y
<[NEW]Admin> ok
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok did u back it up
<[NEW]Admin> yea
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok open it up with wordpad
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> u got it open?
<{wf}shadowspawn> not word, wordpad
<[NEW]Admin> y
<[NEW]Admin> ya
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok last line add this
<{wf}shadowspawn> seta bot_enable "0"
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> save it
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok go back to the command shell
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> u still un the wuake directory?
<[NEW]Admin> yea
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok quake +set dedicated 2
<[NEW]Admin> k
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok at console map q3dm5
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> any cd error?
<[NEW]Admin> no
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok is there a resolve?
<[NEW]Admin> yea
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok u have a deciated up. whats ur ip address
<{wf}shadowspawn> and port
<[NEW]Admin> ?
<[NEW]Admin> were does it say
<{wf}shadowspawn> tpye in net_port
<[NEW]Admin> k
<[NEW]Admin> then
<{wf}shadowspawn> remember that
<{wf}shadowspawn> now try net_ip 
<[NEW]Admin> its 27960
<{wf}shadowspawn> if it doesnt give an ip address then u gotta scroll up
<[NEW]Admin> it says localhost
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok scroll
<[NEW]Admin> up
<{wf}shadowspawn> somewhere before the initGame line
<{wf}shadowspawn> yeah there is a scroll bar on left
<{wf}shadowspawn> er right
<{wf}shadowspawn> it'll say IP:
<[NEW]Admin> up at top it says ip then an ip is there is that it
<{wf}shadowspawn> what's the ip address
<[NEW]Admin> it says
<[NEW]Admin> XX.XX.XX.XX
<[NEW]Admin> hey
<[NEW]Admin> is it a wfa sever
<{wf}shadowspawn> no but it is a dedicated server
<{wf}shadowspawn> now watch the console
<[NEW]Admin> whats that
<[NEW]Admin> whats that?
<[NEW]Admin> u there
<{wf}shadowspawn> y
<{wf}shadowspawn> watch the console
<{wf}shadowspawn> thats me
<[NEW]Admin> what is a dedicated sever
<{wf}shadowspawn> what u have
<[NEW]Admin> is it wfa
<{wf}shadowspawn> look at the blue screen did u see me?
<[NEW]Admin> yea
<{wf}shadowspawn> congratulations we're almost there
<[NEW]Admin> how do i make it wfa
<{wf}shadowspawn> getting to that
<[NEW]Admin> hey
<[NEW]Admin> thanks for all the help
<[NEW]Admin> ty
<{wf}shadowspawn> np
<[NEW]Admin> ok now
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok quit the server
<[NEW]Admin> k
<[NEW]Admin> then/
<[NEW]Admin> then?
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok quake +set fs_game wfa +set dedicated 2 +set g_gametype 4
<{wf}shadowspawn> back at command prompt
<{wf}shadowspawn> any errors?
<[NEW]Admin> yea
<{wf}shadowspawn> what does it say
<[NEW]Admin> bad cmmand or filename
<{wf}shadowspawn> damn i meant quake3
<[NEW]Admin> oh
<[NEW]Admin> no errors
<{wf}shadowspawn> 1 sec
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok good
<{wf}shadowspawn> now we are going to load a map
<[NEW]Admin> how do i talk to people
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> oh that u gotta read that's easy; but hold on
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> did u download all of wfa
<[NEW]Admin> yea
<[NEW]Admin> 1.1
<[NEW]Admin> and the map packs
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok. type map 2fort2001-wfa
<[NEW]Admin> it said dint have cd
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok.
<{wf}shadowspawn> damn
<{wf}shadowspawn> type seta bot_enable 0
<[NEW]Admin> do we need to change the q3 wfa config
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> that's what we just did
<{wf}shadowspawn> hold on
<[NEW]Admin> hey
<[NEW]Admin> got the map to load
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok
<[NEW]Admin> hey
<{wf}shadowspawn> u know have a dedicated server
<[NEW]Admin> it say running on v30 patch
<{wf}shadowspawn> yeah i know
<[NEW]Admin> its v30!!!
<{wf}shadowspawn> prowl around on the bugboards, the tech boards, and the server admin boards
<{wf}shadowspawn> no they never changed it
<[NEW]Admin> oh
<[NEW]Admin> so it 1.1
<{wf}shadowspawn> what it says in console
<{wf}shadowspawn> hold on i am checking it
<[NEW]Admin> sever is running on v30b patch
<{wf}shadowspawn> yeah its 1.1
<[NEW]Admin> did u connect
<{wf}shadowspawn> no not yet hold on
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> thats me
<[NEW]Admin> is it 1.1
<{wf}shadowspawn> yeah
<{wf}shadowspawn> i poked it with gamespy
<[NEW]Admin> yes!!!!!!!!!!!!
<{wf}shadowspawn> im in
<[NEW]Admin> sweet
<{wf}shadowspawn> heh u need to tweak the configs.
<[NEW]Admin> how
<{wf}shadowspawn> the hostname, the maplist, everything in the server.cfg
<{wf}shadowspawn> u gotta read the readmes
<[NEW]Admin> ok
<[NEW]Admin> were do i change them at
<{wf}shadowspawn> in the wfa-server.cfg and the wfa-server.ini
<[NEW]Admin> g
<[NEW]Admin> hey
<[NEW]Admin> ill say it again
<{wf}shadowspawn> ok man congratds
<[NEW]Admin> ok
<{wf}shadowspawn> heh make sure you read all the forums
<[NEW]Admin> what do i do to put it up 
<{wf}shadowspawn> there is a goldmine of info in there
<[NEW]Admin> i ment
<{wf}shadowspawn> u mean to make it public?
<[NEW]Admin> if i quit how do i get it ack up
<[NEW]Admin> if i quit how do i get it back up
<{wf}shadowspawn> oh quit it
<[NEW]Admin> yea
<{wf}shadowspawn> and try that shortcut
<[NEW]Admin> what one
<[NEW]Admin> the bat
<{wf}shadowspawn> wasn't there one for the dedicated server?
<{wf}shadowspawn> don't really need the bat
<[NEW]Admin> k
<[NEW]Admin> ill have to go into the msdos mod to get it up
<{wf}shadowspawn> just save this conversation, like copy and paste it somewhere
<[NEW]Admin> is it laggy
<{wf}shadowspawn> it wasn't
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> but u won't know till alot get on
<[NEW]Admin> k
<[NEW]Admin> ty alot
<{wf}shadowspawn> hey no problem
<[NEW]Admin> do u have icq
<{wf}shadowspawn> yeah 10807552 
<{wf}shadowspawn> i'm not always around though
<{wf}shadowspawn> but read the forums
<{wf}shadowspawn> and there is some stuff on my site too
<{wf}shadowspawn> www.shadowspawn.net
<[NEW]Admin> k
<{wf}shadowspawn> to help you with settings. and ALWAYS back up your configs
<{wf}shadowspawn> good luck man
<[NEW]Admin> im gonna go read the stuff
<[NEW]Admin> ok
<[NEW]Admin> ty
<{wf}shadowspawn> i gotta run
<{wf}shadowspawn> np
<{wf}shadowspawn> l8r
<[NEW]Admin> l8r

End of [NEW]Admin buffer Sat Aug 12 23:09:30 2000

And this prompted me to write this: For Win32 Possible the easiest steps that are interactive and will catch problems as they occur. Gonna capture screenshots for it soon.