NAME

       prboom-plus-game-server - Server for network games of PrBoom+.

SYNOPSIS

       prboom-plus-game-server [ -adfnrv ] [ -e epis ] [ -l level ] [ -t ticdup ]  [ -x xtics ] [
       -p port ] [ -s skill ] [ -N players ]  [ -c conffilename ]  [ -w wadname[,dl_url ]]

DESCRIPTION

       PrBoom is a version of the first-person shooter  game  Doom,  originally  released  by  iD
       software in 1993.

       PrBoom+  is  a  Doom source port developed from the original PrBoom project.  It includes,
       amongst other things, the ability to play with  several  players  connected  by  a  TCP/IP
       network.

       To  start  a  network  game (often abbreviated to `netgame'), first the server is started.
       prboom-plus-game-server accepts various parameters to control the type of game (the  skill
       level, number of players, level to play, optional WAD file(s) to load, etc).

       Then each player that wishes to participate runs prboom-plus -net hostname, where hostname
       is the name of the machine on which the server is running. Each copy of PrBoom+  retrieves
       information  about the game from the server, and when the specified number of players have
       joined, the game begins.

OPTIONS

       -N players
              Specifies the number of players in the game (default 2). The server will  wait  for
              this many players to join before starting the game.

       -e epis
              The  episode  to  play  (default 1).  Unless you are playing Doom 1 or The Ultimate
              Doom, and wish to play one of the later episodes, you do not need to change this.

       -l level
              The level to play (default 1).

       -s skill
              Specify the skill level to play (1-5).

       -d     Set game mode to (old) deathmatch (default is cooperative). This  is  the  original
              deathmatch  mode  where  ammunition and power-ups do not respawn and weapons remain
              but can be picked up only once per player life, like in cooperative games.

       -a     Set game mode to `altdeath' (called deathmatch v2.0 in the documentation)  (default
              is  cooperative)  where most items picked up by players respawn after a while after
              being picked up. This also applies to weapons, which (unlike in  normal  deathmatch
              mode) also disappear for a while upon being pick up.

       -f     Select fast mode (monsters move faster).

       -n     Selects nomonsters mode, i.e. there are no monsters in the game.

       -r     Respawn mode. If you don't know what this is, you don't want to ;-).

       -c conffilename
              Specifies  a configuration file to read which sets parameters for the game. This is
              in the same format as the PrBoom+ configuration file (in fact, you can  ask  it  to
              read your normal PrBoom+ configuration file if you want). Only certain settings are
              acknowledged: default_skill, default_compatibility_level, the compatibility options
              and  some  of  the game settings (use -v to have the server print the options as it
              recognises them).

       -w wadname[,dl_url]
              Specifies a WAD file to play. This is added to the internal list  that  the  server
              keeps. When a client connects, the server sends the list of WADs; PrBoom+ will then
              add this to the list of WADs specified on its command line.  Optionally, an url  to
              the  file  can be given too; if when PrBoom+ connects it cannot find the named WAD,
              it will attempt to  retrieve  the  file  from  the  given  url,  extracting  it  if
              necessary.

       -t ticdup
              Reserved.

       -x xtics
              This  causes  extra information to be sent with each network packet; this will help
              on networks with high packet loss, but will use more bandwidth.

       -p port
              Tells prboom-plus-server what port number to communicate via (default 5030).   Note
              that  if  you  change this from the default, then all the clients will also need to
              specify this number when they try to connect (the default programmed  into  PrBoom+
              is also 5030).

       -v     Increases verbosity level; causes more diagnostics to be printed, the more times -v
              is specified.

SEE ALSO

       prboom-plus(6), prboom-plus.cfg(5)

       For more information, see the README that came with PrBoom+.

       Doom is a registered trademark of id software (http://www.idsoftware.com/).

AUTHORS

       See the file AUTHORS included with the PrBoom+ distribution.  This man page was written by
       Colin Phipps (cph@moria.org.uk).

                                            2011-06-27                 prboom-plus-game-server(6)