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 UDP 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)