Creating a Jedi Academy or Outcast Dedicated or Private Server (Home run) for Windows

This tutorial will explain how to run a Jedi Academy or Jedi Outcast server from your very own home for whatever reason you can think of. Commonly referred to "home hosting" or a more modern term is "private server".

I always found myself google searching a tutorial on how to make a dedicated server, after many failed attempts, I have succeeded, and now I finally present to you this tutorial. Sorry, no screenshots, just follow along as best you can.

WHAT YOU NEED

• A server.cfg, already configured and tested. (Comes with most mods and base)
• Patch 1.01 (Steam, GOG.com, and Amazon versions already have this patch)
• A friend or Kill tracker
• The dedicated server file, It's called jampded.exe. OpenJK can also be used with openjkded.x86.exe. JK2MV can be used for Outcast with jk2mvded.exe.
• Knowledge of your IP Address, and router login information.

THE SETUP

Go ahead and download the jampded.exe file for your operating system. Place the file in your GameData folder, and create a shortcut and place it on your desktop. Right click on the shortcut, select properties, and click on the shortcut tab (unless you're there already).

You should see an input box labeled "Target". Slide yourself all the way to the end until the end of the quotation marks. Press space and type in this line.

+set fs_game modName +set dedicated 2 +exec server.cfg

Obviously replace modName with whatever your mod name is (ja+, MBII, japro, etc. This would be the folder name in your GameData folder), set to base if no mod or delete "+set fs_game modname" from this line, and press Apply. DO NOT start it yet.

THE ROUTER

Routers come in many different brands, please refer to your owners manual for it if necessary to help guide you through this or look up your brand and model on Google to help forward ports. A good resource is PortForward.com.

Find your router's IP address by right clicking the Start button and going to Windows Powershell (Admin). Then type ipconfig and press enter.

It should then list a few different addresses. The gateway address is your router's address. Use this for the steps below.

Type that address in your browser like a website. Once you have entered the address into the browser, a pop up window should show asking for credentials. A label on the body of your router should be able to provide the default credentials. The default username may be "admin" and the password may be "password" (all without quotes). Sometimes it's admin without a password. Lookup your router's brand and model on Google to find out the login if you don't know it.

Make your way to the Port Forwarding section, and open up ports 29060-29062, and 29070-29081, both on type: UDP, you may have to create 2 services for this, especially if you set a start and end value with the ports. Some will ask for an internal and external for both, just set both internal and external start and end values to the same port number as I am unsure what that really means.

For JK2, open ports 28060-28099 UDP.

Also, make sure you set the internal IP Address for the services to YOUR computer, otherwise this will have meant nothing. The internal IP address can change anytime, so update it as necessary. (This IP Address is NOT the same as your public one)

TESTING THE CONNECTION

If you have a Kill Tracker, set it up to recognize your public IP address + port number which will likely be 29070 on JKA, 28070 for JK2.. If it shows up as online, it's likely up, however....

Kill Trackers can only be so accurate, the better resource for connection is a friend.

Run the jampded shortcut, as an administrator if necessary.

Get a hold of your friend and tell them to connect to your PUBLIC IP Address (google "IP address"), and give them the port number 29070 (or 28070 if jk2). Example: 123.456.78.90:29070.

If they are able to connect, you have succeeded, and you may host private sessions for as long as you want.

MISC KNOWLEDGE

Everything in your mod/base folder WILL be automatically loaded to the server.

YOU control the server, if a hacker comes knocking, you can shut down the server with little/no harm. See the security tutorial on how best to protect yourself if you plan on keeping it up for an extended amount of time.

Your IP Address is PUBLIC no matter what.

If you use Lugormod, you and your friends might need to enter in security codes regularly, but the security code database should be found in the Lugormod folder.

Your server, your rules, there's no such thing as admin abuse if it comes from you.

Know your server, know the rcon password, know the admin commands so you can provide a great session with your friends, and kick out any strangers that come knocking if you deem it necessary.

If for some reason people can't connect to your server, if may be a problem on your end, make sure the internal IP address is set to your computer as it may change.

Three kinds of phrases may pop up as people try to connect, if they are friends then try to isolate the problem:

"Awaiting Connection" will likely mean that you made an error with your server connection.

"Awaiting Challenge" is a problem with your friend's ping, tell them to reconnect.

"Awaiting Gamestate" will signify that they are actively connecting, and all that's left is to wait.