Installing a San Andreas Multiplayer Server

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San Andreas Multiplayer (SA:MP) is a free multiplayer game modification for the PC version of Rockstar Games Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (tm).

Installing

First of all, we're going to download the linux server from sa-mp.com and extract it. The latest server version as of the current state of this guide is 0.3a R7

wget http://files.sa-mp.com/samp03asvr_R7.tar.gz
tar -xvfz samp03asvr_R7.tar.gz
cd samp03

Right now, you're in the server's root directory. Files like the server configuration, log, etc. are stored here. Let's have a look at the server config file, server.cfg:

echo Executing Server Config...
lanmode 0
rcon_password changeme
maxplayers 50
port 7777
hostname SA-MP 0.3 Server
gamemode0 grandlarc 1
filterscripts base gl_actions gl_property gl_realtime
announce 0
query 1
weburl www.sa-mp.com
maxnpc 0
onfoot_rate 40
incar_rate 40
weapon_rate 40
stream_distance 300.0
stream_rate 1000

The first line defines the text that should be displayed when the config is being read. "Lanmode" improves the synchronization quality for the cost of more bandwidth. Change the "rcon_password" to some password you'd like to use for logging in as Administrator. "maxplayers" defines the maximum amount of players on the server. Currently, the limit for this is 500 players. The "hostname" is the server's name which will be displayed in the server browser. The "gamemode" is the server's core script whereas "filterscripts" are designed to be utility scripts, such as administration scripts etc. Setting "announce" to 1 will make your server visible in the browser's internet list. You can change "weburl" to your server's website URL if you want so. The other variables are rather designed for professionals, it's not suggested for beginners to change them.

Running

To start the server, you can simply run it like this

./samp03svr

If you want the server to stay online when you disconnect from your shell, or close the terminal, you should use this:

nohup ./samp03svr &

Scripting

The SA:MP server implements Compuphase's embedded scripting language called "Pawn" which has a C-like syntax. The windows server package contains the required compiler and a simple IDE. Refer to http://wiki.sa-mp.com for scripting references.