Xpilot : Newbieguide  : Starting a server

To start a server, just type

xpilots
If the installpaths were correct when Xpilot was compiled, this will load the defaultmap, called "The Globe". Otherwise it will just generate a random map.

Other maps can be loaded too, since just one map would be pretty boring.
There are already a lot of maps in ..../lib/maps in the xpilot-directory.
I have made some maps too, which you can find here.

Need even more maps?
Vincent's mappages is a good place to find good maps.
And xpilot.org houses a lot too in it's FTP.

You don't even have to gunzip them, since xpilots can even read them while gzipped.

To load in a map, just type

xpilots -map <mapname>
where <mapname> is subtituted by the mapfile.
If the server quits before you join, you might want to start it with the noQuit option.
The server will now run until it is told to stop. Otherwise the server would shut down when there are no more players playing on the server.
xpilots -map <mapname> -noQuit
When the server is running it will print out a message to the terminal whenever someone joins or leave. This text can be outputted in a file.
xpilots -map <mapname> -noQuit > <filename>
All server activity will now be logged into the file called <filename>.
Now we can just run the server quietly in the background by typing
xpilots -map <mapname> -noQuit > <filename> &
And it won't bother you anymore.

To stop the server running with the -noQuit-option you can either kill the xpilots-process or shut it down in a more gentle way.
To kill the process, type

ps
This will list a few processes, just find the number of the xpilots-process and just type
kill <number>
A more gentle way of shutting down the server is done by typing
xpilot -text
Followed by
d
You can now enter the number of seconds the server should wait for shutdown and you can enter the reason why you are shutting down the server.

This more gentle way of shutting down the server is more polite if people are still playing on your server. However this doesn't always work, since the server doesn't always recognize you as the owner. If that happens, you should just kill the process.



Added comments

I have maps too!
You can find them at:
http://www.sci.tamucc.edu/~pad53945/xpilot
    By Zemyla

When i type xpilot -text d and the desired seconds what else do i type to kill it because i cant kill my map.
    By Sgt.Nixson

You were not supposed to write it like that.
You first type xpilot -text
After that command you enter 'D'.
    By J-a-r-n-o

yo J, how do i change the server name?
the DNS? Thanks
    By Canary

With the serveroption ServerHost, but you only need to use that if xpilots displays the wrong name in the meta.
See the next page for more serveroptions
    By J-a-r-n-o

how do I start a server that more than one player can use.
it says "the nick is already in use" when I try to attach from a secon machine...
    By root

The server can handle more players, but there can't be two players with the same name. (Two players called Root in your case)
You will have to start XPilot on the second machine with the option -name <name>.
See also chapter "A real name".
    By J-a-r-n-o