New Windows based MOHAA monitor

[directhit]

I'm not sure if this will draw any interest, but I am working on a new tool (and have a working version going) for MOHAA that will more or less be a companion to the Crow King Autokick program. It does realtime logfile monitoring, and also rcon commands. So far the features are:

Streak Counter - A player gets 5+ kills, a console message pops up telling everyone that they are on a streak. Also tells who ends the streak

Name Change annoucement - Immediately announces to everyone when a client changes their name. Also has the ability to kick a user for changing their name more than X number of times.

Immediate Name kick - Recognizes a "bad" name, or a "console" impersonator immediately and kick them before they have time to say anything. Autokick has this feature, but only knows when the name change occurs during status polls, which may be several seconds apart. By using the log file, this program can know within the second without performance loss on the server.

Spawn Kill watch - Announces when a person is spawnkilled, and the spawnkiller. This is based on time (in seconds) between deaths, which is configurable.

Chat Watch - This is a console app, and it watches the logfile for chat text To ALL or TEAM), and posts it to this app's console. Good for monitoring what is going on in game, when you are not in game.

Limited Teamkill monitoring - Can announce when a person teamkills. Not 100%, due to some limitations of the log file. Would use the status command, but as CKR's autokick points out, it doesnt work.

High Ping kick - Works just like the CK Autokick, (kick client for XXX+ ping after X warns). I did this in case you didn't run the CK Autokick, but wanted some ping monitoring.

Plans: I plan to implement some voting mechanism that is based on client #. I will probably make the announcements above include the client number so that voting will be based on the #, not the name.

I also plan on making the source code available, and have contemplated the idea of simply releasing a class library with some common things a programmer would want to be able to do, such as RCON, and even further, a method for announcements, log file monitoring methods, etc. The app is written in Visual C++, using some MFC. Maybe this would help some that want to write stuff for the game, but don't want to dig into learning UDP for the RCON, etc.


Why I did this:
Too see if I could! ...Nah really it started when I setup a Windows 98 box with a 350MHz AMD computer. I could run 12 players pretty well, but everytime the CK Autokick program polled, the CPU usage was so high it caused the game to freeze for 500 ms or so. I wrote ping protection program to replace that, and it has been growing ever since. Consequently, I loaded Win2K on that box, and the CPU problem with CK Autokick went away, so I stopped duplicating what was already done and pursued other things, like the streak counter. Thanks to Crow Kick for a really cool program. Too bad EA never got it together and fixed that darn status command.



When can you see it:
I will have an initial version out sometime within the next week or so. Based on the response of this message, I will decide if it is worth improving or adding anything else. My serve that is up usually in the evenings, is 66.0.47.90:12203 if you would like to see it in action.

[Tripped]

like to try this out when yah got it ready sounds interesting

[Sadu]

Hey Shockwave, the Killing Streak feature is a cool idea. "wink wink"

Back to the old days of Unreal Tournament - Double Kill, Multi Kill, Killing Spree, M-M-M-M-Monster Kill!

That was a choice feature :)

[mtnman]

Do you think this will work with Spearhead? It really has some nice features built in.

[MOMMA]

Definitely will be intrested in checking it out. I like some of those features as well.

Can you imagin the nice proggy we could have if all these guys would put their brains togeth....... huh.. wha... I'm sorry.. I was dreaming there for a second...

[Green_Falcon]

This sounds tight, it would be awsome to test on my server

[Enforcer]

Hi im developing ServerWatch www.daniel-rudolph.de/projekte/serverwatch/

interesting ideas i think ii will also implement some things to my tool :D

Streak Counter
Spawn Kill watch

The rest i have allready in ;-)

[MOMMA]

We need someone to create a tool that compares all the tools..lol.

[directhit]

:D MOH Monitor ver 0.5a for Testing :D

Ok, I know no-one likes vaporware, so here is what I have so far, if you want to try it out. I'll release the source later, when I am closer to a finished product.

Not there yet:
Doesn't have the naughty name check yet, but will soon. It does immediately boot "console" impersonnators though.
No voting yet either.

Something Extra: If an "UnnamedSoldier" enters the battle, they are repeatedly told to change their name X number of times, then are booted, if they dont listen.

What makes this any different than the other tools?
This tool was designed up front for little machines. It doesn't have an install program. It is a simple DOS-console EXE and 1 INI file. The EXE is 44K, very small and light on the CPU. No GUI or input to the program once it is running. All config is done in the ini file.


Instructions:
To use the tool, copy the EXE and INI file to any directory, and run from there. If you have multiple servers, you can create separate INI files, and pass the filename as an argument. I have not tested this, as I don't run more than 1 server on the machine, but I think it should work.

Example (to run with default moh_mon.ini in the working directory):
mon_mon.exe (no arguments)

Example (to run more than one server):
mon_mon.exe c:\moh_mon\server1.ini
mon_mon.exe c:\moh_mon\server2.ini
etc....


Let me know what you think!


Download Link to MOH Monitor 0.5a: http://otelco.net/~dfoust/moh_mon/moh_mon_ver_05a.zip

[directhit]

Something Important I forgot to mention above. Since this uses the logfile, you will need to set the following in your server config.

set logfile "3"
set sv_chatter 1
set developer 2

[Sadu]

Also, put the "+set developer 2" in your command line rather than in the cfg file.

I found if you don't do this, you will have problems running some RCON commands from the console.

[directhit]

Thanks for the tip on +set developer 2, I'll be sure to add that.

New: Dynamic sv_maxRate setting
What do yall think of this? I have added it and it is working, but I have not done any bandwidth testing to see if it is actually changing. I used the formula on the Guides section to determine what it should be, and you have the following configuration variables in the INI file.

Bandwidth = 1000
Min DataRate = 5000
Max DataRate = 12000

the Bandwidth setting is in Kbps. I have SDSL 1.5 up and down, so I have it set to 1000, so reserve 500 kbps for me. Your maxclients setting should be somewhere in the vicinity of your min and max datarate setting. Example of how this works with the settings above:

I have maxclients = 30

with 4 active clients, my sv_rate will be 12000
with 10 active clients, my sv_rate will be 12000
with 16 active clients, my sv_rate will be 7812
with 20 active clients, my sv_rate will be 6250
with 24 active clients, my sv_rate will be 5208
with 30 active clients, my sv_rate wil be 5000

The program will change this setting based on # of clients, so that if you have low number of clients, they can get more updates. When more players arrive, it is reduced, so that you never exceed your Bandwidth. If I have the formulas right, this seems to me to simplify setting up a server. I could setup these variables, and then change the maxclients at will, without having to think about datarates/bandwidth/etc. Any thoughts?

[Green_Falcon]

i think that would be pretty cool

[mtnman]

That sounds like just the thing for us home server admins! Sign me up!

[directhit]

8) This version seems stable, so I will go ahead and let it go ( version 0.6 )

Also, if you want the latest version, just go here and get it, in case I don't post it here...

http://www.otelco.net/~dfoust/moh_mon


This release has the

Bandwidth Control
Spawnkill Autokick

Let me know what you think!

[MOMMA]

There is not much documentation so far but i like the features. In the INI it mention's the path to the qconsole. The default path for this is c:\Program Files\EA Games\MOHAA\main. However for us, our server is hosted. Does this need to be uploaded this program to our hosted server and run from there?

[directhit]

Sorry about the lack of documentation, I'll try to get that together soon. ;)

Yes, most of the features of this program use the qconsole.log file. As such, it will need either direct local access on your server, or network access, be it through MS Networking, VPN, etc.

Once it is run, if all the INI confir is correct, thats it. If there are multiple MOH servers running on the host machine, you can create an INI file for each server's port, and launch multiple instances, passing the INI filename as an argument.

[MOMMA]

So I upload the exe and the ini to my hosted server and run it from there. How do I see the GUI? Or is there no GUI and it's all automatic based off the ini. Sorry I have not actually seen it work so I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking for.

[General_Guttless]

I appreciate what you are trying to do but, we rent a commercial server. I am not interested in a program that must be run from there.

I am using CrowKing AutoKick and Delator 2.0 on a Combat Game server in Dallas Tx. I will not ask to run another exec on that server....

CrowKing and Delator do it right..... run it on a client.

If you move in that direction let me know.... else I can not see the benifit of your program. Combat Games, Xgame, Action Blaster, Deadly Servers, Xtreme Servers, Art of War Servers, Frag Servers..... none will/would allow something of this type.

You are religating yourself to basement servers..... Let me know if you change directions.

[directhit]

General_Guttless,

A couple of points:

1. I run a basement server. I wrote this for myself, and decided to share it. If you find no use for it, thats fine with me. I am not promoting this to be the greatest tool in the world.

2. "CrowKing and Delator do it right..." You are presuming too much here. Kill information cannot be retrieve through RCON (MOHAA). That is probably why you don't see spawnkill, killspree, or any of that type of thing in CrowKing or Delator. I am not trying to replace CrowKing or Delator. Only complement them.

If you cannot run this on the server and cannot get access to the qconsole file, then I agree that this tool is useless. But you are missing the point of this tool. MOH Monitor was created to try to utilize things in the qconsole file in realtime that would be of use in-game. If I could do these things from a client, then I would. As far as I know though, it can't be done without some process hookup to the qconsole file.


Sorry you are so disappointed! :(

[directhit]

So I upload the exe and the ini to my hosted server and run it from there. How do I see the GUI?
The GUI is on the server, if you call it that. It is a DOS style console window with text.

Or is there no GUI and it's all automatic based off the ini.
This is correct, the program operates entirely from the INI file. Nothing can be changed once it is run.

Sorry I have not actually seen it work so I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking for.
I will try to get some screenshots for this.

[General_Guttless]

I'm sorry I don't mean to rain on u'r parade.... I'm a 44 year old adult with 6 kids.... guess I "Love" the ideas you have and envy the skill and time to do em.....

Just hopeing for a tool .... for use on a "Real" server.... I too run a basement server... but mirror what I do on our clans rented server....

Guess I like your ideas, trying to prompt you into making a tool that would be of broader use.... didn't mean to sound critical... be cool to see "directhit" as well known as Crowking.... heehee

[directhit]

General_Guttless:

Sorry to have misread your tone. I really do appreciate the feedback, and I should do better to listen more. :)

You are probably aware of a new tool called ServerWatch by Daniel Rudolph. It has an interface to the qconsole.log through SSH, which I haven't explored much. If folks get excited about this, then I may take that direction. But I don't want to redo what is already available, unless there is demand for it. :?:

Daniel has added the spawn kill and killing spree features to his tool, and has many more features than this one. I guess this tool's nitch would have to be it's ease of use, (for basement servers).

Maybe I should hurry up, polish, and release the source code (C++), so that others can play and innovate, without having to reinvent the wheel. ;)

[General_Guttless]

Cool....

Drop me a note at bobghughes@earthlink.net when you get there....

Actually I'd like to see something that took Delator and Autokick's functionally and combined em.... I'm running two apps to monitor my clans server.... I'd rather run one....

63.99.234.96 Lethal Assasins

I would rather have one.... a problem I have with any program running on the GameServer..... even if it is my basement server is load and lag.... I would not run CrowKing on "any" game server..... anything that takes cycles away from the game is bad....

Just a thought!

[directhit]

Then you may definately want to check into ServerWatch, it has several features of Delator (skin detection) and Autokick (ping/ban). I know what you mean about the Autokick program. I ran some numbers on the little server I have (AMD K6-350), and I found out how much utilization it used:

Over a 1 hour period CK Autokick used 5.45% CPU time.

I ran MOH Monitor during the same period and it used 0.34% CPU time.

I think it is a difference in language. MOH Monitor is C++, directly using the wsock32 libs, and I believe the CK Autokick is a VB app using some OCX file to get to the socket libs.

That in itself doesn't explain CK's monster CPU spike on status poll, but I would like to see the code in that area to see why. I'm sure there is a logical reason for it.

[General_Guttless]

Thanks for the info.... I downloaded ServerWatch..... KISS.... it sure is not as intuitive as CK and Delator, but I see what you mean....

Yep.... your right about CK sucking up the CPU Time....

[SNYPE]

Directhit--I really love to see you guys putting your skills to good use. You have really added some cool features. Maybe you can colaborate with some of these other developers and combine some features and reduce the burden on yourself too. You should try and contact Blackbart, YoChoy and any of the other guys developing tools for the game. Look thru the forums here you will see them there.

[MOMMA]

Guttless, if you get ServerWatch working could you let me know. I am having some difficulties with it myself and could use some help.

[Enforcer]

Mohaa Monitor is not Serverwatch hehe

maybe you post in in a ServerWatch thread if you have some problems.

Didn’t you got my email EFF MOMMA?

If you are able to start Programs @ youre Server like you said it in on an other thread you just can setup Serverwatch that there is a local logfile and choose the qconsole. That’s all.

If there a problems left you may should post them @ a ServerWatch thread so others can see that also.


If you like me to i also can insert that dynamic rate settings into ServerWatch np, just tell me and i will do and the next Version will have that feature. Also if you other ideas just let them know me.


Have Fun and Good Luck :D

Enforcer

[MOMMA]

I would post over in the other thread, however since my comments were made directly at Gutless who happens to be posting in this thread, it made since to post here. I will however be happy to post in the other thread, the issue I have already said to you in an email.

[TReimZ]

Great work you did there.

Cant wait to see the source code, or just some of the class libs, which ever you choose to show us :D

[directhit]

:D "MOH Basement Server Monitor" is now at 1.0. It has grown into several other features, so go check it out.
www.moh-gck.com and click on "MOH Monitor".

Some of the new stuff includes:

8) - Kick/Ban/Map change in game, no passwords. Designate IPs for your friends/squad/whatever that you would like to give some control over the server. While in game, they can type hit Y for chat and type!kick Dud* to kick players, ban players, and also change maps. Much easier than external programs, and the rcon password status clientkick thing.

:idea: - Generates webfile so you have have the active list of players, and some info on your webpage. Simple html file, no Java, etc....

www.moh-gck.com

If you have some questions, drop me a message here or on the messageboard on my website. Thanks to all for the feedback. :D

[Defiant]

i really like the streak feature,i rent a server from xgameserver,how do i set it up to run on a rented server and not a dedicated one,i have FTP access.

Thanks

[directhit]

:? This one I have no experience with. There have been some to use a 3rd party program to emulate a mapped drive using FTP (FTP Neighborhood?). I have not tried this. This was more or less wrote to run directly on the server, or at least on the LAN, where mapped drives are not a problem. If you had a VPN connection, then that would work also.

Sorry that I haven't tried this before, but I really just wrote this for fun for my box setting in my room (I am blessed with SDSL 1.5 up and down), So I can easily run it from home. It was wrote in C++, and I made it as efficient as I could, to keep CPU usage to a minimum.

Let me know how it works out for you, and please message me or post on my message board any questions.
www.moh-gck.com

[SNYPE]

Hey DirectHit will your prog work with Spearhead? Is it able to get around the dumpuser problem?

[Defiant]

hey Direct Hit,found out it doesn't work on rented servers,if anyone knows how to get the streak counter working ,please let me know,i have MOHAA CI/MaM,and have no wish right now to load another program,or else i would put serverwatch on,which i believe has this ability.but i am happy with MOHAA CI/MaM,and don't want to have too many running.
The streak counter sounds pretty cool and would give the players on my server something new to shoot for.
Thanks for any help.

[bigyin]

that look like a great program m8 is there any way you can make it so it kick low ping as you see i admin a high ping only server and we get a lot of low pings come on to our server :D

[raptorman]

ahh how can u get the streak working? i have version 1.3 and its not working for me, and the !kick feature..please help!

[bouncer]

Has anyone got the Streak working in Spearhead. I have tried many different cofigurations and cannot get the Streak to work at all. I can get everyting but the Streak part working right. Also I was on the server that hosts the file from the creator and saw it had worked but somehow seemed inconsistent. I went on 12 players spree and never got one message for a Streak

[joe]

Hey DirectHit will your prog work with Spearhead? Is it able to get around the dumpuser problem?

Tested on one of my SH servers seems to work just fine except for reporting kills in the log.htm file, have to say i´m impressed how smooth this works, did hardly notice any cpu usage when i run it on a 32 player server.

[bouncer]

I run a 38 player server and cant seem to get it reporting the streaks correctly. The stats I use come out fine, but the streaks skip a lot of people. I was wondering if there was a custom configuration to it or something. Maybe its the scan set at 20 seconds it searches for a player with 3 kills according to the ini file and it seems like if you dont have exactly three kills on that scan it wont report it.

[Tripped]

We been running this over at =VX9='s mohaa server for a while now and it works great except the ingame commands I have put in several ip's of our members and none seem to be able to get these to work for them including myself. Any ideas?

[bouncer]

It works and everything, but doesnt work properly for Spearhead for some reason. For some reason it just doesnt pick up all the commands properly or read the log file correct. We had players going on 6 - 10 kill streaks and it would not even mention them. I tried posting on thier site to get answsers and with lack of support I threw it in the recycle bin.

[directhit]

For those interested...... I have a new version of the monitor available (2.0)

You will need MaM loaded for all the features to work.

It gives you teamkill protection, the usual ingame chat admin commands + punish, call a war (move all non clan members to opposing team automatically) and some other good stuff. I have also changed the way the admin commands work and much easier to setup (no more Admin IPs to keep up with)...all in the readme.

The most notable part of this, I have two versions going:
:D Linux and Windows! :D

http://www.moh-gck.com/monitor.html