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HLTV Documentation Version 3.1.1.1/4.1.1.1 | |
Content | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
1. Overview | |
2. Spectating Games | |
3. HLTV Basics | |
4. Broadcasting Games | |
5. Recording HLTV demos | |
6. Larger Broadcasts | |
7. HLTV Configuration | |
1. Overview | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
Half-Life TV offers the ability to have an unlimited number of spectators | |
watching online games. They can follow the game just like they would as | |
a spectator on the game server. Spectators are invisible to players and | |
can't interact with the running game in any way. Each spectator can choose | |
any view position or choose any player to track individually. To have the | |
most enjoyable spectating experience, spectators can enable the | |
Auto-Director mode. Then the camera is changed automatically so that only | |
interesting scenes are shown from a suitable viewpoint. Thus the spectator | |
can lean back and won't miss any relevant action. All the time, spectators | |
may communicate between each other using the standard HL chat system. | |
Most popular Half-Life MODs are supported like Counter-Strike, Team | |
Fortress Classic, Day of Defeat and many others. HLTV providers have full | |
control over their HLTV system, may change number of spectator slots, add | |
text messages or change the HLTV logo. The broadcast is delayed by a | |
customizable amount of time, by default 30 seconds. This ensures that the | |
playing teams can't use HLTV to get any usable information about their | |
opponents. Providing a single HLTV server for up to 100 spectators is an | |
easy task and doesn't need any changes in default configurations. | |
Installing a larger HLTV network for thousands of spectators needs some | |
more planning time and experience about required bandwidth and CPU/RAM | |
demands (see chapter 6). | |
2. Spectating Games | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
To watch a HLTV game, start Half-Life, open the Multiplayer menu and select | |
'Find Servers'. To search for currently broadcasted games, choose the | |
'Spectate' section and hit 'Refresh All'. After the list has been updated, | |
double click on the server you want to spectate and you'll be connected. | |
If computer game leagues announce important matches to be broadcasted via | |
HLTV, they often provide IP:Port addresses of their HLTV servers. Instead | |
of searching them via the server browser, you can also go to the | |
'Favorites' folder and add the HLTV address to your server list by pressing | |
the right mouse button. Otherwise, you can also open the console window and | |
use the 'connect' command to spectate a certain game. | |
For example: | |
connect 192.168.130.42:27020 | |
The default HLTV port number is 27020, but may be changed. It should always | |
be included in the given address, since commonly this port number is | |
different from the default port number 27015. | |
You can spectate the game in different modes: Chase Cam, First Person, Free | |
Look, Map Overview and Map Chase. The easiest way to change modes is to | |
press the JUMP key (default SPACE). Alternatively you can use the spectator | |
menu, which can be enabled by pressing the DUCK key (default CTRL). Here | |
you can customize your personal view style and enable the Auto-Director | |
Mode. Press USE (default E) to cycle through the different | |
Picture-In-Picture modes. | |
The following HL console commands can be used to customize spectator | |
settings: | |
spec_autodirector <0|1> - turns Auto Director mode on or off | |
spec_drawcone <0|1> - shows your view cone in map overview mode | |
spec_drawnames <0|1> - shows player names under their icons | |
spec_drawstatus <0|1> - shows game information (time, map etc) | |
spec_pip <0|1> - turns Picture-In-Picture mode on or off | |
spec_menu - opens the spectator menu | |
spec_help - shows a help screen | |
spec_mode <1-6> [<0-4>] - set the main view mode, seconds parameter is | |
the PIP mode. Not all combinations are valid. | |
Main modes are: | |
1 : Locked Chase 2 : Free Chase | |
3 : Free Roaming 4 : First Person | |
5 : Map Overview 6 : Chase Map Overview | |
PIP modes are: | |
0 : PIP off 1 : Free Chase | |
2 : First Person 3 : Map Overview | |
4 : Chase Map Overview | |
3. HLTV Basics | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
The core of the HLTV broadcasting system is the HLTV server, also called | |
HLTV proxy. The HLTV executable is a console application that works much | |
like a HL dedicated server. To broadcast a game running on a certain game | |
server, the HLTV proxy connects to this server just like a normal player. | |
Spectators connect themselves to the HLTV proxy and the game data stream is | |
relayed through the HLTV proxy to all connected spectator clients. The next | |
figure shows a basic HLTV configuration: | |
HL Game Server -> HLTV Proxy => Spectator Clients | |
The number of clients that one HLTV proxy can serve depends on available | |
hardware and network resources. Theoretically, a single proxy can hold a | |
maximum of 255 spectator clients. But be careful, even a proxy with 100 | |
spectator clients needs a full 2 MBit line to run smoothly. If more | |
spectator slots are needed, the required network load must be distributed | |
over multiple HLTV proxies. | |
The first HLTV proxy connected to the game server is called the Master | |
proxy, which sets the general broadcast settings like game stream delay or | |
packet rate. All other HLTV proxies linked to this proxy are the Relay | |
proxies. Their total number and link order is not restricted, they may form | |
a chain or tree of proxies. Most important is that their location is in | |
different networks to ensure a balanced bandwidth usage. | |
-> HLTV Relay Proxy 1 => Spectator Clients | |
HL Game Server -> HLTV Master -> HLTV Relay Proxy 2 => Spectator Clients | |
-> HLTV Relay Proxy 3 => Spectator Clients | |
4. Broadcasting Games | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
Let's assume the most simple configuration, a single HLTV proxy in a LAN | |
environment. This is a very common situation and the default HLTV settings | |
doesn't need to be changed. Choose a dedicated computer as your HLTV proxy | |
and install the Half-Life Dedicated Server, which also includes all files | |
needed by a HLTV proxy. This isn't needed if Half-Life is already | |
installed. | |
Start the HLTV application (HL icon with a small camera) and the HLTV | |
console will open, showing some initialization messages (if that takes a | |
long time, HLTV maybe can't resolve some IP addresses, then start HLTV | |
with the '-nodns' command line option). Then the console is ready to accept | |
your commands, here we use '>' as the console prompt. First give your HLTV | |
proxy an unique name: | |
>name "My HLTV Proxy" | |
Let's assume you have started the proxy on host 192.168.1.2 and the game | |
server, you want to spectate is running on host 192.168.1.3:27015. Then | |
connect the HLTV proxy to this game server by typing: | |
>connect 192.168.1.3:27015 | |
After a few seconds HLTV will be fully connected and ready to serve | |
spectator clients. Use the 'status' command to verify that the HLTV proxy | |
has connected properly : | |
>status | |
--- HLTV Status --- | |
Online 00:23, FPS 79.0, Version 2435 (Win32) | |
Local IP 192.168.1.2:27020, Network In 1.7, Out 1.0, Loss 0.00 | |
Local Slots 128, Spectators 0, Proxies 0 | |
Total Slots 128, Spectators 0, Proxies 1 | |
Source Game Server 192.168.1.3:27015, Delay 30 | |
Server Name "Half-Life dedicated server" | |
Time 01:35, Game "valve", Map "maps/rapidcore.bsp", Players 1 | |
The 'status' command shows your own IP address, HLTV system cycles per | |
second, total incoming and outgoing network traffic in kB/sec. Local slot | |
and spectator numbers your HLTV proxy is providing, total numbers are the | |
sum of all slots & spectators on all proxies broadcasting this game. The | |
game source can be a game server, another HLTV proxy or a demo file. | |
5. Recording HLTV demos | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
HLTV demo files are like normal recorded games in Half-Life, but you can | |
choose any view point, view mode or player to chase during replay. To play | |
back a HLTV demo, a HLTV proxy is not needed. Just start Half-Life and type | |
in console "playdemo <demoname>" or "viewdemo <demoname>" (viewdemo offers | |
more options during playback like fast forward/backward, pause & | |
slowmotion). To record a HLTV demo, connect the proxy to a game server (see | |
last chapter) and type in console: | |
>record <name> | |
All games will be recorded after issuing this command. The demo files will | |
be saved in the current Mod directory, e.g. \cstrike. All demo files have a | |
special naming convention <name>-<YYMMDDhhmm>-<map>.dem, including the | |
given name, date/time and map name. Demo files record the same data as send | |
to spectator clients. That means also, the demo file records the game with | |
the same delay as used for spectators. To verify, that a demo file is | |
recorded use the "status" command. The recording may be stopped with | |
"stoprecording". | |
Sometimes a HLTV broadcast is not wanted and the HLTV proxy is only used | |
to record a demo file. In this case, some HLTV settings should be made to | |
gain optimal recording results: | |
>maxclients 0 // don't allow any spectator clients | |
>delay 0 // no game stream delay | |
>rate 10000 // maximum data rate | |
>updaterate 20 // standard update rate | |
>nomaster 1 // don't register at master servers | |
6. Larger broadcasts | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
Setting up a HLTV network that can handle a larger number of spectators | |
(>1000) is a difficult and time consuming task. The following guide should | |
help to configure and run such a HLTV network. One of the most important | |
rule should be "Quality, not Quantity". It's better to offer a smaller | |
number of spectator slots, than operating at the maximum bandwidth limit, | |
thus all spectators would suffer from lags and timeouts. Check carefully | |
your available bandwidth capacity and calculate how many spectators can | |
be handled by your HLTV servers. The average bandwidth demand per spectator | |
is between 2 and 3 KB/sec and depends on the current mod, map and number of | |
players. CPU and RAM shouldn't be a bottleneck on modern PC systems. | |
This list for common Internet connection types gives a feeling, how | |
bandwidth demanding HLTV can be: | |
- ISDN 64 Kbps : 2 spectators | |
- DSL 128 Kbps (upstream) : 5 spectators | |
- T1 1.5 Mbps : 75 spectators | |
- LAN 10 Mbps : 500 spectators | |
- T3 75 Mbps : 4000 spectators | |
Use the "maxclients" command to set how many clients should be accepted by | |
a HLTV proxy. Make sure that the "maxrate" variable is set too a reasonable | |
value, e.g. 3500 kB/sec. Lower values are possible, but make sure spectators | |
don't get too much "choke" during a running game. The "maxrate" command | |
doesn't effect the bandwidth limit between HLTV proxies, only for spectator | |
clients. To lower the general bandwidth demand, you can turn off the | |
internal HLTV chat ("chatmode 0") or decrease the game update rate from the | |
default value 20 to 10 ("updaterate 10"). A lower update rate may save up | |
to 25% network traffic and is an acceptable tradeoff in this case since | |
spectators doesn't need a high update rate like real players does. | |
A very common setup for large broadcasts is to use 2 dedicated HLTV servers | |
to create a private and a public HLTV segment. Let's assume the game server | |
is in a closed LAN and not accessible from outside. This ensures a maximum | |
security against attacks (DOS etc) from outside. The HLTV master server is | |
started within the LAN and it's IP address should be kept secret. The | |
second HLTV server is started outside the LAN with a global IP and is | |
connected to the HLTV master server. This second HLTV server is the public | |
HLTV dispatcher, which IP address is given to the audience. Any relay | |
proxies are connected to this HLTV dispatcher. Thus the HLTV master server | |
is in a secure LAN environment and can be used for demo recording or for | |
HL clients serving video projectors. Spectators connect to the HLTV | |
dispatcher and are relayed through the HLTV network to a relay proxy with | |
a low usage. Thus the total network load is balanced between all connected | |
HLTV proxies. | |
+---- Private LAN -----+ +------ Public Internet --------+ | |
-> HLTV Proxy 1 | |
HL Server -> HLTV Master -> HLTV Dispatcher -> HLTV Proxy 2 | |
-> HLTV Proxy 3 | |
The configuration files of HLTV master and HLTV dispatcher are different: | |
master.cfg: | |
nomaster 1 // don't register at WON master servers | |
proxypassword MyPWD // protect HLTV server | |
publicgame 0 // don't show game server IP | |
dispatchmode 0 // don't dispatch spectators | |
dispatcher.cfg: | |
forcemaster 1 // register at WON master servers | |
publicgame 0 // don't show game server IP | |
dispatchmode 2 // dispatch all clients to other proxies | |
hostname MyGame // public HLTV server name | |
If you're running 3 or more HLTV servers in total, it's a good idea to | |
use RCON to manage them via a single server admin tool. To enable RCON | |
on a HLTV server an "adminpassword" must been set. Also "proxypassword" | |
should be set to ensure only known HLTV providers can connect to your | |
HLTV network. Otherwise anybody can connect with slow HLTV proxies and | |
disturb your network load balancing. | |
7. HLTV Configuration | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
A short note about console command syntax. A command description follows | |
the following notation: | |
command <parameter> [<parameter>] - description | |
A command may have one or more parameters. Parameters in brackets [] are | |
optional. Common used parameters are : | |
<string> : text, must be in quotes if text contains spaces "My Name" | |
<n> : a whole number, e.g. 42 | |
<f> : a floating point number, e.g. 4.2 | |
<IP:Port> : an IP address, e.g. 192.168.130.42:27020 | |
<a|b|c> : a set of options, a or b or c | |
Note, any of these special characters <, >, |, [ or ] are not part of the | |
final command as typed in the console. Lots of these commands are boolean | |
switches, were 1 is meaning ON and 0 is respectively OFF. | |
connect <IP:Port> - connect HLTV proxy to game server (default port 27015) | |
disconnect - disconnects proxy from server, but doesn't stop the | |
broadcast. All spectator clients stay connected. | |
stop [<text>] - disconnects from server, disconnects all clients and | |
stops demo recording. Optional goodbye message. | |
quit - quits the HLTV process | |
retry - retries the last server connection | |
autoretry <0|1> - if enabled, proxy will retry connection to server if | |
connection was interrupted for any reason | |
name <text> - sets the HLTV proxy scoreboard name | |
hostname <text> - sets the HLTV host name for game browser list | |
serverpassword <text> - sets the game server password | |
adminpassword <text> - sets password for RCON & commentator | |
proxypassword <text> - sets password for other relay proxies | |
spectatorpassword <text> - sets spectator password. Will also exclude | |
proxy from global load balancing | |
clients - lists connected spectator clients | |
proxies - lists connected relay proxies | |
players - lists players on game server | |
kick <ID> - kicks a spectator client from proxy | |
bann <IP> - banns an IP address (completely ignored) | |
clearbanns - removes all IPs from bann list | |
say <text> - sends a text message to game server (chat with players) | |
msg <text> [<duration> <pos x> <pos y> <color hex rgba>] | |
- sends a text message to all spectators as big HUD text | |
localmsg <text> [<duration> <pos x> <pos y> <color hex rgba>] | |
- same as msg, but only seen by local clients | |
servercmd <string> - forwards console command to game server | |
clientcmd <group> <string> - forwards a console command to all clients of | |
given group: 1=spectators, 2=proxies, 3=all | |
loopcmd <id> <n> <string> - loopcmd will execute <string> every <n> | |
seconds. <id> is a number between 1 and 64 to | |
identify this loopcmd. "loopcmd <id> none" | |
will disable a looping command again. loopcmd | |
without any parameter will list any command | |
currently in the list. | |
signoncommands <string> - console commands that will be executed by | |
local spectator clients after connection is | |
established. Commands may be separated by | |
semicolons. | |
maxclients <n> - set spectator number limit for this proxy (default 128) | |
delay <n> - delays the game stream for n seconds on the Master Proxy. | |
The default value is 30 seconds to avoid cheating. If the | |
delay is set to a value below 10 seconds (e.g. 0), the | |
auto director function will be disabled. | |
rate <n> - bandwidth rate the game server sends data to the proxy | |
updaterate <n> - game updates per seconds send from server to proxy | |
maxrate <n> - sets the maximum bandwidth rate for spectator clients | |
maxloss <f> - sets the acceptable packet loss rate, default | |
value is 0.05 (5%). If packet loss is higher, new | |
spectator clients will be rejected. | |
maxqueries <n> - maximum of status queries per second requested by server | |
browsers | |
dispatchmode <0|1|2> - Dispatch mode 1 (AUTO) will redirect connecting | |
clients to other proxies balancing work load between | |
all proxies. In dispatch mode 2 (ALWAYS) any | |
spectator clients will be redirected, so this proxy | |
serves only as dispatcher. Dispatch mode 0 (OFF) | |
won't redirect any clients. | |
publicgame <0|1> - if public is 1, game server IP will be visible to | |
spectators and 'joingame' is allowed. | |
offlinetext <string> - info text clients will see as reject reason if HLTV | |
isn't broadcasting yet | |
chatmode <0|1|2> - if chatmode is 0, spectators can't chat. If set to 1, | |
only spectators connected to the same proxy can see | |
their chat messages. In chatmode 2 all spectators | |
can chat between each other (then Master and all | |
Relay proxies must have set chatmode 2). | |
bannerfile <file> - specifies a TGA file (RGBA) that will be shown as | |
logo in spectator GUI. | |
ping <host:port> - pings a HL server on the given port (default 27015) | |
nomaster <0|1> - if enabled, proxy won't register at WON master | |
servers | |
forcemaster <0|1> - if enabled, proxy will register at WON master server | |
heartbeat - sends manually a status packet to WON master servers | |
region <n> - set the region your HLTV proxy is located in | |
rcon <string> - sends a remote control command to other servers | |
rconaddress <IP:Port> - sets the remote control target address | |
rconpassword <string> - sets the password for the remote controlled host | |
cheeringthreshold <f> - number of cheering players must be above this | |
threshold to play the cheering sound (by default 0.25). | |
blockvoice <0|1> - if set, all incoming voice data is blocked. This is | |
useful to override incoming voice commentators or | |
player voice with own commentators voice. | |
cmdlist - shows all registered proxy commands | |
logfile <0|1> - starts/stops console logging in "logfile<date>.log" | |
status - shows proxy status information | |
modules - shows all loaded HLTV modules and versions | |
exec <filename> - executes a .cfg file | |
echo <string> - prints a text to HLTV console | |
developer <0|1> - additional debug messages are shown in developer mode | |
record <filename> - records all following games to demo files using name | |
syntax "filename-<date>-<map>.dem" | |
stoprecording - stops recording a demo file | |
playdemo <filename> - starts broadcasting a demo file | |
The console does auto-completion by hitting 'TAB'. All commands in the | |
config file "hltv.cfg" are executed during startup. | |
Some parameters can only be set in the command line: | |
-port <n> - sets the HLTV proxy port that spectators connect to | |
(default 27020) | |
-ip <IP> - forces the proxy to use this IP on a multihomed host | |
-comm <filename> - sets a master server info file other than woncomm.lst | |
-nodns - disables any DNS resolving (useful for LAN proxies) | |
-maxfps <n> - sets maximum system cycles per seconds (default 100) | |
-highpriority - starts the HLTV proxy as high priority process | |
-steam - proxy enables special Steam support | |
-dev - developer mode | |
These parameters cannot be changed during runtime, thus they can't be used | |
in config files. | |
All console commands can be used in the command line, if a "+" is prepended | |
to them, for example: | |
hltv.exe +connect localhost:27015 -port 27021 | |
A Half-Life server can set sv_proxies <n>, to determine how many proxies | |
are allowed to connect. If HLTV proxies should be forbidden, set it to 0, | |
otherwise 1 to allow for a Master Proxy. Other values are experimental. | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
For HLTV news, updates and help visit http://hltv.valve-erc.com | |
Copyright (2003 Valve LLC.) |
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