How to use this server: * Starting a new game: Send a mail to mbays@paunix.org with subject line: LSN New [opponentAddress] [type] [FP] [maxturns] [map] [mode] type, FP, maxturns, map and mode are all optional - defaults are Friendly, 20, 30, Pool and wipeout respectively. opponentAddress is also optional - if you leave it blank, it's interpreted as accepting/creating an "open challenge". If there's a challenge open which doesn't conflict with your parameters, you'll accept it; else, you'll create a new challenge. Examples: LSN New - just get a game LSN New evil@xyz.zy - start a game against evil@xyz.zy on a random map LSN New evil@xyz.zy L 30 40 forest hq - start a ladder hq game on Forest with 30 fp limit and 40 turn limit LSN New trains - play on Trains against whoever next sends 'LSN New' or 'LSN New trains' To get a list of maps you can use, send a mail with subject line "LSN maps", or see http://www.countzero.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/lsn/maphq.htm. Map names are not case sensitive. If you don't specify a map, or if you specify "Pool", a random balanced map from the map pool will be chosen; if you specify "Random", a possibly unbalanced random map will be used. * Playing turns: You will get .lsn files mailed to you. You should open these with your LSNClient.exe and play the turn, and send your orders back to this server. There are two ways to do this. The first is simply to mail your orders to the server. At the end of your turn, hit 'save file'. LSN will save a file which you should manually send to the server by sending a mail with subject line "LSN Game" to mbays@paunix.org, with the orders file created by LSN attached (note you should send the orders file, not the gamestate file). You will find the file somewhere like: Games/00001337/Orders/orders1_G00001337_T17.lsn The second option is to set things up such that the LSN client will send the mails for you. NOTE: it has been reported that this hacking of LSNClient.exe might make windows refuse to run the exe. If you try this, please tell me how it goes! If you want to try, here's how: (i) Ensure that Configs/UserData.cfg has SMTPServer set to an *unauthenticated* SMTP server you have access to. If you're lucky, your ISP will provide such a server - but you may well find that you have access only to SMTP servers which require authentication. In this case, your best bet is probably to set SMTPServer to 'localhost', and set up an SMTP server on your own machine to relay mails via an authenticated server. For some simple instructions on how to do this on a Windows machine, see http://mbays.freeshell.org/lsnd/SMTPHelp or mail mbays@paunix.org with subject 'LSN SMTP Help'. (ii) Make a backup of LSNClient.exe (iii) load LSNClient.exe in your favourite hex editor, go to position 2175AC, and change '' to ''. Ensure that the bytes between the '>' and 'Could not send mail' are all 00. If you have access to a unix shell, you could use the following command to do this rather than using a hex editor: sed "s//<\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00>mbays@paunix.org/g" < LSNClient.exe > LSNClient.hacked.exe (iv) always use this hacked version of LSNClient.exe when loading games from this server. At the end of your turn, hit 'send'. * Ladder and Rating: There are three types of game: Ladder, Friendly, and Very Friendly (abbreviated to L, F, VF). In Ladder games, you play for ladder points. In Ladder games and Friendlies, you play for ELO. In VFs, you just play. You can check the current ladder with the 'ladder' command. You'll be added to it if you play a ladder game. ELO isn't implemented yet! For the purposes of the ladder and ratings, you are your email address. Specifically, the email address you send your first turn from is the one which counts. * Other commands: You can get a list of open challenges with "LSN challenges", and can cancel the challenges you've made with "LSN unchallenge". "LSN games" will give info on the games you have in progress. You are identified by your email address. If you lost a turn file, you can get the server to resend the last turn's results with "LSN resend [game number]" (or "LSN resend [game number] [turn]" if you want an old results file). Warnings and disclaimers: This server is running on my home computer, which is neither beefy nor permanently on. Processing will sometimes take a few minutes, sometimes a few hours, and occasionally a few days. Please be patient. This server is intended only as a stop-gap solution. Hopefully, Codogames will either start a proper server going again, or give the community the means to do so. If Codogames at any point ask me to stop running this server, I will do so. One last warning: the password set in your LSN client is sent out with your orders files, so if I wanted to (which I don't) I could read them. So if your password is at all sensitive, I suggest you blank it out before using this server. Full technical information about this server, including all code, is available at http://mbays.freeshell.org/lsnd/. Summary of commands: LSN new [opponentAddress] [type] [FP] [maxturns] [map] [mode] LSN game [[with turnfile attached]] LSN games LSN ladder LSN resend [game number] [turn] LSN challenges LSN unchallenge LSN cancel [game number] LSN help That's it. Happy gaming!