Private List Server

Overview

This article discusses how to create a PRIVATE List Server and have players authenticate via this server. This is generally not necessary, since BZFlag clients perform Global Registration via the official bzflag.org List Server. However, if a BZFS server is created within a private LAN network, it may be desirable/necessary to authenticate players locally.

Assumptions

• This article assumes that a working BZFS server is already in place and has been tested.
• This article assumes that the server administrator has access to web hosting with MySQL and PHP.
• This article assumes that the server administrator understand how to download and install PHPBB3.
• This article assumes that the private list server will use the same database as PHPBB3.
• This article assumes that the server administrator understands how to perform basic editing of PHP code.
• This article was written using Linux for the BZFS server.
• This article was written using Windows clients to access both the game server and the private list server.

Directions

• Install and test your BZFS server. Make sure clients can connect and play the game.
• Install PHPBB3 on a web server, configure settings, test that users can REGISTER to the PHPBB3 board.
• In the "main" PHPBB3 folder, (ex: /usr/share/phpbb3/www/), place these three files found in the SVN DB Repository (https://bzflag.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/bzflag/trunk/db/):

bzfls.php
serversettings.php.tmpl (rename to serversettings.php)
banfunctions.php

• Edit serversettings.php such that it can connect to your PHPBB3 MySQL database:

$dbhost  = "localhost";
$dbname  = "phpbb3";
$dbuname = "phpbb3";
$dbpass  = "********";
$bbdbname = 'phpbb3';

Acknowledgements

This process would not have been successful without the help of Blast/Blast007.