BZFS Command Line Options

BZFS supports a number of command line options that let you set the various modes and parameters for the game.

Use

Any command line option can be passed to BZFS in the command line, or placed in a text file passed in with the -conf parameter.

Config files

A config file is simply a text file with a list of command line options, one per line. This file can be the parameter to the -conf command line option. BZFS will load all options in the config file as if they had been passed in as runtime options.

The Options

• -a linear angular

Sets the maximum linear and angular accelerations. The units are somewhat arbitrary so you'll have to experiment to find suitable values. Positive values will set limits to the acceleration and lower they are, greater is the inertia. Zero or negative values disable acceleration limits.

• -admsg

message Define a message which will be broadcast to all players every 15 minutes. This option can be used multiple times to define a multiline message.

• -advertise groupname,groupname,...

Allows control of who can see this server on the server list. Use:*-advertise NONE to make a private server (no one will see the server, but global logins can be used). The default, if*-advertise is not specified, is to alloweveryone to see the server. Otherwise, your server will only be listed to members of the groups which you specify when either*-filterCallsigns or*-filterChat is enabled.

• -ban ip{,ip}*

Prohibits connections from the listed IP addresses. Trailing 255 bytes are treated as mask bytes.

• -banfile filename

Specifies the name of a file where bzfs will store the banlist. It will load the banlist from this file when it starts (if the file exists), and write the banlist back to the file when someone gets banned or unbanned. If this option isn't given the banlist will not be saved.

• -c

Enables the capture-the-flag style game. By default this allocates one team flag per team. This can be modified see *+f team. By default, the free-for-all style is used.

• -cache worldCacheURL

Specifies the URL for the world cache file. This is a binary file that clients will attempt to download before getting the world from the bzfs server.

• -cacheout filename

Save the currently specified world into a binary cache file and exit.

• -conf configfilename

Specifies the name of a configuration file to be used to set all of the bzfs options, rather than setting them on the command line.

• -cr Enables the capture-the-flag style game with random map.

You can optionally specify a building density by provid- ing a number (default is 5). One team flag per team is provided, but more can be added thru *+f team.By default, the free-for-all style is used.

• -d Increase debugging level. If more*-d is given, more

debugging info is obtained.

• -density numSpecify density for buildings, i.e. the higher the inte-

ger number, the more buildings you will get. This applies to automatically generated maps only.

• -disableBotsDisallow

clients from using the ROGER autopilot or from using robots.

• +f {good|bad|teamflag-id}[{count}]

Forces the existence of the given flag. If specified multiple times for the same flag-id, then that many flags will appear. The good argument is equivalent to specifying *+f once for each kind of good flag. Same goes for the bad argument. The team argument adds a team be "*+s40*-s50*-f G". Similarly, "*+f good{40} *+f bad{10} -f G{40}" would give you exactly 40 good flags except genocide and 10 of each bad flag.

• -fb Allow flags on box buildings.

• -filterCallsigns

Turn on the filtering of callsigns and email addresses. Callsigns and addresses are compared against bad words provided via*-badwords.

• -filterChat

Turn on the filtering of chat messages. Messages that contain words listed via a*-badwords file are replaced with !@#$%^&* characters.

• -filterSimple

By default, all filtering is aggressive, matching much more than what is strictly listed in a*-badwords file for convenience.Providing this option will make the -filterCallsigns and*-filterChat comparisons exact match only.

• -g

Quit after serving one game.

• -groupdb file

Load groups from file

• -h

Buildings are given random heights.

• -handicap

Players are given a handicap advantage based on their ability in relation to the other players. Handicapped players will have faster tanks and shots. The handicap is determined by the player's score in relation to other players.

• -help

Shows a help page and lists all the valid flag id's.

• -helpmsg file name

Create a help message accessible by /help name, which prints the contents of file. Restricted to 10 lines per help message.

• -i interface

Server will listen for and respond to ``pings (sent via broadcast) on the given interface. Clients use this to find active servers on the network. This is the TCP/UDP/IP address the server will listen on.

• -j

Allows jumping.

• -lagdrop warn-count

Kicks players after warn-count lag warnings.

• -lagwarn time/ms

Send warnings to players that lag more than time. A single value sets the total number of players allowed. Five comma separated values set the maximum for each team. If a count is left blank then no limit is set for that team, except for the limit on the total number of players. Both forms may be provided.

• -mps max-score

Sets a maximum score for individual players. The first player to reach this score is declared the winner and the game is over.

• -ms shots Allows up to shots simultaneous shots for each player.

This is 1 by default.

• -mts max-score

Sets a maximum score for teams. The first team to reach this score is declared the winner and the game is over.

• -noMasterBanlist

Server will not attempt to load the master ban list from the internet.

• -p port

Listen for game connections on port instead of the default port.Use*-help to print the default port, or use*-d debug printing.

• -passdb fileLoad

passwords from file

• -passwd password

Specify a server administrator password for use in remote administration such as /kick, /ban, /mute, etc messages.

• -pidfile filename

Specify a file where the server will write its process ID so it may be used for remote administration.

• -poll variable=value

Configure several aspects of the in-game polling system
banTime
 default number of minutes player should be banned (unspecified, the default is 300)
vetoTime
 max seconds authorized user has to abort poll(default is 20)
votePercentage
 percentage of players required to affirm a poll (unspecified, the default is 50.1%)
voteRepeatTime
 minimum seconds required before a player may
 description. By default, a server will respond to
 broadcast queries, allowing clients to find servers run-
 ning on the standard port on the local subnet.The
 -public option causes the server to register itself with
 a list server, which clients can query to get a list of
 bzfs servers.

• -publicaddr address[:port]

Advertise this server with the given address and port. Only has an effect when used with*-public.Normally a server advertises itself at the local address and port. Some servers are not accessible from the internet at this address (for example servers behind a firewall using Network Address Translation). Use this option to specify the address and/or port that internet users should use to access this server.

• -publiclist url

Advertise this server on the list servers listed at url. Only has an effect when used with*-public. A built-in url is used by default. The BZFlag clients use the same built-in url so, by default, clients will see public servers automatically. This argument may be provided multiple times to publicize a server to multiple list servers.

• -q

If specified, the server will not listen for nor respond to ``pings. BZFlag sends out these pings to give the user a list of available servers.This effectively makes the server private, especially if the*-p option is also used.

• +r

Makes most shots ricochet. Super bullets, shock waves, and guided missiles do not.

• -rabbit [score|killer|random]

Enables the rabbit-hunt style game. By default, the free-for-all style is used. You must specify the algo- rithm used to pick a new rabbit when the old one dies. The score algorithm uses a modified wins/(wins*+losses) score and picks the top scoring player to be the new rabbit. The killer algorithm specifies a reverse tag game where whomever kills the rabbit becomes the new rabbit. The random algorithm randomly picks a new rab- bit without regard to score. (The score algorithm is the original behavior.)

• -recbuf size

Start with the recording buffer active, with the speci- fied size (in megabytes).

• -recbufonly

Disable recording straight to files

• -reportfile

• -requireudp

Require clients to use parallel UDP. If players fire before opening a UDP channel, kick them off the server.

• +s num-flags

The server will have an extra num-flags random super flags available at all times. The*-f option can be used to restrict which types of flags will be added. Required flags given by the *+f option are not included in the num-flags total.

• -s num-flags

The server will have up to num-flags random super flags available at any time.The*-f option can be used to restrict which types of flags will be added.Required flags given by the *+f option are not included in the num-flags total.

• -sa

Antidote flags are provided for players with bad flags.

• -sb Allow spawns on box buildings.

• -set name value

Set BZDB variable name to value

• -sl id num

Restrict flag id to num shots.

• -spamtime time

Minimum between player chat messages that are alike.

• -spamwarn warnLimit

Number of warnings a player/spammer gets, whoviolates -spamtime.

• -speedtol factor

Override the default speed auto kick factor. The factor should not be less then 1.0. The factor is a multiplier.

• -srvmsg message

Define a server welcome message. This option can be used multiple times to define a multiline message.

• -st time

Bad flags are automatically dropped after time seconds.

• -sw count

Bad flags are automatically dropped after count wins. Capturing a team flag does not count as a win.

• -synctime

Forces all clients to use the same time of day.The current time is determined by the server's clock. This disables the *+ and*- keys on the clients.

• -t

Adds teleporters to the game.

• -timemanual

the countdown has to be started manually using the /countdown command. This is useful for matches.

• -tk

Changes the default behavior where a player dies when he kills a teammate. When using this option, he will just get a*-1 score penalty for the kill but not be killed in game.

• -tkkr percent

Kicks players whose team killing to normal kill ratio is greater than percent [1-100]. A start up grace period is given to players.

• -ts [micros]Include timestamp information in DEBUG output*- useful

for logging. If micros is specified, microseconds will be added to the timestamp.

• -userdb file

Load group associations from file

• -vars file

Loads values for game configurable variables from file. Entries are one per line in the form: set variable value. For a list of variables that are configurable, in the BZFlag client, send a message with /set as the text.

• -version

Prints the version number of the executable.

• -world world-file

Reads a specific BZFlag .bzw world layout file for the game map.

• -worldsize world-size

Changes the size for random maps