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This topic explains how to change the banner (When loading into a server there'll be a banner underneath the text "content hosting provided by") For those who needs a step by step explanation, here it is:
There are 3 types of servers:
1) Game Server
2) Content server
3) Fast Download server
1) Game server: What you have and people play on.
2) Content server: Used to verify the resources on the players system and download VAC if it is enabled on the game server. As well as some form of centralized control and the servers through which your client connects to the STEAM network. They are the steam network in one form or another.
3) Fast Download server: Used to store any game resources (maps, models, sounds, exc.) that do not come as default with the players system or already exist on the players system. Fast Download servers are used because STEAM can directly connect to them and download at web speed ( i.e. the speed you would download a file from a website through your browser: from 90 to 300 KBps if not more) instead of the usual 8 or so KBps which HL will download at from the game server. A fast Download server link must be specified in the server.sfg file.
Point: as the player connects to the same server the content server will verify that the players system has all the files necessary which the game server tells it are necessary for the current map.
Point: if the content server determines that the players system is missing files it will disconnect the player from the game server and redirect his/her system to the specified fast Download server to download the missing files. When that is done, the player抯 system is disconnected from the fast Download server and redirected back to the game server, where as you connect the content server will verify that the game server resources and the player抯 systems files match and are all in existence in both locations for the current map.
As you connect to a game server you will be watching the content server do its work, the banner you will see under the progress bars will either be a 搗alve content server?banner or an advertisement if the content server belongs to company contracting with valve as a provider of content server and bandwidth. That banner can抰 be changed unless you are one of the specified companies. (Actually this can be done, but it is a rather troublesome operation, including deleting registry files, blocking ip's and risking Valve (the company) getting upset and shut down your server)
If the content server determines that the player抯 system is missing files it will redirect the player抯 system to the fast Download server you have specified. Now, the banner which will be displayed under the progress bars as the player downloads the necessary resources you CAN change.
Usually the fast Download server and the game server belong to the same organization, group, clan, so, because they can抰 advertise their name outside from the server name, they will have a banner on their fast Download server advertising who they are and any other info they want.
CONFIGURING YOUR SERVER TO USE FAST HTTP ASSET DOWNLOADING
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1. Make a list of all the custom files (bsp, wav, mdl, etc) used on your server
2. Put these files on a HTTP server (ie: webserver), keeping the folder layout intact
3. To display a "banner image" to players that download content, place a 340x56 pixel image in the file <custom content directory>/gfx/banner.gif
So to summarize. On your webserver that you host custom maps etc, you have a directory for all custom maps etc. For example /mywebserverdirectory/serverresources /
In this directory you create a gfx directory, and place your custom content image which is only 340X56 pixels in size, and is properly created and saved as banner.gif.
So thus you would have /mywebserverdirectory/serverresources /gfx/banner.gif
4. Set the sv_downloadurl cvar to "http://yourserver/custom_content_directory/"
Example:
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Your server uses the non-standard map "de_generic", which requires the following files:
C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamCache\your@email.address\Counter-Strike\cst rike\maps\de_generic.map
C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamCache\your@email.address\Counte r-Strike\cstrike\de_generic.wad
C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamCache\your@email.address\Counte r-Strike\cstrike\sound\ambience\de_generic_a.wav
C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamCache\your@email.address\Counte r-Strike\cstrike\sound\ambience\de_generic_b.wav
C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamCache\your@email.address\Counte r-Strike\cstrike\sound\ambience\de_generic_c.wav
You have web space (perhaps through your ISP) with the URL " http:// lantznet.se/hlm/" that you will use to host your custom content.
To do this, you copy the files needed for "de_generic" to your webspace, placing them in a folder called "my_cstrike" in your webspace top-level directory, keeping their directory layout intact.
You now have the following files in your webspace:
http:// lantznet.se/hlm/cstrike/maps/de_generic.map
http:// lantznet.se/hlm/cstrike/de_generic.wad
http:// lantznet.se/hlm/cstrike/sound/ambience/de_generic_a.wav
http:// lantznet.se/hlm/cstrike/sound/ambience/de_generic_b.wav
http:// lantznet.se/hlm/cstrike/sound/ambience/de_generic_c.wav
You now set the "sv_downloadurl" cvar on your game server to
" http:// lantznet.se/hlm/cstrike".
Players who then connect to your server will automatically download the map "de_generic" and its required files from your webspace when they connect
(unless they already have it, of course).
TECHNICAL DETAILS
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* The maximum length of the sv_downloadurl is 127 characters
* If a connecting player has an existing file of the same name, it will not be overwritten. The download file will be skipped.
* Certain game-critical and potentiel dangerous files cannot be downloaded (ie: *.exe, *.vbs, etc)
SUMMARY
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The command you enter into the server is:
sv_downloadurl "http://<yoururl>/valve/"
use quotemarks on either side of the string and include the final "/".
(valve = hldm, cstrike = counterstrike, etc.)
Then you create folders for gfx/env, maps, overviews, sound, sprites and models and populate them with the respective resource and in the "valve" directory exactly the way you would populate your server normally, including the WAD files.
If the client has ANY of the files already (including the WAD) it will not be overwritten, there is no way to do that, the client must delete the out of date or offending resource himself.
NOTE: You need to make .res files for all the maps and you need to make sure all resource names listed (and placed at the http) are spelled exactly the same.
If the bsp has all lower-case letters for the entity then the .res file must be all lower-case and the file name itself must be all lower-case.
Win32 http servers are more case insensitive then linux http servers but its best to do the job right in the beginning otherwise you end up propagating bad resources to all the clients which will make things a real headache later.
I was admin 6 months ago on a different server, belonging to the biggest internet caf?chain in Denmark (Boomtown) which is owned by a major tele-company. They had their own banner. Which is why I suggested valve (webadmin of hlm) that he changed his as well. I thought it was pretty easy to change, but I was wrong. Anyways, I hope this helps those interested.
The banner above needs to have the following preferences:
8 bit image
Indexed color
width: 340px
height: 56px
extension: .gif |
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