OpenTTD random 'unnamed company' issue

[oRuin]

Hello!

I was wondering if anyone could help me out with a problem I am having.
I'm currently running a dedicated server on Linux and I have set it up to my liking.
AI off etc.

the server is called 'Tictoria OpenTTD Server' and it has a password.

For some reason though, every 20-30 minutes, the client numbers start going up. I'll check on the server and find that some 'unnamed company' has joined thie game.
After a few hours, it can reach as many as 8 clients connected with 'unnamed company'
This is not AI, but I'm not sure what it is. Only myself and my brother know the server password. I also seems that these 'unamed companys' are not building at all.

Please help! Been trying to sort this out for 3 days!

Thanks for reading


Neil
UK

[Steffl]

Are you sure the game loads the correct .cfg file?
You can make sure to load the right file when you use the -c parameter: openttd -c PATH/openttd.cfg
Or do you load a savegame or a scenario?
Then the settings of this savegame or scenario are taken.
You can check your settings if you join your server and open openttd debug console (press ^). Then type the following:

setting ai.ai_in_multiplayer

If it is "on", type:

setting ai.ai_in_multiplayer off

This was first was I thought when I read your post. A player which can join your server without knowing the password sounds very strange...

[Eddi]

that is most certainly AI companies (they start up about every 2 game years, so 20-30 minutes sounds right, a year is ca. 12 minutes)

[oRuin]

Thanks for the reply.

Hmm, you are right.

I got back: Current Value for 'ai.ai_multiplayer' is: 'on' (min:0, max:1)

But in the config file I have AI disabled.

I currently have 8 'unnamed companys' on the server. Last time I checked it was about 3 hours ago, and it had 2.
No building of any roads etc though.


edit: the config file is in the root directory. Should it be placed elsewhere?

Thanks!

[Steffl]

Hi, I saw in the server list that you play a loaded savegame, so the game settings come from this savegame, not from your config file.
If you start a complete new game then maybe all settings are like you want them.
If not then openttd is using a different config file somewhere. The default at my computer is /home/user/.openttd/openttd.cfg.

the config file is in the root directory. Should it be placed elsewhere?

Better place it somewhere in your users home directory. Or do you start openttd as root? I don't understand really much about this, but I think running programs as user is safer.
So you better check if you have the rights to open the config file set right.
The directory name doesn't matter if you use the -c flag, as I described above. I think using the -c flag is best, so you have eliminated one reason for an error

[oRuin]

Yeah this path is /home/user/.openttd/openttd.cfg.

How would I start a new game on the server without using a save file?

thanks for the help so far

[oRuin]

Hey again,

Ok, created a new save file. Before saving the game I changed AI to off.
Now the server has one 'unnamed company' - which I guess is my company from when I saved the game on my computer.

Going to do a complete reinstall of OpenTTD on the server, and not use any saved games.

I'm guessing I can create new games using the console? Random maps etc. And that would use the settings from the cfg file?

thanks for reading

edit : all done, new copy of OTTD 1.2.3 installed. Works fine. Now I just need to work out how to create a new random map etc!

[Steffl]

Hi,

this shouldn't be a problem to start a new random map.
When you start a dedicated server and don't load a savegame, a new map is started.

On a dedicated server you can only join as normal player and it is not easy restart the map in game.
It is only possible with rcon command. But you need to set a rcon password first in your config file.
There should be a line with " rcon_password= ", and there you have to enter your choosen password.
Save it and restart openttd then you can use it.

Now you can login on your server as normal player and you can enter admin commands with rcon command.
To start a new game enter:

'rcon 123 newgame'

(with password 123, enter ' ' too)

To find other commands and settings you can enter:

list_cmds
list_settings


Good luck

[oRuin]

Great stuff!

thanks for all the help!

[oRuin]

Ok, I'm back. Server has been up for a while now and has been fine. I have one problem though concerning newgrfs. They are not being loaded by the server. I currently setup a game on my local client to my liking. This of course with the newgrfs loaded and working.

Problem is, after transferring the openttd.cfg from my computer to my server and restarting the game, people are not getting the option to download the newgrfs. I have tried placing the newgrfs on the server in both folders 'newgrf' and in the content_download 'newgrf' folder. Still, non of them being used in multiplayer.

My cfg files show this.

[newgrf]
bigger_depots.0.3\bigdepot.grf =
bk_enhanced_tunnel_set-1.0\bktunw.grf =
coded_by_aegir._artwork_by_aegir-1\ae_cityw.grf =
egrvts.1.0\egrvts.grf =
egrvts2-175\egrvts2.grf = 0 63 2 0
opengfx_biggui-2.0.0\ogfx-biggui.grf = 1
total_town_replacement_set-3.13\ttrs3w.grf = 1 0 2 1
was_world_airliners_set-0.1\was.grf = 0 0


As I said I just copy the same cfg to the server.

Help! This is the last thing I need to get sorted.

Thanks for reading