NiftyHost Forums (Archive) - Tutorials

Web Hosting 101

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 16:00:56 +0000

Web Hosting: Keep a Variety of Packages

A good way to start off/keep a web hosting company, is to ALWAYS keep a variety of packages. If your a completely-free web hosting company, you should have one or two packages, a starter and a beginner maybe, but you might want to be a Post2Host Web Hosting Company, and provide 1 free-trial package, and multiple Post2Host Packages. You want to try and be able to provide Reseller Packages, so make sure you at least get a Master Reseller, unless you just want to start out small, and gradually get bigger.

If you want to be a paid host, your better off providing more paid packages, a few Post2Host packages, and a free one. This way, it gives your web-hosting company more variety. Remember, you should NEVER give much space and bandwidth to free packages, and don't give them any emails or email lists, because that leaves a high-risk of spam, and email abusers. Always remember to keep a high-eye out on those accounts!

B. Arsenault

Web Hosting: Start Out Small

When you start a web-hosting company, you're better off starting out small, because you won't be big in a matter of days, unless your merging with another community or company. You should start off free, with a little mixture of Post2Host packages, and than once you get bigger, provide paid packages, and remove some of the free packages, that way you have a nice variety of packages. Then, focus on keeping the staff focused in on the community. If they have other commitments, try to have a replacement to be on-duty for them. Start off with a small team, and then grow the team, by placing ads out, and announcing applicants will be accepted to the community.

After you start to get bigger, make sure you start to use the ban hammer when needed, and make sure your clients are following your Terms of Service, and the community rules. Start putting advertisements out, and look into gaining revenue from the company. Start expanding your services, and look to get some other communities to merge with you, (once your big enough, and really are ready for it), to get more clients. Get your staff to refer you, look for reviews, find advertising services, and do everything you can. After you get big enough, sit back and relax, but dedicate a time to the company.

B. Arsenault

Web Hosting: Background Checks

Before you choose a host to be with, and stick with, you need to do some background checks, get some client reviews, ask them for uptimes, and server specifications. Don't go with a host that you have bad doubts about. Don't go with a host because they SAY they have good reviews. Don't go with a host, because of what you see on the webpage. I've learned this from experience. STICK WITH AN ONSHORE HOST, IF YOU CAN. Offshore servers are extremely unreliable, as so many people abuse the services, whenever they can. If you get an offshore server, don't go cheap, and don't resell cheap...

The host I started my big company with, was terrible. They looked so professional, but they didn't make their clients stick to the Terms of Service, and our account being the only account following the Terms of Service, the whole server got banned, because most of the abusers were hosted by that account. You need to find a good host. Do some searches for top hosts. Ask some friends. Or just look at ads, and the comments. Don't choose without a background check!

B. Arsenault

Web Hosting: Stick The Rules

When you start off your community, you don't need to throw down the community guidelines so much, but you really need to keep the Terms of Service stuck on them. You can't let customers abuse the services, because then they think it's just funny. If they abuse the services, and break the Terms of Services, I say flat out ban them, because then they know you were serious, and then you get a better reputation for not letting freaks and rude service-abusers ruin it for everyone else. Once you get 50+ members on your forum, you need to really start enforcing the community guidelines, because you can't let it get out of hand.

Make sure you release a STRICT amount of community guidelines, once you get to the 50+ members count, and before you even open, you need to have an extremely strict, but flexible Terms of Service. Don't let the clients kill you with kindness, and don't unban them or remove a warning because they're "sorry". I've seen it all, they'll just do it again. DON'T LET THEM RUN THE COMMUNITY INTO NOTHING, YOU RUN IT, YOUR WAY.

B. Arsenault

Community Management 101

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:38:09 +0000

Community Management: Choosing Your Teams

Once you get started with building your community, you need to figure out what teams your going to have at the community, and what they will be for. This is critical, because you need to know what their job is at the community, and be able to provide a description to them of what their job is. You should double-up your employees if you need to, but only do this in a case of A-shortage in staff; or B-a new team. You need to get the community and staff used to a team, so before you open the community, you should probably get a few staff members, to get the place running a bit, and get some posts in.

Second hand, you need to have a good handful of staff members running your community. You should have a second full-time administrator, or a junior administrator to rely on, encase you have to take a leave-of-absence, or an unexpected leave. Try to maintain contact with your other administrators encase of one of those situations listed above. Make sure you have multiple moderators encase one or more of them are not as active as the other(s).

Here are some other teams you might want to have, depending on the community:
Web Hosting

Support Team
Server Team
First-Response Team

Graphics

Graphics Team
Request Team
Showcase Team
Graphics Moderators

Advertising

Package Team
Advertisement Moderation Team
Sections Administrator
Off-topic Moderation

Community Management: Maintain a Relationship With Your Staff

It is very important to maintain a relationship with your staff. You need to treat them with respect, and you need to befriend them. The better friends you are with him/her, the better change you will work with them for a long time. If you don't maintain a good relationship, they're working for nothing, and they're getting no respect out of it.

Try and give them some kind of compensation if it is a volunteer job. Try and speak to them everyday, or whenever possible. Make sure the community is treating the staff with respect, and don't let them overturn the staffs decision. You might want to think about implanting a rule of the following "And disrespect to authority (staff), will land you a ban or warning level increase." That rule will come in handy for most communities-but not all.

Community Management: Remove Tension

Another major factor that closes a community is tension and anger. Don't let the community members be angry with the staff, find a solution to that. Don't let the staff be angry with the community, find a resolution. You can't have tension, hatred, and anger within the two sections of the community, because that will completely close the community.

You need to start contests, get the staff involved in them. You need to get the staff more involved in community things so they will work with the members. You need to get the staff to drop a PM to a community member every once in awhile just to see how their doing, to reassure them that the staff is always there for them. Don't leave doubt, leave happiness and fill-in those holes.

Community Management: How an Administrator Should Act

Through my years handling various multi-interest communities, whether they be gaming in particular, or geared to any certain interest over the internet, an administrator should always act accordingly to a few basic guidelines, which will eventually promote affection from the members of the community. Note how these few guidelines go well along with the Bill of Rights provided by the American government. If followed correctly and regularly practiced, these guidelines for an administrator of a community will help the community prosper.

A community administrator should always be active and open. This ensures that the members of the community are always heard, which brings us into this next concept of free-speech. Allow community members to freely and openly discuss matters they want to address about the community, whether the issues may tarnish the community's reputation or not. At the end, people will realize that despite any bad comment that may be promoted, it was proudly displayed, and the community has nothing to hide, bringing in more people to become a part of the community. Finally, a community adminstrator must abide by his or her own rules. You think this may be obviously done by any able administrator, but there is always a case where an administrator provides a degree of lee-way for him or herself, destroying the purpose of the guidelines set. All in all, these few guidelines should be able to promote a sense of governance in any community.

How to Create a Tutorial

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 17:31:00 +0000

I found an interesting website that teach how to create a tutorial and I thought to share it with you:

http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/technology..._tutorial/

This tutorial about creating tutorials can be useful in combination with this software http://www.kubelabs.com/phpmanualcreator/ can even help you to create your own tutorials website.

Tutorials for Web Developers

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 02:31:51 +0000

This weekend I face a problem running a XML-based script that cURL was not rendering so I had to take back my steps to read an XML tutorial and find if I did something problem.

The problem was resolved and I thought to share this and other web development links to tutorials that I hope be useful for you:

Introduction to XML For Web Developers,
http://www.extropia.com/tutorials/xml/toc.html

Introduction to Web Design,
http://www.extropia.com/tutorials/web_design/toc.html

Introduction to Databases for Web Developers,
http://www.extropia.com/tutorials/sql/toc.html

Introduction to UNIX for Web Developers,
http://www.extropia.com/tutorials/unix/toc.html

Introduction to Web Security;
Security Issues When Installing and Customizing Pre-Built Web Scripts,
http://www.extropia.com/tutorials/security/index.html

And many others you will find on the left-side navbar.

PC Maintenance 101

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:12:43 +0000

Not everyone is savvy enough to know how to properly maintenance their Windows machines on their own nor do they want to put the time into learning how. I’ve put together this small guide on what you can do to keep your computer running in top condition for maximum performance.

1. Dust=bad

Dust is the enemy of computers. If it builds up and collects on the components inside your computer it will collect heat and clog up ventilation. A graphics card with dust all over it and inside it will run twice as hot as one that is clean. Heat is obviously bad since it can shorten the lifespan of your hardware over time but your computer will also run slower the hotter it gets.

If you’re one of those people who has never opened up their computer you certainly need to do some spring cleaning as it is almost guaranteed to have dust inside it. Dust buildup is an unavoidable problem that computers face simply because of how they’re built. This doesn’t just mean PC’s either. Macs and consoles will gather up dust inside them over time as well (Of course, if you have a console good luck getting it open to clean it without the special screwdriver necessary. Oh, and it will void your warranty if you do so, so good luck with that.)

First off, don’t vacuum the inside of your computer.

Now that I’ve covered the common sense details, here’s the best way to get rid of dust. You need some canned air. You can pick this up at literally any computer store or buy some online. Obviously you can’t wash a motherboard and it’s a bad idea to take any kind of physical cleaning instrument to it so air is your best option. This will blow very concentrated blasts of air at all the crevices in your computer ensuring no dust is left sitting there even in the hard to reach spots. Don’t ever clean with your computer on. Fans are harder to clean when they are spinning.

Depending on how much dust is built up you will probably end up blowing a lot of it into the air around you. It’s good to keep a vacuum cleaner hose going next to you to suck up all this dust filled air to ensure it doesn’t just get sucked back into your computer when you turn it back on. Also it’s worth noting that you should touch your computer case or something metal before venturing inside your computer as electrostatic discharge from the human body can ruin computer components.

2. Defragment

This is important to ensure your load times stay short and your hard drive lifespan stays long.

Your hard drive is divided into sectors and chunks that it uses to fill up with data. Ideally when you install something it puts the data all together in one chunk, but sometimes a chunk cannot contain all of the data so it has to divide it and write the remainder of it somewhere else on the hard drive. This is fragmentation.

This is bad because when a large file loads it is reading it off your hard drive to put it into ram temporarily while you use it. If the map is divided into 2 or more parts across your hard drive then your hard drive has to spend time seeking out the individual parts. While this still happens very quickly, it can still slow down your load times tremendously if the hard drive is fragmented enough. Don’t confuse this with the actual files on windows though. A file can be physically split up on your hard drive but still appear as one file in windows.

This is what defragmentation programs are for. Windows comes with it’s own but it is ridiculously slow. I recommend Puran Defrag.

Puran Defrag

It finds all of these fragments and rearranges the physical chunks on your hard drive to put everything back together again so your hard drive can access them much faster. Puran defrag is free and unlike most freeware defraggers it can even defragment directories and your master file table.

Defragmentation time depends on how much there is so if your drive is heavily fragmented I would recommend doing it overnight while you sleep. If not, just run it when you have a few minutes to spare. Don’t run it while you are downloading, moving or editing files. You must also have a decent amount of hard drive space free in order for defragmentation to be possible.

3. Malware and Viruses: Kill them

Nothing will slow down your computer more than malware. While viruses and trojans are usually meant to completely cripple windows or your computer, malware is designed more to run hidden in the background and do any number of malicious things without you knowing. This is the #1 cause of WoW accounts and Steam accounts being hijacked.

First off if you don’t have a firewall you are asking for viruses. There are plenty of freeware firewalls out there and windows comes with a semi-decent one as well. Do not ever browse the internet without a firewall. You are walking through a minefield and will tread on one eventually. The best firewalls are the ones you pay for, but something is better than nothing if you’re broke. Secondly, use a virus scan and use more than one. Different programs have different databases so one virus scan alone cannot get rid of every virus out there no matter how hard it tries. Some of them get pretty close though and here are some I recommend:

Malwarebytes

Spybot S&D

Ewido Anti-spyware

Many anti-virus programs install a passive scanner that works in the background. These are often a bit useless but if you want this feature I recommend only using one as using many of them will only slow your computer to a halt. Virus scanning, like defragging, can be a time consuming task when doing deep scans so again this is something you may want to do overnight.

4. Keep a certain amount of hard drive space free

Windows needs some space to breath. If you only have 1 or 2 gigs of free space (or god forbid even less) your computer is going to struggle to work properly.

5. Keep your drivers up to date

90% of the time if someone cannot get a game to run it is because they are not running the newest version of their graphics card drivers. Drivers are the software or firmware that tell your hardware how to do what they do. They aren’t perfect though and they must be updated to weed out errors and introduce new technologies. Updating the drivers of any components in your computer that have a newer version available is often a good way to stabilize your system and avoid problems with getting thing to work properly.

I recommend Drivermax as it will scan your computer and tell you what needs to be updated. It’s much easier than doing it yourself trust me.

6. Tweak your TCP

You only need to do this once but it will potentially help optimize your internet connection.

Speedguide.net makes a program called TCP Optimizer.

When you run it you must first select the speed of your internet connection. If you don’t know exactly what it is, find out here: http://www.speedtest.net/

Do not set the bandwidth to a speed higher or lower than your actual internet connection speed. That will not magically give you a faster connection. You can custom tweak the settings yourself but if you don’t know how just select the “optimal” option and it will automatically select the best settings fit for your connection speed. This won’t make your connection blazingly faster, but it may give you a bit of a pickup or better pings in a game.

7. Don’t run programs in the background if you don’t use them

Just because you aren’t logged into your multiple IM clients at the time doesn’t mean they are not sucking up valuable resources that could be put towards whatever you are doing at the time. Computers are like cars in the sense that when you buy one they are touted to be able to handle anything you throw at them. While modern PCs can indeed handle quite a lot, they are still subject to being slowed down under larger loads. Cars will always run faster under a lighter load and so will your computer. Having extra software running in the background is much like having a car trunk pointlessly filled with cinder blocks.

8. Check your hard drive for errors

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windo...for-errors

That link will show you how. Sometimes hard drive sectors can become corrupt and that can lead to a whole plethora of problems. Once every blue moon you should run this to make sure it’s running at 100%. It’s very rare for this kind of issue to occur in modern hard drives but things like power outages can still be a culprit for sector corruption. On a related note, you should always have your computer plugged into a surge protector or UPS to defend it from power surges as those can fry your entire system.

9. Myths about PC maintenance

Going into your task manager and ending all the processes (or getting a program that does it for you) will not make your computer faster, only more crash happy.

Using registry cleaners does not make your computer faster unless you have a metric ton of orphaned registry entries and errors. The primary purpose a cleaner serves is to clean up errors and traces after you uninstall something or are having registration issues.

'Memory cleaners' do nothing except make your computer use more virtual ram which makes it seem as though you are using less memory. This is a bad thing. Don’t fall for the marketing gimmicks.

'PC optimization' programs are a bunch of crap unless they are freeware.

10. Extra stuff

Don’t smoke around your PC. Unlike dust, cigarette smoke will do much more than just settle on your hardware and make heat. It will destroy your components over time.

Do not put your computer into sleep mode when you intend on moving it. The hard drives will only spin down if the computer is shut off and if they are not spun down when you move your computer you risk damaging your hard drive platters and then your machine is bricked.

Set your monitor to turn itself off after a while. If it’s constantly on it will start to die and wear out 50% faster.

When your computer does not work

Sun, 29 May 2011 15:04:41 +0000

http://i.imgur.com/JvcBb.png

Read it slow and carefully.

Create a fully working Counter Strike server with HLDS

Sun, 29 May 2011 15:03:35 +0000

Create a fully working Counter Strike server with HLDS

Hello Counter Strike Players,

in this tutorial I will show you how to create a fully working internet server with the Half Life Dedicated Server Update Tool from Valve. Before we start I have to tell you some things. Its really easy when you know the basics of DOS but with this tutorial even total newbies can create a working internet server with whatever they want. I'm not only going to show you how to download and install it. I'll show you how to install some very important plugins that are needed for a very good Counter Strike internet server like Metamod, Amxmod and Dproto to support two types of protocols. We speak about protocol 47 (older) and protocol 48 (new). Lets start before you are getting boring from reading so much. Important that tutorial is only for windows users!!!

Tutorial:

1: Server installation
1. Download HLDSUPDATETOOL from Steam homepage.

2. Install this HLDSUPDATETOOL into a direction you can easily remember like C:\HLDS or C:\Program Files\HLDS.

3. After you have installed it open your command window (Press Windows + R and enter cmd).

4. Now enter cd and the direction where you installed HLDSUPDATETOOL and hit enter.

e.g: cd C:\HLDS

5. Now we tell the tool to download Counter Strike server content. Enter hldsupdatetool.exe -command update -game cstrike -dir (here the direction you want for the server) and hit enter.

e.g: hldsupdatetool.exe -command update -game cstrike -dir C:\CS

(It may take a little bit of your time untill it starts download so don't close the cmd window)

6. When the cmd promt says "HLDS up to date" you can close the cmd box because it finished downloading the server content.

2: Installation of Metamod and AMXMOD:
7. Download Metamod at Metamod homepage.

8. Lets install Metamod for now:
8.1. Create a folder called addons in C:\CS2\cstrike\ (should be changed to your path).
8.2. In this addons folder create a folder called metamod.
8.3. In this metamod folder create a folder called dlls and a file called plugins.ini with notepad.
8.4. Copy the metamod.dll into the dlls folder.
8.5. Open C:\CS2\cstrike (should be changed to your path) and find the file named liblist.gam.
8.6. Open this file with notepad and replace "gamedll "dlls\mp.dll"" with "gamedll "addons\metamod\dlls\metamod.dll"".
8.7. Open plugins.ini you created before and add win32 addons/amxmodx/dlls/amxmodx_mm.dll.

9. Now we lets install AMXMOD:
9.1. Download AMXMOD Full Installer from AMXMOD homepage.
9.2. Install the installer and run it and go on until you see a window where you can select the install methode:

Select "Select mod directory" and click "NEXT".

9.3. Now the installer will ask you for the mod directory. Select the cstrike folder in C:\CS2\ (should be changed to your path).
9.4. Let the installer install the AMXMOD files and close the installer when its finished.
9.5. AMXMOD is also installed now.

3: Server configuration
10. Lets create a valuable and working server.cfg:
10.1. Find server.cfg in C:\CS2\cstrike\cfg (should be changed to your path) and open it with notepad.
10.2. Paste the into it:

Code:
// Use this file to configure your DEDICATED server.

// This config file is executed on server start.

// This is a comment

//GENERAL

// default server name. Change to "Bob's Server", etc.

hostname "Counter-Strike 1.6 Server"

//sv_lan <0/1> 0=Public/LAN, 1=LAN Default: 0

sv_lan 0

// sv_contact  Contact email for server admin

sv_contact "admin@domain.com"

// sv_region <1-7> - The region of the world to report the server in.

// -1 World

// 0 US East coast

// 1 US West coast

// 2 South America

// 3 Europe

// 4 Asia

// 5 Australia

// 6 Middle East

// 7 Africa

sv_region 0

//ROUND

// mp_buytime  - The amount of time to allow purchasing weapons/equipment on round start

mp_buytime 0.45

// mp_c4timer  - How long before the c4 explodes

mp_c4timer 45

// mp_timelimit  - How long each map should be played before switching levels

mp_timelimit 25

// mp_freezetime  - How long players are unable to move during round starts

mp_freezetime 5

//mp_roundtime <1-9> How much time in minutes does a round last. Default: 5

mp_roundtime 5

// mp_startmoney  - Specify how much money players start off with

mp_startmoney 800

//mp_friendlyfire <0/1> Turn on/off friendlyfire. Default: Off

mp_friendlyfire 0

//mp_footsteps <0/1> Turn on/off footsteps. Default: On

mp_footsteps 1

//mp_flashlight <0/1> Turn on/off the ability for clients to use flashlight. Default: Off

mp_flashlight 0

//mp_fraglimit <##> Amount of frags a player can exceed before changing maps. Default: 0

mp_fraglimit 0

//mp_maxrounds <##> Amount of round to play before server changes maps. Default: 0

mp_maxrounds 0

//mp_winlimit <0-20> Max number of rounds one team can win before server changes maps. Default: 0

mp_winlimit 0

// mp_spawnprotectiontime Time in seconds to Kick players who team-kill after round restart. Default: 5

mp_spawnprotectiontime 5

// mp_autoteambalance <0/1> Force clients to auto-join the opposite team if they are not balanced. Default: On

mp_autoteambalance 1

//mp_limitteams <0-20> Max # of players 1 team can have over another. Default: 2

mp_limitteams 2

//mp_autokick <0/1> Kick idle/team-killing players. Default Off

mp_autokick 0

//mp_tkpunish <0/1> Punish TK'ers on next round? Default: On

mp_tkpunish 1

//mp_hostagepenalty <##> How many hostages a Terrorist can kill before being kicked, 0 to disable. Default: 5

mp_hostagepenalty 5

// disable autoaim

sv_aim 0

// sv_cheats <0/1> - Whether to allow game cheat commands to be used by clients. 0 = off | 1 = on

sv_cheats 0

//VOICE-CHATTING

//sv_voiceenable <0/1> Allow clients to use mic. Default: 1

sv_voiceenable 1

//sv_alltalk <0/1> Players can hear all other players, no team restrictions. Default: Off

sv_alltalk 0

//sv_voicecodec Specifies which voice codec DLL to use in a game. Set to the name of the DLL without the extension.. Default:voice_speex

sv_voicecodec voice_speex

//sv_voicequality <1-5> the bps of the voice.

//1-2400bps

//2-6000bps-DEFAULT

//3-8000bps

//4-11200bps

//5-1520bps

sv_voicequality 2

//mp_chattime <0-120> amount of time in seconds players can chat after the game is over. Lower value = faster map load change. Default: 10

mp_chattime 10

//RATES-SPEEDS

//sv_gravity World Gravity Default: 800

sv_gravity 800

//sv_maxvelocity Maximum speed any ballistically moving object is allowed to attain per axis. Default: 3500

sv_maxvelocity 3500

//sv_maxspeed Maximum speed a player can move. Default: 320

sv_maxspeed 320

//CLEINT CVARS

//decalfrequency Amount of time in seconds a player can spray their decal. Default: 10

decalfrequency 10

//sv_consistency <0/1> Force cleints to pass consistency check for critical files before joining server? Default: 0

sv_consistency 0

//sv_timeout <##> After this many seconds without a message from a client, the client is dropped. Default: 65

sv_timeout 65

//mp_playerid <0/1/2> Controls what information player see in the status bar: 0 all names; 1 team names; 2 no names. Default: 0

mp_playerid 0

// sv_pausable <0/1> - Whether to allow clients to pause the server. 0 = off | 1 = on

sv_pausable 0

//sv_allowupload <0/1> Allow clients to upload their custom decals to the server. Default: 1

sv_allowupload 1

//sv_allowdownload <0/1> Allow clients to downnload files. Default: 1

sv_allowdownload 1

//sv_unlag <0/1> Enables player lag compensation. Default: 1

sv_unlag 1

//SPECTATING

//mp_allowspectators <0/1> Allow spectators on the server. Default: 1

mp_allowspectators 1

//mp_forcecamera <0/1> Force dead players to first person mode, effectively disabling freelook. Default: Off

mp_forcecamera 0

//sv_hltv <0/1> Enables HLTV on the server. Default: 0

sv_hltv 0

//BANDWIDTH RATES

//sv_minrate <0-25000> Min bandwidth rate allowed on server. Default: 0 (unlimited)

sv_minrate 0

// sv_maxrate <1000-25000> - The maximum bandwidth rate the server is allowed to transmit to clients

sv_maxrate 10000

//sv_maxupdaterate Maximum updates per second that the server will allow. Default: 60

sv_maxupdaterate 60

//sv_minupdaterate Minimum updates per second that the server will allow. Default: 10

sv_minupdaterate 10

//sys_ticrate Max FPS (1000 Max) the server is to render

sys_ticrate 200

//SERVER LOGGING

// log  Enable server logging? Default: Off

log off

//sv_logbans <0/1> Log server bans in the server logs. Default: 0

sv_logbans 0

// sv_logecho <0/1> Echo log information to the console. Default: 1

sv_logecho 1

// sv_logfile <0/1> Log server information in the log file. Default: 1

sv_logfile 1

//sv_log_onefile <0/1> Log server information to only one file. Default: 0

sv_log_onefile 0

//sv_logsdir Folder in the game directory where server logs will be stored.

//RECON

//rcon_password Set rcon passsword. Leave blank to disable rcon

rcon_password ""

//sv_rcon_banpenalty  Number of minutes to ban users who fail rcon authentication. Default: 0

sv_rcon_banpenalty 0

//sv_rcon_maxfailures <0-20> Max number of times a user can fail rcon authentication before being banned. Default: 10

sv_rcon_maxfailures 10

//sv_rcon_minfailures <0-20> Number of times a user can fail rcon authentication in sv_rcon_minfailuretime before being banned. Default: 5

sv_rcon_minfailures 5

//sv_rcon_minfailuretime <1-seconds> Number of seconds to track failed rcon authentications. Default: 30

sv_rcon_minfailuretime 30

// lists of banned players.

// load ban files

exec listip.cfg

exec banned.cfg

10.3. Edit the details like server name and other things and save server.cfg and close notepad.

4: Starting the server
11. Now create a shortcut on the desktop to the hlds.exe in C:\CS2\ (should be changed to your path).

12. Edit the shortcut and add this parameters to the target field: -console -game cstrike -ip (get your IP over http://www.ip-adress.com) -port 27015 +maxplayers (1-32) +map (only maps you have in maps in cstrike).

e.g: -console -game cstrike -ip 240.5.59.5 -port 27015 +maxplayers 32 +map de_dust2

13. Start the server from this shortcut.

Counter-Strike Dedicated Server on Debian Squeeze

Sun, 29 May 2011 15:02:09 +0000

Tutorial: Counter-Strike Dedicated Server on Debian Squeeze.

Preface:
In this tutorial which is based on text and pictures I will teach you all you need in order to get a working Counter-Strike dedicated server on a Debian Squeeze (6.0)/ Lenny (5.0) system. I will provide all tools and codes you will need during this tutorial so you can easily follow me. Before we can start I will clear some things for you so you don't get confused in the Linux world. I'm offering a service within this tutorial. I can setup a server for you with Metamod, AMXMODX and Dproto and plugins of your choice for free.

Explanation:
As stated above I will explain you some things you should know before messing with Linux OSes.

Su or Sudo?
As a part of the system you have to use su on Debian to gain root access with an non-administrative user to install some software we will need during the tutorial. This command is different from OS to OS. On Ubuntu you have to use sudo, if you try to use sudo on Debian you will get this error message: "-bash: sudo: command not found" so you have to use su instead.

Why should I never create a dedicated server as root?
If you create a dedicated server as the root user of your system you open the doors for hackers and they could take over your system when thy hack into the root account. So, please create a new account on your system. On Debian: adduser username (e.g: adduser setestuser). After that use this new account to create the dedicated server(s).

Chmod?
Linux is not Windows!!! If you want execute a application you have downloaded via wget you have to set the premission as a non-administrative user. Normaly chmod u+x should do the thing for hldsupdatetool.bin on every Linux Distro (Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and so on...). Usage example: chmod u+x hldsupdatetool.bin, chmod u+x run_server and so on.

How do I run a application without being in the system?
For this task you need a application like screen, but we will use tmux as tmux is much better then screen and its really powerful and easy to use. This applications will allow you run the dedicated server without being logged into the system all the time. They will also grant you that you don't kill the dedicated server when you accidently close the SSH session(s).

If you need more explanation feel free to contact me, RichardGv or Unrealized. We'll be glad to help you with Linux and its commands.

Requirements:
This is the last thing before we can start with this tutorial.

A server running on Debian Squeeze or Lenny.
Putty SSH Client (We need this to connect to the machine).
WinSCP (Pretty awesome SFTP/FTP/SCP client).
Server.cfg Creator (We need a good server configuration).

That is all we need, the rest you will get from Debian package servers such as tmux and hldsupdatetool.

Lets start with the tutorial now...

Step One:
Download Putty from above posted link under "Requirements" and start it. You will see the main window. Enter the IP or hostname of your server into the first field and click on the open button at the bottom (See screenshot one).

Screenshot One:

At the very first connection to your machine you will get a weird message with a long key. Just accept it and go on to the login screen. Now Putty asks you for a username, just use the one you created via adduser. Then it asks you for the password of this user. Type its password and hit enter and you will be in the system (Don't worry if you see nothing when you type the password) . Look at the following screenhots.

Screenshot Two:

Screenshot Three:

Screenshot Four:

Step Two:
Now we will download the hldsupdatetool and set the premission for it. Type the command "wget http://www.steampowered.com/download/hldsupdatetool.bin into the main screen of putty and hit enter (See screenshot five). After the download is done type chmod u+x hldsupdatetool.bin and we are done with step two (See screenshot six).

Screenshot Five:

Screenshot Six:

(Type "ls" and see if hldsupdatetool.bin is green, if not repeat chmod u+x... again)

Step Three:
Now we will execute hldsupdatetool and accept the agreement and finaly download the server content. To run hldsupdatetool.bin type "./hldsupdatetool.bin" after that you will get the agreement. Accept this by typing "yes" and hit enter (See screenshot seven). After that type "./steam -command update -game cstrike -dir cs" and wait until it starts to download. If it does not start repeat this command several times until it does or ask here for advice (See screenshot eight).

Screenshot Seven:

Screenshot Eight:

Now relax and wait until the download has finished (See screenshot nine).

Screenshot Nine:
http://i51.tinypic.com/2cok9zk.png

We are done with step three.

Step Four:
Now we will create a server configuration for our Counter-Strike dedicated server and a launcher which will restart the server on every crash. Go to the site linked on "Requirements": http://www.cstrike-planet.com/cfgmaker?cfg=srcds and build the config you need. After you have build it download WinSCP from "Requirements" and extract, then start it. Use the informations you used with Putty and login into the file server (See screenshot ten) by clicking the login button at the bottom.

Screenshot Ten:
http://i53.tinypic.com/67t6j6.png

Now a window opens with the main folder. Open the cs folder and then go to cstrike and open it. Find the file "server.cfg" and double click it. The editor of WinSCP will open. Paste the generated server configuration from the website and save it. Don't forget to create banned.cfg and listip.cfg and upload both to the cstrike folder.

After you done the server.cfg go back to the cs folder and right click somewhere and select "New..." then select file and name it run_server. Open it with the editor (double click it) and paste this code: http://pastebin.com/f4jyaP9q and adjust the commands.

+ip = external/ internal IP of your server.
-port = port used for the game (e.g: 27015 or whatever).
+maxplayers = amount of slots from 1 to 32.
+map = map used when server is starting (must be in /cstrike/maps/).
-pingboost 3 = will boost your pings so you can play well.

It could look like this after adjustments:
./hlds_i686 -game cstrike -autoupdate +ip 84.178.232.23 -port 27015 +maxplayers 32 +map de_dust2 -pingboost 3

After this save this file and go back to putty and type chmod u+x run_server. Type "ls" and see if its green, if not repeat chmod u+x... again until its green.

We have finished step four.

Step Five:
Now we need to install tmux. Type "su" and enter the root password. After that type "apt-get install tmux", wait until the installation of tmux is done and type "exit".

Run tmux by typing "tmux" and it will launch tmux and open the first terminal panel. Type "cd cs" and then type "./run_server". Your server should start.

If your server does not start feel free to ask for help here. If it starts you have done it :).

Tmux notice: After you have started a session again type tmux attach to join tmux if needed. If you want exit a session press CTRL + B then D and tmux will detach so you can close putty.

Proof:

Server was online and shown in internet/favourite tab:
http://i52.tinypic.com/xcrebl.png

Simple HTTP Server on Linux

Sun, 29 May 2011 15:01:03 +0000

In this little text based tutorial I will show you how to start and run a simple http server on Linux. It works with every Linux distribution. In my case I'll use Debian Squeeze like in this tutorial. You might need root access if you want use port 80 otherwise you have to stick with port 8000!

Tutorial:

1. Get python:
Use su if you are not root and enter the password and hit the submit button. Next use "apt-get install python" and hit the submit button. Wait until python is installed.

2. Start the server:
I recommend you to use software like Tmux so the http servers runs when you are not in SSH session or connected to the server.

So to start the server simply use "python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8000". If you use root you can run it on port 80 by using "python -m SimpleHTTPServer 80".

Thats it :) I recommand you to create a user for it so you don't get security issues with root and do not run this script in your home direction, create a folder like www for it..

Demo HTTP Server: http://91.218.37.39:8000 (Down, installing CentOS)
This is my dedicated server in the Ukraine :).

Thanks to RichardGv who gave me the advice with the python module :D.

[MyBB] Simple Group Legend v2

Sun, 29 May 2011 14:58:38 +0000

Lets create a simple group legend without using any plugin for MyBB.

Step one: Login into your Administration Area of MyBB.
Step two: Go to "Templates & Style".
Step three: Next open "Templates" in the left menu.
Step four: Choose the templates of the theme you use.
Step five: Click on "Index Page Templates" and then on "index_whosonline" template.
Step six: Add the following code at the end:

PHP Code:
<tr>
<td class="trow1"><span class="smalltext"><left><span style="color:red"><b>Administratorb>span> - <span style="color:gold"><b>Super Moderatorb>span> - <font color="lawngreen"><b>Moderatorsb>font> - <font color="dodgerblue"><b>Developersb>font> - <font color="purple"><b>GFX Teamb>font> - <font color="blue">Registered Membersfont> - <font color="black"><s>Banneds>font>span>td>
tr> 

Step seven: Adjust the code how you need (e.g change the colours and add styles like and others.
Step eight: Save and look at the result.

Result:

From http://www.serialexperience.co.cc

[tut] Keeping your postquality up.

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 17:08:40 +0000

Here are some tips on keeping your postquality up:

Don't make posts with ALL-CAPS.
Check your posts for typing errors.
Preview your posts! :)
If you're not sure how to type a word, try google :)
If you say something like Cool/good, Boring/stupid, then explain *why* you think it's cool/stupid.
Have your own opinion, don't copy other people's opinion.
Contribute to the thread, make sure people think your posts are interesting.

If anyone has any other tips, please tell me. :)
Edit: Keep them coming :)

Photoshop Actions - How to Use

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 14:58:22 +0000

How to play Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare online with bots

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 11:58:31 +0000

Before going out to the wild and starting playing with the big boys, it's always a good idea to train. Single player might help you but it's not such a challenge. This is a tutorial how to play Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare with bots and ranking saved.

1) Patch you Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare to version 1.7 .

http://www.gamershell.com/download_28304.shtml

This is patch 1.7 . To download elder patches, browse the site in the link.

ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE FOLDER, AS THE FILES REPLACED BY THE PATCH MAY HAVE AN ERROR IN THEM, YOUR GAME WILL NOT WORK.

2) Download PeZBOT.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/pezbot

Install them them as said in the instructions.

3) Launch Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare multiplayer. In the Mods menu, launch PeZBOT. Start a server and type "/svr_pezbots [number]" in the console (without qoutes).

And there you go :) If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in this thread or in the PMs :)

EDIT: Replace the [number] with your desired number.
E.g. /svr_pezbots 7

How To Increase Your Site Ranking

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 10:16:32 +0000

Post removed, user forgot to provide a backlink ;)

Branding Windows with your Name !!

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 05:32:30 +0000

randing Windows with your Name !!

Open Notepad dump the following lines into it and Save It with the name OEMINFO.INI in the c:\windows\system32 directory:

- [General]
- Manufacturer=Your Name Here
- Model=Your Model Here
- [Support Information]
- Line1=Your Name Here
- Line2=Your Address Here
- Line3=Your Email Address Here

- Save the file, then make a right click on my computer select properties, in the general tab a button will be highlighted (support information) make a click on it, you will be able to see the changes.
- Now if you want to display some more information then simply increase the line in the file.

- ex: Line4=Your Working Hours Here

Pls hit thanks..