Running a Server

Audience: Operators running a public or private instance · Prereqs: Getting Started

This section covers actually operating a LegacyShell deployment: the database, user ranks, connecting multiple game servers, keeping it alive unattended, and moderating it once it's public.

What's here

  • Architecture overview - the services/game/client split, who talks to whom, why services must be singular.
  • The database - opening LegacyShellData.db, the EDITABLE/READONLY table tags, what not to touch by hand.
  • Users and ranks - adminRoles, granting yourself/others admin, banning.
  • Adding game servers - game_servers rows, auth_key, running more than one region.
  • Client mirrors - running extra client servers pointed at one services instance.
  • Hosting for someone else's instance - volunteering a mirror or game server to an instance you don't own.
  • Perpetual - the process manager: crash restarts, daily restart schedule, auto git-pull, Discord webhook alerts.
  • Backups - rotation and retention, how to restore one.
  • Rate limiting - the regular/sensitive buckets and how auth_key bypasses them.
  • Moderation - in-game admin commands, booting players, locking rooms, the cheats flag.
  • Closed mode - taking the client server into maintenance mode.
  • Deployment - reverse proxy, ports, TLS, keeping it running long-term.
  • Troubleshooting - services unreachable, restart loops, desync between servers.
  • Items and inventory, Codes - granting items, redemption codes, ownedItemIds. (Not yet written - see The Database in the meantime for direct table access.)

If you're extending gameplay rather than operating a server, you want Plugin Development instead.

This page was drafted with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy. If something looks wrong, please open a PR or flag it.