How to use all these new features on a server. Scripts. Php is the language used by most, but bash, perl, python, anything that can read text from standard input and write to a text file should work.

Contents 1 Running the scripted server 1.1 All on one screen session 1.2 On two screen sessions for more flexibility 2 Sample Scripts 2.1 Random Flying Deathzones 2.2 Alternating Death Pulses

Running the scripted server

All on one screen session

To start the server, which will read the all important file edlog.txt, feed that into the parser script, then write the output of that into arma server, which will use tee to display the console log, use something like this shell script:

#!/bin/sh
tron="/path/to/bin/armagetronad-dedicated"
var="/path/to/var/"
log="${var}console_log.txt"
userconfigdir="/path/to/config/"
parser="/path/to/parser.php"
ladderlog="${var}ladderlog.txt"
 
tail -n0 -f -s 0.01 $ladderlog | $parser | $tron --userconfigdir $userconfigdir --vardir $var | tee -a $log

On two screen sessions for more flexibility

Alternatively, for debugging, you might want to write the cmds to a separate text file for reading. This allows you to modify and restart the parser as the server is running.

tail -f -n0 -s 0.01 /path/to/ladderlog.txt | /path/to/parser.php | tee -a /path/to/cmds.txt

Then run the server on a separate screen session with:

#!/bin/sh
tron="/path/to/bin/armagetronad-dedicated"
var="/path/to/var/"
log="${var}console_log.txt"
userconfigdir="/path/to/config/"
parser="/path/to/parser.php"
ladderlog="${var}ladderlog.txt"
cmds="${var}cmds.txt"

tail -n0 -f -s 0.01 $cmds | $tron --userconfigdir $userconfigdir --vardir $var | tee -a $log

Sample Scripts

Random Flying Deathzones

A server that sends 2 deathzones of random size and speed in opposite directions at alternating corners every 10 seconds.

#!/usr/bin/php
<?php
while (1)  {
    $line = rtrim(fgets(STDIN, 1024));
    // watch the game time to update settings based on time
    if ( preg_match( "/^GAME_TIME/", $line ) ){
        $keywords = preg_split("/ /", $line);
	$game_time=$keywords[1];
	if ( $game_time % 10 == 0 ){
            $mincoord=225;
            $maxcoord=275;
            $minsize=2;
            $maxsize=8;
            $minspeed=1;
            $maxspeed=30;
            $xcoord=rand($mincoord, $maxcoord);
            $ycoord=rand($mincoord, $maxcoord);
            $size=rand($minsize, $maxsize);
            $xspeed=rand($minspeed, $maxspeed);
            $yspeed=rand($minspeed, $maxspeed);
            $ycoord2=($ycoord>250)?(250-($ycoord-250)):(250+(250-$ycoord));
            $xcoord2=($xcoord>250)?(250-($xcoord-250)):(250+(250-$xcoord));
            if ( $game_time%20==0 ) {
                print("spawn_zone death $xcoord $ycoord $size 0 $xspeed $yspeed true\n");
 	        print("spawn_zone death $xcoord2 $ycoord2 $size 0 -$xspeed -$yspeed true\n");
            } else {
                print("spawn_zone death $xcoord $ycoord $size 0 -$xspeed $yspeed true\n");
                print("spawn_zone death $xcoord2 $ycoord2 $size 0 $xspeed -$yspeed true\n");
            }
	}
    }
}
?>

Alternating Death Pulses

Create a grid of deathzone markers, then have them alternatively pules with death, gradually getting larger every 7 seconds.

#!/usr/bin/php
<?php
while (1)  {
    $line = rtrim(fgets(STDIN, 1024));
    // watch the game time to update settings based on time
    if (preg_match("/^GAME_TIME/", $line)){
        $keywords = preg_split("/ /", $line);
        $game_time=$keywords[1];
        if ( $game_time == 0 ){
            for ( $i=0; $i<=500; $i+=50 )
                for ( $j=0; $j<=500; $j+=50 )
                    print("spawn_zone death $i $j 1 0\n");
        } else if ( $game_time % 14 == 0 ){
            for ( $i=0; $i<=500; $i+=100 ){
                for ( $j=0; $j<=500; $j+=100 ){
                    print("spawn_zone death $i $j " . $game_time/2 . " -" . $game_time/5 . "\n");
                    usleep(20000);
                }
            }
        } else if ( $game_time % 7 == 0 ) {
            for ( $i=50; $i<=450; $i+=100 ){
                for ( $j=50; $j<=450; $j+=100 ){
                    print("spawn_zone death $i $j " . $game_time/2 . " -" . $game_time/5 . "\n");
                    usleep(20000);
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
?>