Running with the Backend

Launching the Backend

warning

Currently the Standard License option only works for Windows development machines. We're working on getting MacOS and Linux supported.

Standard License

Modify RedwoodBackend/config-settings.json so the defaults.env field uses the configuration environment you created earlier (e.g. project-name):

{
  //...
  "defaults": {
    "dir": "config/node",
    "env": "project-name"
  }
}

You can run the dev-initiator.exe file in the RedwoodBackend directory via the terminal or double click on the Run Dev.bat script from File Explorer.

If you run the dev-initiator.exe program from a terminal, make sure to start it from the RedwoodBackend directory.

Custom License

You can run the Dev Initiator with running the below command in the RedwoodBackend directory:

yarn dev <config-environment>

For example: yarn dev project-name.

Several logs will print to the console as the backend initializes; wait until you see All services ready.

Running the Game

Match Template

It's time to start the game, connect to the backend, and join a match!

1. Once the project is created and shaders are compiled, you will see the default Lyra level selected:

   

2. Open the Content Browser and open the level /Content/Redwood/Frontend/L_RW_LyraFrontEnd:

   

3. Make sure you've selected Play Standalone under the PIE Net Mode (it's the default) and are still in the L_RW_LyraFrontEnd level:

   

4. Press the green play button:

   

5. You should see the Lyra frontend widget with the LOGIN/REGISTER buttons enabled:

   

   warning

   If you see these buttons greyed out/disabled and a label saying Connecting to backend..., there are some a few common issues:

   • You have another application bound to the port 3001
   • You did not configure your hosts file properly to include director.localhost
   • You did not change the Director Uri project setting to include :3001
   • You started PIE before the Dev Initiator hasn't finished initializing. The connection retry logic will get exponentially slower after each retry, so you may need to restart PIE

6. Register to create an account; any username/password works here. We use test and test for quick iteration.

7. Login using the same username/password. The Remember Me functionality is part of the Redwood plugin. It will save a RedwoodSaveGame.sav file in the SaveGames folder with an authentication token to automatically login when the game starts the next time.

   warning

   If you were able to register but the login process seems to hang for more than 5 seconds, you're likely having issues connecting to the Realm Frontend service. The common issues for that are similar:

   • You have another application bound to the port 3011
   • You did not configure your hosts file properly to include realm-default.localhost

8. You should be able to see a PLAY button now:

   

9. Select PLAY; from here, you can either select MATCHMAKING or START LOBBY to create a match. The JOIN LOBBY button will show a list of existing public lobbies.

   note

   It may take awhile for the server to load the first time. You may get a timeout and need to try again. If your ticket keeps going stale, you can increase the ticket-stale-time-ms variable you set earlier and restart the Dev Initiator.

   info

   Server initialization is shorter in a packaged/cooked game. When running with the local game server provider, you're using uncooked content through UnrealEditor.exe. Using the agones game server provider will have the shortest initialization time due always having a warm server already started waiting to get the match details. Hathora's startup time is also quite fast, with their Enterprise tier having the best performance.

RPG Template

It's time to start the game, connect to the backend, start the overworld servers, and join!

1. Install NodeJS/Yarn if you haven't yet

   info

   We need this extra dependency for persistent-server games since the server isn't started when matchmaking finds a match. Persistent games are assumed to already be started, so we need to use a provided tool to create and start that server before we try to join.

2. Once the project is created and shaders are compiled, you will see the default L_Overworld level selected:

   

3. Open the Content Browser and open the level /Content/Maps/L_Title:

   

4. Make sure you've selected Play Standalone under the PIE Net Mode (it's the default) and are still in the L_RW_LyraFrontEnd level:

   

5. Press the green play button:

   

6. You should see the frontend widget with the REGISTER/LOGIN buttons enabled:

   

   warning

   If you see these buttons greyed out/disabled and a label saying Connecting to backend..., there are some a few common issues:

   • You have another application bound to the port 3001
   • You did not configure your hosts file properly to include director.localhost
   • You did not change the Director Uri project setting to include :3001
   • You started PIE before the Dev Initiator hasn't finished initializing. The connection retry logic will get exponentially slower after each retry, so you may need to restart PIE

7. Register to create an account; any username/password works here. We use test and test for quick iteration.

8. Login using the same username/password.

   warning

   If you were able to register but the login process seems to hang for more than 5 seconds, you're likely having issues connecting to the Realm Frontend service. The common issues for that are similar:

   • You have another application bound to the port 3011
   • You did not configure your hosts file properly to include realm-default.localhost

9. You should be able to see a dropdown and be able to create a character:

10. Before you can join the server, we need to create it:

    1. Open a terminal to the RedwoodBackend directory

    2. Create an admin user (changing the env arg to your config environment name):

       yarn cli create-admin admin --env project-name
       note

       You'll be prompted for a password for this new user, but you can optionally set the RW_PASSWORD environment variable to skip manually entering it each time.

    3. Start a GameServerProxy using the preconfigured overworld game profile (changing the env arg to your config environment name):

       yarn cli create-proxy overworld overworld --user admin --env project-name --start-on-boot --proxy-ends --public
       note

       The --start-on-boot flag will not only start this proxy when the backend boots up (and it hasn't ended), it will also start it immediately. Only admin users can specify this flag.

       The --proxy-ends flag will end the GameServerProxy when the backing GameServerCollection ends. You typically wouldn't set this for production realms/worlds as you'd want to keep them around perpetually even if the servers stop temporarily (i.e. during a game server upgrade). However, often times in development, it may be beneficial to start with a clean slate world each time we restart it, hence specifying it here.

       Starting this up will automatically run a shard/server for each of the zones (5 for this template). This involves running the UnrealEditor.exe for each shard, which can consume a bit of RAM (~1.2GB for each shard).

11. Once the terminal says Proxy created successfully you can press the Join button in Unreal to queue for the proxy/world and be admitted:

12. The backend is using uncooked data from the Unreal assets for the servers running, so you can't modify any of the Unreal assets while the servers are still running. You can stop the GameServerProxy's backing GameServerCollection (aka each of the shard servers for the world) by running the below command in the RedwoodBackend terminal you had open before:

    yarn cli stop-proxy --user admin --env project-name <the-proxy-id-returned-from-the-start-proxy-command>

    For example, if your start-proxy command returned:

    [05:47:18.119] INFO (70364): Proxy created successfully: cm1ol7o270001xhxi5z3d7fw2

    then you would run:

    yarn cli stop-proxy --user admin --env project-name cm1ol7o270001xhxi5z3d7fw2

Blank Template

1. In the Unreal project you created earlier, open the /Content/Maps/L_Title map.

2. Change the Net Mode in the play settings to Play Standalone

3. Optionally change the number of players to whatever you'd like. Below we'll just show the steps for a single player, but you can repeat them to get multiple players in the same match.

4. Click the Play button

5. You should now see the Register, Login, and Quit buttons:

   

   If you're stuck seeing the Connecting to the director... screen, make sure you've launched the dev-initiator.exe program, there are no errors, and double check any firewall/security prompts that may be preventing it from connecting.

   

   note

   If you're still having trouble connecting, make sure you don't have other applications using conflicting ports. The Redwood backend by default runs on ports 3000 and 3001. These config variables can be changed by adding them to the _index.yaml file you created earlier. Below is what you can add to the end of the file; change the ports respectively:

   director:
     connection:
       backend:
         port: 3000
       frontend:
         port: 3001
   
   realm:
     connection:
       backend:
         game-server-access:
           port: 3000

   You would also need to change the port in the Director Address variable in the Class Defaults section of the B_TitlePlayerController blueprint in /Content/GameFramework using the director.connection.frontend.port config variable you specified above.

6. Click the Register button and enter a username and password. If that's successful, you'll be automatically logged in and see the character selection screen. Press the + button to create a new character:

   

7. Enter a character name and click Create. You'll be taken back to the character selection screen. You should see your new character in the drop down menu:

   

8. After selecting your character, click the Join button to join the matchmaking queue:

   

   

   

9. If you're seeing the below error, you didn't correctly configure the backend to point to your project:

   

10. If everything was configured properly, any clients that signed up before should be put into a match. The Blank template has a simple match where players can move around as a floating cube with WASD and the mouse.

    

success

That's it! You're using Redwood to start your servers and route clients into those servers via matchmaking or queueing! Let's learn how to run things without the backend running for faster development iterations.