Deploy a Just Cause 2 Multiplayer Server on Ubuntu 14.04

Just Cause 2 is a single-player game published by Square Enix. Because it has no multiplayer mode, the modding community has created a multiplayer mod for the game that is quite popular. This guide will explain how to prepare your Linode, install SteamCMD and then install and configure Just Cause 2’s multiplayer mod.

Before You Begin

1. You will need a Steam account, a copy of Just Cause 2 and the Just Cause 2 Multiplayer Mod.

2. Complete our guide: Install SteamCMD for a Steam Game Server. This will get SteamCMD installed and running on your Linode and this guide will pick up where the SteamCMD page leaves off.

Prerequisites for Just Cause 2

From the SteamCMD guide, two additional steps are needed specifically for JC2.

1. Add two iptables firewall rules. These commands assume that you have only the iptables rules in place from the SteamCMD guide. These insert a rules after the pre-existing iptables rules for SteamCMD.

   sudo iptables -I INPUT 7 -p udp -m udp --sport 10999 --dport 1025:65355 -j ACCEPT
   sudo iptables -I INPUT 8 -p udp -m udp --dport 7777 -j ACCEPT
   sudo iptables -I INPUT 9 -p udp -m udp --dport 7778 -j ACCEPT
   

2. After entering the above rules, run iptables-persistent again. You’ll be asked if you want to save the current IPv4 and IPv6 rules. Answer yes for IPv4 and no for IPv6.

   sudo dpkg-reconfigure iptables-persistent
   

Install Just Cause 2

1. Be sure you are in the directory ~/Steam, then access the Steam> prompt.

   cd ~/Steam && ./steamcmd.sh
   

2. From the SteamCMD prompt, login anonymously:

   login anonymous
   

   Or log in with your Steam username:

   login example_user
   

3. Install JC2 to the Steam user’s home directory:

   force_install_dir ./jc2mp-server
   app_update 261140 validate
   

   This can take some time. If the download looks as if it has frozen, be patient. Once the download is complete, you should see this output:

   Success! App '261140' fully installed.
   
   Steam>
   

4. Quit SteamCMD:

   quit
   

   Note

   To update JC2, run the above 4 commands again.

Configure Just Cause 2 - Multiplayer (JC2-MP)

1. Before you configure JC2-MP, make a copy of the default configuration file:

   cd ~/Steam/jc2mp-server
   cp default_config.lua config.lua
   

2. Open config.lua with your preferred text editor. Every possible server option is explained in the configuration file. Simply follow the instructions and when finished, be sure to save your changes. At minimum, you’ll want to set a server name and access password.

3. Before starting up the server for the first time, it is good to symlink a library file to avoid a possible error:

   ln -s ~/Steam/linux32/libstdc++.so.6 libstdc++.so.6
   

4. Create a startup script for JC2 with the following contents:

   File: ~/startjc2.sh

   1 2 3 4

   #!/bin/sh cd ./Steam/jc2mp-server screen -S "Just Cause 2 Muliplayer Server" ./Jcmp-Server

   When run, the script will change directories to ~/Steam/jc2mp-server and execute JC2 in a Screen session.

5. Make the script executable:

   chmod +x ~/startjc2.sh
   

Start the Server

1. Now that your server is installed and configured, it can be launched by running the startjc2.sh script from your steam user’s home directory.

   cd ~/ && ./startjc2.sh
   

   Important

   From this point, do not press the Control+C keys while in the console unless you want to stop JC2.

2. To detach from the screen session running the server console, press these two key combinations in succession:

   Control+A
   Control+D

3. To bring the console back, type the following command:

   screen -r
   

4. To stop the server, bring back the JC2 console and press CONTROL + C.

Enter The Server

Now that you have installed and configured Just Cause 2 - Multiplayer, you have your very own Just Cause 2 server for you and your friends to play on. Your users can access the server by opening the server list, finding your server’s name, clicking Connect, and then entering a password - if you choose to set one.