Crysis is a Sci-Fi first-person shooter game. It is based in a fictional future where an ancient alien spacecraft has been discovered beneath the Earth on an island near the coast of China. The dedicated server component can be run as a Windows service using FireDaemon Pro, which allows you to have the dedicated server start automatically at boot prior to login, start multiple instances of the dedicated server and more. This HOWTO will show you how to set it up. You can also use FireDaemon Fusion to manage FireDaemon and other Windows services via a web browser.


Crysis Dedicated Server Setup Under FireDaemon

You can either run the Crysis dedicated server from your Crysis directory or by downloading and installing the Stand-Alone server. In the case of the Stand-Alone server, you will need your Crysis installed on the same computer to run the server executable. If you want to run the server from your Crysis directory, skip to the FireDaemon Pro setup. Continue to the next step if you want to use the Stand-Alone Server. The Stand-Alone server is best to use if you’re hosting multiple servers; otherwise, you should just use the one in your Crysis installation.


Download and install the Crysis Dedicated Server included with the game. Proceed through the installation menu. Once installed, you will end up with a directory with the configuration files only. To run the server, the executable from your Crysis directory will be required.


Crysis uses 2 configuration file to store its settings: "server.cfg" and "levelrotation.xml". Edit these files to suit your preferences.


Download and install FireDaemon Pro into the directory of your choice, typically C:\Program Files\FireDaemon.


Next, start the FireDaemon GUI from the desktop shortcut. Click on the "Create a new service definition" button in the toolbar (or type Ctrl+N) and enter the information into the fields as you see below. Adjust the paths to suit your installation. Note the required parameters.


In the Executable section, enter the path to your "CrysisDedicatedServer.exe", e.g. C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Crytek\Crysis\Bin32\CrysisDedicatedServer.exe.

In the Working Directory section, enter the path where your server.cfg file is located. If you are using the Stand-Alone server, this path should be the same folder as the Stand Alone Server (e.g. C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Crytek\Crysis\DS). If you're not using the Stand-Alone server put the root folder of your Crysis installation (e.g. C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Crytek\Crysis).


The installation guide recommends that you use the startup.bat. We don't have to use that, since FireDaemon Pro's Parameters option will accomplish the same thing. If you're running the server from your Crysis directory, do not include the -root parameter in the parameter box (as seen above).

The most important field on the tab is the Parameters. The Parameters define the initial setup of your server.

Here’s the full parameter list you should have (example names are provided):
-root " C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Crytek\Crysis\DS" +exec "server.cfg"

  • -root Defines the root folder of your dedicated server. This is the folder where you installed the Dedicated server files in Step 1.
  • +exec Executes the server.cfg file in your dedicated server folder.

Now click on the Settings tab. If you DON'T want to see your dedicated server running, uncheck the Interact with Desktop check box & select “Hidden” from the “Show Window” dropdown. You can optionally run Crysis as the user you installed it as. In the Logon Account field type your username (e.g. Administrator) and then enter the user's password twice in the Password and Confirm fields. You can change the Process Priority to allocate more CPU time to the dedicated server or specify which CPU or core the dedicated server will run on (in the case of multi-processor, hyperthreaded or multi-core CPUs).

Firedaemon-nojob-interact-settings.jpg


Now click on the Lifecycle tab. Uncheck Graceful Shutdown as Crysis doesn't respond to it.

firedaemon-nograceful-noconsole-lifecycle3.png


Now click OK to finish setup and start Crysis Dedicated Server!


Example Configuration File

Below is an example server.cfg file:

sv_servername = "<servername>"
sv_password = "<serverpassword>"

sv_gamerules = PowerStruggle
sv_cheatprotection = 1
sv_maxplayers = 32

net_pb_sv_enable true

g_timelimit = 30
g_minteamlimit = 1
g_revivetime = 20
g_autoteambalance = 1
g_tk_punish = 1
g_tk_punish_limit = 10

log_verbosity = 3
log_fileverbosity = 3

g_nextlevel