How to run Supraball as a Windows Service with FireDaemon Pro.


What is Supraball?

Supraball is a first-person multiplayer sports game resembling soccer. The dedicated server component can be run as a Windows service using FireDaemon Pro, which allows you to start the dedicated server 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.


Supraball Dedicated Server Setup Under FireDaemon Pro

First, download and extract SteamCMD. The download is small (< 2 MB).


Go to the directory where you installed SteamCMD and create a shortcut to "SteamCMD.exe". Next, edit the properties of the shortcut and in the target box, at the end of it (with a space before the following), put:

+login anonymous +force_install_dir "C:\supraball" +app_update 463300 validate +quit

The Target box should now look like:

C:\SteamCMD\steamcmd.exe +login anonymous +force_install_dir "C:\supraball" +app_update 463300 validate +quit


Now click the shortcut you created and let it run to download the Supraball server files. It might take a few hours to update everything. You should also run the shortcut every week or so to grab the latest server updates. Make sure to stop your server first.


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.



Executable: The path to your UDK.exe file. The default path is C:\supraball\Binaries\Win64\UDK.exe.

Working Directory: The directory containing the UDK.exe file. The default path is C:\supraball\Binaries\Win64\UDK.exe.

Note: You may use the UDK.exe file contained in the Win32 folder if you wish.


Supraball supports many options and switches; visit the official Supraball website to learn about the full range of options available.

Here’s an example full parameter list:
server MAPNAME?timelimit=20?MaxPlayers=12?MaxSpectators=10?AdminPassword=password?Matchtitle=myMatch?MatchDescription=mydescr?QueryPort=12345?ServerIP=1.2.3.4 -port=6161 -multihome=1.2.3.4 -unattended

  • server - Tells Supraball to run the server. This should never be removed.
  • MAPNAME - The name of the map to use. This should always be filled in with a map name. See the Supraball website for a full list.
  • -unattended - This option prevents anything that requires user interaction, such as popup dialogs. It is not required but may make gameplay easier.
  • The other settings are optional but encouraged. The Supraball website includes an explanation of these options.


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 Supraball 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).



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



Now click OK to finish setup and start your Supraball dedicated server!