This guide goes over the complete setup of a PlutoT6 server & IW4Admin on Ubuntu 20.04. Running Windows on a VPS or bare-metal server can be expensive with licensing costs and many server operators have a preference for Linux (myself included).
As an example, this guide will go over the setup of a PlutoT6 Zombies server & IW4MAdmin. The same concepts should apply to multiplayer, however you will need to adjust your dedicated.cfg file accordingly.
Before we start, I'd like to give a huge shoutout to Minami for their original guide on setting up a PlutoT6 server on Debian. Many portions of their guide have been used to put together this guide.
Prepare a VPS/Bare-Metal Server
The first thing you need to do is have a VPS or bare-metal server ready to go with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS installed. We will not be using a desktop environment in this guide.
The PlutoT6 server is not very resource intensive, however I recommend a server with at least 2 CPU cores & 4GB RAM for best performance.
Login to the server as root, or become root with the below command. Note: To make things easier on yourself, it's best to just use a root user. Make sure you are securing your server using key-based authentication and implement a firewall solution, for example with UFW.
sudo su
Update apt cache and update all packages
apt update && apt -y full-upgrade
Install Wine
dpkg --add-architecture i386
wget -nc https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key
apt-key add winehq.key
add-apt-repository 'deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ focal main'
apt update
apt install -y --install-recommends winehq-stable
rm winehq.key
Install .NET
wget https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/20.04/packages-microsoft-prod.deb -O packages-microsoft-prod.deb
dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb
rm packages-microsoft-prod.deb
apt update; \
apt install -y apt-transport-https && \
apt update && \
apt install -y dotnet-sdk-3.1
apt update; \
apt install -y apt-transport-https && \
apt update && \
apt install -y aspnetcore-runtime-3.1
Configure Wine
echo -e 'export WINEPREFIX=~/.wine\nexport WINEDEBUG=fixme-all\nexport WINEARCH=win64' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
winecfg
Download the pre-compiled ZIP containing PlutoT6 server files & IW4Admin, unzip and create a shortcut
Direct Download | Last Updated: 10/26/2021 | 1.24 GB
apt install -y zip
wget https://dl.axite.dev/T6-Server.zip
unzip T6-Server.zip
ln -s ~/T6-Server/Server/zone ~/T6-Server/Server/Zombie/zone
ln -s ~/T6-Server/Server/zone ~/T6-Server/Server/Multiplayer/zone
Configure StartT6Server.sh
cd T6-Server/Plutonium/
Create a server key on https://platform.plutonium.pw and set the server hostname & game of your choosing, then edit the StartT6Server.sh file using nano
nano StartT6Server.sh
Once you have pasted your key in the StartT6Server.sh file, save the file by using CTRL + x and then y
Now we need to make sure script executable.
chmod +x StartT6Server.sh
Configure StartIW4MAdmin.sh
We need to make the script executable.
cd T6-Server/IW4MAdmin
chmod +x StartIW4MAdmin.sh
Configure the dedicated_zm.cfg file for use with IW4MAdmin.
We need to set an RCON password in the dedicated_zm.cfg file so that IW4MAdmin can access it.
Navigate to the folder containing dedicated_zm.cfg
cd T6-Server/Server/Zombie/main
nano dedicated_zm.cfg
In this file, set a RCON password.
rcon_password "examplepassword"
Exit and save with CTRL + x and then y.
Almost there!
Now you're ready to start the server. To make things easier, we'll run the PlutoT6 server & IW4Admin in screen sessions so we can easily return to them if needed and let them run in the background.
Start the PlutoT6 server
screen -S t6server
cd T6-Server/Plutonium
./StartT6Server.sh
If all goes well, you should see the server start and after a few seconds you should see Heartbeat successful. messages in the console. Now, detach from this screen session using CTRL + a and then CTRL + d
Start & configure IW4MAdmin
screen -S iw4madmin
cd T6-Server/IW4MAdmin
./StartIW4MAdmin.sh
IW4MAdmin will present you with a configuration prompt on the first startup. You can use this guide to configure it to your liking.
The server IP should be set as 127.0.0.1, and you will use the same RCON password you added to dedicated_zm.cfg earlier.
If all goes well, IW4MAdmin will start and connect to your sever. If enabled, the webfront will be accessible at http://0.0.0.0:1624, with 0.0.0.0 being your VPS/bare-metal server's IP address.
Finishing up
You can now hop in-game and claim ownership of the server and generate credentials for use on the IW4MAdmin webfront (if enabled) To do so, join your game by finding it in the server list, or in the game console use the command connect 0.0.0.0:4976, replacing 0.0.0.0 with your VPS/bare-metal server's IP address.
I hope this helps! If you run into any issues please drop a comment and I'll do my best to help out.