Phasor 2.0 - For Halo PC/CE

Overview

Phasor is a server extension for Halo PC/CE, which provides numerous

additional features when compared to a vanilla server. Version 2.0 is a complete

rewrite of the previous versions of Phasor and as such it is faster, more secure,

and simply better. Phasor’s features can be split into three broad categories:

scripts, commands, and fixes. Phasor supports extensibility via scripts, there are

many different scripts written by the community, some examples include:

infection, aimbot detection, taxi, chat filter, custom commands, and many more.

See the scripting section for more information. Phasor also provides various new

commands for server admins, giving them more control over the server. Finally,

Phasor makes your server more secure by fixing various defects that are present

in the vanilla Halo Dedicated Server.

Long story short, Phasor vastly increases the capabilities of your Halo server.

Phasor 2.0 - For Halo PC/CE

Installation

Installing Phasor is fairly straight forward, but many people seem to have issues

doing it. Please follow these instructions closely before asking us for help.

Download Phasor, you can find the latest version at

http://phasorforhalo.com/download

The file you downloaded will be named (similar to) Phasor-02-00-07-

21.zip. In order to extract this file you will need some program which

supports zip files; I think Windows comes with a suitable program. Go

ahead and extract the files into a folder somewhere, for example your

Desktop. The rest of these instructions assume you have extracted them

to Desktop/Phasor.

Make sure you have Halo’s Dedicated Server installed, if you’re using

Phasor CE you don’t have to do anything because Halo CE comes bundled

with it. However, CE users will need to follow step 4, too. Phasor PC users

will need to download and install the Dedicated Server manually, you can

obtain an update-to-date copy from http://phasorforhalo.com/download

a. Note: The above link will take you to a downloads page, you should

be able to find the server link pretty easily. The file you download

will be another zip file, first run HaloDS.exe to install the server,

then copy the included haloded.exe to where you installed the

server, overwriting the existing file. By default it will install (on 32-

bit systems) to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo Server.

(Phasor CE only) The Halo CE server is, by default, installed into the same

directory as the game. This doesn’t work with Phasor because it needs to

overwrite some of Halo’s files, and this will cause your game to stop

working. So, to save yourself many headaches, do as follows.

a. Create a new folder (in your Halo CE folder) called server.

b. Copy haloceded.exe and your maps folder into your new server

folder. You are required to copy yours maps folder, this is a bug

with the Halo CE server and I may fix it in a future release.

c. This new (server) folder is what you should use for the remainder

of the installation.

Copy Phasor’s files into your server folder. For PC users this is (usually)

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo Server and for CE users it is

(usually) C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo CE\server.

(Phasor PC only) Copy the files that are inside Desktop/Phasor/PC

into your server folder. Do not copy the folder itself, only the

files/folders contained within it!

Phasor 2.0 - For Halo PC/CE

i. You may be asked to overwrite strings.dll, say yes. You

should make a backup of the original strings.dll before

overwriting, of course.

(Phasor CE only) Copy the files that are inside Desktop/Phasor/CE

into your server folder. Do not copy the folder itself, only the

files/folders contained within it!

c. Copy the files and folders contained within

Desktop/Phasor/CopyToServer into your server folder. Do not

copy the folder itself, only the files/folders contained within

it!

6. You’re nearly done, the last thing you need to do is setup your data files.

Halo stores various settings (such as your banlist) inside another folder,

and so does Phasor. By default this directory is inside your My Games

folder. For Halo PC it is My Games/Halo and for Halo CE it is My

Games/Halo CE.

a. Copy the files and folders contained within

Desktop/Phasor/CopyToData into this folder. Do not copy the

folder itself, only the files/folders contained within it!

7. You’re done. Phasor is ready to use, but you’ll probably want to setup

scripts and admins, so it’s best to keep reading.

The rest of this document will assume you’re familiar with operating a normal

Halo server. If you’re not sure what admins, rcon passwords, cd keys etc. are,

then you should consult your good friend Google.

Setting Up Admins

Phasor implements an admin system that is based off of your CD-Key hash. Each

time you join a server, this hash (which is unique to you), gets sent to the server.

It is used for banning players, and Phasor can also use it to detect admins. When

enabled, Phasor’s hash-based admin system provides greater security for your

server because players need more than just the rcon password to execute

commands. It also lets scripts detect admins and many scripts rely on this

feature.

nyone that you’ve added to your admin list (see below) is considered to be an

admin, but you can give different admins different levels of power. This is

accomplished via admin levels. You can completely customize what each level is

allowed to do, and you should use the RconAccessEditor to do it, although it

requires a separate download, http://phasorforhalo.com/downloads.

Phasor also comes with a set of ready-made access levels that will probably suit

most people’s needs, but if you want to change them you can use the above tool

(or simply edit access.ini). There are 3 default access levels.

 Level 2 - This is the most restricted level, admins at this level can be

thought of as moderators. They are allowed to kick people, but not ban.

Phasor 2.0 - For Halo PC/CE

They can execute the following commands: sv_players, sv_kick, sv_say,

sv_kill.

 Level 1 - Admins at this level can do everything level 2 admins can do, but

they can also ban people. They can execute the following commands, in

addition to level 2 commands: sv_ban, sv_banlist, sv_unban.

 Level 0 - This is effectively “super admin” statusǢ they can execute any

command, including those provided by scripts. This is probably the most

used level, simply because it integrates a lot better with scripts.

Now that you know what admin levels are, you can finally add some admins. The

easiest way to do this is via the sv_admin_add command; its usage is described in

the commands section.

Phasor 2.0 - For Halo PC/CE

Using Phasor

Now that you’ve got your server setup and running Phasor, it’s probably time to

learn how to use Phasor. This section will guide you through creating an init.txt

file to create a useful mapcycle. It will assume you’re familiar with using normal

Halo servers.

Let’s assume that you have some scripts installed (see Scripting section) and that

they are called script1 and script2. You already know how to create a mapcycle,

so let’s start with the below init.txt file.

sv_public 1

sv_timelimit 30

sv_rcon_password “test”

sv_name “My New Phasor Server”

sv_mapcycle_add bloodgulch ctf

sv_mapcycle_add timberland slayer

sv_mapcycle_timeout 15

sv_mapcycle_begin

But now we want to add scripts to each of the mapcycle options, perhaps script1

is a gametype script or something? Luckily, it’s really easy to get this working -

simply modify the sv_mapcycle_add command to include the script(s) to load at

the end. So, our init file becomes

sv_public 1

sv_timelimit 30

sv_rcon_password “test”

sv_name “My New Phasor Server”

sv_mapcycle_add bloodgulch ctf script1

sv_mapcycle_add timberland slayer script1 script2

sv_mapcycle_timeout 15

sv_mapcycle_begin

So far so good, but now we decide that no matter what, we want this server to

load script1. For example, script1 could be an infection script and we want every

game to use it. Do we have to add it to every mapcycle option? No. Phasor now

supports persistent scripts that don’t get unloaded between games, so we can

just make script1 persistent. There are a few ways to do this: we could put it into

the persistent folder (which is in the scripts folder) so that Phasor will load it

when it starts, or we could use the sv_script_load command (see the Commands

section) to load it for us. So we change the init file and it now looks like this.

Phasor 2.0 - For Halo PC/CE

sv_public 1

sv_timelimit 30

sv_rcon_password “test”

sv_name “My New Phasor Server”

sv_mapcycle_add bloodgulch ctf

sv_mapcycle_add timberland slayer script2

sv_mapcycle_timeout 15

sv_mapcycle_begin

sv_script_load script1 true

Note that we removed script1 from the sv_mapcycle_add command, because it

will already be loaded thanks to sv_script_load.

Finally, we decide we want the server to use mapvoting instead of mapcycles.

The map voting commands are analogous to the map cycle commands, so the

changes are pretty simple. The only real difference is that map voting requires

each option to be described, so that players know what they’re voting for. gain,

this is pretty straightforward and so we end up with the following init file (see

Commands section for info on the map vote functions).

sv_public 1

sv_timelimit 30

sv_rcon_password “test”

sv_name “My New Phasor Server”

sv_mapvote_add bloodgulch ctf “Bloodgulch CTF”

sv_mapvote_add timberland slayer “Timberland Slayer

running script2” script2

sv_mapcycle_timeout 15

sv_mapvote_begin

sv_script_load script1 true

The changes are highlighted, and you should note that sv_mapcycle_timeout still

controls how long to wait after a game, ie how long to let players vote for.

Phasor 2.0 - For Halo PC/CE

Commands

Here’s a list of commands provided by Phasor, with basic descriptions about

what they do.

Map Voting

 sv_mapvote <boolean>

o Used to toggle whether or not map voting is active.

 sv_mapvote_size <integer>

o Specifies the number of vote options to show

(default: 5).

 sv_mapvote_add <map> <gametype> <description> [scripts]

o Adds an option to the vote list, description is

shown to players when they’re voting.

 sv_mapvote_del <index>

o Removes an option form the vote list, see

sv_mapvote_list for indices.

 sv_mapvote_list

o Displays a list of the current vote options.

Script Management

 sv_script_reload [script]

o Reloads the specified script, or all scripts if

none specified.

 sv_script_load <script> [persistent]

o Loads the specified script, persistent specifies if

the script should be stay loaded between games

(default: false)

 sv_script_unload <script>

o Unloads the specified script.

 sv_script_list

o Lists all currently loaded scripts.

Logging

Note: log type can be any of the following: phasor, script, game, rcon.

 sv_log_name <log type> <new name>

o Changes the name of the file where the specified

log is saved.

 sv_log_limit <log type> <max size in kB>

Phasor 2.0 - For Halo PC/CE

o Sets the maximum size of a log, once a log reaches

the specified size it is moved to to directory

specified by sv_log_move_dir

 sv_log_move_dir <directory>

o Sets the directory where old logs should be stored.

Alias

 sv_alias_enable <boolean>

o Enables (or disables) alias tracking (default:

true)

 sv_alias_hash <hash or player index>

o Searches the alias database for the specified hash,

returning the results.

 sv_alias_search <partial match to find>

o Searches the alias database for names matching the

specified format.

 Example: sv_alias_search oxi%

 Finds people with names starting with oxi

 Example: sv_alias_search oxide

 Finds people named oxide

 Example: sv_alias_search %oxi%

 Finds people with names containing oxi

Admin

 sv_admin_add <hash or player index> <auth name> <level>

o Adds the specified player (or hash) as an admin who

will be identified by their auth name, they will

have access at the specified level (0 is, by

default, all access)

 sv_admin_del <admin name>

o Removes the specified admin.

 sv_admin_list

o Lists all current admins.

 sv_admin_cur

o Lists all admins currently in the server.

 sv_admin_reload

o Reloads the admin list (admin.txt)

 sv_admin_commands

o Lists the commands you’re allowed to execute based

on your level.

 sv_admin_check

o Specifies whether or not admins should only be

declared as such once gamespy has validated their

hash (default: true)

Phasor 2.0 - For Halo PC/CE

Version

Valid versions (PC): 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109

Valid versions (CE): 100, 107, 108, 109

 sv_version <ver>

o Sets the version the server should broadcast on

(default: 109)

 sv_version_check <boolean>

o Enables/Disables version checking so that clients

with an incorrect Halo version can join (default:

false).

Miscellaneous



sv_hash_check <boolean>

o Specifies whether or not to allow players with

invalid hashes should be allowed to join (default:

false).



sv_kickafk <time in minutes>

o Specifies how long to wait before kicking AFK

players, specify 0 to disable (default: 0).



sv_kill <player>

o Kills the specified player.



sv_getobject <objid>

o Prints the memory address of the specified object

(this is only really used by scripters and myself).



sv_invis <player> [duration in seconds]

o Makes the specified player invisible for the

specified duration (in seconds). A duration of 0

(default) gives them active camo until their death.



sv_setspeed <player> <speed>

o Changes the specified player's speed (default: 1).



sv_say <msg>

o Sends the specified message to the entire server.



sv_gethash <player>

o Prints the specified player's hash.

Phasor 2.0 - For Halo PC/CE

Scripts

Scripts are what really make Phasor useful because they let the server do many

highly customized things, things that I simply can’t think of, or wouldn’t be able

to do justice to. The scripting community is active and they have released a

pretty broad range of scripts. There are scripts that implement cool new

gametypes (infection, race, bases, one in the chamber, the list goes on) and

others which provide admins with more control over the server (chat filters,

more commands, player control etc) and everything in between. Most scripters

release scripts at the Phasor forums, http://phasor.proboards.com.

It’s also worth noting that Phasor comes with a few scripts when you download

it. I did not make them, but the authors have allowed me to include them with

Phasor. If you find any issues with them, please check for a more update-to-date

version, or let the author (not me) know about the issue. Here’s a list of the

included scripts, ordered by author:



Nuggets

o Random Weapon: Every time you spawn, you will spawn with

random attributes.

o Conquest: Take control of the enemies' base before they take control

of yours.

o Gravity Gun: Defy gravity with a plasma pistol.

o Helpers: geo, iter, sendconsoletex, table: Useful functions which

other scripters can use.



AelitePrime

o Blocking: Stop players from going into various (hacky) locations.

o Chat Filter: For those with sensitive ears.

o Commands: Provides a ridiculous amount of additional admin

commands.

o IP-Alias: Admin system implemented on IP addresses instead of CD

Keys.

o Tbag: Let the server know when you're tbagging someone.

o Teleport: Lets admins teleport around the map via server

commands.

o UniqueID: Give every player a unique ID.

o AntiBot: Detect players using aimbots.

o Zombie: Injection.



H® Shaft

o Ping Kick: Automatically kick those dirty foreigners.

o Rock the vote: Let players control what map gets run.

o Kill Messages: Detailed death information.

o Warthog-Pistol: Shoot a warthog to enter.



TelyX

Phasor 2.0 - For Halo PC/CE

Installing a script

So, you’ve found a script that you want to use, but how do you install it? The

answer is usually pretty straightforward and I will describe the general

procedure, but bear in mind that certain scripts will require additional steps and

so you should always read their documentation.

Download the script. Most scripters release their scripts via a website

called pastebin. There’s a download button at the top of the page.

Unfortunately, pastebin will usually save the script as a text-file, and

Phasor only loads scripts that are Lua files. Luckily, the only difference

between the two is their extension, so find where you downloaded the

script to and rename it to .lua. For example, if I downloaded a script called

commands, and it saved it as commands.txt, I’d want to rename it to

commands.lua.

a. If you don’t know how to change a file’s extension, please search

for information on Google.

b. To save time (depending on your internet browser), you can right-

click Download and select “Save link as”, and save it as a .lua file.

Now that you’ve saved the script as a .lua file, all you need to do is copy it

to your Scripts folder. This folder is, by default, located in My

Games/Halo/scripts for Halo PC, or My Games/Halo CE/scripts for Halo CE.

Phasor now supports the notion of a persistent script, which isn’t

unloaded at the end of each game. If you’d like the server to load this

script when it starts, and keep it loaded until it closes, then put into

scripts/persistent instead of simply putting it in the scripts folder. Note:

not all scripts support persistence, so you could consult its documentation

first.

The script has been installed. You can load or unload it via sv_script_load

and sv_script_unload, or specify it as an option in your mapcycle. See the

examples section for details on how to do this.

Creating scripts

If you want to create scripts then you need to learn quite a few things. First off,

you need to learn the Lua programming language, which is what you’ll use to

write scripts. Then you’ll need to learn the Phasor specific stuff - how Phasor

uses scripts, and how scripts can use Phasor. All of this stuff takes time, and the

best way to get started is to head over to the Phasor forums and have a read of

the scripting section. Once you’re familiar with Lua you might find the following

links quite useful, they describe Phasor’s scripting interface.

Phasor 2.0 - For Halo PC/CE

Miscellany

This section will be somewhat less verbose than previous ones, I will assume

you’re competent with using a Windows PC.

Command line parameters

Phasor lets you change a few options via command-line parameters.



-mappath <path> Specifies the path to use for location map files, this only

works on PC at the moment, sorry.



-scriptpath <path> Specifies the path to use as your script folder.

Earlyinit

Phasor will load a text file, earlyinit.txt, from your server folder when the server

loads. This can be used for changing log directories, etc. You can also load

persistent scripts from here and they will get access to all of Phasor’s load up

commands (or just use the persistent folder, same effect).

Phasor 2.0 - For Halo PC/CE

Acknowledgements

Many people have contributed to Phasor in one way or another, whether with

code, ideas, testing, or whatever. This list isn’t exhaustive, but thanks to the

following: Wizard, Nuggets, chalonic, btc22, sehe, all my testers, and anyone else

I’ve forgotten.

Phasor is released under the terms of the MIT license, reproduced here.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy

of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal

in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to

use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of

the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do

so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all

copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY

KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE

WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR

PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE

AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM,

DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF

CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN

CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER

DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Phasor utilizes many libraries built by other people,

here are their relevant licences.

Lua

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to

any person obtaining a copy of this software and

associated documentation files

(the "Software"), to deal in the Software

without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify,

merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and

to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the

following conditions:

Phasor 2.0 - For Halo PC/CE

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all

copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY

KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE

WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR

PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE

AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM,

DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF

CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN

CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER

DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Curl

Daniel Stenberg, <[email protected]>.

All rights

reserved.

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute

this software for any purpose with or without fee is hereby

granted, provided that the above copyright notice and this

permission notice appear in all copies.

THE SOFTWARE IS

PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR

IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF

MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND

NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE

AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES

OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR

OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE

SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Except

as contained in this notice, the name of a copyright holder

shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the

sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior