Hosting a game

The most typical way of hosting a Bitfighter game is to simply run Bitfighter normally, and select Host Game from the main options menu. This will start combined Bitfighter server and client instance. This is ideal for short-term hosting of games, but consumes more resources if you are not actively playing. Also, a normal game window will be open while the game is running. If you quit the game, you will also shut down the host, causing any other players to be disconnected.

For running a game host long-term, or where you may be dropping into and out of the game, a dedicated server may be a better option.

Dedicated server

Bitfighter can be run in Dedicated Server mode, which creates a background process that provides a game server others can play on.

To start a dedicated server, run Bitfighter with the -dedicated option. You can do this from a cmd (Windows) or shell window (Mac/Linux), or by creating a shortcut (Windows) specifying that bitfighter.exe be run with the -dedicated option.

When running in dedicated mode, the program window will disappear, and the server will continue to run. The server has been designed to have low resource consumption when no players. The game will also make a sound indicating that a player has joined or left the game. Therefore, it is possible for you to run a server unobtrusively in the background, and be alerted when a player joins the game so you start playing too.

You can easily join a game on a local dedicated server by running a second Bitfighter instance, and choosing the Join Game option from the main menu.

Note that the volume of the alerts can be controlled, or disabled altogether, in the bitfighter.ini file. You'll need to restart your dedicated server for the new settings to take effect.