PlanetThinkTanks2.com

PC:
If you have purchased the game from GarageGames, then you should have a whole load of extra shortcuts built into the start menu, inside the 'ThinkTanks' section. You should see a 'Launch Dedicated Server' which then expands to show 'Lush', 'Spooky' or 'Frantic'. Each of these will then expand to show the game type you want to play: 'Battle', 'Scrum', 'Team Battle' or 'Team Scrum'. Each of these will expand once more to show you the available maps for your choice so far, including a 'Use Random Mission' option which will cycle through the four available maps for after the other. If you right hand click on one of these five shortcuts (in each section) you can edit the shortcut. If you put -log 1 at the end (with a space before the -log and between it and the 1) then all the output to the console window will be saved to a file called 'console.log' in your ThinkTanks folder.

If you purchased the game from ShockWave, or you dont have these shortcuts, you can instead use one of a whole load of preconfigured batch files which can be found in:
BraveTree\ThinkTanks\Dedicated\

These batch files can be edited in Notepad and -log 1 can be added to the end of the program path (on the second line of the file). Next time this file is run (after you have saved it) all the console window output will be saved to a file called 'console.log' in the main ThinkTanks folder.

For example, this is what file 'TT1_2TS.bat' looks like:
The first line, 'cd..' is the DOS command to go to the parent folder

The second line is the line that launches ThinkTanks with a whole load of extra parameters

These parameters are:

-dedicated tells it to run the game as a dedicated server
-mission 'filename' tells it which mission file to use, where 'filename' is one of the following:
game/data/missions/TT1_1.mis Medulla Mesa
game/data/missions/TT1_2.mis Hypothalamus Hills
game/data/missions/TT1_3.mis Cranium Crater
game/data/missions/TT1_4.mis Freudian Flats
GREEN Random mission (cycles through the lush maps)
game/data/missions/TT2_1.mis Hippocampus Hollow
game/data/missions/TT2_2.mis Comatose Canyon
game/data/missions/TT2_3.mis Greymatter Gorge
game/data/missions/TT2_4.mis Pituitary Plateau
BLUE Random mission (cycles through the spooky maps)
game/data/missions/TT3_1.mis Synaptic Slopes
game/data/missions/TT3_2.mis Ganglia Gully
game/data/missions/TT3_3.mis Neurotic Nexus
game/data/missions/TT3_4.mis Receptor Ridge
RED Random mission (cycles through the frantic maps)
ALL Random mission (cycles through all maps)
-game XX defines what type of game it is, where XX is either
B Battle Mode
S Scrum Mode
TB Team Battle Mode
TS Team Scrum Mode
-log 1 will log the console window to 'console.log'


e.g. The following path
ThinkTanks -dedicated -mission GREEN -game TB -log 1
Would launch a Team Battle game on a random lush map as a dedicated server and would log the console window to 'console.log'

For Mac (OSX):
If you are using a Macintosh, you will do similarly as with PC, but you need to type the name of the application inside the application package. So, on the command-line from the directory that contains the the ThinkTanks application, you would type:
./ThinkTanks.app/Contents/MacOS/ThinkTanks\ OSX -dedicated -mission 'missionName' -Game 'XX'
where 'missionName' and 'XX' are as listed above under the PC info

Again, adding -log 1 to the end of that command line, should log all the output in the console window to a plain text log file.

Perhaps making it a bit easier for Mac owners, 'Spunky' has contributed this method:

1. Open Terminal, which is located in Applications - Utilities.

2. Re-name your Think Tanks folder to ThinkTanks, if it already isn't named so.

3. In Terminal type cd (with a space) and drag your folder into the terminal window. It'll automatically make the path for it.

4. Press enter.

5. Type./ThinkTanks.app/Contents/MacOS/ThinkTanks\ OSX -dedicated -mission game/data/missions/TT1_?.mis -Game B (the ? Is replaced by the corresponding number of the mission)

6. It should automatically start, but if it doesn't, press enter.
===========
Were This Came From
PTT
http://supra.planetthinktanks2.com/arch ... icated.asp
==========

Did you just copy and paste this form the PTT archives? Because it looks like you did.

Sorry for the bump but,
I'm on a Mac (running Leopard) and have tried this an this is all i get

Update, I can see it on other computers but I cannot seem to play from the computer that's hosting... help?

You need a copy of TT to host for the ded. server, and then need another copy to play.

I've never tried doing both on the same computer, but the dedicated server has no window to play in. All you get is the console window.

Yeah, I tried that but I still couldn't get on it... Hmmm

This might not help, but the computer you host on doesn't have to be top end stuff.

Running the dedicated server uses less power than I expected. If you can get an older machine, set it up and just use it as a server. (Mine is a 500Mhz iBook)

It may not be the greatest server, but decent.