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Server Maintenance

Guides, tips and tricks on how to configure and take care of a BeamMP Server.

How to install

For installation instructions, please see server installation.

The ServerConfig file

The server config, which is a file called ServerConfig.toml, uses the TOML format.

NOTE: The old server config file was called Server.cfg, but this is no longer used, and the server will warn when this is still present. Please also note that the two config formats are not compatible with each other.

The config has one section by default, called [General], which holds the following values:

Key Value Type Description
AuthKey AuthKey format xxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx where all x's are alphanumeric characters (numbers and letters) Used to identify your server with the backend. You should have gotten one while following the installation instructions.
Debug true /false When enabled (true), will show more messages in the log and provide more information. Enable this if you run into issues. Enabling this will drastically increase the size of the log file.
Private true/false When enabled (true), your server will not be shown in the server list. Anyone with the correct IP and port can still connect.
Description Any "text" Shown as the description of the server in the server list (if the server is public). You can use special characters to format this with colors and styles.
Name Any "text" Shown as the name / title of your server in the server list. You can use special characters to format this with colors and styles.
Map A valid map location, such as /levels/gridmap_v2/info.json The map your server will host. Has to be installed either by default (a list can be found below) or as a server mod.
MaxCars Any number ≥ 1 The maximum number of cars per player. Any additional cars a player tries to spawn will be deleted instantly.
Port 1024-65535 The networking port on which the server will be accessible. For a player to connect to your server directly, they will need your IP and this port.

Other sections can and should be used by server plugins (Lua API coming soon), like so: [MyMod].

The AuthKey HAS to be set by you. It will be empty by default, and needs to be filled with your AuthKey from the installation step earlier. Do not share this Key with anyone and, in screenshots, blur it fully.

All vanilla maps names

Here are all the stock maps:

  • /levels/gridmap_v2/info.json
  • /levels/johnson_valley/info.json
  • /levels/automation_test_track/info.json
  • /levels/east_coast_usa/info.json
  • /levels/hirochi_raceway/info.json
  • /levels/italy/info.json
  • /levels/jungle_rock_island/info.json
  • /levels/industrial/info.json
  • /levels/small_island/info.json
  • /levels/smallgrid/info.json
  • /levels/utah/info.json
  • /levels/west_coast_usa/info.json
  • /levels/driver_training/info.json
  • /levels/derby/info.json

Customize the look of your server name

Use these special symbols before your text and it'll apply an effect to that text in the server list:

Value Description
^r Reset
^p Newline (descriptions only)
^n Underline
^l Bold
^m Strike-through
^o Italic
^0 Black
^1 Blue
^2 Green
^3 Light blue
^4 Red
^5 Pink
^6 Orange
^7 Grey
^8 Dark grey
^9 Light purple
^a Light green
^b Light blue
^c Dark orange
^d Light pink
^e Yellow
^f White

The Server.log file

This file will be generated when the server runs. It's a mirror of the messages you see in the console when you run the server. You should attach this file every time you need support from our support staff, and it will never show your AuthKey, so you can usually send it without modifications.

The format is as follows ($ prefix means “variable”, explained below):

[$DATE $TIME] $CONTEXT [$LOG_LEVEL] $MESSAGE

Where:

  • $DATE is the date of the message, for example 21/07/2021
  • $TIME is the time of the message, for example 11:05:23
  • $CONTEXT (only visible if in Debug mode and mostly relevant to developers) is the context of the message, which is either:
    • (Player ID) “Player Name”, where the Player's ID is useful for moderation
    • A short name such as “HeartbeatThread”
  • $LOG_LEVEL is one of the levels of importance of a message:
    • DEBUG: Only visible in Debug mode, usually spammy and only important to developers
    • INFO: General information
    • LUA: Message from a Lua plugin
    • WARN: Describes something that isn't supposed to happen, usually
    • ERROR: Something went very wrong, or was very unexpected
    • FATAL: Something happened that causes the server to shut down
  • $MESSAGE the message itself, usually something that you should pay attention to and understand. In some cases this might be cryptic, but the general rule is that, as long as nothing is visibly wrong with the server and there are no ERRORs, all is good.

Updating the server

Why to update

Whenever a new update is released, you're advised to update your server. Usually this involves bug fixes, stability improvements and security improvements, next to the general new features etc. that are introduced.

To receive news about updates when they come out, either follow the discord server's “update” channel, look out for it on the forums, or look at / ask the GitHub releases page.

How to update

If you are using a BeamMP partnered hosting provider

If you are using a BeamMP partnered hosting provider, the instructions below likely won't work. We recommend waiting for more details from your hosting provider, or contacting them for assistance.

Managing the server yourself

The server is updated by replacing the old executable with the new one. If you are unsure how to do this, there are step-by-step instructions for Windows and Linux below.

If you built from source, you just rebuild. Make sure to run git submodule update --init --recursive before you rebuild.

On Windows

  1. Ensure you have installed the Visual C++ Redistributables in order to run the server.
  2. Go to BeamMP.com and click the “Download Server” button.
  3. Once downloaded, you should see one file called BeamMP-Server.exe. We will call this one the “new executable”.
  4. Go to the folder where your current BeamMP-Server.exe executable is located (same folder where your ServerConfig.toml is, usually). We will call this one the “old executable”.
  5. Replace the old executable with the new executable (for example by copying or moving the new executable into the folder).

On Linux

  1. Go to BeamMP.com and click the “Download Server” button, you will be redirected to the server's Github release page.
  2. Download the correct version for your distro. For sake of semplicity it will be called BeamMP-Server-xxx from now on, where xxx denotes the version for the distro you're using.
  3. Once downloaded, you should see one file called BeamMP-Server-xxx depending on the version you've downloaded. We will call this one the “new executable”.
  4. Go to the folder where your current BeamMP-Server-xxx executable is located (same folder where your ServerConfig.toml is, usually). We will call this one the “old executable”.
  5. Replace the old executable with the new executable (for example by copying or moving the new executable into the folder).
  6. Open a terminal in that folder where you just replaced the executable, and run sudo chmod +x BeamMP-Server-xxx. This will make sure the server can be run.

Automated updates

The server does not support automatic updates or update notifications (yet).

You can, however, ask the GitHub API for the lastest release by checking the server's version against the tags. You can get that by GET'ing from https://api.github.com/repos/BeamMP/BeamMP-Server/git/refs/tags.