🪖 Battlefield 1942 Dedicated Server (Linux)

Automated setup for running Battlefield 1942 Dedicated Servers on modern 64-bit Linux with multi-instance support. Handles all dependency resolution (including legacy 32-bit libraries), user creation, systemd service setup, and firewall configuration in a single interactive script.

🧩 Overview

Single-script setup — one script handles everything: standalone or BFSMD managed mode
Multi-instance support — run multiple servers on one machine with automatic port allocation
Smart configuration — interactive IP detection, port conflict prevention, resource validation
Performance optimized — CPU affinity, memory limits, and I/O tuning per instance
Secure by default — runs under a dedicated non-privileged account (bf1942_user)
Firewall integration — UFW on Debian/Ubuntu, firewalld on Fedora/RHEL/CentOS
Systemd managed — standard systemctl commands for all service control
Shared management tool — one bf1942_manager.sh at the repo root works across all distros

🧪 Installer Targets

Distro	Script
Arch Linux	`installers/arch/arch_bfsmd_setup.sh`
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS	`installers/ubuntu/ubu_24.0.3_bfsmd_setup.sh`
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS	`installers/ubuntu/ubu_22.04_bfsmd_setup.sh`
Debian 12 (Bookworm) / 13 (Trixie)	`installers/debian/deb_12_bfsmd_setup.sh`
Fedora 44 (runtime validation pending)	`installers/fedora/fed_44_bfsmd_setup.sh`
RHEL 9	`installers/rhel/rhel_9_bfsmd_setup.sh`
CentOS Stream 9	`installers/centos/centos_stream9_bfsmd_setup.sh`

Fedora has no LTS release; the RHEL 9 installer is the longer-support option.

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisite: A user with sudo privileges

1️⃣ Download

Pick your distro's script from the table above, then download it along with the management tool:

# Example: Ubuntu 24.04
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hootmeow/bf1942-linux/main/installers/ubuntu/ubu_24.0.3_bfsmd_setup.sh
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hootmeow/bf1942-linux/main/bf1942_manager.sh
chmod +x ubu_24.0.3_bfsmd_setup.sh bf1942_manager.sh

Replace ubu_24.0.3_bfsmd_setup.sh with your distro's script name from the table above. bf1942_manager.sh is the same file for all distros — you only need one copy.

2️⃣ Run the Installer

sudo ./<your-setup-script>.sh

The script is interactive by default. It will walk you through:

Installation mode — choose Standalone (no remote management) or BFSMD (full GUI management via BFRM)
Instance name (BFSMD only) — a unique name like server1, conquest, tdm
IP address — auto-detected; choose local, public, or enter custom
BFSMD version (BFSMD only) — v2.0 (recommended) or v2.01 (fixes admin/PunkBuster bugs)
Firewall rules — optional, interactive security level selection

The bf1942_user service account is created without a password (login locked) unless you opt in when asked — a password isn't needed to run the server, and admins can always get a shell with sudo su - bf1942_user.

Unattended Installs

Every prompt can be answered from the command line — pass --yes and the installer never stops to ask:

sudo ./<your-setup-script>.sh server1 --yes                        # BFSMD, local IP, v2.0, firewall untouched
sudo ./<your-setup-script>.sh server1 --yes --ip public --firewall tunnel
sudo ./<your-setup-script>.sh --yes --mode standalone

Flag	Values	Default with `--yes`
`--mode`	`standalone`, `bfsmd`	`bfsmd` when an instance name is given
`--ip`	`local`, `public`, literal address	`local`
`--version`	`2.0`, `2.01`	`2.0`
`--firewall`	`skip`, `open`, `tunnel`, `restrict=ADDR`	`skip`
`--allow-unverified-downloads`	flag	Off; supply it to continue after a hash warning

Run any installer with --help for the full reference. The flags also work without --yes to pre-answer individual prompts in an otherwise interactive run.

3️⃣ Add More Instances (BFSMD Only)

sudo ./<your-setup-script>.sh server2
sudo ./<your-setup-script>.sh hootmeow

Each instance automatically gets unique ports, its own systemd service, and dedicated CPU cores when available.

Distro-Specific Notes

Distro	Key Differences
Ubuntu 24.04	Uses `libcurl4t64:i386` (auto-detected)
Ubuntu 22.04	Uses `libcurl4:i386`
Debian 12/13	Auto-detects `libcurl4` vs `libcurl4t64` at runtime
Fedora 44	`dnf` + `.i686` packages, firewalld, SELinux (`restorecon`), zlib-ng auto-detection
RHEL 9	Same as Fedora + automatically enables EPEL and CRB repos
CentOS Stream 9	Same as RHEL 9

🎮 Connect to BFRM (BFSMD Mode)

After installation, all servers use the same default credentials:

Username: bf1942
Password: battlefield

⚠️ Change this password immediately after first login.

The installer also saves a per-instance summary to /root/.bf1942_credentials_<name>.txt and appends every generated secret — including the remote-console password (see below) — to /root/.bf1942_all_credentials.txt on the server.

Steps

Open BFRM client on Windows
Connect to your-server-ip:management-port
Login with the default credentials above
Go to Admin tab → Change Password

First-Time Configuration in BFRM

Set the server IP — navigate to IP settings and set your server's IP explicitly:

Secure the remote console — the installer already sets a unique remote-console login per instance (username bfadmin, random password saved to /root/.bf1942_all_credentials.txt). Use this screen to change it or add further console admins:

Set the map rotation — new installs are seeded with Berlin (Conquest) so the server starts immediately; use this screen to build your own rotation:

Update admin passwords — create secure admin accounts and disable the defaults:

🛠️ Managing Servers

bf1942_manager.sh lives at the repo root and manages all instances regardless of which distro installed them.

./bf1942_manager.sh list                  # All instances and their status
./bf1942_manager.sh ports                 # Port assignments for all instances
./bf1942_manager.sh status server1        # Detailed status of one instance
./bf1942_manager.sh config server1        # Show config file paths
./bf1942_manager.sh health                # Health check all instances
./bf1942_manager.sh security              # Security audit (passwords, ownership, firewall)
./bf1942_manager.sh logs server1          # Live log tail (Ctrl+C to exit)

sudo ./bf1942_manager.sh start server1
sudo ./bf1942_manager.sh stop server1
sudo ./bf1942_manager.sh restart server1
sudo ./bf1942_manager.sh start-all
sudo ./bf1942_manager.sh stop-all
sudo ./bf1942_manager.sh backup server1   # Full backup incl. systemd unit + sudoers
sudo ./bf1942_manager.sh remove server2   # Removes instance + its firewall rules (asks for confirmation)

Direct Systemd Commands

# Standalone server
sudo systemctl status bf1942.service
journalctl -u bf1942.service -f

# BFSMD instance
sudo systemctl status bfsmd-server1.service
journalctl -u bfsmd-server1.service -f

⚙️ Ports & Configuration

Automatic Port Allocation

Each instance gets a unique ID (1–99), derived from its name. IDs are recorded in /etc/bf1942_instances.conf; if a new name would produce an ID that is already taken, the next free ID is used automatically, so two instances can never be assigned the same ports (ID 0 is reserved — it belongs to the standalone server's default ports).

Port	Formula	Example (`server1`)
Game (UDP)	14567 + ID	14600
Query (UDP)	23000 + ID	23033
Management (TCP)	14667 + ID	14700
GameSpy LAN (UDP)	22000 + ID	22033
ASE (UDP)	14690 + ID	14723
Remote console (TCP)	4711 + ID	4744

./bf1942_manager.sh ports   # See all current assignments

Configuration Files

All filenames are lower-case — the stock fixinstall.sh lower-cases the entire tree during installation.

Standalone server:

/home/bf1942_user/bf1942/mods/bf1942/settings/
├── serversettings.con   # Game settings
└── maplist.con          # Map rotation

BFSMD instance:

/home/bf1942_user/instances/<name>/mods/bf1942/settings/
├── servermanager.con    # BFSMD settings (ports, console login)
├── useraccess.con       # Admin accounts
├── serversettings.con   # Game settings
└── servermaplist.con    # Map rotation (BFSMD reads this, not maplist.con)

Editing config:

nano /home/bf1942_user/instances/server1/mods/bf1942/settings/serversettings.con
# Restart to apply:
sudo systemctl restart bfsmd-server1.service

📊 XML Event Logging

The game server can log every in-game event (kills, scores, round stats) to XML files — the data source for player-statistics tools. Logs are written per round to:

<server-root>/mods/<active mod>/logs/ev_<port>-<date>_<time>.xml

The logging flags live in the base mods/bf1942/settings files, but the engine writes the log files under whichever mod the server is actually running (e.g. mods/dc_final/logs/ for a Desert Combat server). Stats collectors should watch mods/*/logs/, not a single hardcoded path.

New installs: event logging is enabled automatically by the setup scripts (game.serverEventLogging 1, compression off).

Enabling Logging on Existing Servers

Servers installed with an older version of the setup scripts have logging disabled. To enable it without touching any other settings:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hootmeow/bf1942-linux/main/patches/patch-existing-logging.sh
chmod +x patch-existing-logging.sh

sudo ./patch-existing-logging.sh                  # auto-detect installs under /home/bf1942_user
sudo ./patch-existing-logging.sh /path/to/server  # or pass server root(s) explicitly

The script sets game.serverEventLogging 1 and game.serverEventLogCompression 0 in serversettings.con and (on BFSMD installs) servermanager.con. Ports, server name, credentials, and map rotation are left exactly as they are, and every edited file is backed up first as <name>.bak-logging-<timestamp>.

Then restart the server to apply:

sudo systemctl restart bf1942.service            # standalone
sudo systemctl restart bfsmd-<name>.service      # BFSMD instance

To do it by hand instead, edit mods/bf1942/settings/serversettings.con (and servermanager.con on BFSMD installs) and set:

game.serverEventLogging 1
game.serverEventLogCompression 0

Logging Notes

Keep compression off. Compressed .zxml logs are flushed to disk in deferred blocks — a server stop or crash can lose the entire round, and stats tools expect plain .xml.
One file is written per round and closed with </bf:log> when the round ends. Stopping or restarting the server kills the game process hard, so the file for an in-progress round is always left truncated — only completed rounds produce well-formed logs.
The logs folder is created automatically by the engine on first start, inside the active mod's directory.

🔒 Security

Post-Installation Checklist

✅ Log in to BFRM with default credentials
✅ Change password immediately (Admin tab)
✅ Create unique admin accounts
✅ Disable or remove the default bf1942 account
✅ Restrict firewall access to the management port

Management Port Security Options

The installer asks how to handle the management port:

Option	Description	Best For
Open to all	Anyone can attempt to connect (still requires password)	Testing, behind another firewall
Restrict to IP	Only your specified IP can connect	Static admin IP
SSH tunnel	Port not opened at all; tunnel through SSH	Maximum security

SSH tunnel example:

# On your local machine:
ssh -L 14700:localhost:14700 user@your-server-ip
# Then point BFRM at localhost:14700

Security Audit

./bf1942_manager.sh security

Checks process ownership, file permissions, default password still in use, and firewall status.

🌐 Network Scenarios

Home Server (Behind Router)

Choose Local IP during setup
Forward Game + Query ports (UDP) on your router
Players connect to your public IP

Cloud Server (AWS, DigitalOcean, etc.)

Choose Local IP (private IP like 10.x.x.x)
Allow Game + Query ports from anywhere in the cloud firewall
Allow Management port from your IP only
Players connect to the instance's public IP

VPS with Direct Public IP

Choose Public IP if the server has no NAT
Use UFW / firewalld to restrict management port access

🔧 Troubleshooting

"Internal error!" in Logs

Normal — BFSMD v2.0/v2.01 produces these continuously on modern kernels when reading /proc. The server works fine regardless. Filter them out with:

journalctl -u bfsmd-server1.service -f | grep -v "Internal error"

Can't Connect to Server

systemctl is-active bfsmd-server1.service   # Is it running?
sudo ufw status                              # Firewall open? (Debian/Ubuntu)
sudo firewall-cmd --list-ports               # Firewall open? (Fedora/RHEL/CentOS)
sudo ss -tulnp | grep 14567                  # Port actually listening?
./bf1942_manager.sh logs server1             # Check logs

Port Conflict During Install

Instance IDs (and therefore ports) are recorded in /etc/bf1942_instances.conf — the installer probes for a free ID automatically, so a conflict means something outside this tool is using the port
Check what's already assigned: ./bf1942_manager.sh ports

Can't Login to BFRM

Confirm credentials: bf1942 / battlefield
Confirm the management port number (./bf1942_manager.sh ports)
Confirm firewall allows the connection
Confirm the service is running

🛠️ Advanced Usage

Instance Limits

The script warns if you exceed the recommended ceiling but won't block you:

CPU Cores	Recommended Max Instances
2	4
4	8
8	16

Backup & Restore

The manager creates a full backup — the instance directory plus a <name>.meta/ folder containing the systemd unit, sudoers file, and registry entry, so the instance can be rebuilt on a clean machine:

sudo ./bf1942_manager.sh backup server1
# → /root/bf1942_backups/bf1942_server1_backup_<timestamp>.tar.gz

For a quick settings-only snapshot:

sudo tar -czf server1-settings-$(date +%F).tar.gz \
  /home/bf1942_user/instances/server1/mods/bf1942/settings/

# Restore settings
sudo tar -xzf server1-settings-*.tar.gz -C /
sudo systemctl restart bfsmd-server1.service

Clone Instance Settings

sudo cp -r /home/bf1942_user/instances/server1/mods/bf1942/settings/* \
           /home/bf1942_user/instances/server2/mods/bf1942/settings/
# Update the ports in serversettings.con and servermanager.con, then restart server2

📁 Repository Structure

bf1942-linux/
├── bf1942_manager.sh          # Shared management tool (all distros)
├── installers/
│   ├── arch/
│   │   └── arch_bfsmd_setup.sh
│   ├── ubuntu/
│   │   ├── ubu_24.0.3_bfsmd_setup.sh
│   │   └── ubu_22.04_bfsmd_setup.sh
│   ├── debian/
│   │   └── deb_12_bfsmd_setup.sh
│   ├── fedora/
│   │   └── fed_44_bfsmd_setup.sh
│   ├── rhel/
│   │   └── rhel_9_bfsmd_setup.sh
│   └── centos/
│       └── centos_stream9_bfsmd_setup.sh
├── patches/
│   ├── apply_patches.sh            # Stop → patch → restart wrapper for the .py patches
│   ├── patch-existing-logging.sh   # Enable XML event logging on existing installs
│   ├── patch_ctf_respawn.py        # Binary patch: CTF respawn bug (both lnxded binaries)
│   └── patch_ctf_flags_map.py      # Binary patch: CTF flags on map-vote screen
├── firewall_guide.md
├── LICENSE
└── readme.md

🛠️ Applying Patches

The patches/ folder contains scripts that fix known server bugs — including patch-existing-logging.sh for enabling XML event logging on servers installed before it became the default (see XML Event Logging). See each patch file for details.

The binary patches (patch_*.py) are applied with the wrapper, which stops the service, patches both server binaries, and restarts:

sudo ./patches/apply_patches.sh              # list instances and patches
sudo ./patches/apply_patches.sh all          # patch every instance
sudo ./patches/apply_patches.sh <name>       # patch one instance

📥 BFRM Downloads (Windows Client)

BFRM v2.0 (Final) — Recommended
https://files.bf1942.online/server/tools/BFRemoteManager20final-patched.zip
BFRM v2.01 (Patched) — Fixes unauthorized admin and PunkBuster bugs
https://files.bf1942.online/server/tools/BFRemoteManager201-patched.zip

📚 Additional Resources

firewall_guide.md — detailed firewall configuration reference
bf1942.online — community resources and server downloads

🧑‍🎨 Author

OWLCAT
🔗 https://github.com/hootmeow
🌐 https://www.bf1942.online

🤝 Contributing

Test changes on the relevant distribution(s)
Update documentation
Follow existing code style
Submit a pull request

📜 License

🆘 Support

Issues: https://github.com/hootmeow/bf1942-linux/issues
Community: www.bf1942.online

Happy Gaming! 🎮

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
images		images
installers		installers
patches		patches
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE		LICENSE
bf1942_manager.sh		bf1942_manager.sh
firewall_guide.md		firewall_guide.md
readme.md		readme.md

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