How players connect

This page follows a player from choosing your server to standing in its world, including what can refuse them and what you can change.

Reaching the server

The server listens on one UDP port, 7777 by default. For players outside your network, it must be open in the firewall and forwarded on the router.

Checks on the way in

Any of these can refuse a player, and the server browser tells them why. The password comes before the whitelist, and both before your playerConnecting handlers.

1. KCDS version. It must match the server's. Whichever way they joined, a player on another version is told which one the server runs, such as "This server runs KCDS 0.3.4.1. Your KCDS is another version: join with KCDS 0.3.4.1." The browser then offers the update, or says the server is on an older version.

2. Level. A server on klaster needs the game's DLC, and a player without it is told before anything loads.

3. Legal copy. Their game proves to KCDS Master that its store owns the game, and brings a pass for this server (A legal copy of the game). Without one they see "This copy cannot be verified". A player on the central ban list gets no pass.

4. Password, if the server has one: "The gate is locked", with a password field (Password).

5. This server's bans, from bans.json and the Bans tab of KCDS-Admin. A ban on any of the player's identifiers refuses them, showing its reason and end.

6. Free place. A full server puts the player in its line (Join queue and whitelist).

7. Whitelist, if there is one: only those listed by Steam id or nickname.

8. Your resources. All playerConnecting handlers run, and any can refuse with a reason or show the waiting player a line:

   JavaScriptCopy

   kcds.core.Events.on('playerConnecting', async (request) => {
     request.update('One moment, looking you up...');
     if (bans.has(request.steamId)) {
       request.reject('You are banned from this server.');
     }
   });

9. Loading. The game downloads the resources' client files, only changed ones after the first time, then loads the level behind the loading screen.

Events on arrival

Once admitted, a player's connection goes through these events in order:

const { Events, Chat } = kcds.core;

Events.on('playerSpawning', (player) => {
  player.spawn(new kcds.math.Vector3(1652.5, 2151.5, 37.5), { z: 90 });
});

Events.on('playerReady', (player) => {
  Chat.sendToPlayer(player, `Welcome, ${player.nickname}!`);
});

Events.on('playerDisconnect', (player) => {
  savedInventories.set(player.steamId, kcds.players.Inventory.get(player));
});

Identifying the player

player.steamId, or epicId for a player who owns the game on Epic, store and storeAccount come from the licence pass and are verified. discordId and deviceId are only what the player's game reports. player.identifiers lists them all (Identifying a player). Use a verified one for your bans and saved data.

Troubleshooting

The server's refusal texts

These are the exact texts, in the order the server checks. The browser's join popup shows a title for the kind of refusal, such as "The gate is locked" with a password field, or "Turned away at the gates". The server's text appears below it, in a box headed THE REALM SAYS.

Each refusal goes to the server log with its cause, for example playerConnecting refused request 3: licence wrongServer, ... : wrong password, ... : banned (2ad9433eed394c0c) or ... : not on the whitelist.