Ports, firewalls and public listing

01Ports at a glance

Everything is UDP. A plain server needs exactly one port.

There is no remote-admin TCP port: administration happens in game through chat commands (/admin). If you leave out [server] port entirely, the server listens on 27015, the same as the shipped config.toml. 32887 is only an opt-in for the stock Steam browser.

02Open the firewall

Allow inbound UDP on the game port in the operating system firewall and in any cloud firewall / security group in front of a VPS.

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "BattleSpades 27015" -Direction Inbound `
  -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 27015 -Action Allow

sudo ufw allow 27015/udp

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=27015/udp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

On Windows the first launch may also show a firewall prompt for BattleSpades.exe or python.exe; allowing it on private and public networks has the same effect.

03Home hosting: port forwarding and NAT

1. 01
   Fix the host's LAN address

   Give the server machine a DHCP reservation (or static IP) in your router, e.g. 192.168.1.20.

2. 02
   Forward UDP

   In the router's port-forwarding page, forward external UDP 27015 to 192.168.1.20 port 27015. Forward any Steam ports too if you use Steam listing.

3. 03
   Find your public address

   Look up your public IPv4 (search “what is my IP”). Players connect to that-address:27015.

4. 04
   Test from outside

   Join from a different internet connection, or run the A2S probe below from another network.

python deploy/a2s_probe.py --host 203.0.113.10 --port 27015

04List your server on AoSPlay

The AoSPlay (Revival) list is what the maintained clients and this website show. Registration is verified: the site sends an A2S query to the address your request comes from, checks it is a real Ace of Spades protocol-168 server, and only then lists it and returns a one-time server token.

1. 01
   Make it reachable

   Finish the firewall and port-forwarding steps; the server must be running.

2. 02
   Register from the server machine

   Run deploy/register_server.py on the host itself (the site uses the IP it sees, not one you type).

3. 03
   Store the token

   The script prints AOS_MASTER_WRITE_TOKEN=aos_srv_… once. Save it like a password; it only works for that address and port.

4. 04
   Configure the server

   Set [revival] public_host to your public IPv4 and keep enabled = true.

5. 05
   Start with the token

   Provide AOS_MASTER_WRITE_TOKEN as an environment variable (never in config.toml). The server then sends heartbeats and appears in the list within seconds.

python deploy/register_server.py --port 27015 \
  --name "My AoS Server" --map CastleWars --mode CTF \
  --max-players 24 --region europe

# identifier=203.0.113.10:27015
# status=active
# verified=true
# AOS_MASTER_WRITE_TOKEN=aos_srv_...
# Store this token now; the API will not return it again.

[revival]
enabled = true
base_url = "https://www.aosplay.net"
public_host = "203.0.113.10"   # your public IPv4 or DNS name
region = "europe"
require_identity = false

$env:AOS_MASTER_WRITE_TOKEN = "aos_srv_..."
.\BattleSpades.exe

AOS_MASTER_WRITE_TOKEN=aos_srv_... ./BattleSpades

# systemd unit: add under [Service]
# Environment=AOS_MASTER_WRITE_TOKEN=aos_srv_...

If the verification probe timed out, the registration stays pending and nothing is listed. Fix the port, then ask for verification again with the same token:

curl -X PATCH https://www.aosplay.net/api/master/servers/register \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer aos_srv_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"port":27015}'

Identity, ranked stats and relays

• Players with a Revival account or a validated Steam copy get a one-time join ticket; the server checks it with your token. require_identity = true refuses players without one.
• Round results are queued in state/round-results.sqlite3 and uploaded at round end; keep that file across upgrades.
• A new registration is a community listing. Statistics from it count for ranked leaderboards only after an AoSPlay administrator marks the server as trusted (stats_trusted). Ask on Discord once your server is stable.
• Behind a relay or a router that maps a different external port, keep [server] port as the local port and set AOS_PUBLIC_HOST, AOS_PUBLIC_PORT (and AOS_PUBLIC_QUERY_PORT if it differs). [revival] server_id must then equal public_host:public_port.
• Without a token the server logs AoS Revival master disabled: AOS_MASTER_WRITE_TOKEN is not set and simply stays unlisted; direct connections keep working.

05Optional: the retail Steam browser

BattleSpades can also register with Valve's master server so the original in-game Steam browser can find it. This is optional and more fragile than AoSPlay listing: it needs Valve's proprietary 32-bit runtime (never bundled), extra ports, and Valve retired the legacy list endpoint the unmodified 2015 browser used, so a healthy registration does not guarantee that the old browser shows the row.

1. 01
   Runtime

   On Windows, put the original signed x86 steam_api.dll in the steam-runtime folder next to the server. Desktop Steam provides the rest automatically.

2. 02
   Config

   Enable [steam] as shown below. The game, steam_port and query ports must all differ.

3. 03
   Ports

   Forward UDP for the game port, steam_port (8766) and the query port (game + 1).

4. 04
   Retail joins

   The unmodified browser always joins UDP 32887, so use [server] port = 32887 if joining from those rows matters.

5. 05
   Verify

   Startup logs Steam GameServer011 initialized, then Steam master logon complete. From another network run scripts/check_steam_registration.py.

[steam]
enabled = true
runtime_dir = "steam-runtime"
steamclient_dir = ""       # auto-discover desktop Steam
steam_port = 8766
query_port = 0              # game port + 1
public = true
secure = false
require_registration = false

py scripts\check_steam_registration.py 203.0.113.10 `
  --game-port 27015 --query-port 27016

Headless Linux hosts use a separate sidecar instead of the Windows helper; the systemd templates and instructions are in deploy/steam-linux/ of the BattleSpades repository. The Docker image always disables Steam listing. Each server joinable from retail Steam rows needs its own public IPv4, because those rows always use port 32887.