Introduction to Game Hosting/fr
{{#customtitle:Introduction à l'hébergement de partie|Introduction à l'hébergement de partie}}
BEGINNER
THIS IS A BEGINNER ARTICLE
Introduction
Comme vu dans l'Introduction à la création de carte, MapTool vous permet de créer des cartes et figurines virtuelles (connues dans le jargon de MapTool comme des pions) (tokens)), afin d'être utilisée dans des parties de jeu de rôle, un peu de la même façon que vous utiliseriez une carte papier et de vraies figurines sur une table. De fait, c'est pour cela que nous appelons MapTool une "table de jeu virtuelle" ou "VTT" ("Virtual Table Top" en anglais). Dans ce guide, nous passerons en revue un des fondamentaux de MapTool : partager une carte avec d'autres joueurs, au travers d'Internet.
NB : MapTool n'est pas seulement utile pour jouer en ligne - de nombreuses personnes l'utilise lors de session de jeu "en face à face", parce que l'on peut faire des choses, avec une carte virtuelle, infaisable avec une carte réelle. De plus, vous avez moins de chance de renverser du Coca dessus ;). Toutefois, ce guide partira du principe que vous jouez en ligne.
L'introduction à la cartographie vous a guidé à travers les étapes de base permettant d'obtenir MapTool, le lancer, y créer une carte et y placer des pions. Ainsi que sauvegarder une fichier de campagne, comment se déplacer sur la carte, zoomer, et déplacer les pions. Ce sont les fonctions essentielles du logiciel, sans lesquelles le reste n'a aucun intérêt à être lu !
Etant donné qu'héberger une partie n'est pas drôle si personne n'y participe, la dernière section de ce guide expose comment se connecter à un serveur MapTool. Vous devrez expliquer à vos amis comment faire cela, donc assurez-vous de lire aussi cette section !
Et pour finir, ce guide traitant de l'hébergement d'une partie en ligne, "vous" signifiera toujours "la personne qui a lancé le serveur".
Architecture
Lorsqi'il est utilisé pour une partie en ligne, MapTool utilise une architecture "client-serveur". En d'autres termes, une personne (en général le MJ, mais pas nécessairement) utilise MapTool pour démarrer un "serveur" et les autres personnes de la partie se connectent au serveur en tant que "clients".
Une fous le serveur démarré et que tous y sont connectés, le fichier de campagne (avec toutes les cartes, pions et autre information) est ensuite partagée entre tous les joueurs, afin que tous voient la carte, les mouvements de leur pion et ceux des autres joueurs, les textes saisis dans le chat ... et passent un bon moment.
Un mot à propos des "bidules" réseau
Un des challenges dans la création d'une partie avec MapTool (à l'instar de nombreuses applications client-serveur, dont beaucoup d'autres VTT) réside dans la configuration de votre réseau local afin de permettre à vos amis de se connecter à votre serveur MapTool.
Il existe de nombreuses manières de paramétrer votre réseau pour autoriser MapTool à être "hôte" à travers Internet. UPnP, redirection de port ou un VPN. Votre ordinateur, FAI et matériel réseau (cable/modem xDSL, routeur ...) vont déterminer lesquelles de ces options vont fonctionner pour vous. Etant donné la myriade de possibilités de combinaisons matérielles et logicielles, il n'est pas possible de donner un ensemble de règles et conseils qui garantiraient le succès de l'opération.
UPnP
An alternative to port forwarding - if it's available on your router - is called UPnP (short for Universal Plug-and-Play). This feature, instead of permanently saying "Port XYZ traffic goes here!", will instead tell the router "for a little while - while we're playing - I'm gonna have to go ahead and ask you to open up Port XYZ for us. That would be greeaaaat."
In other words, it makes the handling of ports and incoming and outgoing traffic a little more seamless and simple. Of course, the downside is that not everything supports UPnP, and you'll have to figure out whether your network can do it. However, if your network hardware supports UPnP, it is by far the easiest way to get your MapTool server up and running.
Port Forwarding
For home networks that use a router or physical firewall, you will probably need to configure port forwarding. This is a mechanism by which information coming to your network, and arriving on a specific port, is sent to the right place inside your network. This is important for you as the MapTool server person, since your friends need to be sending information to the right place!
The specifics of configuring port forwarding will depend on your hardware, so you'll have to check your manual for that one. But the basic idea is that you indicate two things to the router/switch/firewall:
- Which port MapTool will use (more on MapTool ports later!) - this is telling the router "information will be coming in on Port XYZ; pay attention!"
- Which computer, inside the network, that information needs to go to - basically, "and when you see information coming in on Port XYZ, send it here"
- Incidentally, setting up port forwarding also tells the router where it can stick outgoing information, too.
That is port forwarding in a nutshell, and the reason you need to set it up is that most routers (especially if they're configured securely and properly) are not going to just allow random incoming information to get through.
More and Better Networking Information
I was all set to write an elaborate section on networking, when I realized that there is an excellent FAQ written by Azhrei at the MapTool Forums. If you are unfamiliar with concepts like Port Forwarding, configuring your router, or how networks work (in general), please read the FAQ.
If you are familiar with network configuration and managing your home network (especially if you can set up software to act as a server, or have set up port forwarding on your network for other applications), setting up MapTool to act as a server will be old hat: you'll basically need to configure port forwarding or UPnP on your router to permit MapTool network traffic to pass.
If you need specific information on port forwarding configuration for your network hardware, check out Portforward.com for an extensive collection of how-to documents for specific network hardware and specific software packages.
On the other hand, if all that stuff above made no sense to you: read the Networking FAQ! All will be revealed!
Now, let's get on with it.
Starting Up a MapTool Server
Assumptions
From here on out, these instructions assume that you have configured your network to handle MapTool traffic (via port forwarding or UPnP, for example). If not, you'll have to figure out how to do that before it will be possible to start a server that your friends can use.
The Start Server Dialog
1. Go to File > Start Server.
2. You will now see the Start Server dialog. There are a lot of options here.
Server Options and Settings
Configuration Settings
- Username: this is the name that will appear in chat and in the Connections window; you can set it to be anything you like.
- Role: this drop down box lets you tell MapTool what kind of user you are: are you the GM (and therefore in possession of Total Cosmic Power over all of the MapTool functions?) or are you a player, who lives at the GM's every whim (or, in other words, only has access to player functions)? Note that a game can have more than 1 GM!
- Port: A very important setting, this is where you tell MapTool what port you've configured your router to forward. If you give it the wrong port, MapTool traffic will be unable to enter or leave your network, and you will have no game!
- RPTools Alias: this field allows you to set up an "alias" for your server to appear on the RPTools server registry. It basically lets you tell your players "look for the server named Awesome Server and connect to it," instead of "connect to the server at IP Address 123.45.678.9"
- Passwords: you can protect access to your server by configuring passwords. Setting a password on the server is optional; however, if you leave it blank, anyone who can find your server can connect to it as a player. There are two password categories:
- GM: the GM password is used to provide someone with full access to the campaign remotely, though there are a small number of features which cannot be done remotely, such as loading a campaign. The GM password is typically used for a secondary GM so that GM duties may be shared, but can also be used in cases where the GM may not be able to get hosting set up properly and has one of his players host the session.
- Player: people connecting to the server in the "Player" role will use this password to connect.
Ownership, Vision, and Behavior
- Strict Token Ownership: MapTool uses a concept called "token ownership" to control who can select, move, or look at the properties of a particular token. If you enable Strict Token Ownership, only the owner of a particular token may perform any actions on it - everyone else is confined to looking at the token.
- Players can reveal vision: MapTool has a vision and fog-of-war system (where you can configure how tokens "see" the map). With this option enabled, players can reveal the area that is "visible" to their token without GM intervention (in other words, an area hidden to the token is covered by Fog of War, and appears opaque on the screen; when you reveal it, the opaque overlay is cleared, and the map underneath becomes visible). Otherwise, the GM must do all reveals.
- Use Individual Views: in the vision system mentioned above, player tokens can either "share" their vision (i.e., everyone sees what one player character sees) or they can have individualized views.
- Restricted Player Impersonation: This means that players can only impersonate tokens that they have ownership (see above) of
- Players Receive Campaign Macros: MapTool lets you write macros, which are basically sequences of text, token, and dice rolling commands used to automate certain activities - basically, a short script that does something. The GM can create "Campaign Macros" which become available to all players if this option is checked.
- Use Tooltip for [] rolls: Enabling this option makes any dice roll you enclose in square brackets show only the roll result, and display the full roll details if you hover your mouse over the result.
Testing the Connection
Before you start your server, it is a good idea to hit the Test Connection button. This will send a message out to a server at RPTools.net asking that it attempt to connect to your computer - in other words, the RPTools connection testing server will find out if it can see your computer over the network!
What you want to see is Success! I can see your computer! If you get that, you can be pretty sure that your server will be visible when you start it up.
If you do not see a message proclaiming a successful connection test, you will need to investigate port forwarding and your network configuration to make sure you have the right ports configured and everything properly arranged.
Get your Connection Information and Tell Your Friends
Assuming that you had a successful connection test, and you clicked OK to start the server, you can then check out your Connection Information to double-check the settings. These settings will need to be passed on to your friends so that they can connect to the server.
1. Go to File > Connection Information.
This will display what MapTool currently knows about your computer. Since you haven't started a server quite yet, you'll just see your computers internal and external IP addresses (this is useful info, though, especially if you haven't quite set up port forwarding!).
When a server is started, you will also see the name of the server (if you give it one), and the network port that server traffic will use.
2. Provide this information to your friends: tell them the Server Name (a.k.a. the RPTools Alias, if you set one), the external IP address, and the port. They will need to put this into the Connect to Server dialog when they attempt to log in to your server.
Connecting to a MapTool Server
The steps leading up to this point walked you through setting up a MapTool server so that people can connect to it. Of course, if you don't have anyone connecting to your server, things are going to get pretty boring pretty quick. These steps are focused on your friends who will be connecting to the server you just created.
Assumptions
The following information assumes that all of the following are true! Lacking any of these is going to make for a very short trip.
- You have friends
- You have a MapTool server running
- Your friends know the following:
- Either the server's Name OR the servers External Address is (or preferably, both!)
- What the appropriate password is (either GM or Player password)
- What Port the server is using
- VERY IMPORTANT: Your friends are using the same version of MapTool that you are using!
Open the Connect to Server Dialog
If the assumptions mentioned above are met, here's what you tell your friends:
1. Go to File > Connect to Server to see the Connect to Server dialog.
2. Enter a User name. This can be anything your friends wish.
3. Enter the password (which you set when you started the server).
4. Choose your Role. Your friends can connect as a GM, or as a Player. Make sure that they pick the right role for the password you're using!
Choose how You will Connect
The Connect to Server dialog presents three ways to connect to a running server.
RPTools.net
This tab (which is shown by default) lists all of the servers listed at the RPTools.net Server Registry. When you set up the server, you had the option to give it an alias, which is what appears in this list. The Server Registry stores the connection information for the server, so your friends can just select the server they want, and hit OK.
LAN
This tab will show any servers that are currently running on the local network. This is for when you want to have a MapTool LAN Party, or when all your friends are inside the same network (like if everyone bringes their laptop to your house for game night).
Direct
A direct connection is just that - your friends bypass the friendly RPTools.net tab, and simply type the External Address and port number for the server.
Verifying Connections
As your friends connect to your MapTool server, you will see notifications in the Chat Pane that people have connected to your server, which look like:
JQRandom has connected.
You can also check the Connections Pane to see a list of everyone who is connected to your server. If you do not see the Connections Pane, go to Window > Connections to have it pop into view.