Makers 3D Learning Teacher Training: Server Startup and Administration Overview This lesson explains all of the steps, tips, and tricks to get a MinecraftEDU server running, as well as the tools available to teachers to manage that server. Concepts Covered ● The serverclient model ● Starting and running the server ● Login modes and teacherstudent differences ● Useful teacher tools and map management Map & Setup ● There is no map associated with this lesson, however, all students should be connected to a server computer which can be managed during the lesson. Part 1: UNDERSTANDING THE SERVERCLIENT MODEL Like many other computer games (and a number of other programs), Minecraft (and therefore MinecraftEDU) uses a serverclient model during play. This means that there are two programs which must both be running at the same time in order for anyone to play Minecraft. Even when a player is using Minecraft in “singleplayer,” they are still running two programs on the same computer simultaneously, even though they may not be aware of it. Terminology: ● “Server” or “server program”: The MinecraftEdu Server Tool software ● “Server computer”: the computer running the server program ● “Client” or “client program”: The MinecraftEdu software; the game ● “Client computer”: A computer running a client program ● “Player”: The person sitting at a client computer, playing the game The Server: The “server” program manages the world and environment. The “map” of the landscape of the Minecraft world is stored in the server computer. Over the course of play, as players move around, the client program asks the server for the contents of the world nearby, and the server program sends information back about the landscape and its contents. MMCEP10101 The server also synchronises player locations. As a client moves through the Minecraft world, they send information to the server about where they are. Information about player locations is then sent to other clients, so that all players see each other in their proper, uptodate locations. What does this mean? It means that if you see players looking at empty stretches of land (usually skyblue), or if player movement becomes erratic or jumpy, then your server is most likely struggling to keep up. The Clients: The “client” program is run by players and allows them to “play” the game. It provides the player with a graphical representation of the game world via the screen, and allows them to interact with the world via the mouse and keyboard. The client program handles the graphics of the game. Various computers of various speeds will work at different graphics settings, which are chosen in the “Options > Video Settings” section of the “Esc” menu. The client program also decides how far into the landscape the player can see. If the client is set to display sections of the world that are far away, then more and more of the landscape will need to be sent to the client by the server as the player moves. The distance that the player can see is called “Render Distance” and is set in the “Video Settings” menu. What does this mean? It means that if you see a player struggling with a slow, laggy computer that is only displaying several frames per second (think of a flipbook compared to a movie projector), their graphics settings are likely too high. It also means that if your server is slowing significantly as players move around and explore, you might want to turn the Render Distance down on the client computers. MMCEP10101 Part 2: STARTING AND RUNNING THE SERVER Run the server software. To do this, sit at the server appliance, launch MinecraftEdu and choose “Start MinecraftEdu Server Launcher”. This should bring up a window like the one shown to the left. The bottom two buttons, “Create New World” and “Select Saved World” are the ones you are most likely to use. If this is the first time you’ve used the ServerTool, the program will prompt you to provide a Teacher Password for the server. Remember this password for logging in as the Teacher later in the lesson. (If you forget the password, it can be reset, as described later.) Press the “Create New World” button. This will bring up the options for generating a new world. Keep all the default settings for the new world. Then, press “Start Server with New World” at the bottom. This will cause the server to generate a brand new Minecraft world from scratch. It will be generated with the standard settings for new Minecraft worlds, with rolling hills, forests, mountains, and snowcovered tundras. Once the world has been generated, the following window will appear: MMCEP10101 Clicking on the “Advanced Settings” tab will show the following screen: Shown above is an example of what the screen may look like during play. The “Stats” section displays a graph of how hard the server has been working recently; the first red peak represents a player joining the server, since the server needs to send a large amount of information quickly about the area surrounding where the player appeared. The “Players” list will show each player that is currently connected. The “Log and chat” section displays various messages. Note the message in the above picture, which says “[INFO] Andy joined the game”. This kind of message can show you when players join or leave the server. This is the screen that is most useful to leave up on the server computer, since it displays information that is not accessible any other way. MMCEP10101 Part 3: LOGIN MODES AND TEACHER TOOLS Both the students and the teacher use the MinecrafEdu client program. Sit at a teacher / student computer, run the MinecraftEdu launcher and choose “Start MinecraftEdu.” Select “MinecraftEdu” and click Launch. You can have both the Server Program and the Client Program running on the same computer at the same time, as long as there aren’t more than two or three people connecting to the Server Program. Enter your Name and select your Gender to continue. Choose “Multiplayer” and select “Add Server.” The following screen will appear; enter the following information: The server address “localhost” allows this client to connect to a server program running on the same computer (“local”). Press “Done” and click on the server you just added. Press “Join Server” to join the server. The next screen allows students to choose their appearance in the game world, but teachers should click the “I am a Teacher” button on the top. To log in as a teacher, enter the teacher password that you set up earlier. Once you’ve joined the game, press the “P” key on the keyboard to bring up the Teacher Menu. The main difference between a student and a teacher is that only a teacher has access to this menu. MMCEP10101 The menu is arranged into eight different sections, each with their own set of related tools. You can hover your mouse over any of the commands and tools to view a brief description of what it does. Here are some of the more important ones: World Settings > Game Mode ● Change the “game mode” between Survival (classic Minecraft), Creative (freebuild and flying), and MinecraftEdu (no health or hunger). World Settings > Enable/Disable Monsters ● Turns on or off all monsters. Check the box to allow monsters to appear in the dark areas of the map. Uncheck the box to prevent monsters from appearing at all. Player Management > Freeze Students ● Check the box to freeze all students in place. They cannot move, or break blocks, or place blocks. However, any nearby monsters will continue to attack students, so you’ll probably want to disable monsters before freezing students. Part 4: MAP MANAGEMENT As the server runs and players continue to manipulate the Minecraft environment, they make changes to the world and its contents which are not automatically saved. When you are done with the server program and ready to shut it down, enter a name in the “Map name” field in the top right of the server tool (shown above) and press “Save Map.” You may also use the dropdown field to save over an existing map. Once you’ve saved the map, click “Stop Server” near the top of the ServerTool window, and choose “Return to Servertool”. Note that maps do not save automatically. If you did not manually save the map as described in the previous step, MMCEP10101 you will lose any progress you made since the last save. To load a map you have previously saved, click on the “Select Saved World” button at the main menu of the ServerTool. You will see a list of all maps that you have previously saved. Click one of the maps in the list, and click the “Start Server with Selected Saved World” button at the bottom. The maps you have saved are located on the server computer, but their specific location varies depending on the operating system of the computer and the specific setup of your system. Here are some common locations: Microsoft Windows (XP 8) C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Roaming\minecraftedu\servertool\worlds\savedworlds [user name] is the name of the user account on which the MinecraftEdu software was installed. You may need to go to the Control Panel and enable the viewing of hidden folders in order to see the AppData folder. This change will require administrator privileges. Mac OSX Macintosh HD/Users/[user name]/Library/Application Support/minecraftedu/servertool/worlds/savedworlds [user name] is the name of the user account on which the MinecraftEdu software was installed. Linux The “minecraftedu” folder can be installed in a variety of places and it depends on how the system in question was configured. Generally, the maps are found in: minecraftedu/servertool/worlds/savedworlds And the default save location for the “minecraftedu” folder is: /home/[user account]/ MMCEP10101 Part 5: SERVER COMMANDS The teacher menu mentioned above does a good job of providing a visual, graphical interface for the server, but there are more tools available for server administrators (teachers) that the teacher menu doesn’t have. A “command” is a typed series of numbers and letters (usually organized into words) which changes something about the server or performs some action. Students cannot use any of these commands. To issue a server command, type the forward slash key “/” followed by the name of the command: /kill The “kill” command instantly kills the player that issues it, dropping their items and allowing them to respawn. /clear The “clear” command empties the inventory of the player that issues it. If a player’s name is provided after the world “clear:” /clear [player_name] eg., /clear Joe ...Then the server will look for a player named “Joe” and clear their inventory. The name “Joe” is called an “argument.” Arguments shown in square brackets (“[“ and “]”) are optional, meaning that the command will work even if they are not provided (usually with some default behavior). /gamemode <mode> [player] eg., /gamemode creative /gamemode survival Joe The “gamemode” command changes between Survival, Creative, and MinecraftEdu game modes. Note that the game mode (“mode”) that you wish to change into is a mandatory argument (designated with “angle brackets,” “<>”), whereas the player whose mode you wish to switch is optional. If no player is provided, then the command will change your own game mode. MMCEP10101