HLTV Documentation Version 3.1.1.1/4.1.1.1
Content
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1. Overview
2. Spectating Games
3. HLTV Basics
4. Broadcasting Games
5. Recording HLTV demos
6. Larger Broadcasts
7. HLTV Configuration
1. Overview
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Half-Life TV offers the ability to have an unlimited number of spectators
watching online games. They can follow the game just like they would as
a spectator on the game server. Spectators are invisible to players and
can't interact with the running game in any way. Each spectator can choose
any view position or choose any player to track individually. To have the
most enjoyable spectating experience, spectators can enable the
Auto-Director mode. Then the camera is changed automatically so that only
interesting scenes are shown from a suitable viewpoint. Thus the spectator
can lean back and won't miss any relevant action. All the time, spectators
may communicate between each other using the standard HL chat system.
Most popular Half-Life MODs are supported like Counter-Strike, Team
Fortress Classic, Day of Defeat and many others. HLTV providers have full
control over their HLTV system, may change number of spectator slots, add
text messages or change the HLTV logo. The broadcast is delayed by a
customizable amount of time, by default 30 seconds. This ensures that the
playing teams can't use HLTV to get any usable information about their
opponents. Providing a single HLTV server for up to 100 spectators is an
easy task and doesn't need any changes in default configurations.
Installing a larger HLTV network for thousands of spectators needs some
more planning time and experience about required bandwidth and CPU/RAM
demands (see chapter 6).
2. Spectating Games
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To watch a HLTV game, start Half-Life, open the Multiplayer menu and select
'Find Servers'. To search for currently broadcasted games, choose the
'Spectate' section and hit 'Refresh All'. After the list has been updated,
double click on the server you want to spectate and you'll be connected.
If computer game leagues announce important matches to be broadcasted via
HLTV, they often provide IP:Port addresses of their HLTV servers. Instead
of searching them via the server browser, you can also go to the
'Favorites' folder and add the HLTV address to your server list by pressing
the right mouse button. Otherwise, you can also open the console window and
use the 'connect' command to spectate a certain game.
For example:
connect 192.168.130.42:27020
The default HLTV port number is 27020, but may be changed. It should always
be included in the given address, since commonly this port number is
different from the default port number 27015.
You can spectate the game in different modes: Chase Cam, First Person, Free
Look, Map Overview and Map Chase. The easiest way to change modes is to
press the JUMP key (default SPACE). Alternatively you can use the spectator
menu, which can be enabled by pressing the DUCK key (default CTRL). Here
you can customize your personal view style and enable the Auto-Director
Mode. Press USE (default E) to cycle through the different
Picture-In-Picture modes.
The following HL console commands can be used to customize spectator
settings:
spec_autodirector <0|1> - turns Auto Director mode on or off
spec_drawcone <0|1> - shows your view cone in map overview mode
spec_drawnames <0|1> - shows player names under their icons
spec_drawstatus <0|1> - shows game information (time, map etc)
spec_pip <0|1> - turns Picture-In-Picture mode on or off
spec_menu - opens the spectator menu
spec_help - shows a help screen
spec_mode <1-6> [<0-4>] - set the main view mode, seconds parameter is
the PIP mode. Not all combinations are valid.
Main modes are:
1 : Locked Chase 2 : Free Chase
3 : Free Roaming 4 : First Person
5 : Map Overview 6 : Chase Map Overview
PIP modes are:
0 : PIP off 1 : Free Chase
2 : First Person 3 : Map Overview
4 : Chase Map Overview
3. HLTV Basics
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The core of the HLTV broadcasting system is the HLTV server, also called
HLTV proxy. The HLTV executable is a console application that works much
like a HL dedicated server. To broadcast a game running on a certain game
server, the HLTV proxy connects to this server just like a normal player.
Spectators connect themselves to the HLTV proxy and the game data stream is
relayed through the HLTV proxy to all connected spectator clients. The next
figure shows a basic HLTV configuration:
HL Game Server -> HLTV Proxy => Spectator Clients
The number of clients that one HLTV proxy can serve depends on available
hardware and network resources. Theoretically, a single proxy can hold a
maximum of 255 spectator clients. But be careful, even a proxy with 100
spectator clients needs a full 2 MBit line to run smoothly. If more
spectator slots are needed, the required network load must be distributed
over multiple HLTV proxies.
The first HLTV proxy connected to the game server is called the Master
proxy, which sets the general broadcast settings like game stream delay or
packet rate. All other HLTV proxies linked to this proxy are the Relay
proxies. Their total number and link order is not restricted, they may form
a chain or tree of proxies. Most important is that their location is in
different networks to ensure a balanced bandwidth usage.
-> HLTV Relay Proxy 1 => Spectator Clients
HL Game Server -> HLTV Master -> HLTV Relay Proxy 2 => Spectator Clients
-> HLTV Relay Proxy 3 => Spectator Clients
4. Broadcasting Games
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Let's assume the most simple configuration, a single HLTV proxy in a LAN
environment. This is a very common situation and the default HLTV settings
doesn't need to be changed. Choose a dedicated computer as your HLTV proxy
and install the Half-Life Dedicated Server, which also includes all files
needed by a HLTV proxy. This isn't needed if Half-Life is already
installed.
Start the HLTV application (HL icon with a small camera) and the HLTV
console will open, showing some initialization messages (if that takes a
long time, HLTV maybe can't resolve some IP addresses, then start HLTV
with the '-nodns' command line option). Then the console is ready to accept
your commands, here we use '>' as the console prompt. First give your HLTV
proxy an unique name:
>name "My HLTV Proxy"
Let's assume you have started the proxy on host 192.168.1.2 and the game
server, you want to spectate is running on host 192.168.1.3:27015. Then
connect the HLTV proxy to this game server by typing:
>connect 192.168.1.3:27015
After a few seconds HLTV will be fully connected and ready to serve
spectator clients. Use the 'status' command to verify that the HLTV proxy
has connected properly :
>status
--- HLTV Status ---
Online 00:23, FPS 79.0, Version 2435 (Win32)
Local IP 192.168.1.2:27020, Network In 1.7, Out 1.0, Loss 0.00
Local Slots 128, Spectators 0, Proxies 0
Total Slots 128, Spectators 0, Proxies 1
Source Game Server 192.168.1.3:27015, Delay 30
Server Name "Half-Life dedicated server"
Time 01:35, Game "valve", Map "maps/rapidcore.bsp", Players 1
The 'status' command shows your own IP address, HLTV system cycles per
second, total incoming and outgoing network traffic in kB/sec. Local slot
and spectator numbers your HLTV proxy is providing, total numbers are the
sum of all slots & spectators on all proxies broadcasting this game. The
game source can be a game server, another HLTV proxy or a demo file.
5. Recording HLTV demos
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HLTV demo files are like normal recorded games in Half-Life, but you can
choose any view point, view mode or player to chase during replay. To play
back a HLTV demo, a HLTV proxy is not needed. Just start Half-Life and type
in console "playdemo <demoname>" or "viewdemo <demoname>" (viewdemo offers
more options during playback like fast forward/backward, pause &
slowmotion). To record a HLTV demo, connect the proxy to a game server (see
last chapter) and type in console:
>record <name>
All games will be recorded after issuing this command. The demo files will
be saved in the current Mod directory, e.g. \cstrike. All demo files have a
special naming convention <name>-<YYMMDDhhmm>-<map>.dem, including the
given name, date/time and map name. Demo files record the same data as send
to spectator clients. That means also, the demo file records the game with
the same delay as used for spectators. To verify, that a demo file is
recorded use the "status" command. The recording may be stopped with
"stoprecording".
Sometimes a HLTV broadcast is not wanted and the HLTV proxy is only used
to record a demo file. In this case, some HLTV settings should be made to
gain optimal recording results:
>maxclients 0 // don't allow any spectator clients
>delay 0 // no game stream delay
>rate 10000 // maximum data rate
>updaterate 20 // standard update rate
>nomaster 1 // don't register at master servers
6. Larger broadcasts
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Setting up a HLTV network that can handle a larger number of spectators
(>1000) is a difficult and time consuming task. The following guide should
help to configure and run such a HLTV network. One of the most important
rule should be "Quality, not Quantity". It's better to offer a smaller
number of spectator slots, than operating at the maximum bandwidth limit,
thus all spectators would suffer from lags and timeouts. Check carefully
your available bandwidth capacity and calculate how many spectators can
be handled by your HLTV servers. The average bandwidth demand per spectator
is between 2 and 3 KB/sec and depends on the current mod, map and number of
players. CPU and RAM shouldn't be a bottleneck on modern PC systems.
This list for common Internet connection types gives a feeling, how
bandwidth demanding HLTV can be:
- ISDN 64 Kbps : 2 spectators
- DSL 128 Kbps (upstream) : 5 spectators
- T1 1.5 Mbps : 75 spectators
- LAN 10 Mbps : 500 spectators
- T3 75 Mbps : 4000 spectators
Use the "maxclients" command to set how many clients should be accepted by
a HLTV proxy. Make sure that the "maxrate" variable is set too a reasonable
value, e.g. 3500 kB/sec. Lower values are possible, but make sure spectators
don't get too much "choke" during a running game. The "maxrate" command
doesn't effect the bandwidth limit between HLTV proxies, only for spectator
clients. To lower the general bandwidth demand, you can turn off the
internal HLTV chat ("chatmode 0") or decrease the game update rate from the
default value 20 to 10 ("updaterate 10"). A lower update rate may save up
to 25% network traffic and is an acceptable tradeoff in this case since
spectators doesn't need a high update rate like real players does.
A very common setup for large broadcasts is to use 2 dedicated HLTV servers
to create a private and a public HLTV segment. Let's assume the game server
is in a closed LAN and not accessible from outside. This ensures a maximum
security against attacks (DOS etc) from outside. The HLTV master server is
started within the LAN and it's IP address should be kept secret. The
second HLTV server is started outside the LAN with a global IP and is
connected to the HLTV master server. This second HLTV server is the public
HLTV dispatcher, which IP address is given to the audience. Any relay
proxies are connected to this HLTV dispatcher. Thus the HLTV master server
is in a secure LAN environment and can be used for demo recording or for
HL clients serving video projectors. Spectators connect to the HLTV
dispatcher and are relayed through the HLTV network to a relay proxy with
a low usage. Thus the total network load is balanced between all connected
HLTV proxies.
+---- Private LAN -----+ +------ Public Internet --------+
-> HLTV Proxy 1
HL Server -> HLTV Master -> HLTV Dispatcher -> HLTV Proxy 2
-> HLTV Proxy 3
The configuration files of HLTV master and HLTV dispatcher are different:
master.cfg:
nomaster 1 // don't register at WON master servers
proxypassword MyPWD // protect HLTV server
publicgame 0 // don't show game server IP
dispatchmode 0 // don't dispatch spectators
dispatcher.cfg:
forcemaster 1 // register at WON master servers
publicgame 0 // don't show game server IP
dispatchmode 2 // dispatch all clients to other proxies
hostname MyGame // public HLTV server name
If you're running 3 or more HLTV servers in total, it's a good idea to
use RCON to manage them via a single server admin tool. To enable RCON
on a HLTV server an "adminpassword" must been set. Also "proxypassword"
should be set to ensure only known HLTV providers can connect to your
HLTV network. Otherwise anybody can connect with slow HLTV proxies and
disturb your network load balancing.
7. HLTV Configuration
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A short note about console command syntax. A command description follows
the following notation:
command <parameter> [<parameter>] - description
A command may have one or more parameters. Parameters in brackets [] are
optional. Common used parameters are :
<string> : text, must be in quotes if text contains spaces "My Name"
<n> : a whole number, e.g. 42
<f> : a floating point number, e.g. 4.2
<IP:Port> : an IP address, e.g. 192.168.130.42:27020
<a|b|c> : a set of options, a or b or c
Note, any of these special characters <, >, |, [ or ] are not part of the
final command as typed in the console. Lots of these commands are boolean
switches, were 1 is meaning ON and 0 is respectively OFF.
connect <IP:Port> - connect HLTV proxy to game server (default port 27015)
disconnect - disconnects proxy from server, but doesn't stop the
broadcast. All spectator clients stay connected.
stop [<text>] - disconnects from server, disconnects all clients and
stops demo recording. Optional goodbye message.
quit - quits the HLTV process
retry - retries the last server connection
autoretry <0|1> - if enabled, proxy will retry connection to server if
connection was interrupted for any reason
name <text> - sets the HLTV proxy scoreboard name
hostname <text> - sets the HLTV host name for game browser list
serverpassword <text> - sets the game server password
adminpassword <text> - sets password for RCON & commentator
proxypassword <text> - sets password for other relay proxies
spectatorpassword <text> - sets spectator password. Will also exclude
proxy from global load balancing
clients - lists connected spectator clients
proxies - lists connected relay proxies
players - lists players on game server
kick <ID> - kicks a spectator client from proxy
bann <IP> - banns an IP address (completely ignored)
clearbanns - removes all IPs from bann list
say <text> - sends a text message to game server (chat with players)
msg <text> [<duration> <pos x> <pos y> <color hex rgba>]
- sends a text message to all spectators as big HUD text
localmsg <text> [<duration> <pos x> <pos y> <color hex rgba>]
- same as msg, but only seen by local clients
servercmd <string> - forwards console command to game server
clientcmd <group> <string> - forwards a console command to all clients of
given group: 1=spectators, 2=proxies, 3=all
loopcmd <id> <n> <string> - loopcmd will execute <string> every <n>
seconds. <id> is a number between 1 and 64 to
identify this loopcmd. "loopcmd <id> none"
will disable a looping command again. loopcmd
without any parameter will list any command
currently in the list.
signoncommands <string> - console commands that will be executed by
local spectator clients after connection is
established. Commands may be separated by
semicolons.
maxclients <n> - set spectator number limit for this proxy (default 128)
delay <n> - delays the game stream for n seconds on the Master Proxy.
The default value is 30 seconds to avoid cheating. If the
delay is set to a value below 10 seconds (e.g. 0), the
auto director function will be disabled.
rate <n> - bandwidth rate the game server sends data to the proxy
updaterate <n> - game updates per seconds send from server to proxy
maxrate <n> - sets the maximum bandwidth rate for spectator clients
maxloss <f> - sets the acceptable packet loss rate, default
value is 0.05 (5%). If packet loss is higher, new
spectator clients will be rejected.
maxqueries <n> - maximum of status queries per second requested by server
browsers
dispatchmode <0|1|2> - Dispatch mode 1 (AUTO) will redirect connecting
clients to other proxies balancing work load between
all proxies. In dispatch mode 2 (ALWAYS) any
spectator clients will be redirected, so this proxy
serves only as dispatcher. Dispatch mode 0 (OFF)
won't redirect any clients.
publicgame <0|1> - if public is 1, game server IP will be visible to
spectators and 'joingame' is allowed.
offlinetext <string> - info text clients will see as reject reason if HLTV
isn't broadcasting yet
chatmode <0|1|2> - if chatmode is 0, spectators can't chat. If set to 1,
only spectators connected to the same proxy can see
their chat messages. In chatmode 2 all spectators
can chat between each other (then Master and all
Relay proxies must have set chatmode 2).
bannerfile <file> - specifies a TGA file (RGBA) that will be shown as
logo in spectator GUI.
ping <host:port> - pings a HL server on the given port (default 27015)
nomaster <0|1> - if enabled, proxy won't register at WON master
servers
forcemaster <0|1> - if enabled, proxy will register at WON master server
heartbeat - sends manually a status packet to WON master servers
region <n> - set the region your HLTV proxy is located in
rcon <string> - sends a remote control command to other servers
rconaddress <IP:Port> - sets the remote control target address
rconpassword <string> - sets the password for the remote controlled host
cheeringthreshold <f> - number of cheering players must be above this
threshold to play the cheering sound (by default 0.25).
blockvoice <0|1> - if set, all incoming voice data is blocked. This is
useful to override incoming voice commentators or
player voice with own commentators voice.
cmdlist - shows all registered proxy commands
logfile <0|1> - starts/stops console logging in "logfile<date>.log"
status - shows proxy status information
modules - shows all loaded HLTV modules and versions
exec <filename> - executes a .cfg file
echo <string> - prints a text to HLTV console
developer <0|1> - additional debug messages are shown in developer mode
record <filename> - records all following games to demo files using name
syntax "filename-<date>-<map>.dem"
stoprecording - stops recording a demo file
playdemo <filename> - starts broadcasting a demo file
The console does auto-completion by hitting 'TAB'. All commands in the
config file "hltv.cfg" are executed during startup.
Some parameters can only be set in the command line:
-port <n> - sets the HLTV proxy port that spectators connect to
(default 27020)
-ip <IP> - forces the proxy to use this IP on a multihomed host
-comm <filename> - sets a master server info file other than woncomm.lst
-nodns - disables any DNS resolving (useful for LAN proxies)
-maxfps <n> - sets maximum system cycles per seconds (default 100)
-highpriority - starts the HLTV proxy as high priority process
-steam - proxy enables special Steam support
-dev - developer mode
These parameters cannot be changed during runtime, thus they can't be used
in config files.
All console commands can be used in the command line, if a "+" is prepended
to them, for example:
hltv.exe +connect localhost:27015 -port 27021
A Half-Life server can set sv_proxies <n>, to determine how many proxies
are allowed to connect. If HLTV proxies should be forbidden, set it to 0,
otherwise 1 to allow for a Master Proxy. Other values are experimental.
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For HLTV news, updates and help visit http://hltv.valve-erc.com
Copyright (2003 Valve LLC.)