This page will guide you through setting up your server and getting in-game for local development. When you are finished, you will have a fully functional server ready for work.

These are the minimum system requirements. It is recommended to exceed them.

• Processor: Any modern CPU
• RAM: 8 GB
• Disk Space: 30 GB
• Operating System: Windows 10

Additional recommended software is listed in the Developer Docs.

Start by downloading the GTH Game Files.

Extract them to a new folder. For example: C:\gth\

The server files include the database and functional default configuration. Do not adjust any settings until after your server is working.

The client is pre-set for 127.0.0.1 for local testing. You will not need to change anything in the client to connect. NOTE: IP adjustment will be added to the client in v3.

Follow Install SQL Server 2022. Be sure to enable Mixed Authentication Mode and connections for port 1433, explained at the end of the installation guide. Proceed once SQL Server is installed.

Open server/database/v2/ and locate gth_account.bak and gth_game.bak.

These are your clean database backup files. If you ever mess up your database, delete it start over by restoring these.

Open Server Management Studio and connect to your database server. Restore both database backups by taking the following steps:

1. Right click Databases
2. Select Restore Database
3. For Source, select Device
4. Click the button with … and browse to one of the database backups.
5. Click OK and restore the database.
6. Repeat the steps for the second backup.

The files are configured by default to connect to MSSQL using username gthmssql and password gthmssql.

If you create a user in MSSQL with these credentials, your server will work out of the box. Be sure not to forget about this user if opening connections to the public! The credentials are not secure, but it is perfectly fine to use in a restricted local development environment.

If you choose to use different information, you may set your own information in server.cfg. Refer to DATABASE_USERNAME and DATABASE_PASSWORD at the top of the configuration file.

Remember that the masterserver and each gameserver all have their own server.cfg files. Be sure to update all of them. This will be streamlined in the near future.

ODBC stands for Open Database Connectivity. It is a standardized API for accessing a database. The server files use ODBC to establish a database connection to MSSQL.

To set up your ODBC data sources, take the following steps:

1. Search for and open ODBC Data Sources (32-bit)
2. Click Add
3. Scroll down, click SQL Server, then click Finish. Selecting a different driver could lead to unexpected behavior.
4. For the name, use: gth_account
5. For the server, use: 127.0.0.1
6. Click Next
7. Select the radio button for With SQL Server authentication…
8. Enter your database username and password and click Next
9. Check the box for Change the default database to: and select gth_account
10. Click Next, then click Finish
11. Click Test Data Source just to make sure it works
12. Repeat the steps, replacing gth_account with gth_game

You have two methods to manage the server. Using our GTH Manager application, or starting and closing each one manually.

GTH Manager, built by Scott, is a C# application intended to add convenience to manage your servers.

Run GTH Manager.exe and you servers will all start at once. GTH Manager also allows you to quickly restart or close all servers at once.

We have a few small additions already planned, but we would love to hear feedback about what else you think we should add. Some upcoming ideas:

1) Start the game client. 2) Quickly adjust database and other server settings.

These updates will be included in the v3 Game Files. However, stay tuned to Discord if you want updates sooner as we will be releasing “early test builds” there as the features progress.

Start the server binaries in the following sequence:

1. server/masterserver/GTHMasterServer.exe
2. server/gameserver/GTHGameServer.exe
3. server/gameserver2/GTHGameServer.exe
4. server/gameserver3/GTHGameServer.exe
5. server/gameserver4/GTHGameServer.exe
6. server/gameserver5/GTHGameServer.exe

Run client/client.exe. The game will open in Window mode.

Log in with username/password test1/test1 and select a character.

Other test accounts are also available. Refer to gth_account.dbo.tbl_account.

Congratulations! If you did everything right, you now have your own fully functional Gate to Heavens server.

Be sure to join us on Discord and/or RaGEZONE to assist with testing, documenting bugs, and general efforts to improve the GTH game files.

Check Database Queries for useful ways to manipulate various game data.