A Simplified Guide to Installing a PvPGN/D2GS Server
(Using Windows 2016 Server as your host OS)
(Note: Though older builds may possibly work, I have not used this for 1.09 and below.)
Over the years it appears that many guides like this one have been made, so here I created a more modern guide on how to host your own D2GS server. This is not an exhaustive guide, but rather a run-through of the steps I chose to take in the process of making a PvPGN server with a D2GS 1.13c server.
Personal Notes Regarding this Setup:
Thanks to other people’s helpful guides, documentation and forum tips in all languages that I came across, some include:
http://www.hit-karlsruhe.de/hit-info/info-ws03/Diablo2/download/howto.txt
http://pvpgn.wikia.com/wiki/Windows_Diablo_II_Server
http://pvpgn.wikia.com/wiki/Address_Translation
1. Create your Server box.
PvPGN and D2GS don’t require too much of a system’s resources, so it’s mostly at your discretion and OS as to how much computer you want hosting your server; As long as you’re not running a computer from the 1990’s you should be good.
For this guide I am using Windows Server 2016 and PvPGN magic builder for PvPGN 2.25 from github.
2. Download all required software
Visual Studio Community – Used in conjunction with CMake to compile your D2GS/PvPGN servers
CMake
Visual C++ Redistributable for Windows, 2010 AND 2012, x86 AND x64
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=14632
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5555
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30679
-msvc Runtime or Other dll files (Later in Installation – PvPGN will tell you if you missed any of these at startup)
3.Install Visual Studio
-Install Visual Studio with C++ (NOT windows universal platform; approx. 6-7 GB)
4. Install PvPGN
-download source
-console install
-enable LUA
-when done, edit:
+address_translation.conf
• Refer to the linked Address Translation guide for further information on this conf file.
+d2cs.conf
+d2dbs.conf
+realm.conf
+bnetd.conf
NOTE: should you ever want a split box configuration, the D2GS box requires TCP port 4000, while pvpgn/d2cs/d2dbs require TCP 6112, 6113 and 6114.
5. Install D2GS
-1.13c NOT multithreaded
-edit reg file with notepad++ before adding it
-run install_d2gs.bat
-edit d2server.ini; disable Warden (note: warden might work these days)
-change compatibility mode FOR ALL USERS (OPTION AT BOTTOM OF COMPATIBILITY TAB) on D2GS.exe, D2SVC.exe to XP SP 3. If you don’t D2GS Might restart constantly, leaving you “waiting in line” to create a game.
6. Create Firewall Exceptions
Ports 6112-6114 and 4000 opened for TCP.
8888 will need to be opened if you’d like to have telnet access as well.
7. start PvPGNConsole.exe
-This will tell you if further dlls/packages are needed or if the server is up and running.
8. start D2CSConsole.exe, D2DBSConsole.exe
-These windows don’t usually report anything besides a possible error or config typo
9. restart D2GS in the Services window
10. Connect from a separate computer or box