Setting up Half-Life Admin Mod isn't all that difficult nor tedious; it just requires some understanding of what’s going on. It actually could (in a perfect world) take you less than ten minutes to get it up and running after you read this. We will address each file you need to configure separately. Hopefully this will lessen the confusion.
We recommend highly that you read this entire document before attempting your first installation of the Admin Mod, including the key information presented below. The basics presented here will carry you a long way in understanding how and why it works the way it does. We're not kidding. If you don't have the time or inclination to read the documentation in detail, you probably should not be running a server with Admin Mod.
In order to properly edit the configuration files supplied with and created by Admin Mod, you MUST use a PLAIN TEXT editor. You CANNOT use editors such as Microsoft Word or WordPerfect or anything along those lines. Most Windows server administrators use Notepad, which is part of every Windows setup. Another good text editor you might want to try that is popular with Admin Mod server administrators is The Programmer's File Editor. Any plain text editor will work just fine.
Admin Mod is an application that runs on top of the Half-Life server engine. It can be used with the Half-Life Dedicated Server (or HLDS for short) or the Half-Life Listen Server (Please note, we do not design or test Admin Mod to run with Listen Servers. While the functionality should be the same, the level of sophistication of this tool is intended for the environment of a true, dedicated server, so we do encourage you to use those instead.). It works in conjunction with another application called MetaMod, which enables the HLDS to have multiple other helper applications running at any given point in time. MetaMod allows Admin Mod to support any number of modifications of the Half-Life game, and since MetaMod takes on the task of integrating and assuring compatibility with game mods, the developers of helper applications like Admin Mod can focus on growing and expanding their own programs' capabilities.
MetaMod essentially sits between the engine and game DLL, catching routines, and passing them on, thus modifying functionality. However, rather than providing just the additional server features built in to the Admin Mod DLL, MetaMod allows you to add features from multiple, separate DLLs. Under that framework, Admin Mod can be a plugin itself, and be run alongside numerous other plugins. And, as of version 2.50, Admin Mod has now transitioned to running as a MetaMod plugin.
Admin Mod intercepts messages between the server and its clients. A " client " machine in this case is the computer that a person uses to connect to the game server - so when we say "clients," we mean the computers on which people are playing the game.
Admin Mod is able to provide a whole new level of administration alongside the Half-Life server application. With its integrated security model, a server owner can delegate administrative authority to individuals. Admin Mod also incorporates some functionality that would probably better be described as "fun" rather than "administrative." But it's all part of the same application, and it's all completely configurable by the server owner, just as long as they have some idea about how to set it up properly.
How Admin Mod Is Organised
Admin Mod uses a set of what are called ".ini" and ".cfg" files to let the mod know about certain information it needs to be able to function. The information that you put in these files includes things like the names of the players that you want to allow to use the Admin Mod commands, their passwords, the maps that you want to allow people to vote for on the server, what Admin Mod options you want to have enabled on your game server, and a variety of other important and useful things. For that reason, please take the time to read each of the sample .ini and .cfg files that are provided with Admin Mod, as discussed later.
In addition to the configuration files discussed above, Admin Mod allows the use of a scripting language to define features and functionality of the application itself. In other words, the plugin "scripts" that come with Admin Mod are what provide its core functionality and features. However, the beauty of the system is that users can develop their own plugins for Admin Mod, thus extending the features and functionality of the mod on their servers. Scripting and compiling is discussed later in this document in part, and in more detail on the AScript web site. In addition, the AScript site has a large library of plugins developed by members of the Admin Mod community, freely available to download and use.
Next: Extracting Admin Mod the Right Way