So you'd like to switch to RustyConnector? Here's a crash course on how to get started!

First thing first, let's understand how the plug-in works.

How it works

Creating a RustyConnector network involves setting up RC on your Proxy server as well as on your individual MCLoaders.

Did you catch that?

RustyConnector supports a whole slew of different sources! Expand the tabs below to get an idea of how we refer to things in

While reading the RustyConnector docs, you'll see us refer to "Proxy" a lot. "Proxy" always refers to the copy of RustyConnector running on Velocity. In fact sometimes we might just say "Velocity".

When we refer to "Velocity" or "Proxy" we are referring RustyConnector, not necessarily the proxy itself. If we are referring to the Velocity proxy itself we will specifically refer to it as "Velocity Server".

DANGER

You'll just about never see the word "server" used in the RustyConnector docs. This is because using "server" is too ambiguous, are you referring to the proxy? An MCLoader? The physical machine running one of your MCLoaders?

Because of the ambiguity, don't use "server" when working with RustyConnector.

INFO

You must have working Redis and MariaDB databases for RustyConnector to operate!

All RustyConnector communication happens over Redis. Velocity is the main powerhouse of your RustyConnector Network. On boot, Velocity will load your configs and begin listening for MCLoaders over Redis. Anytime an MCLoader server boots it will automatically attempt to establish a Magic Link connection with the Proxy. If the connection is successful, the MCLoader will be registered into one of the predefined server families.

If an MCLoader shuts down or crashes, it's Magic Link with the Proxy will be broken and the MCLoader will be removed from the Proxy's pool of available Loaders.

There are more details involved however this is the basis of how this system works. If you have ten MCLoaders, they can all start and stop at any time and their Magic Links with the Proxy will be gracefully handled accordingly.

Pre-Requisites

RustyConnector completely replaces the [servers] part of your velocity.toml configuration file. As such, once your RC network is built and ready to go, you won't have to open this config anymore to manage your servers. That said, the Velocity Server itself REQUIRES that you have at least one server defined in it. Feel free to just set this to a loopback address like 127.0.0.1:0.

Additionally you'll have to have both a Redis and MariaDB database ready to go in order to use RustyConnector.

Getting Started

Setting up the Proxy

1. Load the latest version of RustyConnector into your Velocity Server.
2. Start your Velocity Server.

INFO

This will cause RustyConnector to load some initial config files for you to mess with. Notice how there's a file called private.key? This key is used to encrypt and decrypt packets transported over Redis. When you set up your MCLoaders you'll want to copy this file over to them.

3. Open families.yml and set up your RC families.

TIP

You can read more about Families here. Make sure you edit root-family.name to match whichever family should be your default.

4. In connectors.yml enter your Redis and MariaDB information.

INFO

Redis requires that you set a username, however you aren't required to set a password.

5. Restart your velocity server.

TIP

RustyConnector will process your information and create family configs in the families folder. Be sure to take a look at these configs and make changes to them as you see fit.

At this point, we are now ready to set up our first MCLoader!

Setting up an MCLoader

Load RustyConnector onto your MCLoader of choice. Make sure that RustyConnector has support for it.

Ensure that the version of RustyConnector running on your MCLoader is always the same as the version running on your Velocity Server.

1. Start your MCLoader so that RustyConnector can generate configs for you.
2. Copy the private.key file from your proxy and paste it into your MCLoader.
3. Open the config.yml
4. Set name to be whatever you'd like.

INFO

It's usually best to make the name something that somewhat describes the server. For example survival-1. The names you list in your MCLoaders must always be unique, do not set duplicate names.

5. Set address.

INFO

Address can be set to the same thing that you would normally paste into th velocity.toml (for example: 127.0.0.1:25565). The address should represent what players would connect to if they wanted to join this MCLoader. Make sure that if the address of this MCLoader changes you also change it here!

6. Set family.

INFO

Family should be set so that it matches the name of one of the families you listed on the Proxy in families.yml. If the family doesn't exist, the MCLoader will fail to register to the Proxy.

7. Set your player caps to a level that you are happy with.
8. In connectors.yml enter your Redis information. Make sure it's the same as the information used on the PRoxy.
9. Restart your MCLoader.

Everything should be working now! Once the MCLoader is able to establish a Magic Link with the Proxy, you should see a green confirmation message in the console.

INFO

It's important to take note that RustyConnector is specifically written in a top-down way. MCLoaders never actually know if the Proxy exists and is ready to establish a Magic Link. The MCLoaders can only attempt to establish a Magic Link and wait for a response from the Proxy.

Lets be clear

Once you setup RustyConnector, you are now a RustyConnector Network and you need to follow 📜 The Law.