pvpgn-docker

Dockerfile and compose.yml to build and run pvpgn in a Docker container.

What is it?

PvPGN is a Battle.net clone you can run on your own computer. The repository you're in now exists to help those wishing to "Dockerize" their PvPGN instances. What you'll find here are the Dockerfile to build PvPGN and a compose.yml to save yourself some work building and running it.

Why?

Personally, I wanted to host Warcraft II games on my local area network (LAN), but the IPX protocol used by Warcraft II multi-player is no longer supported in modern Windows versions. IPX to TCP/IP wrappers are available, but I found the idea of a centralized server appealing.

PvPGN looked like a good solution for a LAN-based private Battle.net server. I wanted to run it in a Docker container. Thus, this repository was born.

How Can I Use It?

You'll need a host running Docker with Docker Compose available. If you've got that, follow the steps below.

Copy the Dockerfile and compose.yml to a suitable subdirectory.
Run docker compose build to create the pvpgn container image.
Run docker compose up -d to start the pvpgn server.
Configure your clients to use the server.

Notes About Configuring Clients

Configuring Warcraft II was a pain in the tuchus, so here are some notes.

You'll need Warcraft II BNE for Windows, not DOS.
Be sure to apply the latest patch to bring it up to version 2.02.
Adding your server entry requires editing the Windows registry. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Battle.net\Configuration\Battle.net gateways
Warcraft II must be able to write to its installation directory.

The last bullet point is because Battle.net (PvPGN in this case) needs to write an MPQ (patch) file to the installation directory. Modern Windows versions do not allow writing to Program Files. A few ways to work around this are listed below (choose one.)

Run Warcraft II BNE as administrator.
Configure Warcraft II BNE.exe to run in Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode.
Give the Users group write permission to the Warcraft II BNE directory under Program Files (x86).

Notes About Configuring the Server

The Dockerfile is setup so that PvPGN is installed with a file-based backend (as opposed to SQL database) and tracking is turned off. This is probably fine for most LAN installations.

If you need to have access to the configuration files, they're in /usr/local/etc/pvpgn/
Data and log files are written to /usr/local/var/pvgn/
You can use Docker volumes to bind mount one or both directories to a directory on your host for customizing config or persisting server data.

For example, this compose.yml contains the configuration for bind mounting both:

services:
    pvpgn:
        build:
            context: .
        image: davescodemusings/pvpgn
        container_name: pvpgn
        hostname: pvpgn
        restart: unless-stopped
        ports:
          - 6112:6112
        volumes:
          - ./config:/usr/local/etc/pvpgn
          - ./data:/usr/local/var/pvpgn

The trick is copying the files from the container to the host before running the container.

Caveats

Everything works for me, but...

PvPGN hasn't had a release since 2018.
Warcraft II was released in the 1990s.
I don't know about other Battle.net games, because I only own Warcraft II.

If you can get it to work too, great. If not, there's always IPX wrapper.

Where's This Going?

Nowhere. Absolutely nowhere. I'm just happy this 1990s tech runs at all.

DavesCodeMusings/pvpgn-docker