Quick Start Guide:

The dedicated server:

1. On Linux:
   1. The SM server should run under a user account rather than root, so create a user e.g. "sm" with home directory "/home/sm".
   2. Login as (or switch to) user "sm" so that all files created down the road receive the correct ownership and permissions.
   3. The SM server zip doesn't have a top-level directory, so create one first to keep all the server files together, e.g.:
      
         mkdir SM
   cd SM
      
2. On Windows:
   1. The SM server can run under a user account rather than administrator, so create a user e.g. "SM".
   2. Switch to that user.
   3. Change to your (My) Documents directory.
3. Download and unzip the latest ManiaPlanet beta server (ManiaPlanetBetaServer_2015-06-16.zip) into the SM/ directory.
4. Log into the MP Player Page using your player login and password, and create a dedicated server login and password (different from your player password).
5. Copy SM/UserData/Config/dedicated_cfg.default.txt to dedicated_cfg.txt and edit:
   1. In the <authorization_levels> section, change all three passwords, but do not change the names (SuperAdmin, Admin, User).
   2. In the <masterserver_account> section, enter the server <login> obtained above with its own <password>, and your account's validation key (usually five characters) in <validation_key> so that your server is able to use planets.
   3. This validation key is given in the mail you should have received after creating your player account with the game, but a new one can be generated via the player page. Additionally, you must make an initial donation from your player login to your server login via the in-game message system, so that there are sufficient planets in the account to pay Nadeo tax on the first transaction.
   4. In the <server_options> section, give your server a <name> and configure the other options to your liking.
   5. In the <system_config> section, set <connection_uploadrate> and <connection_downloadrate> to values closest to your connection's speed (in Kbps), and remember the three port numbers (default: 2350 for the server, 3450 for P2P and 5000 for XMLRPC; these can be changed to other free port numbers, but it's recommended to keep the defaults at least until your server comes online successfully).
6. Choose and edit a match settings file, e.g. SM/UserData/Maps/MatchSettings/SMStormMelee.txt, to your liking (see the server readme for details, although that's for TMF so some things are different).
7. On your firewall/router, open the server port 2350 and the P2P port 3450 for both UDP and TCP traffic, but not the XMLRPC port 5000. For more information on this, PortForward.com may be useful.
8. A standard startup script called RunSrv.sh is included in the zip, so review/edit it if needed:
   
      #!/bin/sh
   ./ManiaPlanetServer /game_settings=MatchSettings/SMStormMelee.txt /dedicated_cfg=dedicated_cfg.txt /title=SMStorm
   
   or use a corresponding RunSrv.bat:
   
      ManiaplanetServer.exe /game_settings=MatchSettings/SMStormMelee.txt /dedicated_cfg=dedicated_cfg.txt /title=SMStorm
9. Start the server:
   
      cd ~/SM/
   ./RunSrv.sh (or RunSrv.bat)
   
   You should see output like the following:
   

   Starting ManiaPlanet Date=2015-06-16_18_00 Svn=61962 GameVersion=3.3.0...
   Initializing...
   Configuration file : dedicated_cfg.txt
   Loading system configuration...
   ...system configuration loaded
   Loading cache...
   ...OK
   Listening for xml-rpc commands on port 5000.
   ManiaPlanet server daemon started with pid=16516 (parent=16515).
   

   If you get a Segmentation Fault here, your kernel/distro may be too old, or the server cannot create files/directories due to ownership/permission problems (perhaps you forgot step 1b?).
10. The first time the server starts, it creates several files in UserData/Config/ (including blacklist.txt and guestlist.txt), as well as the Logs/ directory and an extensive directory hierarchy under UserData/. The files in the Logs/ directory are useful to monitor your server's activity.
11. Start your SM client and check in the Internet server browser that the server is running in your zone with your chosen server name and some official maps.
12. Join your server, and have a friend join from elsewhere on the Internet, to verify that the server is accessible.
13. Ignore the private network warning that is always logged in ConsoleLog.*.txt.
14. To start & stop your SM server on Linux more easily, you can use a start-up script derived from this.
15. Collect your own maps in UserData/Maps/My Maps/, copy and edit a new match settings file in UserData/Maps/MatchSettings/ that lists those maps, use that file in RunSrv.sh (or RunSrv.bat), and restart your server. It should now be running your map selection. Congratulations. :-)