Server Interface

The System tab contains a list of server settings for configuring and customizing your poker server. It also contains a toolbar for starting and stopping the game server as described below.

♣ Toolbar Commands

Start - Click this button to put your game server online. This allows players to connect and login into your poker site. Ring games and tournaments that are set for "Auto Online" will be activated immediately.

Stop - Click this button to take your game server offline. No one can connect to your server when it is in the offline state.

Tray - Click this button to minimize the server program to the System Tray in the lower right corner of the screen. To restore the server interface to its previous position, either double-click the tray icon or right-click it and select "Restore server module" on the popup menu.

Edit - Click this button to edit the selected property value in the list below the toolbar. You can also double-click a property value directly to invoke the value editor.

Help - Click this button to display the help file or the program "About" screen.

♣ Property Editor

The property editor contains a list of configuration settings, grouped into several sections as described below. To edit a property value, either double-click it or select it and then click the Edit button on the toolbar. When a property is selected in the list, a brief description of it is displayed in the yellow box just below the list. Note: some properties cannot be changed while the game server is online. In those cases, the Ok button on the editor dialog will be disabled.

Site Information - this section contains properties for identifying and publishing your poker site.

Site name - Enter a unique name for your poker site, up to 50 characters. This name will appear in the player module and in the server directory at PokerMavens.net (if the Directory Listing property is set to Yes).
Site description - This is an optional site description, up to 500 characters. This text is displayed when your site is selected in the server directory at PokerMavens.net (if the Directory Listing property is set to Yes).
Site password - Optional site password. Leave blank if your site will be open to the public.
Site news - Optional site news. This text will be displayed to each player when they login if it has been edited since their previous login. They can also view it any time by selecting the news option from the client help menu. The following HTML tags can be used to markup your text:

<a> - (anchor) - Use this tag to link to another site. Always use the target="_blank" attribute so that a new window is opened. Otherwise the contents of the game site will be replaced and the player will disconnect. Unlike regular HTML, this tag does not style the link with an underline or a different color so that has to be done manually. Example: <a href="http://www.google.com" target="_blank">Google</a>

 - (bold) - Use this tag to bold text. Example: Hello

 - (font) - Use this tag to change the color and/or point size of text. Example: Hello

 - (italic) - Use this tag to make italic text. Example: Hello

 - (paragraph) - Use this tag to make a paragraph. Example: Hello

 - (underline) - Use this tag to underline text. Example: Hello

Directory listing - Select Yes to list your site at PokerMavens.net, subject to the terms in the License Agreement. If you select a site password then your site will be listed in the private section. This feature is not available in the Trial version of Poker Mavens.
Directory key - Enter your custom directory key that was provided by Briggs Softworks. This will allow your site to be listed in the server directory at PokerMavens.net.This feature is not available in the Trial version of Poker Mavens.
Support email - This is an optional email address where players can contact you via the Help menu in the Player Module. Leave blank for none.
Support web site - This is an optional web site address (include the http:// prefix) where players can get more information about your site. A link to this site will appear in the Help menu in the Player Module. Leave blank for none.
Internet IP address - This is your Internet IP address that your players will connect to. Click the Lookup button to get this value automatically. If your site has its own domain name, you can enter it instead.
Auto lookup IP - If this property is set to Yes, the software will perform the Internet IP lookup function automatically for you each time you put the server online. Set this to No if you were provided a static Internet IP address from your Internet service provider.
File port - This is your HTTP port number that will serve files to the player's web browser. The default value is 8087. This value cannot be changed while the game server is running.
Packet port - This is your TCP/IP port number that will be used to transfer game packets to and from the client Flash module. The default value is 8088. This value cannot be changed while the game server is running.

Server Settings - this section contains technical settings related to the game server.

Local IP address - This is your local IP address to bind to your server. Only use 127.0.0.1 (localhost) for internal testing. This value cannot be changed while the game server is running.
Maximum connections - This is the maximum number of connections allowed at once into your site. The default is 50.
Allow duplicate IPs - Select No to prevent more than one player from the same PC or local area network from logging in.
Allow remote administration - Use this feature to manage your poker server from the web browser of any remote computer connected to the Internet. Simply append "/admin" to the end of your Internet URL (or Local URL if inside your own network) and enter the administrator password. For example, if your IP is 123.45.67.89 and your File port is 8087 then point your web browser to "http://123.45.67.89:8087/admin" to connect to your server. You will be presented with a web interface that contains most of the functions that are available in the local Windows server module. This feature is only available in the Pro version of Poker Mavens.

Administration password - You must enter a password here to use the remote administration feature.
Autostart server at bootup - Select Yes and the server will automatically start up and run in the system tray on the next bootup.
Data folder - This is the base folder to store program data files. This includes ring game and tournament settings, player accounts and blacklists, hand histories, and event logs. Leave blank to specify the default %APPDATA%\Poker Mavens\ folder where %APPDATA% is specific to your Windows user name.
Play login chime - Select Yes to play a chime each time a player logs into your server.

Account Settings - this section contains settings related to the player accounts.

Allow new accounts - Select Yes to allow new players to create an account at your site. Otherwise, new accounts can only be created by the administrator from the Accounts tab.
Starting balance - This is the amount of chips given to new players. Buy-ins are debited from this balance when a player joins a ring game or a tournament. Any chips they still have when leaving a ring game (or winnings from a tournament) are credited back to their balance. The default value is 0.
Allow negative balance - Set to Yes (the default value) to allow player balances to go below zero. Otherwise, players will not be able to play if they run out of chips until the administrator manually resets their account balance.
Validate email addresses - Select Yes to force email address validation. Players will be required to enter a code (sent to their email account) before they can login for the first time or after they change their email address. You must fill in the SMTP settings below to use this feature.
Allow duplicate email addresses - Select No (the default value) to prevent a player from creating an account that uses the same email address as an existing account.

Table Settings - this section contains settings related to the game tables.

Background graphic - Enter the full path of a local image file (700x510 GIF, PNG, JPG, or SWF format) to use as the table background graphic. Leave this value blank to use the default brown tile graphic. This feature is only available in the Pro version of Poker Mavens.
Logo graphic - Enter the full path of a local image file (GIF, PNG, JPG, or SWF format) to use as the table logo (auto-centered). Leave this value blank to use the default "Poker Mavens" logo. This feature is only available in the Pro version of Poker Mavens.
Text color - Enter the text color (#RRGGBB format) for the various checkbox controls that appear over the table graphic. Leave this value blank to use the default white (#FFFFFF) color. This feature is only available in the Pro version of Poker Mavens.
Profanity filter - Create a list of terms that will be filtered out (replaced with asterisks) in the player chat window. Also, players will not be able to create new accounts that contain these terms in the player name or location text.
Table invite timeout - This is the number of seconds given to a player on the waiting list to accept an available seat. The default value is 30.
Maximum sitout minutes - This is the number of consecutive minutes that a player can sit out in a ring game before being removed from the table. This does not apply to tournaments. The default value is 10.
Save history to file - Select Yes to automatically save hand histories to text files. File names are date-encoded in the format of "HHYYYY-MM-DD TableName.txt" and saved in the HandHistory subfolder under the main data folder. These settings do not affect the hand histories that are displayed to the players.
Save player chat - Select Yes to save player and administrator chat text inside the hand history files.
Maximum history days - This is the maximum number of days to keep hand history files before they are automatically deleted. Use a value of 0 to disable automatic deletion.
Save tournament results - Select Yes to automatically save tournament results to text files. File names are date-encoded in the format of "TRYYYY-MM-DD TournamentName.txt" and saved in the TourneyResults subfolder under the main data folder.
Maximum tournament days - This is the maximum number of days to keep tournament results files before they are automatically deleted. Use a value of 0 to disable automatic deletion.

SMTP Server - This section contains outgoing email server (SMTP) settings, used to send emails to players for account validation and recovery of forgotten passwords.

Host server - Enter the name of your outgoing (SMTP) email server, normally provided by your internet service provider. Leave blank to disable outgoing email functions.
Host port - This is the port number for the SMTP server. Normally you should select 25, the default port for SMTP servers, or 465 when a secure connection is selected. Some servers can also use port 537.
Username - This is the username required by your ISP to connect to their SMTP email server.
Password - This is the password required by your ISP to connect to their SMTP email server.
From address - This is your reply email address to use in the "From" field when sending forgotten passwords to players.
Secure connection - Select Yes to force a secure TLS connection with the mail server. You must have the OpenSSL files ssleay32.dll and libeay32.dll installed on your system to use this feature. If these two files are not already in your \Windows\System32\ folder then check the Poker Mavens FAQ File for download and installation instructions.

Log Settings - This section contains settings related to the Event and Error Logs.

Save logs to file - Select Yes to automatically save event and error log items to text files. Otherwise log items are only saved temporarily on the Logs tab. File names are date-encoded in the format of EventLogYYYY-MM-DD.txt and ErrorLogYYYY-MM-DD.txt and saved in the Logs subfolder under the main data folder.
Maximum log days - This is the maximum number of days to keep event and error log files before they are automatically deleted. Use a value of 0 to disable automatic deletion.
Maximum log items - This is the maximum number of items to hold in the lists on the Logs tab to prevent memory overflow. The oldest items are then deleted to allow new items to be added. The default value is 10000. The lists are cleared each time the game server is started. This setting does not affect logs saved to file.
Log errors - Set to Yes to record errors. Errors are displayed in red in the lower list on the Logs Tab and are saved in a separate file in the logs folder.
Log system events - Set to Yes to record system events in the Event Log. System events include starting and stopping the game server.
Log connect events - Set to Yes to record in the Event Log each time someone connects to your server.
Log login events - Set to Yes to record in the Event Log each time someone logs into your server.
Log logout events - Set to Yes to record in the Event Log each time someone logs out from your server.
Log account events - Set to Yes to record in the Event Log each time someone creates a new account, edits their account, or has an email sent for account validation or password recovery.
Log table events - Set to Yes to record in the Event Log each time someone joins or leaves a ring game table or tournament.

Ad Settings - This section contains settings for inserting horizontal banner ads or other custom web content into the Flash client's HTML wrapper. These features are only available in the Pro version of Poker Mavens.

Ad HTML - This is HTML code to be placed at the top or bottom of the game surface on the player's web browser. You must also set the Ad Height setting below.
Ad height - This is the pixel height (0 to 100) of your ad. Content is automatically centered horizontally across the full width of the game surface.
Top placement - Select Yes to place your ad above the game surface or No to place it below the game surface.
Ad folder - This is the root folder to store any local files referenced by your HTML code. Leave blank if there are no local files to serve.

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