Clanforge web interface#

There are two primary methods for updating your game image binary (build): though the Clanforge API, or through the Clanforge web interface. This topic details the process for updating through the Clanforge web interface.

Prerequisites#

• • You have completed the Clanforge Integration Process.
  • You have access to your build machine.
  • You have an updated game image that you’re ready to deploy to your fleet.
  • You have your service identifier document.

These instructions assume that you have a new game build ready in Steam, and have an S3 bucket or a Google Cloud bucket. If you have opted to have the Clanforge support team manually install your game build to your jump machine, then you can skip Deploy the update to your build machine.

Step 1: Deploy the update to your build machine#

When your updated game build is ready, the next step is to deploy the updated game image to your build machine.

1. In a browser window, navigate to https://clanforge.multiplay.co.uk/<ASID>, where <ASID> is your account service ID.

2. In the Dev Tools panel, click Game Updates.
   

3. On the Game Image Updates page, click Update Game Image.
   

4. Complete the fields in the Update Game Image dialog.
   

   • Game: Select the game you want to update from the drop-down menu. 
   • Image: Select the image version you want to update from the drop-down menu. 
   • Machine: Select your jump machine from the drop-down menu. This list is highly configurable and can contain multiple jump machines or regular machines from which you can generate an update. 
   • URL: Enter the URL of your game image repository (for example, Steam, S3, Google Cloud) that you generated to use with Clanforge. Please find documentation here for example fo the URL. 
   • Description: Enter a short description of the update. 

5. Click Update Game Image. This installs the image from your game repository URL to your jump machine.

Step 2: Test the update on your build machine#

After you have installed the latest version of your game build to your jump machine, you’ll want to create a test game server to ensure that everything works as expected. You must create the game server with a profile that's linked to the game image version that you updated.

1. From your Clanforge panel, navigate to your build machine.
2. Click Add Server to create a game server instance. This starts a game server separate from the rest of your fleet that you can use specifically for testing.
3. Ensure that the server starts up correctly and doesn’t generate any errors.
4. Test the server to ensure that the update works correctly.

Step 3: Create a difference analysis#

After you successfully test the update on your build machine, the next step is to create a difference analysis (diff analysis) from the changes you just made to the game image on your jump machine. The diff analysis allows you to create a patch with only the required (changed) files, which results in a smaller image size that installs to the rest of your fleet faster than a full image. After you have generated a diff analysis, you can opt to create a full or partial (patch) update to push out to the rest of your machines.

1. In a browser window, navigate to https://clanforge.multiplay.co.uk/<ASID>, where <ASID> is your account service ID.

2. In the Dev Tools panel, click Diff Analysis .
   

3. Complete the fields in the Game Image Difference Analysis dialog.

   • Game: Select the game that you created the update for in the previous section. 
   • Image: Select the image version that you created the update for in the previous section. 
   • Machine: Select your jump machine (the machine that you installed the latest version of your game build to in the previous section).

4. Click View Differences. 
   

5. Review the differences and ensure that there aren’t any unexpected changes. If everything looks correct, click Accept Diff.

Step 4: Deploy the update to your fleet machines#

After you have accepted the differences from the diff analysis by using the Clanforge GUI, the Create New Image Version dialog appears. This is where you have the option to roll out a full image (by enabling the Make this image a full image checkbox) or to roll out the differences between this update and the previous one.

1. If you want to create a full image, enable the checkbox to the right of Make this image a full image. Otherwise, leave this checkbox disabled. It’s recommended that you make a full image for your update every third update because it decreases the size of the game image that’s installed on your machines. 

2. Select what you want the servers to do after installing the update by selecting one option from the After creating the image: select form. 

   1. Install it and restart affected servers: Select this option to push the game update to the mirroring network globally, install the files onto each machine, and then restart each game server instance to apply the changes. Note that this option disrupts players unless you’re using the zero downtime patching implementation. 
   2. Install it without restarting: Select this option to push the game update to the mirroring network globally, and then install the files onto each machine without restarting any of the game server instances. This option works well if the update only has changes to asset files. If the update has any changes to files that the current game server is actively using, then the update fails due to these files being locked by an active process. 
   3. Do nothing: Select this option to push the update out to the mirroring network globally without installing it to any of your machines. This option is useful when you want to manually push an update to machines at a later time.

3. Click Create Image Version.

4. After Clanforge has finished creating the image update, the Installations view appears, which shows the current installation status of the image on each machine. Note that the Installations view doesn't list successfully completed installs.