DDRaceNetwork

DDNet, as it is popularly known, is a sidescrolling platform game, featuring weaponry and a cooperative gameplay, and is a mod of Teeworlds. The game name comes from Dummy Drag Race Network, as it was based in DDRace.

From the official website ddnet.tw:

DDraceNetwork (DDNet) is an actively maintained version of DDRace, a Teeworlds modification with a unique cooperative gameplay. Help each other play through custom maps with up to 64 players, compete against the best in international tournaments, design your own maps, or run your own server. The official servers are located in Germany, Russia, USA, Canada, China, Japan, Singapore, Chile, Brazil, South Africa and Australia. All ranks made on official servers are available worldwide and you can collect points!

You control a tee, a ball-shaped 2D character, using your keyboard and mouse to shoot, grapple hook and jump around to interact with other players and the environment in the map with the finish line as target.

The game works in a client–server model, where the user plays using a Client which connects to a local or remote Server. Since DDNet has official servers, you most likely will only start the Client and play online.

Installation

Install ddnet^AUR. Alternatively, you can install its development version ddnet-git^AUR.

Optional skins

Install ddnet-skins^AUR.

This package provides all skins from DDNet Skin Database for your client (except for those already provided by ddnet^AUR), so you can choose between many skins to play with a fancy tee char. However, this will not affect anything in the gameplay.

These skins are installed in /usr/share/ddnet/data/skins/.

Since DDNet 15.0, you don't need this package to see other users' fancy skins: Skins can be downloaded on-demand (i.e. to see other's tee skin) in settings (gear icon) > Skins and enabling Download skins.

Tip: Consider submitting your custom skins to DDNet Skin Database so that other users can see it as well. See Skins in DDNet Forums.

Warning: This package brings around an additional RAM memory consumption of 120MB for the DDNet Client, so users playing in a computer with low RAM available might want to avoid it.

Optional offline maps

Install ddnet-maps-git^AUR.

This package provides all playable maps from the ddnet-maps repository with default configuration files for running an offline DDNet server. So, once installed, eases running a offline server.

Note: Client downloads maps automatically upon connection to, or map change of, a server instance. Therefore, it is optional.

Having these maps offline is beneficial for both client and server:

Clients will not need to download maps that are already installed by this package. Only new versions of installed maps (rarely happens) or new maps will be downloaded to the user directory (See #File and directory for user settings.
Servers can use the provided maps and configuration files to run without the server-administrator having to expend time creating configurations for them; see #Server for more info.

Play

To play DDNet, run the command

$ DDNet

or run the .desktop file provided in the package (e.g. in GNOME, search for "ddnet" in its Activities Overview)

It is very straightforward – all user configuration (skin selection, video, controls etc.) can be done from the GUI of the DDNet Client.

No server setup is required; if you want to set up a local server, see #Server.

Also, some extra tools – which you probably will not need – are available in /usr/lib/ddnet/tools/. See #Extra tools.

Gametypes

Gametypes (a.k.a game types or game modes) are different ways of playing Teeworlds-like games (DDNet included!), and different ways of exploring its resources (e.g. physics, weapons kill or just push other players, etc.).

In the main dashboard of DDNet Client, several server instances are listed (not only DDNet's), each one is launched with only one gametype. In order to play a gametype, you have to join the server instance that has the desired gametype (e.g. you want to play "ctf", you have to look for and join a "ctf" server instance)

See below a non-exhaustive list with name and an explanation of gametypes that can be found in DDNet official servers (although there are a lot more).

DDNet gametypes

These are the official DDNet gametypes, which DDNet maintains. That means these gametypes' maps are stored and made available in DDNet's maps repository. It also means that the Test Staff runs some test before the maps being added to the repository and published.

Some of these might require DDNet Client due to features (e.g. dummy tee, teaming, specific key bindings) that this client provides, but other could be played with other clients, like Teeworlds.

The goal of these maps, unless mentioned otherwise below, is to overcome obstacules and other difficulties of the map, while helping each other, in order to reach the finish line of map.

This set of gametypes consists of:

novice – The easiest collaborative maps can be found here. Newcomers should start here.
moderate – Moderate-level collaborative maps for more experienced users.
brutal – Hard collaborative maps for very experienced users.
insane – Insanely hard collaborative maps for insanely experienced users.
solo – Play alone the whole map, without any a dummy or any physical interaction with users (you can chat with other players, though)
ddmax – Maps from DDracemaX, one of the first race mod and very popular one. This project discontinued, so DDNet adopted[1] its maps and made available in official servers. See [2] for info of this gametype.
dummy – Move your dummy to the finish line, collaboratively or solo depending on the map.
oldschool – Some old maps to make long-time players nostalgic.
race – Reach the finish line as fast as you can in a solo run.

Note: When looking at the server list of the client dashboard, you may notice that all DDNet server instances have Type column as DDRace, and the server instance's name will include the gametype listed above, e.g. "DDNet GER - DDmaX [DDRaceNetwork]"

Vanilla gametypes

The so-called vanilla gametypes are the first ones, and were created in Teeworlds, and which DDNet supports. This set of gametypes include:

dm (deathmatch) – The goal is to kill as many players as possible until you reach the death or time limit. The match is over as soon as one of the conditions is met, and the winner is the player that accumulated the greatest number of kills.
tdm (team deathmatch) – Same as Deathmatch above, except that the players are organized into two teams, with each team having its own kill count.
ctf (capture the flag) – Two teams each have a flag (red for red team and blue for blue team) and the objective is to capture the other team's flag, located at the team's "base," and bring it safely back to their own base until reach a certain score or the time runs out. Kill the enemy to avoid having your flag captured or to get the flag back to your team's base.

Blocker gametype

Note: You'll find it with type ddrace, but the server title and map name can be easily identified as Blocker

Blocker has as only target to block other players, which means to fool around throwing into freeze areas. There is no score or time limit in this type of game, or at least it doesn't matter.

Please notice that while being a blocker is expected in the blocker gametype, the same does not apply to #DDNet gametypes – in this last case it is rude and you most likely will be banned by vote of others.

FNG-like gametypes

Types noteworthy: fng (discontinued, incompatible), openfng (thread), fng2 (source).

In this gametype, the players are divided in 2 teams and the target is to win by making more points. You will points by hitting the player with hammer or laser gun (the only weapons available), which will cause freeze, and to throwing into the spikes.

Configuration

Configurations are stored in plain text files in the user's home directory and can be applied in the GUI options or in the embedded console. See more information below on this topic.

File and directory for user settings

The directory $HOME/.teeworlds/ stores user configuration, demos, screenshots downloaded maps and other user contents.

The config file settings_ddnet.cfg is where user's configuration is stored, in a simple text format in a proper syntax. This file is loaded by the Client on startup, and updated when exiting. Therefore, you're not required to set your settings manually in the config file. For all supported client settings, see Client Settings.

The subdirectory downloadedmaps/ will store maps downloaded in runtime by DDNet Client when connecting to server instances, if the maps are not available already.

Tip: With ddnet-maps-git^AUR installed, you avoid having to download maps while connecting to server instances

Server

This article or section needs expansion.

Reason: Much more information could be added here, like specific instructions for setting up, NAT forwarding etc. (Discuss in Talk:DDRaceNetwork#)

Although a local DDNet server is not required for playing DDNet (See #Play), one may want to run it for playing without Internet connection, want to avoid high latency ("ping" in the game interface) of servers on the Internet, simply want to test features, etc.

For more info, see Server Features, Server Settings, Server Commands, and much more in DDNet Forums.

Server via systemd service

DDNet packages provide the ddnet-server.service systemd unit file for ease start, stop etc. the server instance.

This unit file runs the server instance as sysuser ddnet from its home folder /var/lib/ddnet/ as working directory, having log messages available in /var/lib/ddnet/autoexec_server.log file and via systemd journal command-line journactl -u ddnet-server.

MySQL support

DDNet provide MySQL support to store records achieved in the server, however it is not enabled by default.

To enable MySQL support when using ddnet^AUR or ddnet-git^AUR, simply edit the PKGBUILD by setting the variable _enable_mysql to 1, and the proper dependencies will be added and proper flags will be enabled.

Case you are building DDNet by yourself, be sure to:

install the buildtime dependency boost and the runtime dependencies mariadb-libs and mysql-connector-c++^AUR;
append -DMYSQL=ON to the cmake command-line.

Tip: Make sure to check MariaDB for some post-installation instructions to avoid problems.

Running a server with ddnet-maps-git

ddnet-maps-git^AUR provides maps and server configs that allows running a server without further configuration. To have the server up:

Install ddnet-maps-git^AUR
Start/enable ddnet-server.service

Your local server instance should now be available and visible in the "LAN" tab of the DDNet Client.

Extra tools

This section lists and describes some tools that, while most might not need them, could be useful for e.g. mappers. Some of these tools are developed by the DDNet development team, but other tools were inherited from Teeworlds when forking its source code in the beginning.

The tools below are provided in /usr/lib/ddnet/ by the DDNet packages.

config_retrieve

$ /usr/lib/ddnet/config_retrieve mapfile.map

Retrieves configuration embedded in DDNet map file and stores in a .cfg with same filename (e.g. "Kobra 4.map" returns "Kobra 4.cfg")

Available since DDNet version 9.0.

config_store

$ /usr/lib/ddnet/config_store mapfile.map

Stores configuration from a map's configuration file into the map file. Both configuration and map files must have the same filename in the same directory, otherwise the operation will fail.

Available since DDNet version 9.0.

Note: If there is no difference between the configuration to stored and the configuration embedded in the map, then operation will be cancelled with message configs coincide, not updating map.

crapnet

$ /usr/lib/ddnet/crapnet

Tests connection by setting a client–server connection locally and running ping between them. Reports dropped packets with message dropped packet and successes with cfg = number, where number varies from 0 to 2.

dilate

$ /usr/lib/ddnet/dilate imagefile1 [imagefile2 ... ]

It is a graphical tool, mainly useful for mappers. It takes care of transparent areas to prevent black/white outlines around your images ingame, therefore avoiding blending and mipmap issues. See Edge padding for more info.

Note: This works only in RGBA image files. So, it will not work for, for instance, in JPEG files.

dummy_map

$ /usr/lib/ddnet/dummy_map

Creates a dummy, small empty map to be used to start a server. See [3] for more info.

fake_server

$ /usr/lib/ddnet/fake_server

Creates a fake server for testing.

map_convert_07

$ /usr/lib/ddnet/map_convert_07 mapfilesrc.map mapfiledest.map

Makes mapfiledest.map compatible with Teeworlds version 7.x that otherwise would be compatible only to Teeworlds version 6.x. If successfully, it creates a valid 07-compatible destination map; otherwise, it returns the following:

an usage message if incorrect arguments are provided
failed to open source map if an error happens when opening the source map
failed to open destination map if an error happens when opening the destination map
error loading storage if failed to open storage for some reason
failed to open image file if error happens on opening PNG image
invalid image format if incorrectly formatted PNG.

Available since DDNet version 12.9.

map_diff

$ /usr/lib/ddnet/map_diff mapfile1.map mapfile2.map

Compares two map files, reporting one of the follow:

no diff output (maps are the same)
different layer numbers, if one map has more layers than another
different tile layers, if the number of layers is the same, but at least one layer is different
lastly, the index and flags positions that differ.

If there is no difference between maps, returns 0; otherwise, returns 1.

map_extract

$ /usr/lib/ddnet/map_extract mapfile.map [directory]

Extracts content from mapfile.map into directory. If optional argument directory is not provided, extracts to the current directory.

map_optimize

$ /usr/lib/ddnet/map_optimize source_map_filepath [dest_map_filepath]

Optimizes the map file in the source_map_filepath given (see how it works) and stores the output in the given dest_map_filepath; if dest_map_filepath is unset, output path defaults to out/source_map_filename.map, stripping the path and the extension of the source file.

Note the name of the embedded images optimized is changed from originalname to originalname_cut_newSHA256 (where newSHA256 is the new sha256 of the embedded optimized image). It is renamed is to make clear it was optimized because this tool will make changes in the mapres used by the map file.

If failed to open source or target file, returns -1.

map_replace_image

$ /usr/lib/ddnet/map_replace_image mapfile1.map mapfile2.map imagename imagefile

Replaces the image imagename currently inside the map filename mapfile1.map with the image filepath imagefile, and save into the map filename mapfile2.map.

Note:

Both map filenames must be relative to user default DDNet folder
New image filepath can be absolute, or relative to the current directory

map_resave

$ /usr/lib/ddnet/map_resave mapfile.map imagefile

Updates the map file mapfile.map with the provided file imagefile.

The error status 255 is returned if 1) a number of arguments different from 2 is provided, 2) if the mapfile.map is not valid, or 3) if imagefile is not a valid image file (e.g. it is a text file); otherwise, return 0.

packetgen

$ /usr/lib/ddnet/packetgen

Generates packets to localhost in default port (8303) to test communication with a local server instance.

unicode_confusables

$ /usr/lib/ddnet/unicode_confusables string1 string2

Compare string1 with string2 and report if they are "confusable", i.e. if the characters are "equal" and could cause confusion. For this to work, the characters with accents or other things around them are considered the "confusable" with the base character. Therefore, aa and aá are confusable (á was considered as a), while aa and ab are not.

If they are confusable, it returns not_confusable=0, otherwise, returns not_confusable=1.

Available since DDNet version 10.3.5. Since DDNet version 12.9, supports Unicode 12.0 and the tool name was renamed from confusables to unicode_confusables.

uuid

$ /usr/lib/ddnet/uuid name

Prints uuid for the provided name.

The uuid system was implemented to be easily extended by independent authors without collisions, something that the old system – with increasing integers – did not allow. This works for engine and game messages, snapshot items and events.

Exits with error status 255 if name is not provided.

Available since DDNet 10.6.1

Troubleshooting

Build failed, MYSQL_CPPCONN_INCLUDEDIR and MYSQL_CPPCONN_LIBRARY not found

Problem:

Build fails and the following message is displayed:

CMake Error: The following variables are used in this project, but they are set to NOTFOUND.
Please set them or make sure they are set and tested correctly in the CMake files:
/build/ddnet/src/DDNet-11.1.9/MYSQL_CPPCONN_INCLUDEDIR
   used as include directory in directory /build/ddnet/src/DDNet-11.1.9
   [...]
   used as include directory in directory /build/ddnet/src/DDNet-11.1.9
MYSQL_CPPCONN_LIBRARY
    linked by target "DDNet-Server" in directory /build/ddnet/src/DDNet-11.1.9

-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
See also "/build/ddnet/src/build/CMakeFiles/CMakeOutput.log".
See also "/build/ddnet/src/build/CMakeFiles/CMakeError.log".

Solution:

It means your cmake command-line has the -DMYSQL=ON flag set, you have mariadb-libs package installed, but mysql-connector-c++^AUR is missing.

Either install mysql-connector-c++^AUR to build with MySQL support or remove -DMYSQL=ON (or set to off with -DMYSQL=OFF) to build without it.

Build failed, no such file boost/shared_ptr.hpp