This target runs the authoritative InternalGameServer without SDL, OpenGL, audio, Lua, or rendering dependencies. On Windows it exposes the state through a Boost.Beast WebSocket listener.

Build

Windows:

cmake -S server -B server/build
cmake --build server/build --config Release --target GameServer
ctest --test-dir server/build -C Release --output-on-failure

Linux:

cmake -S server -B server/build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build server/build --target GameServer --parallel
ctest --test-dir server/build --output-on-failure

Eigen3 must either be installed or be available at thirdparty/eigen-5.0.0. The headless target reads ordinary filesystem resources only; ZIP-backed campaign loading belongs to the later content-loading milestone.

Run until interrupted:

./server/build/GameServer

For a multi-configuration Windows build, the executable is normally server/build/Release/GameServer.exe.

For smoke tests, --ticks N limits execution and --no-sleep skips the real-time delay.

Start the first multiplayer transport iteration:

.\server\build\Release\GameServer.exe --campaign battle_zone_multiplayer --location uni_exterior

The listener defaults to ws://0.0.0.0:8080. Launch the Windows graphical game afterward and select battle_zone_multiplayer; that campaign connects to ws://127.0.0.1:8080. Other campaigns continue to use the in-process server. The server broadcasts an initial full state and then one every five seconds. Client commands are intentionally discarded in this iteration.

If --location is omitted, the campaign's configured start location is used. --campaigns PATH selects a different campaign registry. Content paths are resolved from the process working directory, so run from the repository root when using the bundled resources/ tree.

Available startup options:

--campaign ID
--location ID
--campaigns PATH
--address IP
--port N
--tick-ms N
--ticks N
--no-sleep

The graphical client executes Lua/dialogue behavior after building its runtime Location; the headless content pass loads authoritative navigation, NPC, interactive-object, trigger, teleport, taxi, and animation metadata only. The standalone WebSocket lifecycle creates the existing shared "player" so the graphical client can render its local character. It does not create the battle-zone test bot.

Tests

CTest covers:

repeated LocationGameState::setup() preserving mutable runtime state;
ticking a prepared location with zero players;
idle server startup;
headless loading of battle_zone_multiplayer/uni_exterior.