How Engines Work

The Cortex engines page.

All game servers are installed to your server as engines before they can be assigned to users.

Engine management is handled on the engines page in Cortex. Click the “Engines” link in the main menu to access the engines page. This page allows you to install, remove, and update any game that Cortex supports on any server in your cluster. All games that Cortex supports are displayed in alphabetical order along with their current version, which server they’re installed on, a link to their homepage, and a small game description. The engines page is grouped with four parent engines plus their child engines per page. Use the previous and next buttons at the top of the engines list to scroll through the engines list.

Some games require that other games are installed before they may be installed. For instance Call of Duty: United Offensive requires Call of Duty installed and Counter-Strike requires Half-Life installed first. These engines are grouped together.

Engines are greyed out on this page until they are installed on one of your servers in your cluster.

If you want to host a game that is not supported by Cortex yet you can still install it the old-fashioned way via Remote Desktop or SSH. Check your game’s documentation for how to install a dedicated server. Contact Insomnia365 to see if we can add the game into Cortex!

Installing Engines

Installing an engine.

An example of real-time installation.

Click the install checkbox next to the server and engine you wish to add then click next. Cortex will redirect you to a page which displays real-time download and installation info. Engine packages, with some exceptions, are downloaded directly from the from the Cortex update server. The installation process displays how much it has downloaded and the approximate speed at which it’s downloading the game. Many of these games can be quite large, even approaching 4 gigabytes in size, so please be patient while it downloads. After your game downloads Cortex will extract it into its engines directory. If there are updates available for your game then Cortex will download and apply them as well. Once this is complete click the continue icon to return to the engines page.

Games based on the Half-Life and Half-Life 2 engines are downloaded from the Steam network, not the Cortex update server. It may take some time to download an hlds or srcds based server depending on the game you’re installing and the state of the steam network. The network can become rather congested if Valve has recently updated one of their games. Cortex will keep trying to connect to the Steam network until it makes a valid connection and can download your game engine.

Uninstalling Engines

Uninstalling an engine.

On the Engines page click the uninstall checkbox next to the engine you wish to remove and click next. Cortex will remove the engine and return you to the engines page.

Removing an engine will delete all instances of that engine. Make sure you know what you’re doing before removing an engine!

Updating Engines

When a game update is released the Cortex developers will take it and repackage it for the Cortex update server. This process can take up to 3 days in some situations, but generally games updates are available in Cortex within 24 hours of their official release. Most times updates are ready within hours of their official release.

When a game update is available the Update checkbox for it in the engine list will be enabled. Select the update checkbox for your engine and click next. Cortex will download and process the update. The update process screen is akin to engine installation: a real-time download and extraction report. After the engine is updated Cortex will perform a file comparison with the engine and any installed instances of that engine and update instance files as needed to match the newly updated engine. Once the update is complete click the continue icon to go back to the engines page.

If any instances of an engine are running then Cortex will stop those instances during the engine update process.

Just like when installing a Half-Life or Half-Life 2 based game all content comes from the Steam network. The Steam network tends to get overloaded after hlds and srcds updates are released. This will cause your update to progress slower than usual. Cortex will try to download the update up to three times before giving up. If the Steam network is too congested you may have to try applying the update again later.

Updating Cortex

If a Cortex update is available the engines page will only provide the option to update Cortex. Click the update icon to update Cortex to the most recent version. Once Cortex is updated you can continue working with your other engines. Check your Cortex home page for any new version release notes from the Insomnia365 development team.