Runtime Infrastructure
On this page, we describe the components of the "Runtime" infrastructure: roughly what players interact with in a direct way to play local and multiplayer games, browse the website, etc.
All components of the runtime infrastructure also need to fetch different assets and configurations to function, and that part is described on the Assets Serving page.
System diagram
Tip
Elements with ⓘ on the diagram have tooltips. Hover over them to see more information.
Player Player's PC Main Website https://www.beyondallreason.info, built using [Webflow](https://webflow.com/) Game Server All game servers are provisioned and maintained via Ansible playbook.
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/ansible-spads-setup Assets Serving We use multiple CDNs and endpoints for hosting different game assets and configuration.
We don't include all the arrows on the diagram for clarity. Email Server Discord Lobby Server The server is provisioned and configured via Ansible playbook.
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/ansible-teiserver BAR Live Services BAR Live Services https://bar-rts.com/ hosts replay, list of active matches etc
- Frontend: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/bar-live-services
- Backend: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/bar-db SpringLobby Protocol: https://github.com/spring/LobbyProtocol
Spring Launcher Responsible for downloading and updating engine and all of the assets before launching the game.
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/spring-launcher Recoil Engine (dedicated) A special version of Recoil Engine that doesn't run any simulation, but synchronizes and forwards all game commands between players.
All the communication between Game and SPADS/teiserver happens via Autohost interface. SPADS Manages individual lobby rooms
Repo: https://github.com/Yaribz/SPADS Game Assets Recoil Engine pr-downloader CLI application that downloads updates in efficient format understood by the engine.
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/pr-downloader Game Assets Engine, Maps, Game files Teiserver The main "Server" of the game. https://server4.beyondallreason.info/
It faciliates:
- Communication between players and hosts
- Accounts management
- Rating
- Moderation
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/teiserver/ PostgreSQL Chobby The lobby player sees when opening the game
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/BYAR-Chobby BAR Game The actual core Beyond All Reason game
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/Beyond-All-Reason starts uses starts Autohost Protocol reads reads starts starts CLI invoke writes reads bridge protocol SMTP SpringLobby protocol SpringLobby protocol Engine Protocol SpringLobby protocol uploads replays embeds https://www.beyondallreason.info, built using [Webflow](https://webflow.com/)
All game servers are provisioned and maintained via Ansible playbook.
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/ansible-spads-setup
We use multiple CDNs and endpoints for hosting different game assets and configuration.
We don't include all the arrows on the diagram for clarity.
The server is provisioned and configured via Ansible playbook.
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/ansible-teiserver
BAR Live Services https://bar-rts.com/ hosts replay, list of active matches etc
- Frontend: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/bar-live-services
- Backend: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/bar-db
Responsible for downloading and updating engine and all of the assets before launching the game.
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/spring-launcher
A special version of Recoil Engine that doesn't run any simulation, but synchronizes and forwards all game commands between players.
All the communication between Game and SPADS/teiserver happens via Autohost interface.
Manages individual lobby rooms
Repo: https://github.com/Yaribz/SPADS
CLI application that downloads updates in efficient format understood by the engine.
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/pr-downloader
Engine, Maps, Game files
The main "Server" of the game. https://server4.beyondallreason.info/
It faciliates:
- Communication between players and hosts
- Accounts management
- Rating
- Moderation
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/teiserver/
The lobby player sees when opening the game
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/BYAR-Chobby
The actual core Beyond All Reason game
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/Beyond-All-Reason
Player Player's PC Main Website https://www.beyondallreason.info, built using [Webflow](https://webflow.com/) Game Server All game servers are provisioned and maintained via Ansible playbook.
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/ansible-spads-setup Assets Serving We use multiple CDNs and endpoints for hosting different game assets and configuration.
We don't include all the arrows on the diagram for clarity. Email Server Discord Lobby Server The server is provisioned and configured via Ansible playbook.
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/ansible-teiserver BAR Live Services BAR Live Services https://bar-rts.com/ hosts replay, list of active matches etc
- Frontend: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/bar-live-services
- Backend: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/bar-db SpringLobby Protocol: https://github.com/spring/LobbyProtocol
Spring Launcher Responsible for downloading and updating engine and all of the assets before launching the game.
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/spring-launcher Recoil Engine (dedicated) A special version of Recoil Engine that doesn't run any simulation, but synchronizes and forwards all game commands between players.
All the communication between Game and SPADS/teiserver happens via Autohost interface. SPADS Manages individual lobby rooms
Repo: https://github.com/Yaribz/SPADS Game Assets Recoil Engine pr-downloader CLI application that downloads updates in efficient format understood by the engine.
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/pr-downloader Game Assets Engine, Maps, Game files Teiserver The main "Server" of the game. https://server4.beyondallreason.info/
It faciliates:
- Communication between players and hosts
- Accounts management
- Rating
- Moderation
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/teiserver/ PostgreSQL Chobby The lobby player sees when opening the game
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/BYAR-Chobby BAR Game The actual core Beyond All Reason game
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/Beyond-All-Reason starts uses starts Autohost Protocol reads reads starts starts CLI invoke writes reads bridge protocol SMTP SpringLobby protocol SpringLobby protocol Engine Protocol SpringLobby protocol uploads replays embeds https://www.beyondallreason.info, built using [Webflow](https://webflow.com/)
All game servers are provisioned and maintained via Ansible playbook.
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/ansible-spads-setup
We use multiple CDNs and endpoints for hosting different game assets and configuration.
We don't include all the arrows on the diagram for clarity.
The server is provisioned and configured via Ansible playbook.
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/ansible-teiserver
BAR Live Services https://bar-rts.com/ hosts replay, list of active matches etc
- Frontend: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/bar-live-services
- Backend: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/bar-db
Responsible for downloading and updating engine and all of the assets before launching the game.
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/spring-launcher
A special version of Recoil Engine that doesn't run any simulation, but synchronizes and forwards all game commands between players.
All the communication between Game and SPADS/teiserver happens via Autohost interface.
Manages individual lobby rooms
Repo: https://github.com/Yaribz/SPADS
CLI application that downloads updates in efficient format understood by the engine.
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/pr-downloader
Engine, Maps, Game files
The main "Server" of the game. https://server4.beyondallreason.info/
It faciliates:
- Communication between players and hosts
- Accounts management
- Rating
- Moderation
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/teiserver/
The lobby player sees when opening the game
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/BYAR-Chobby
The actual core Beyond All Reason game
Repo: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/Beyond-All-Reason
Player local flow
The main way players interact with the game is by launching and playing the game.
The entry point of the interaction is Spring Launcher , which is installed by the user via installer and is responsible for downloading all the other components of the game directly and via pr-downloader distributed with the launcher.
The launcher then starts the Recoil engine process with the "Menu" configured to be Chobby , which has the UI to log in, start a single-player game, etc. Chobby itself can't do much because it's written in Lua and constrained to use the engine APIs, but it has support for opening network sockets. For any advanced functions, e.g., Discord rich presence, triggering map downloads, it calls the launcher via the local network interface.
Chobby connects to the lobby server (teiserver ) using the SpringLobby protocol for multiplayer features. It's responsible for starting the game in the same engine instance it's running in. For details about starting the game in the engine, see the article in Engine documentation .
Multiplayer lobbies
teiserver is the central component that Chobby and game servers connect to. It handles account management, rating, moderation, chat, and overall passing messages between different components.
The one thing that teiserver doesn't do is create new rooms . The rooms are created by SPADS running on the Game Server. There is a single room per SPADS process, with a single special SPADS process used to start and stop new instances (see the diagram in the section below for details).
The lobby room logic is then split between teiserver and SPADS (It's something that is player visible: $ vs ! commands). SPADS contains the vast majority of lobby room logic and is responsible for starting the multiplayer game: starting the special engine dedicated instance and sending players the connection parameters.
SPADS communicates with the engine running on the server using the "Autohost" protocol and has admin privileges to execute different commands, e.g., the !stop command is executed in SPADS, and it's SPADS that resolves the vote and decides whether to stop the battle or not.
Auxiliary services
Players also have access to the main website: https://www.beyondallreason.info/ . The website is created in Webflow, but it also contains <iframe> with pages from https://bar-rts.com/ (BAR Live Services) that contain more interactive parts: replay browser, list of active battles, etc. BAR Live Services is a custom frontend and backend hosted on a dedicated VM, with PostgreSQL, etc.
Game Server
Below diagram shows the Game Server setup in more detail.
The game server is managed by an Ansible playbook: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/ansible-spads-setup
Recoil Engine (dedicated) SPADS SPADS (Cluster Manager) Game Assets cron pr-downloader Map Syncer A dedicated service that watches changes in maps-metadata and makes sure that server has all the maps by downloading new ones and removing old.
Source: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/maps-metadata/tree/main/tools/map_syncer SPADS Configuration All SPADS configuration is stored in https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/spads_config_bar
The configuration incudes all plugins, their configuration, and a bunch of scripts used on the server. Replay Upload Script Just a small bash script that is triggered by SPADS to upload replay for public matches to BAR live services plugins We run [*plenty*](https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/spads_config_bar/tree/main/var/plugins) of different plugins, we call out BAR manager as it's to some degree special. unitsync.so Dynamically loaded `unitsync.so` library from engine distribution that is used to read information about assets, list game version, modoptions etc. plugins Bar Manager A special BAR dedicated plugin with some BAR centric functionality.
Source: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/spads_config_bar/blob/main/var/plugins/barmanager.py Cluster Manager A plugin that monitors how many SPADS processes are running and spins up new ones as needed, to make sure there is always some free lobby room available. starts starts Autohost Protocol CLI invoke writes writes reads reads reads reads trigger update script A dedicated service that watches changes in maps-metadata and makes sure that server has all the maps by downloading new ones and removing old.
Source: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/maps-metadata/tree/main/tools/map_syncer
All SPADS configuration is stored in https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/spads_config_bar
The configuration incudes all plugins, their configuration, and a bunch of scripts used on the server.
Just a small bash script that is triggered by SPADS to upload replay for public matches to BAR live services
We run [*plenty*](https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/spads_config_bar/tree/main/var/plugins) of different plugins, we call out BAR manager as it's to some degree special.
Dynamically loaded `unitsync.so` library from engine distribution that is used to read information about assets, list game version, modoptions etc.
A special BAR dedicated plugin with some BAR centric functionality.
Source: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/spads_config_bar/blob/main/var/plugins/barmanager.py
A plugin that monitors how many SPADS processes are running and spins up new ones as needed, to make sure there is always some free lobby room available.
Recoil Engine (dedicated) SPADS SPADS (Cluster Manager) Game Assets cron pr-downloader Map Syncer A dedicated service that watches changes in maps-metadata and makes sure that server has all the maps by downloading new ones and removing old.
Source: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/maps-metadata/tree/main/tools/map_syncer SPADS Configuration All SPADS configuration is stored in https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/spads_config_bar
The configuration incudes all plugins, their configuration, and a bunch of scripts used on the server. Replay Upload Script Just a small bash script that is triggered by SPADS to upload replay for public matches to BAR live services plugins We run [*plenty*](https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/spads_config_bar/tree/main/var/plugins) of different plugins, we call out BAR manager as it's to some degree special. unitsync.so Dynamically loaded `unitsync.so` library from engine distribution that is used to read information about assets, list game version, modoptions etc. plugins Bar Manager A special BAR dedicated plugin with some BAR centric functionality.
Source: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/spads_config_bar/blob/main/var/plugins/barmanager.py Cluster Manager A plugin that monitors how many SPADS processes are running and spins up new ones as needed, to make sure there is always some free lobby room available. starts starts Autohost Protocol CLI invoke writes writes reads reads reads reads trigger update script A dedicated service that watches changes in maps-metadata and makes sure that server has all the maps by downloading new ones and removing old.
Source: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/maps-metadata/tree/main/tools/map_syncer
All SPADS configuration is stored in https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/spads_config_bar
The configuration incudes all plugins, their configuration, and a bunch of scripts used on the server.
Just a small bash script that is triggered by SPADS to upload replay for public matches to BAR live services
We run [*plenty*](https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/spads_config_bar/tree/main/var/plugins) of different plugins, we call out BAR manager as it's to some degree special.
Dynamically loaded `unitsync.so` library from engine distribution that is used to read information about assets, list game version, modoptions etc.
A special BAR dedicated plugin with some BAR centric functionality.
Source: https://github.com/beyond-all-reason/spads_config_bar/blob/main/var/plugins/barmanager.py
A plugin that monitors how many SPADS processes are running and spins up new ones as needed, to make sure there is always some free lobby room available.
March 8, 2025
February 28, 2025