Starsiege: Tribes Server (Docker)

This repository provides a Dockerized Starsiege: Tribes dedicated server. Tribes (Dynamix, 1998) has no Linux server, so the image runs the Windows game's own -dedicated mode under Wine. The image builds on lancommander/wine. It supports file overlaying using OverlayFS.

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Features

• Runs Tribes.exe -dedicated from your own install (tested with the community 1.41 release)
• Server name, mission, port, player limit, join and admin passwords are environment variables, written into a generated config script
• Runs under Xvfb, since Tribes.exe crashes without a window system
• The server console (console.log) goes to docker logs
• Supports file overlaying using OverlayFS (no file copying required)

Docker Compose Example

services:
  tribes:
    image: lancommander/tribes:latest
    container_name: tribes

    ports:
      - "28001:28001/udp"

    volumes:
      - ./config:/config

    environment:
      TRIBES_MISSION: "Raindance"
      TRIBES_SERVER_NAME: "My Tribes Server"
      TRIBES_ADMIN_PASSWORD: "secret"

    user: root
    cap_add:
      - SYS_ADMIN
    security_opt:
      - apparmor:unconfined

    restart: unless-stopped

The in-game LAN browser finds servers by broadcast. That needs the container on the LAN itself (macvlan/ipvlan, or network_mode: host); with port mapping, clients join by IP.

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Game Files

Tribes has no official server download. Provide a game install, preferably the community 1.40/1.41 release (clients must run the same version):

• copy the game folder (the one containing Tribes.exe and base/) to config/Server/, or
• set TRIBES_ARCHIVE_URL to a zip of that folder, e.g. a LANCommander archive. It is downloaded and extracted on first start, if Server/Tribes.exe doesn't exist yet.

Directory Layout (Host)

.
└── config/
    ├── Server/            # Tribes install (Tribes.exe, base/, config/ ...)
    ├── Overlay/           # Your files, layered on top of Server/ (config/Server/*.cs, console.log, logs and temp files land here)
    ├── Merged/            # Overlayfs merged view (auto-created, the server runs here)
    ├── wineprefix/        # Wine prefix (auto-created)
    └── Scripts/
        └── Hooks/         # PowerShell scripts run at container lifecycle hooks

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Environment Variables

These are in addition to the WINE image's variables. The TRIBES_* server settings are written to config/lancommander.cs on every start, which the game runs (+exec) after its own config/Server/ServerPrefs.cs. Settings left empty are not touched, so you can set them in ServerPrefs.cs instead.

Variable	Description	Default
TRIBES_MISSION	Mission to start (-dedicated <mission>); the game type comes from the mission. Empty uses the last mission played ($pref::lastMission)	Raindance
TRIBES_MOD	Script mod folder(s) to load with -mod, separated by spaces or commas, in load order
TRIBES_PORT	Game port ($Server::Port)	28001
TRIBES_SERVER_NAME	$Server::HostName	Tribes Server
TRIBES_SERVER_INFO	$Server::Info, shown in the server info dialog
TRIBES_MOTD	$Server::JoinMOTD, shown on join
TRIBES_MAX_PLAYERS	$Server::MaxPlayers	32
TRIBES_PASSWORD	Join password ($Server::Password)
TRIBES_ADMIN_PASSWORD	Owner Admin password (1.40/1.41 admin scripts)
TRIBES_TIME_LIMIT	Minutes per mission ($Server::timeLimit)
TRIBES_TEAM_DAMAGE	$Server::TeamDamageScale: 0 off, 1 on
TRIBES_PUBLIC	$Server::HostPublicGame: true sends heartbeats to the master servers	false
TRIBES_ARCHIVE_URL	Zip of the game folder, used if Server/Tribes.exe is missing
WINE_XVFB	Must stay on: without a display Tribes.exe crashes	true
START_EXE	Launcher	/usr/local/bin/tribes-server
START_ARGS	Added to the Tribes.exe command line (before -dedicated)

See Documentation/Docker.md for more detail.

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Building

The image is built FROM lancommander/wine:latest by default. To build against a local base image:

docker build --build-arg BASE_IMAGE=lancommander/wine:local -t lancommander/tribes:local .

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License

Starsiege: Tribes and Wine are distributed under their respective licenses. This repository contains only Docker build logic and helper scripts licensed under MIT.