LANForge · Setup guide · v9

SETUP

Master machine setup, client agent deployment, SMB share, firewall rules, and network initialisation. One-time admin setup, then zero configuration from clients.

01 Quick start

MASTER MACHINE

START_MASTER.bat

Opens the game library at http://[YOUR_IP]:5000 and the dashboard at http://[YOUR_IP]:5000/dashboard.

Client machines

START_AGENT.bat

Auto-discovers the master via UDP broadcast. Or specify the IP directly:

START_AGENT.bat 192.168.0.5

02 One-time setup scripts

SMB SHARE

Creates the LANForge SMB share for Robocopy delta sync. Run once on the master machine with admin rights.

scripts\setup_smb_share.bat

Run onceAdmin required

FIREWALL RULES

Opens required ports on the LAN subnet only. Covers ports 5000, 5002, and all game server ports.

scriptsirewall_rules.ps1

Run onceAdmin required

DEFENDER EXCLUSIONS

Excludes the game repo directory from Windows Defender scanning — prevents false positives on LAN installers and old executables.

scripts\defender_exclusions.ps1

Run onceAdmin required

NETWORK INIT

Checks network adapter status and gateway ping. Run each session before starting the master to verify LAN connectivity.

scripts
et_init.bat

Each session

03 Sync system

THREE-TIER FALLBACK

1. SMB / Robocopy — Primary. Delta sync over LAN with /MIR flag. Fastest option.

2. HTTP fallback — Master serves /repo/ files directly if SMB is unavailable.

3. USB mirror — Offline fallback. Build a USB mirror with:

python sync/sync_engine.py repo/ E:

Requirements: Python 3.10+, Windows 10/11, Flask, Requests. pip install flask requests