File and Folder Structure

If you want to set up a GameVault Server, you need to pay attention to the file and folder structure. The volume mapped to the /files directory must contain your games. These games must be named correctly and should either be archived in one of the supported archive formats listed below or be a single-file executable as described below to be accurately detected by GameVault.

Supported Archive Formats

GameVault supports all file formats 7zip 23.01 (2023-06-20) does:

.7z .xz .bz2 .gz .tar .zip .wim .ar .arj .cab .chm .cpio .cramfs .dmg .ext .fat .gpt .hfs .ihex .iso .lzh .lzma .mbr .msi .nsis .ntfs .qcow2 .rar .rpm .squashfs .udf .uefi .vdi .vhd .vmdk .wim .xar .z

Single File Executable

We recommend archiving games to save storage and bandwidth. However, if the game is just a single file executable, like setup_game.exe or setup_game.sh, you can import it into GameVault without archiving. Just be sure to rename it as described below for compatibility with GameVault (e.g. Minecraft (v1.12) (2011).exe). By default, GameVault autodetects the game type of single-file executables as a setup-type game. In rare cases, games can be single portable executables without additional setup. If that's the case, make sure to mark the games as "Portable" using the type override.

Supported Executables:
.exe .sh

Downloading single-file executables

Single-file executables are packed into a .tar file (no compression) and cached in the server's /tmp folder on-the-fly when users download them, to make them compatible with the GameVault Client. The cached files are reused until deleted by a Server Restart.

Naming Convention for Games

The name of each game file must follow this format:

Title (Version) (EarlyAccess) (GameType) (NoCache) (ReleaseYear).zip

Note that the parentheses must be included, and the naming convention is case sensitive.

Here's an explanation of each part of the naming convention:

Part	Description	Example Value(s)	Required?
Title	The name of the game	Far Cry 6, HITMAN 3	Yes
Version	An optional version tag that must begin with a lowercase v	(v1.0), (v1.224) , N/A	No
EarlyAccess	An optional tag that indicates whether the game is in Early Access	(EA), N/A	No
GameType	Override for the games type. See here.	(W_P), (W_S), ... , N/A	No
NoCache	An optional "NO CACHE"-flag that prevents the server searching for this game on external videogame databases.	(NC), N/A	No
ReleaseYear	The year of the game's release, for accurate detection	(2021), (2019), N/A	No

Here's an example of a file that follows this convention:

Far Cry 6 (v1.5.0) (2021).zip

By following this naming convention and using the common values listed in the table above, you can ensure that your games are detected correctly by GameVault.

Illegal Filenames and Characters

• File names must not contain the following characters: /, <, >, :, ", \, |, ?, and *. Replace these problematic characters with appropriate ones to ensure compatibility across all systems.
• Avoid ending file names with spaces or dots.
• Avoid using text within Round brackets such as (GOTY) in your file names, as GameVault will remove them. Round brackets are reserved for the different flags mentioned above. Use square brackets instead: [GOTY]
• Do not use reserved file names such as CON, PRN, AUX, NUL, COM(1-9), LPT(1-9), etc.
• Avoid using multiple chained extensions like .tar.gz or .tar.bz2. Instead, use only the last extension like .gz or .bz2.

Other Examples

Here are some other valid examples of game names that follow the naming convention:

• Star Wars Jedi - Fallen Order(v1.0.10.0) (2019).zip
• HITMAN 3 (v3.10.1) (2021).7z
• The Wandering Village (v0.1.32) (EA) (2022).iso
• Saints Row (W_S) (2022).zip
• My personal IndieGame (v1.2.9) (NC) (2018).zip
• Stray (2022).7z
• Captain of Industry (v0.4.12b) (EA) (2022).gz
• Minecraft (2011).exe

Mounting Multiple Game Volumes

Modern games can be quite large, often requiring storage across multiple disks on the server side. GameVault, however, uses a single /files folder to access its games. How can you map multiple drives to your GameVault server while ensuring seamless operation?

Using Docker

If you’re running GameVault in Docker, mounting additional volumes is straightforward. You can add extra volumes to the GameVault server configuration by pointing each mounted drive on the host side to a subfolder under /files on the container side. Here's an example:

services:
  gamevault-backend:
    [...]
    volumes:
      - /mnt/disk1/games:/files
      - /mnt/disk2/games:/files/disk2
    [...]

In this setup:

• /mnt/disk1/games is mounted as the main /files directory.
• /mnt/disk2/games is mounted as a subfolder /files/disk2, allowing GameVault to access games stored on a second disk.

Running Natively

For systems running GameVault natively without Docker, you can achieve similar results using symbolic links. These links enable the GameVault file watcher to locate games stored across different drives, all accessible within the designated /files folder.

To create a symbolic link:

1. Navigate to your configured /files directory:

   cd /files

2. Create a symbolic link for each additional drive:

   ln -s /mnt/disk2/games disk2

   This command creates a link named disk2 within /files that points to /mnt/disk2/games.

With this setup, GameVault will scan and recognize games stored across multiple drives, maintaining a unified structure under the /files folder.