Linux (Ubuntu 20.04+)

How to install Athena on Ubuntu 20+

Linux

Linux installation should be using Ubuntu 20.04+ or greater. The author of this documentation has used Ubuntu 20.04+ without any issues.

Table of Contents

• Linux

• Table of Contents

• Dependencies

  • GIT

  • CURL

  • wget

  • UFW

  • NodeJS 16+ through NVM

    • Uninstall Older Versions*

    • Install Latest Version of NVM

  • MongoDB

  • libatomic1

  • Create a Github Account

• Setup SSH Key

  • Create the SSH Key

  • Start ssh-agent

  • Add the SSH Key

  • Add the SSH Key to Github

• Port Forwarding

  • UFW Instructions

• Setup Private Repo

  • Set Private Repo Main Branch to Master

  • Download from Private Repo

  • Enter the Directory

  • Add Upstream

  • Pushing updates

• Installing Dependencies

• Installing Server Files

• Starting the Server

  • Update the server.cfg

  • Production Mode

• Checking Ports

• Connecting

  • What IP to use?

• Successful Installation

Dependencies

Install or perform all actions in this section. Copy the entire code block and paste it.

GIT

Grab the latest version of GIT.

sudo apt update && sudo apt install git

CURL

Grab the latest version of Curl.

sudo apt update && sudo apt install curl

wget

Grab the latest version of wget.

sudo apt update && sudo apt install wget

UFW

Grab the latest verson of UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall)

sudo apt-get install ufw

NodeJS 16+ through NVM

Grab at least version 17+ for NodeJS through nvm.

Uninstall Older Versions*

This step only applies if you installed NVM in the past.

nvm uninstall OLD_VERSION_HERE

Install Latest Version of NVM

Install the NVM script for selecting NodeJS versions.

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.33.0/install.sh | bash \
    && export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm" \
    && [ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" \
    && [ -s "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion"

nvm install 17
nvm use 17

MongoDB

Keep in mind this is optional if you use MongoDB Atlas for your database. If you are using a local database please install MongoDB server here.

curl -fsSL https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-4.4.asc | sudo apt-key add -

echo "deb [ arch=amd64,arm64 ] https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu bionic/mongodb-org/4.4 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-4.4.list

sudo apt update

sudo apt install mongodb-org

sudo systemctl start mongod.service

sudo systemctl status mongod

Instructions pulled from here.

libatomic1

Grab the libatomic1 library.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install libatomic1

Create a Github Account

Yes you are going to need a Github account. You are also going to need to setup an SSH key for your Github account. It is covered below.

Sign Up with Github

Setup SSH Key

Github has really good SSH Setup Instructions but they may not be entirely clear for newer developers. If you are comfortable with normal documentation give the above link a try. Make sure to select the windows tab.

Create the SSH Key

Enter the following in a terminal:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[e-mail]"

When you're prompted to "Enter a file in which to save the key," press Enter. This accepts the default file location.

It may ask you for a password. Hitting enter twice will automatically default to no password.

Start ssh-agent

Enter the following in a terminal:

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"

It should respond with 'Agent pid XYZ'

Add the SSH Key

Enter the following in a terminal:

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Add the SSH Key to Github

It is highly recommended you follow the Github instructions for the rest of this tutorial. They cover / update how to add SSH keys very well.

Github Instructions for Adding SSH Key to Github

Port Forwarding

At the very least you will need to open port 7788 for your main server.

You may need to Forward Ports in your Server Panel, Router, etc. If you are running Athena on a server it is likely you will need to add 7788 to an additional Firewall somewhere in your server providers panel.

UFW Instructions

Be very careful about doing this because you need to ensure port 22 is setup for UFW.

We're going to do each of these commands one at a time.

sudo ufw allow 22

sudo ufw allow ssh

sudo ufw allow 7788

sudo ufw enable

You can verify that ports have been opened successfully after you setup the rest of Athena.

Setup Private Repo

Open a Windows Terminal such as command line or powershell. The author personally recommends Windows Terminal from the Microsoft Store.

Enter the following in a terminal:

git clone https://github.com/Stuyk/altv-athena --bare altv-athena-bare

Create a new private repistory on Github. Let's call it altv-athena-private

Copy your URL from github.

Enter the following in a terminal:

cd altv-athena-bare

Then you are going to mirror the bare repository to your private mirror.

Which means you will have a private copy of Athena's code base on your private github.

Enter the following in a terminal:

git push --mirror <your_github_url_here>

Delete the bare repository folder you have just created.

Set Private Repo Main Branch to Master

This is important and DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.

Download from Private Repo

Clone the new repository you created from Github.

You can find the new repository you created in your Github profile's repository section.

Enter the following in a terminal:

git clone the_url_from_your_private_github_repo

Enter the Directory

You need to navigate into the directory to run the next few commands.

Enter the following in a terminal:

cd your_repo_name

Add Upstream

Add the upstream of the original athena repository.

This step must be done any time you need re-clone your repository.

git remote add upstream https://github.com/Stuyk/altv-athena
git remote set-url --push upstream DISABLE

Pushing updates

When you make changes to the code base you can push it by doing:

git add .
git commit -m "Whatever You Changed"
git push origin master

Installing Dependencies

This installs all NodeJS packages and dependencies that help run the server.

npm install

Installing Server Files

From this point forward you can simply run this npm command to update dependencies.

npm run update

Starting the Server

Hey Listen, normally you start the server through altv-server.exe but we do not do that with Athena. There are other programs that run along-side Athena that allow it to function. You will need to run one of the commands below.

Update the server.cfg

Do not modify the server.cfg, yes you are reading this correctly.

Instead, you should do the following.

Open 1 of the 3 configuration(s) in the configs folder.

You should see any of the following configurations:

• dev.json

• devtest.json

• prod.json

Edit all of these but remember this very important rule.

Do not change 'host' because 0.0.0.0 is correct.

Production Mode

This is the mode you should use when you are having users connect.

Enter the following in a terminal:

npm run linux

Linux only supports production mode as you should be doing most of your development on Windows based computers.

Checking Ports

Check if the ports are currently open while the server is running. Check port 7788.

Check Ports with YouGetSignal

Connecting

Remember to get the https://altv.mp/ client and connect.

What IP to use?

If you are running this on your local machine you should connect to 127.0.0.1:7788.

If you are running this on an external server you should connect to the server's IP address.

Successful Installation

A successful installation and bootup will look like the following: