Pokémon Showdown

Navigation: Website | Server repository | Client repository

Introduction

This is the source code for the game server of Pokémon Showdown, a website for Pokémon battling. Pokémon Showdown simulates singles and doubles battles in all the games out so far (Generations 1 through 6).

This repository contains the files needed to set up your own Pokémon Showdown server. Note that to set up a server, you'll also need a server computer.

You can use your own computer as a server, but for other people to connect to your computer, you'll need to expose a port (default is 8000 but you can choose a different one) to connect to, which sometimes requires port forwarding (note that this isn't possible on certain internet connections).

Installing

Pokémon Showdown requires node.js, v0.10.2 and up. Install node.js if you don't have it yet; the latest stable version is a good choice to install.

Next, obtain a copy of Pokémon Showdown. If you're reading this outside of GitHub, you've probably already done this. If you're reading this in GitHub, there's a "Clone" button in the bottom of the right sidebar, or if you're really lazy, there's a "ZIP" download button. I recommend the Clone method - it's more time-consuming to set up, but much easier to update.

Pokémon Showdown is installed and run using a command line. In Mac OS X, open Terminal (it's in Utilities). In Windows, open Command Prompt (type cmd into the Start menu and it should be the first result). Type this into the command line:

cd LOCATION

Replace LOCATION with the location Pokémon Showdown is in (ending up with, for instance, cd "~/Downloads/Pokemon-Showdown" or cd "C:\Users\Bob\Downloads\Pokemon-Showdown\").

This will set your command line's location to Pokémon Showdown's folder. You'll have to do this each time you open a command line to run commands for Pokémon Showdown.

To install dependencies, run the command:

npm install

Copy config/config-example.js into config/config.js, and edit as you please.

Congratulations, you're done setting up Pokémon Showdown.

Now, to start Pokémon Showdown, run the command:

node app.js

You can also specify a port:

node app.js 8000

Visit your server at http://SERVER:8000

Replace SERVER with your server domain or IP. Replace 8000 with your port if it's not 8000 (the default port).

Yes, you can test even if you are behind a NAT without port forwarding: http://localhost:8000 will connect to your local machine. Some browser setups might prevent this sort of connection, however (NoScript, for instance). If you can't get connecting locally to work in Firefox, try Chrome.

You will be redirected to http://SERVER.psim.us. The reason your server is visited through psim.us is to make it more difficult for servers to see a user's password in any form, by handling logins globally. You can embed this in an iframe in your website if the URL is a big deal with you.

If you truly want to host the client yourself, there is a repository for the Pokémon Showdown Client. It's not recommended for beginners, though.

Setting up an Administrator account

Once your server is up, you probably want to make yourself an Administrator (~) on it.

config/usergroups.csv

To become an Administrator, create a file named config/usergroups.csv containing

USER,~

Replace USER with the username that you would like to become an Administrator. Do not put a space between the comma and the tilde.

This username must be registered. If you do not have a registered account, you can create one using the Register button in the settings menu (it looks like a gear) in the upper-right of Pokémon Showdown.

Once you're an administrator, you can promote/demote others easily with the /admin, /leader, /mod, etc commands.

Browser support

Pokémon Showdown currently supports, in order of preference:

• Chrome
• Firefox
• Safari
• Chrome/Firefox/Safari for various mobile devices
• Opera
• Firefox for Android
• IE9+

IE8 support can technically be added without too much difficulty, but it doesn't run PS fast enough to be usable.

As for older browsers (Firefox 3.6), I won't go out of my way to support them, but if there's a simple fix, you can suggest it to me and I'll implement it.

Community

The Pokémon Showdown development IRC channel is #showdown at irc.synirc.net.

You can also visit the Pokémon Showdown forums for discussion and help.

License

Pokémon Showdown's server is distributed under the terms of the MIT License.

Credits

Owner

• Guangcong Luo [Zarel] - Development, Design

Staff

• Hugh Gordon [V4] - Research (game mechanics), Development
• Juanma Serrano [Joim] - Development
• Leonardo Julca [Slayer95] - Development
• [The Immortal] - Development

Retired Staff

• Bill Meltsner [bmelts] - Development
• Cathy J. Fitzpatrick [cathyjf] - Development
• Mathieu Dias-Martins [Marty-D] - Research (game mechanics), Development

Contributors

• Andrew Goodsell [Zracknel] - Art (battle weather backdrops)
• Ben Frengley [TalkTakesTime] - Development
• Cody Thompson [Rising_Dusk] - Development
• Kyle Dove [Kyle_Dove] - Art (battle backdrops)
• Quinton Lee [sirDonovan] - Development
• Robin Vandenbrande [Quinella] - Development
• Samuel Teo [Yilx] - Art (main background)
• Vivian Zou [Vtas] - Art (alternate main background)