Thread: Server issues??

Well Rob you just entered the world of MCAfee/Norton/any of their related programs. I've been around the gaming world for quite some time. Have been involved in building PC Gaming Machines. In my research and those of my clan mates in the past. McAfee is the worst on usage {it consumes more stuff on a pc, and the more McAfee stuff you have loaded i.e.: firewall, Antivirus, Spyware, Privacy Controls}. Everyone of those programs is running in the background as soon as you install the program. The more you have installed the more they consume. Even upgrading the RAM on your PC wont help that situation entirely. I have gone over to using Zone Alarm Firewall {the free version is good enough for most ppl}, and AVG by Grisoft {the free version is good enough as well}. The computer is definitely not being bothered or consumed by these programs {they are very small programs and use alot less resources than the other programs out there and still get the job done}. I also don't allow Windows XP to be set for Automatic Updates {this can run at any time it wants too}, I don't allow My AVG to do Auto Updates nor my Zone Alarm either. One more thing that most people fail to check is the processes being run by the machine. [right click on your taskbar then selet 'task manager', after that select the TAB for 'Performance' it will show you how many processes are running. Most PC's can handle 35 or less, if you are over that then your Windows O/S is basically being overworked which puts your CPU under a bigger load. Thus the need for more memory. Windows XP has a minimum requirement of 256 MB RAM, as in the past always double the minimum for decent PC performance, and the recommened is 512 MB {double this as well for decent performance}. If you are running big games like this at least 1.5 GB to keep it running smooth. Also don't let your BIOS use any of the AGP memory {i.e.: AGP mapped memory 32,64,128,256,512} as the more it's set for the more chances you have of memory errors in the game.

On another note: always keep your PC defragged {i usually do mine at least once a day, takes no time either} this will keep the PC from having to search for files to run programs. Main reason being, every time you turn on your PC and run a program the files become fragmented. The longer you go between defrags the more fragmented the PC becomes which affects load times and can have adverse affects on gameplay. Also i recommend running 'Error Checking & Correcting' at least once every 2 weeks. This keeps the files from becoming damaged {corrupted} from crash to desktop problems or hang ups. This little jewel can be accesed from 'right clicking' on your local disk C:\ and selecting 'properties' goto tab for 'tools' then click error checking-correcting then select both boxes and the program will run next time you reboot your PC. Be advised this make take awhile depending on how corrupted stuff has become over time. Anywhere from 20 minutes to 4 hours. I once had a friend had it take that long becuz he kept having to turn his PC over when it hang up. This can and will damage files. Any other pieces of info you feel i might know about just PM and i'll share them with ya'll.

TTP's BF2 server is a dedicated machine. And....if you're in the game server hosting business.....or a previous renter of servers.....let me define "Dedicated".

there are no other games, instances, or customers using this box. It's ours, completely. That's why it's $100's a month, rather than merely $40 or $50 (like the chump servers out there that are lagged as all hell).

We monitor our resources constantly. We always want to know.....what's going on wiht what....what can we handle.....can we get another game going on the same box(es).

This is a screenshot of one of our monitoring tools over the course of several days. Every major peak in bandwidth/CPU/RAM usage is essentially a day of traffic, where the highest parts are when we are full. The low levels inbetween the peaks are the times in which the server is empty, or at least.....not even close to being full.


As you can see, when peaked, our server is indicating about a 80% CPU utilization. Now....spikes do occur, however, even a 10-15% would be tolerated by the box. We have a surplus of RAM, as well as in/out bandwidth.

Typically, the easiest way to tell if the server is lagging it to NOT look at a big fight scene, where you are flying around, nades are going off, bullets are whizzing, and things are chaoitic. That.....99% of the time....is YOU lagging, but not the server.

If you think the server is lagging, and want to definitively show this.......simply go someplace where NOTHING is going on. Yes.....62 players are connected.....but on your screen, there is nothing going on. Best places to do this are inside buildings with no windows, or under the carrier, or just in the middle of nowhere.

Then......cycle through your weapons. Or quickly try to get up and lay down. Throw nades. Shoot your weapon.

If everything seems normal when you are doing this in the middle of nowhere......then the server is not lagging. If it were lagging...no matter where you were, what you were doing, or what was actually happening....ALL CLIENTS, IN ALL PLACES, DOING ALL THINGS will be lagging. Planes crashing everywhere because of huge lag lapses....jeeps running into rivers. Dogs and cats moving in together. Chaos.

However.......if you find that you can change weapons, jump around, and move fluidly all by yourself.....but only have trouble when the fighting gets heavy and dozens of things are going on around you.......it aint the server. It's you.

The server doesn't care if everyone is in the same building shooting eachother, or if everyone is dispersed throughout the whole map, alone, shooting at the sky.

Either way, the server has to fire the weapons, track the bullets, register the hits, and send those messages to everyone else. The server doesn't care if you are in a firefight, or if you are camping the deck of the carrier. You take up just as much processing time as any other activity (essentially).

If you ever suspect that the server is seriously lagging out....the methods I describe above are a sure indicator. They apply to all games played online. We use such observations to guage the abilities of our Source server, which runs 4-6 CSS and DoDS instances flawlessly. We know when it is running out of horsepower when everyone, all of a sudden, can't switch their weapons, or buy things quickly, or....when they throw a nade....everyone sees it bounce back and forth, lagging forward and back, towards it's target.

THAT'S server lag.........but.....I just haven't seen this happen on the BF2 server. At least not to an extent that I can guarantee we are unstable.