Author Topic: Troublesome underpowered servers  (Read 981 times)

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Offline dCK-Apriori

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Troublesome underpowered servers
« on: January 06, 2011, 04:40:34 PM »
Hi guys.

I just want to mention, that all of the MWLL server admins out there should double check whether your servers are actually capable of doing what you ask them to do. Several servers out there are definitely not powerful enough to support > 16 players and even though they provide way more slots. The first servers coming to my mind are "CHH", second "RUSS MWLL". I'm not entirely sure how the Crysis network protocol
is designed so the following is based upon assumptions. Even though you do have decent latencies on the servers, you will fairly quickly notice that both servers tend to either 1) delay event processing (e.g. damage appliance etc. - and I don't mean due to client latency but instead because of event queue overruns) or 2) drop them altogether. I had several cases on CHH within the last days in which firebomb damage was applied SECONDS after I actually hit. I doubt that I'm the only one who thinks this is totally unacceptable. On Kagoshima on CHH I was beaten by a Holly A 1v1 when I was in an ATLAS C and the Holly center torso literally filled my crosshair (and I pumped all I had into it, and was at ~70%). He had an orange center torso when I died.

Performance on the mentioned servers is acceptable for about 12 players. So please, check your servers and change the maximum slots to a value those can actually support for a better gaming experience for all of us. Its not a shame if this will result in a shutdown of the server altogether - we do have plenty of them already.

Offline Seraph

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Re: Troublesome underpowered servers
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2011, 04:42:06 PM »
Often those issues can be fixed by a simple server restart.

Agreed, though with hosting companies you are usually stuck with what you get. Limiting the players was the solution for the ones running with TLL (24 players) and has worked out so far.
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Offline dCK-Apriori

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Re: Troublesome underpowered servers
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2011, 04:54:15 PM »
Often those issues can be fixed by a simple server restart.

This might be true. But the question is: What is the actual source of this problem?

1) Crysis netcode - if that's the case then it's really poorly designed.
2) Too low server specs - or
3) Bugs in MWLL resulting in event queue overruns

If its 3) we can't do much but restart servers, but if its 2) then my post is still valid.

Offline -SM-SUCKER

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Re: Troublesome underpowered servers
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2011, 04:55:38 PM »
A few days ago I connected to CHH-MWLL server which had major lagspikes that almost made it possible to even pick teams. After about 2 mins into the actual game I decided to join an empty server.
Another thing I noticed that it took ages to even establish a connection, meaning I was stuck in the server browser while connecting for a long time before the actual map loading screen popped up. Same applies to the RUS MWLL server.

Offline Seraph

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Re: Troublesome underpowered servers
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2011, 04:58:08 PM »
A few days ago I connected to CHH-MWLL server which had major lagspikes that almost made it possible to even pick teams. After about 2 mins into the actual game I decided to join an empty server.
Another thing I noticed that it took ages to even establish a connection, meaning I was stuck in the server browser while connecting for a long time before the actual map loading screen popped up. Same applies to the RUS MWLL server.

Long connect times are usually an indicated for a bad or slow connection to a server. Servers are syncing variables with the client which can be seen when upping log_verbosity to 3. You will noticed the process will go slow when you are connecting for a long time.

Reboot your router! :D Didn't even think about asking if you did that already ;)
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Offline CHHš Rampage

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Re: Troublesome underpowered servers
« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2011, 05:06:32 PM »
The CHH server is hosted by gameservers.com in Chicago. I currently have it set to 32 players to see how it will perform with Crysis Wars at maximum load. I have gotten both good and bad feedback on its ability to handle the load. It is one of the very few servers running the maximum number of players and has run constantly for the last three days without a restart. MY next step is to force the daily restart and see if that helps the performance. If that does not improve matters then I will back the number of players down but I want to try everything else first because it is evident that players love those big battles.
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Offline GB-72AT Talon

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Re: Troublesome underpowered servers
« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2011, 07:07:28 PM »
The CHH server is hosted by gameservers.com in Chicago. I currently have it set to 32 players to see how it will perform with Crysis Wars at maximum load. I have gotten both good and bad feedback on its ability to handle the load. It is one of the very few servers running the maximum number of players and has run constantly for the last three days without a restart. MY next step is to force the daily restart and see if that helps the performance. If that does not improve matters then I will back the number of players down but I want to try everything else first because it is evident that players love those big battles.

32 is nice as long as it doesn't come at a performance hit.  I worry sometimes though that there are a lot of people with lower spec'd systems playing MWLL that are conditioned to less-than-desirable playability being acceptable....  As long as we are talking pure hard crashes....yeah, would be better off limiting to 24 if that solves it.  Sounds like you are good so far  :)  However if laggier play, higher ping rates, and hit detection start to suffer but the game is "still playable" with 32 players....that is what im afraid of....the "it's good enough to justify it" mentality that people take with their own gaming experiences in some cases.  I dont think low level DX9 gameplay with low framerates is acceptable.  To some it is....So to what standard are the server op's measuring what's acceptable i guess is the question.



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Offline Cosmitz

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Re: Troublesome underpowered servers
« Reply #7 on: January 06, 2011, 07:13:34 PM »
To be honest, i was extraordinarily suprised when my quick 0.4.2 server that i put up because there were no other ones in range, managed to not only hold 12 players, but also play quite well from what i heard. And that was a server i was also playing on... and not like i have a superrig.. Q6600&4gb ram.

Offline ~SJ~{CDT} Ro0t

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Re: Troublesome underpowered servers
« Reply #8 on: January 06, 2011, 07:25:36 PM »
A few days ago I connected to CHH-MWLL server which had major lagspikes that almost made it possible to even pick teams. After about 2 mins into the actual game I decided to join an empty server.
Another thing I noticed that it took ages to even establish a connection, meaning I was stuck in the server browser while connecting for a long time before the actual map loading screen popped up. Same applies to the RUS MWLL server.

Long connect times are usually an indicated for a bad or slow connection to a server. Servers are syncing variables with the client which can be seen when upping log_verbosity to 3. You will noticed the process will go slow when you are connecting for a long time.

Reboot your router! :D Didn't even think about asking if you did that already ;)

Hi Seraph, I would say that can be true when only one individual is having latency issues, but not when everybody on the server is experiencing it. There is clearly a lot of servers that can't handle the number of slots they provide. This is especially true on maps with lots of destructibles such as all the trees in Clearcut. 32 players on that map running around and breaking trees is causing havoc on the server! I experienced it last night actually...
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Offline Ingrater

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Re: Troublesome underpowered servers
« Reply #9 on: January 06, 2011, 07:49:20 PM »
According to CPU & RAM usage our Server (Mechwars1 7.WD) could take way more players as the currently limit of 30. But when we had more slots enabled, I noticed that the damage responses started to get late and some people had problems on their machines because they couldn't handle 30+ players. So its on 30 slots now. I think its all. The world is never black & white. So I think in most cases it's all of them. Underpowered server, Crysis netcode and MWLL Code.
There comes a point where the talking must stop, and people have to do actual work.

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Re: Troublesome underpowered servers
« Reply #10 on: January 06, 2011, 08:53:23 PM »
The NBT-MWLL 0.4.3 Mix Maps server was started as a 24 slot server and I have yet to receive any complaints about lag and delay when it is fully loaded down. I have noticed on occasion when I am in the server a loss of collision in areas of various maps. This may be solvable by a server re-start. The server is currently set to automatically restart at 4 am Eastern Standard Time USA, 9am Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on a daily basis. My apologies to those players on the server at that time but I feel this is a necessary momentary disruption in service.

I will continue with 24 slots as long as players do not complain. For myself, I would prefer a quality experience over a quantity experience.

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Offline Arghy

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Re: Troublesome underpowered servers
« Reply #11 on: January 06, 2011, 09:26:58 PM »
Yeah the 24 slot servers always seem to work perfectly but any more then that i noticed slow downs in damage reports and the voice responses and its not on my side. Just now i was playing on the CHH 32 slot server and its been at 26 forever and i think its just crashing the 27th player constantly(i was the 27th player twice).

Offline CHHš Rampage

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Re: Troublesome underpowered servers
« Reply #12 on: January 06, 2011, 10:16:10 PM »
Maybe I need to back it down to 26 then. I restarted it today to give it the best chance possible to run well with the full load.
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Offline Mekabuser=12thVR=

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Re: Troublesome underpowered servers
« Reply #13 on: January 06, 2011, 11:23:56 PM »
The larger servers are really needed for TC though, and it would be great. One thing that is necessary is to auto boot those with pings over 200. One person with high ping really seems to screw things up for everyone.

Offline Mekabuser=12thVR=

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Re: Troublesome underpowered servers
« Reply #14 on: January 07, 2011, 12:12:59 AM »
double post