A few things I still dont understand.

[FLATLINE]

I know the games almost dead if not already but Im still having fun with it. Especially since I found you guys and the server manager. My friends and I have been able to have some proper battles without any nonsense on my own server. Heres a little backround on my setup. I originally set up my server on my new laptop. Its an HP with a duo core processor 1.6GHz and 1 gig of RAM. The server ran fantastic as far as I know. I had 2 PS2's networked through My linksys WRT54GS router and also accepted 18 participants online for a total of 20 people. I wish I could have gotten some feedback on how everyone elses experience was. Its hard to tweek if you dont know theres a problem. Anyways , because the laptop is basically my flagship PC It didnt make sense to dedicate it as a server for my gaming when I have all this other hardware around. Last year I put together a Gateway/Sony Mutt and thought Id experiment to see if it could handle the server and 20 people. This comp has a Pentium III 800 MHz and 512 MB of RAM. Ive networked 4 PS2's with this comp running the server and had no more than 5 others on the server for a max total of 9 people. It seamed to run fine on my end but its been hard getting the server maxed to see if it really can handle all the traffic. Weeks have gone by and I have not been able to see any good data on this server running at full capacity so I jacked up the bot count to 20 and logged in hoping some others may follow in for a game or two but I have yet to max it out. My internet service is with Time Warner and using www.speakeasy.net I have achieved these numbers. Download Speed: 4620 kbps (577.5 KB/sec transfer rate) Upload Speed: 426 kbps (53.3 KB/sec transfer rate). My router is set to prioritze all traffic to the server first before it does anything else. Through my testing I feel my internet connection and Router are sufficient for this task however I just cant tell if the comp is. With the server running this comp only runs 27 processes. I believe I have eliminated all but what I need to be networked and run an internet connection with this PC. So now that Ive bored whoever actually reads this Ill get to my point. Would any of you be willing to help me try and crash my server. Just by playing the game of course I wanna load it up and see how much it can handle. It will help me determine the parts Ill need for my new server im going to build in a few months. I was also wondering if we could have a forum where those of us that have servers running can put up our specs. It would give us an idea of what the server is packing hardware wise and then we could determine performance by playing it. im just thinking the server software could be the next big thing in gaming as if it isnt already and the game companys dont seem to want to give us all the info we need. Im thinking maybe sometime soon DSA wont need to pay some company to host servers for us. we could do that ourselves but we need some more info to do it correctly. What are the exact hardware requirements to run a 20 person server with 20 bots mixed in and not getting lag. What are the minimum upload and download speeds for satisfactory gameplay? Id like to expand more on this so is anyone interested?

[FLATLINE]

Well the other night I got my wish. We crashed the server. 20 bots and 5 people. I had my PS2 and a PS3 networked to my router with 3 other online participants, christine, akkin, and Player 1. Thanks for helping me out. Since I now had a baseline I can move forward. I think the Pentium III and the 512 RAM card are sufficient but I noticed a problem with the hard drive. I never knew how a hard drive could be a bottleneck for PC performance . Im not sure where the hard drive came from but its spins at only 5200 rpm so it must be really old. Im upgrading to a standard 7200 drive to see what happens. Any tips Im all ears.

[RaTix]

The servers will always crash at some point or anohter with AI on them. Its a bug in the server that will never be patched. The exact cause of the bug is unknown. The optimum config is no more then 8 players for full AI server. Thats why we host the Firefights server with only 8 players max.

We don't rent our servers from a company; We rent a dedicated PC to host the servers on. It allows for much more freedom in configuration and setups.
AMD Athlon XP 2000
1 GB RAM
Windows Server 2003
10 Teir 5 backbone network.

We have pretty much tested the hell out of the servers in all types of scenerios, so if anyone has questions regarding the server software, they are in the right place asking here.

The PC can handle alot of the load if setup properly. We use a program called FireDaemon to install the servers as a system service. This allows you run the servers in the background and use up alot less system resources. Not having to display the status window or GUI cuts alof of the resource waste.
The main issues with the lag seem to stem mainly from CPU and memory spikes. The servers also have a memory leak issue. They should be restarted every so often to help clear out the cache and keep the server running smooth.
Setting the CPU priority to above normal helps keep the CPU spikes limited. The main CPU spikes are caused when a server is switching maps. A normal process priority wil cause abotu a 3-5 sec CPU spike, whereas with above normal, only 1-2 secs.
1 GB RAM should be able to handle up to 8-10 servers if configured properly (and bandwidth permitting).

Other problems with lag could be caused by the network. Try to adjust the server bandwidth in the server manager to match that of your network capabilities. If you are running a server bandwith at 6mbps, you will send larger packets of data and your line might not be able to handle this.

[FLATLINE]

Thanks for the info Ratix I know your a busy man. So what your telling me is that my current PC that is running my server is more than sufficient. I had a suspicion it was but since Im new at online gaming I wanted to see for myself how much it could handle. Ive noticed processor spiking in between maps. What boggles my mind is it is pretty much the same spike whether Im running the server on my Pentium III machine or my Duo Core machine. Must be the software. FireDaemon so is it worth the $35. It must be if your using it. Im gonna give it a try. They have a 30 day trial.

[RaTix]

Use the task manager to keep an eye on the resource usage. That will give you an idea of where there might be problem areas.

FireDaemon is good, or at least good for us. If you have a second PC your using as just a dedicated server, then it might be useful and well worth the $35 for you.
Also, If your using it as a dedicated server, Try to set the virtual memory 3x the actual physical memory amount installed. So if it has 256MB RAM physical, set the virtual to 768MB. This is reverse then what you woudl use in your main gaming and app PC. Then you want less virtual memory.
Try to set the Server PC to focus more on background operations then aplications in the settings (This might depend on what OS you are using: Windows Server 2003 has it, Not sure on the others).

Hard drive could also bottleneck as well as you mentioned. But I would check the other things first before you worry about a new Hard drive. But if you must, SATA is preferrable over IDE. And of course, yes the higher RPMs the better.

[FLATLINE]

Fire Daemon shouldnt have any problems running the dedicated server for PS2 should it? I have the same setup that I used on my other comp at it clearly is for PS2 but when its run as a process it comes up as for PC. Any Ideas?

[FLATLINE]

I was able to figure out the problem stated above with FireDaemon but I still have problems with the server showing up when I logged in with my PS2. I gave up for the time being on Fire Daemon till I have some more time to play with it. In the mean time I freed up more resources on this comp buy eliminating McAfee virus scan. Im not sure I even need Virus scan. Especially for this machine which never downloads email (My email is web based anyways) and never surfs the internet. McAfee just has to much going on. Hacker watch, Privacy Service, Real time scanning bla blah blah bla. While great for someone who wants nothing to do with security and can live with the limitations I for one dont need a nanny to tell me which sites are safe and which are'nt. Do I even bother finding another virus program???

[madmax32]

I was able to figure out the problem stated above with FireDaemon but I still have problems with the server showing up when I logged in with my PS2. I gave up for the time being on Fire Daemon till I have some more time to play with it. In the mean time I freed up more resources on this comp buy eliminating McAfee virus scan. Im not sure I even need Virus scan. Especially for this machine which never downloads email (My email is web based anyways) and never surfs the internet. McAfee just has to much going on. Hacker watch, Privacy Service, Real time scanning bla blah blah bla. While great for someone who wants nothing to do with security and can live with the limitations I for one dont need a nanny to tell me which sites are safe and which are'nt. Do I even bother finding another virus program???

McAfee is a joke. I have a P4 2.6 OC'd to 2.9 with a gig of ram. Switched to AVG for virus, and did a benchmark. There was significant improvement in speed.
I second the hard drive may be a bottleneck comment.

[RaTix]

I'm with Max on the AVG as well. McAfee's and Norton’s are both resource hogs that do nothing good for your system. Get AVG and you'll never have a problem.

As for the server not showing up, Make sure you have the ports opened on your router and any firewall software as well.

[FLATLINE]

Ill give AVG a try. Thanks for the tip. It just sucks cuz I payed for McAfee. Oh well. I have no problems with my server showing up and playing on it when im running it as an application. Unless FireDeamon requires some other ports to be opened I dont know about? I must be doing something wrong in the service setup.

[shocker101]

I have AVG and I have not had a problem with it at all.

[FLATLINE]

Well I ditched McAfee and the 12 processes that came with it. Im running AVG and using the Microsoft firewall. My Lowley Pentium III machine is now just responsible for running 15 processes as opposed to the 27-28 I had to runnng before. What a difference this has made. Its crazy the difference. My question now is are there any settings I should avoid to increase reliability? Besides AI I mean. Sometimes its pointless trying to play a game with 5 or 6 people without some AI.

[FLATLINE]

I think I may have firgured out the Mic problem I have been having. The key is static I.P.'s. I know this has been mentioned before but I havent read anything stating how important this really is.

I still have issues hearing and talking to some people but I believe there are some terrible limitations within the game itself. I also have a feeling signing in with your Gamspy ID however useless it seems helps with Mics too. I could be wrong but in my testing this is just what I think.

I think now Im all set for the next version of Battlefront. I hope whomever they chose to develop the game includes a dedicated server.

[RaTix]

My theroy on the whole mic situation is that the program uses undefined ports to make the mic connections. Meaning I might be using port 111 but you or others might be using 222 or 333.

When connecting with a DSL direct connection (No router, just straight conection) I never had mic issues. Yet connecting through a router causes problems. Almost as if the ports were blocked for some of the other player's mic connections.

[FLATLINE]

Thats a much better theory than mine LOL. Any method to that madness that you have found? Or is it completely random?