Online gaming server...

[mountainman]

Does anyone on here have or maintain an online gaming server? If so, please let me know and I'll post my questions.

Thank you!

[GRIM]

[mountainman]

Originally posted by GRIM

Is that a "yes', "no", or "smap"??

[GRIM]

It's a yes, I run a couple of servers, wolf, QIII, UT2

[mountainman]

Heh heh heh...i wasn't sure what the face meant. Cool!

Anyway, I was wondering what kind of hardware you use. I am interested in having a server for TFC, but dont really know what I need. Is it almost like setting up a whole seperate computer? (monitor, keyboard, etc??) Also, what kind of connection do you have for it? Is it a T1 or what? And if so, how do you get a T1 installed at your home?

Or, can you get it hosted somewhere else? I assume that these servers are all located inside the home.

Thanks man!!

[GRIM]

1. Yes the server should be a seperate machine ( you really dont need another keyboard and monitor, you can always share the keyboard,monitor and mouse with an A/B swith but this depends on the location of the machines

2. The connection will play a very important role especially the upload, cable's upload is usually capped, so that does not work well most of the times, DSL would be a better choice because they offer diffrent uploads speeds, I use DSL with a 384 upload which is stable enough to host at least 16 clients, T1 wpould be ideal, but it's expensive

3.You can get your server hosted somewhere else this also costs depending on who's hosting it for you.

4.The server machine does not need to be a beast I have ran servers of very small machines before but the better the machine and a sufficient of RAM will do the rick
SERVER HOSTING

[YeOldeStonecat]

Yes, have run Q2, Q3, UT, Rune, and currently into the test demo of Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Will be running the full version shortly.

I built and co-admin one of the more popular online gaming servers, Zombie Battalions gaming server. It currenly runs 3x UT servers (public, private, and match), as well as Wolf's test demo, the clans mIRC, and their webpage. (all at once) It made it within the top 20 in the world of UT's NgStats for quite some time.

http://www.zombiebattalion.com/
209.150.0.191 is the IP address

The server right now is just a mid range PIII, running NT 4.0 Server, with 384 megs of RAM. She sits in the data center of our ISP, which is fed by 4x OC-3 lines. Being rebuilt soon with dual PIII's.

I strongly believe in NT 4.0 server with the latest service packs. Runs quite lean, way moreso than bloated Win2K server.

Hosting from home, unless just for a half dozen or so friends, doesn't really work, you'll never have the proper upload. Figure on taking your tested benchmarked upload speeds, divide by 28.8, round up, and that's about the max amount of players you can host on an average connection (according to planetunrealtournament.com/theadminpage). I have found that to be very true.

If you can't get the bandwidth, check out this server hosting place...

http://www.ilanstation.com/

[mountainman]

thanks for the info guys! that is VERY useful. I want to build a nice machine that me and some friends can play on. can i set my current computer up as a dedicated and play on it as well or just set it up to play on it?

I have RR cable, so I would assume it'd be fast enough for some play.

ideas??

BTW, I'll check out those links too. thanks again!!

[mountainman]

I just checked out the clanservers.net website and that would be SWEET! $50 per month to host a 8 place game on a dedicated server. hmmm....that is almost what the internet alone would cost to have a seperate line ran for that. this could be good.

Thanks again for the link!!

[YeOldeStonecat]

Originally posted by mountainmanbrandon
thanks for the info guys! that is VERY useful. I want to build a nice machine that me and some friends can play on. can i set my current computer up as a dedicated and play on it as well or just set it up to play on it?

I have RR cable, so I would assume it'd be fast enough for some play.

ideas??

BTW, I'll check out those links too. thanks again!!

It's best to NEVER play on the computer you're also serving from. Reason being....when you play on a computer, 95% of its resources are used to showing you the game, your graphics, etc etc....very RAM and CPU intensive. Most of us hardcore gamers will stay away from any servers where they see someone playing with a ZERO ping (meaning the admin playing on his own computer running a listen server). REAL gaming servers run their games dedicated from a batch file, which launches the command line console of the game....nothing but boring text. This leads to very small amounts of system resources used for each game, the lighter your computer works....the better the gameplay for your clients. How do you think I have 4 plus gaming servers running, plus a VERY graphics intensive webpage, on one single box...plus remote control software, map redirect downloading, etc etc.

That place is awesome, great price, great bandwidth. If I lost my current co-location (which I may since my ISP got bought out by another), that's were I'm going. There's just no way I could run my server on anything less than a T-3 after getting used to all the bandwidth I've enjoyed over the last couple of years. (each OC-3 line is 155 Mb/s)