I think there is a problem with the game as I have a 64 player server from 4userver which we run a 40 player cod server and a 16 player cod dm server and the pings don't flicker.

I installed cod-uo and anything above 22 players on a tank based lags.

I've not a server bod but i've set serveral diffrerent game servers and never had a problem.

Someone was telling me to try changing the server packets but not sure what that is or if it is a good idea.

This comment was edited on Sep 19, 16:13.

This always happens when a game first comes out and cable and DSL junkies whip up a server. When the "legit" T1 and experienced server admins get off their rich @$$'s and start running them then things will smooth out.

Why not compare this to the original CoD where I myself have been on plenty of server running way more than 32 peeps and it's all good.

By the weekend it will all be peachy.

I'm not sure about CoD but at least in RtCW and ET you can set a max rate of data transfer so it sorta levels out everything and doesn't allow the entire bandwidth used for hosting uses all the line.

Personally, I pretty easily ran a dedicated RtCW/ET hosting 20-24 players on a T1 line with an Athlon XP 1700+. Sure the memory went a bit crazy but all in all it was a pretty smooth experience.

CoD's net code however might be a bit more sloppy so who knows.

Maybe on first run the server could do a system test and small bandwidth test then guestimate settings... Of course anyone with know how will tweak settings but simply not allowing any idiot to host a server means fewer servers which can be a bad thing.

This comment was edited on Sep 15, 21:45.

make it so only people who know what they are doing can start a server

thats what I like to call my "dedicated server only" filter. Most admins, not all, running dedicated servers seem to know what they are doing... not all though

or, even better still, make it so only people who know what they are doing can start a server. don't make it so any idiot with a Pentium II-450 on a 128k upload cable connection can run a 32 player server just by clicking "Host Game".

nice idea but a problem with that is each player uses different amounts of cpu and particularily bandwidth at different times, for example a player in a small room by himself will use very small rate but upon moving near a huge area with loads of players fighting, they'll max out their rate. the server can poll for a while and go with the peak usage, but start factoring in that its usual for multiple gameservers to run on the one box (often including a different game altogether) you'll see why in practice it'd be way harder than it sounds. plus, it'd be one more thing to potentially go wrong and irritate/cost time for serverhost admins, usually not good people to annoy since they'll be providing all those free servers for everyone.

they could set the default at something generally sensible like 12 players, but thats still about 3 times what DSL can do.

imo better just to give proper documentation for the admins, and better indicators for the player: some browsers already show the ping flux, packetloss, or colour the ping number (red amber green) according to cpu load.

Excellent idea! And btw, wtf were these people thinking trying to host 32 players?? lol. That would be a rolicking game, but unless you're on at least a T1 or right next to the Comcast/Roadrunner plant, 32 just aint doable.

Heh yea, good idea, but you'll get people like me who think "ohh, this thing doesn't know what it's talking about!" and then proceed to bump everything up ever so slightly, and become annoyed when it's really shitty.


This comment was edited on Sep 15, 17:01.

They ought to program a new standard setting for servers, to adjust the maximum number of players dynamically. The system could do just what they suggest, start out with a reasonable small number and raise it until some bottleneck (CPU, RAM, latency, bandwidth) is reached. It could also account for potentially different resource requirements for different game modes and maps (ie larger maps requires more RAM, thus maximum number of players is reduced). Of course, players shouldn't be kicked by the mechanism.
Advanced server admins still could set their own setting. Of course, that still wouldn't prevent cable modem owners from manually setting a too high number, but hopefully some will use the dynamic setting.

Hey, maybe I should patent that.