Server Tickrate

douchebagatron

<div class="IPBDescription">What is it, and why it doesn't love us</div>I see some people asking what server tickrate is, so I figured I'd create this little discussion to clarify that.

Server tickrate is the number of updates the server makes per second. Think of it is FPS for the server, which means if the server has a low tickrate, it's similar to the situation when all players on that server have an incredibly low FPS (in a way).

I say in a way, because on your personal machine, the game looks more or less fine, except you'll see some player warping and you can't seem to hit things. These are the same symptoms of a laggy game. but generally a bit worse.

but!

This has nothing to do with the netcode, and everything to do with how much the server is trying to calculate. Build 179 made a huge improvement to tickrate. Previously a top-end server would go down to 4-5 updates per second towards the end of a long game, now I'm seeing those same servers stick around 12 updates per second. Still not great, but much better.

You can see the tickrate by typing "net_stats" in the console (hit ~ to get to the console)

If you're not enjoying the game due to this, check out the tickrate. Maybe you're on a lower-ended server, and you can try to find a better one.

This is probably NS2's biggest current issue, and the devs are actively working on it.

Hugh

Nice work taking the time to write this up mate

Thaldarin

Indeed.

Although I wouldn't tell people they're on a "lower ended" server though, especially as those servers can probably play other modern games fine. The fault here isn't the server but the software. Although having an awesome hugely expensive dedicated setup will make this game seem playable and improve the tick rate, we shouldn't go discouraging people saying "Ah your server is crap! Get a better one!" when it's more than likely that the server will be fine when the server side software gets sorted out some day.

vlnc

Thank you for clarifying this, I hope that will help people to understand what really is the tickrate server. But the main problem come from the software at time and not from server hardware (mine is only work at 30%) while server.exe is running.

In addition, to open console with an azerty keyboard -> hit <a href="http://pix.wefrag.com/i/8/5/4/5/a/33768a59cf2741947cef6ec62d45d3dc.jpg" target="_blank">²</a> button.

w0dk4

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->But the main problem come from the software at time and not from server hardware (mine is only work at 30%) while server.exe is running<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

100% / 4 cores = 25% (and a little more than that since NS2 server does a little threading on things)

Your server is maxed out. Yes, its due to the software. Yes, better hardware would help you. No, you shouldnt upgrade your server for a server software that is still in beta (alpha).

Lazer

There are servers that play the game significantly worse than others. I think it is fair to call them lower end since there's definitely some high end servers with good rates. One of the main issues right now is if you get the occlusion to bug out, fps will drop and the client rate will as well. This is certainly lag inducing and unrelated to the server. I find the client to be the weaker link right.

NurEinMensch

What's lower end and what's higher end is obviously no absolute.

Angelusz

Good info. I'm trying to run a dedicated server myself atm, it's a Quadcore Phenom II green edition, which runs at 2600 iirc. With only one player on the server, the usage already goes up to 25%. It's fairly evenly distributed across cores though, so I'm not sure how well NS2 handles multithreading, but it seems to just fine from where I stand.

MOOtant

<!--quoteo(post=1854564:date=Jun 19 2011, 10:47 PM:name=Angelusz)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Angelusz @ Jun 19 2011, 10:47 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1854564"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Good info. I'm trying to run a dedicated server myself atm, it's a Quadcore Phenom II green edition, which runs at 2600 iirc. With only one player on the server, the usage already goes up to 25%. It's fairly evenly distributed across cores though, so I'm not sure how well NS2 handles multithreading, but it seems to just fine from where I stand.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It seems but that's it. Your OS scheduler probably keeps moving NS2 server from core to core all the time and that's why you get "distributed" usage. Set affinity to lock it to single core. Remember that the amount of CPU time used is no measure at all if you're not comparing similar quality like tickrate stable at 10, 20 or 30 also under load of 10/20 players.

Kouji_San

<!--quoteo(post=1854410:date=Jun 19 2011, 06:45 AM:name=6john)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (6john @ Jun 19 2011, 06:45 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1854410"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Build 169<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
1<b>7</b>9, just sayin' :P

douchebagatron

<!--quoteo(post=1854571:date=Jun 19 2011, 04:29 PM:name=Kouji_San)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kouji_San @ Jun 19 2011, 04:29 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1854571"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->1<b>7</b>9, just sayin' :P<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Ah, it has been correctified

VarXX

Another issue by the way, is server hosts using Linux to run the servers. Currently the game isn't optimized at all for linux so it runs a lot worse.

Darkhand

<!--quoteo(post=1854410:date=Jun 19 2011, 02:45 AM:name=6john)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (6john @ Jun 19 2011, 02:45 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1854410"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I see some people asking what server tickrate is, so I figured I'd create this little discussion to clarify that.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Thank you for taking the time to explain this to everyone.