Lower Pings!
cracker_jackmac
Join Date: 2002-11-04 Member: 6891Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2002-11-04 Member: 6891Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
<div class="IPBDescription">Thanks j0e</div> Ok, first get this uber-sweet tool : <a href='http://www.joe.to/ns/' target='_blank'>http://www.joe.to/ns/</a>
get the ripent.exe, ns_hera.ent, and ns_bast.ent files (you can get the bsp files instead, but its best to get some practice and don't use up j0e's bandwidth). and put them in your maps folder (or a temp folder with the bsp files too)
then, make backups of ns_hera.bsp ns_bast.bsp ns_tanith.bsp files.
next we use the tool.
at the command line type :
<b>riptent -import</b> <i>ns_mapname</i>
for whatever ent file you have
i.e to patch hera
<b>ripent -import ns_hera</b>
(note: do not use .bsp or .ent for patching).
j0e has the other files, i have included tanith.
Ok, now how did we do this? its easy.
<b>ripent -export ns_</b><i>mapname</i>
that creates ns_<i>name</i>.ent in the same dir.
then (using a DOZE text editor, it will not recognize unix line breaks) remove all mp3, wav, ambience_general, custom_particle s from the ent file. then save it. then import it, then test the map.
pretty easy, you can remove some sprites, but be careful, you can "break" the map if you remove the wrong ones.
Thanks to j0e for showing me how to use this!
get the ripent.exe, ns_hera.ent, and ns_bast.ent files (you can get the bsp files instead, but its best to get some practice and don't use up j0e's bandwidth). and put them in your maps folder (or a temp folder with the bsp files too)
then, make backups of ns_hera.bsp ns_bast.bsp ns_tanith.bsp files.
next we use the tool.
at the command line type :
<b>riptent -import</b> <i>ns_mapname</i>
for whatever ent file you have
i.e to patch hera
<b>ripent -import ns_hera</b>
(note: do not use .bsp or .ent for patching).
j0e has the other files, i have included tanith.
Ok, now how did we do this? its easy.
<b>ripent -export ns_</b><i>mapname</i>
that creates ns_<i>name</i>.ent in the same dir.
then (using a DOZE text editor, it will not recognize unix line breaks) remove all mp3, wav, ambience_general, custom_particle s from the ent file. then save it. then import it, then test the map.
pretty easy, you can remove some sprites, but be careful, you can "break" the map if you remove the wrong ones.
Thanks to j0e for showing me how to use this!
Comments
anywhere from 50-200ms ping increases j0e and i have recorded.
it takes out the worthless things that a server doesn't need to compute such as ambient light, ambient sounds and such, thus in effect lowering overhead.
pings drop like crazy.
(from IRC chat)
[19:30] <+HF|KIR|HanoverFist> Tanith a laggy map too?
[19:30] <CrackerJackMack> yes, i'm going to test it right now..i stripped it
[19:30] <+HF|KIR|HanoverFist> k just owndering why pings are all 100+
[19:30] <+HF|KIR|HanoverFist> stripping really help that much?
[19:31] <CrackerJackMack> some clients had 63ms pings w/onos on hera w/stripping
yes....i didn't remove any sprites though....but everything else, my pings dropped 150ms
This plug-in will strip the following ents from all maps:
env_particles
env_particles_custom
ambience_generic
target_mp3audio
And it does it automatically for each map.
I haven’t tried it yet (but it does strip the ents) so it should work.
Link: <a href='http://www.voogru.net/www/stripent_mm.zip' target='_blank'>http://www.voogru.net/www/stripent_mm.zip</a>
No Linux compile yet, but its coming. (and yes the source is included)
Update: now has a linux version, thanks scottl
both of you are nerds LOL
I also find it hard to believe that this has a noticeable effect, as I've already optimized for the most common entities.
Server performance will continue to be improved as I get more time, but I can only go so fast.
I also find it hard to believe that this has a noticeable effect, as I've already optimized for the most common entities.
Server performance will continue to be improved as I get more time, but I can only go so fast.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
most of us are aware that you can only move so fast. But the fact remains that my linux server runs like caboose on some maps when i have more than 14 players. and even though I LOVE the levels in this game, any tweak that will lower lag is far more welcome than a couple special effects.
I went to the #naturalselection channel one day and asked for ways to reduce lag. and the only answer they had for me was to reduce maximum players. And for me that's just not kosher, I like big games. and I also like it to not lag out with 18 players when the same hardware that easily handled 2 cs servers (each 20 player) without a single ping going over 90 only 2 months ago.
So yes, it may be a stab to the dev team, but eye/ear candy takes a back seat to performance in my opinion.
I also find it hard to believe that this has a noticeable effect, as I've already optimized for the most common entities.
Server performance will continue to be improved as I get more time, but I can only go so fast.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
flayra i'm sorry that it hurt your feelings, but it didn't modify the Clients at all, it just removed the ents so that the server did not have to read and process them.
we couldn't modify the code to ignore those entities so we modified the maps so it wouldn't have to.
you probably would have made the code do this later and i don't think you should be offended. But i'm truely sorry, i was only trying to help out the other server operaters to run a better game (giving your mod better PR)
I kinda agree with [WHO]Them as far as performance, But I guess its stab if you modify the entities in the map (or map hacking/modding) and I see his point. I have tried making particle effects in the server (which worked) but it was a real pain to get it to look right.
Ill leave the plugin on since it doesnt auctually modify the maps(unless Flayra asks me to remove it).
Anyways, sorry.
-voogru
but i will not post it in here anymore. will host the files on my own server for those who want them.
so, i thought this would be an ok TEMPORARY measure because i know the NS team will gradually make NS more efficient, and i look forward to the time when these maps can run in their default beauty.
for now the choice i have is, have 6 maps in the mapcycle, or 8? and would the guys that made the maps prefer to have them played at all (without any ambient sounds or cool particle effects) to not having them used?
i'll do whatever flayra wants, but if it's up to me, i'd rather have a less beautiful bast/hera than no bast/hera at all.
and FYI to other people, what this does is <b>remove the ambient sounds and particle effects</b> from these maps completely (both server and client) which frees up maybe 10-20% of the cpu. if your pings were going up because the CPU was at 99% this will help a bit, but it's not going to let you run twice as many players on your server or anything crazy like that. and i don't know about their plugins but i would suggest if you do any of these things you <b>back up your BSP files first</b> (as i said on the web page) so that when new versions come out that are more CPU efficient you can let your players play the maps as originally designed.
i really hope this doesn't seem like any kind of indictment of the maps because like i said, i think hera is incredible. it's jsut that i can't even use it without removing some of the entities (for now).
joe
I have 18 player server. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
I have 18 player server. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--><!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Wait until later in the round. That's when you can really judge a map.
I play NS almost non-stop. It's all I've done for the past couple of months, along with eat, sleep, and work <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->