Server Optimization Question: Fps?

tsnHelloKitty

I've been reading as much as I could about how to optimize an NS server. One thing that frequently comes up is a discussion of the server side FPS, which I'm assuming is related to how smoothly (how many "frames" per second) the server is running the game. I've seen numbers anywhere between 20 FPS (from people supposedly experiencing laggy servers due to a newer vgui2.dll file, which was a problem up until recently) to quotes of over 150 FPS.

Firstly, I'm not exactly sure how people are observing these statistics. When I type "stats" in the console, I get similar statistics, but I am not sure if they are for the server or my client. The FPS in the stats I get is fixed at 60, which seems to indicate it is locked with the vsync, perhaps indicating it's a client-side FPS count? No big deal if it's client side, but how to I determine that figure for the server? How would I go about trying to increase that figure on the server? What is a good FPS for the server to have for between 16 and 24 clients?

I'm running my NS server on a Windows 2003 system, P4 2.8Ghz, 1Gb RAM, and a reliably solid 1.5/768 ADSL connection.

Thanks for any information you more experienced sysops can provide!

tsnHelloKitty

I just saw this thread, which referenced having a server running at 515 fps. <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif' /><!--endemo--> Darn, I want 515 fps! It sounds so cool, even though I don't truly know what it means. <!--emo&::nerdy::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/nerd.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='nerd.gif' /><!--endemo-->

<a href='http://steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=49135' target='_blank'>http://steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=49135</a>

Lethy

Anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but the following is how I understand what the server FPS represents.

Rather then it representing the amount of frames rendered per second for someone playing, it's the amount of 'frames' received, calculated, sent out to clients by the server per second. According to <a href='http://www.udpsoft.com/booster/' target='_blank'>UDPSoft's HLDS Ping Booster</a>, the HLDS by default sits idle for approximately 15ms between each 'frame' and in many cases a server won't run above 30fps.

Using Valve's -pingboost command switch or using UDP will increase the server's FPS, thus decreasing latency for an increase in CPU usage. I'm totally unsure which version of a ping booster is better though I have heard claims from others that the UDPSoft version is better and I do know it works fine with NS 3.0.

tsnHelloKitty

Thx Lethy. I did more searching and found the WinHL-Booster site at <a href='http://hullu.xtragaming.com/' target='_blank'>http://hullu.xtragaming.com/</a>

This lead me to these forums: <a href='http://forums.unitedadmins.com/index.php?s=&act=SF&f=166' target='_blank'>http://forums.unitedadmins.com/index.php?s=&act=SF&f=166</a>

Both of these had links to some good ping boosters for Windows HLDS (WinHL-Booster - aka. Booster Lite, and Booster 2.1). From the reading I did, Booster 2.1 looked like the best option, since it incorporates the functionality from Booster Lite as an optional method of ping boosting in Windows, but defaults to a different method that is a bit more robust, apparently. Your explanation of how it works is on the mark. Booster Lite and Booster 2.1 use different approaches, but to the same end goal of reducing the sleep time between server-side "frames". Booster 2.1 comes with some nice additional funcitonality to minimize the chance of overworking the CPU, causing spikes and other performance problems.

I installed Booster Lite 2.1 on my Windows 2003 HLDS server and used the default configuration settings. Now the pings are about 10ms lower (as expected), and the server runs between 150 and 250 fps (Booster 2.1 reports this FPS value to the client when connecting, I'm not sure how else to get it, except maybe through the server console?)

I'm running the server off a 1.5/768 ADSL line out of my house (actual bandwidth reported on dslreports is about 1250/600 kbps), and people in my general area of the Internet (midwest/Chicago area) are able to connect at between 30 and 40 ms ping. People in California are connecting around 80-100 ms. I haven't been able to load-test the server well yet, though, since not many people join the server at the same time.

Impy_The_Lerk

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