Lag..

DethGaunt

<div class="IPBDescription">..The Beta? or the Server?</div> ok recently we have been getting huge ping spikes and lag spikes for sometimes 5 seconds of laggout and pings shoot up to 1000+. this is nearing unplayable but when talking to the Server provider this is what he said :

(16:28:51) (+<name removed>) ok i've just taken a look at the cpu and ram usage and i think the prob is to do with the new beta update cause ur's and the edns server are using about 45% cpu and 25% ram which is alot higher than normal :/

(16:29:52) (+<name removed>) they usually use around the 20% cpu and 5 % ram mark

the specs of the server are : dual xp 3000's 1.5GB ddr ram

anyhelp? is it the server thats making everything lag? the beta?

is there anything that can be done to stop this lag from occuring ?!??

ty..

MarineEater

It happens on quite a lot of servers <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->

MilitaryPolice

Heres part of the beta 3.0 4a changelog for those too lazy to read it


O Improved server performance (for programmers: we built using a debug version of STLport by accident). There may still be a problem with escalating pings we're still looking into.


I hope that answers your question <!--emo&::marine::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/marine.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='marine.gif' /><!--endemo-->

stevefransean

ah right, so that explains why i was getting ping times of 200 on ns 2 and now 2405 on ns 3 beta 4...... thanks a lot!

Qwerty

it spikes here too.

dPP

Im getting massssssssive spike, its so annoying, and people blame it on my sponsor <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->

Which im sure isnt the boxes fault.
sometimes it spikes every 10 mins for 5 seconds or so or every 20 mins, we lowered the slots and it seems a little better but still spikes now and then

Rabid_Moose

Guys, when you are getting these lag spikes, can you please type 'stats' in rcon and find out what your server FPS is? I know my server is getting terrible lag as the players get higher, and I also know it is due to the FPS dropping to 10-30 which _WILL_ cause terrible lag. Also, I know the dropping FPS is not due to a lack of resources on our system as it has _PLENTY_ to spare.

If it turns out you guys are getting this low FPS too, then that would at least somewhat help narrow down the problem.


Thanks.

billcat

I've noticed that I can type stats on my console with no players at all and still see the fps stuck at 49.9. The cpu is stable at about 30%. Is there something I should be doing to get the FPS higher?

Server is a p4 2.8g with 512 ddr ram linux 2.4.26

Jas0

Yup i have the same problem too with my UKNSL Servers. Pings seem fine at the start - server cpu about 38%, shortly into the same goes to about 80%cpu and pings go to aroun 60, then serverv hits 95% usually before 10 minute mark, and pings at above 100, usually hitting 200.

<!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--><!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> Ill be glad when theres a new server out!

LaCHiE

NS has always lagged and chewed the CPU up... not anything new really <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->

Avitar

i think you mean BTW athlon MP's (multiple processors) not XP's..

bandwidth throughput/usage/load?

hard drive types/speeds?

do you have a firewalled connection under seige?

PS: im talking about trasfer speeds and seek rate; not rpms which dont mean anything...

apjesus

ive started running two ns servers on a dual 2.8 p4 hyperthread with gig ram on 100meg trunk to internet provider trunks (12 of them). CPU usage is not even showing on graphs, everyonce in a while it may spike to 4%. Memory usage is 60meg, and the server spikes. It aint the box.

I wondered if it was the addons, ie. AMX, but a basic server was doin the same ****.

Avitar

be sure to fully update your box especially windows systems... there are low level fixes that changes the way dos based programs work..

however that doesnt seem the case.

I have heard (and seen) strange network lag problems in linux boxes where windows seems to do ok... I think NS just my have better Dev's in the windows department of expertise.

i had more problems running the basic steam 4a server than the amx version.. not sure why.. I am guessing because metamod threads the data better.

note: with only 60MB ram used, it could be that it is doing hard drive swaps... you can dedicate memory (especially for intel chips) to help out. just use the heapsize flag. i dedicate 128 to each server though 60-70 is more than enough usually.

in windows XP/2003 you can make the system run in ram without a swap file too.

the only spikes i tend to see is on map changes.

I suggest port monitoring and logging the game to find the problem. A poorly made map with too many entities or a tiny leak can cause problems too.

double check your command line to that you use to run the server.

remember the 4a is in beta soon so if you want to have fun you can check for memory leaks and report them to the Dev's.

billcat

I really think this(the spikey lag) is limited to the ns4a beta. Not sure if it is because I'm running linux or not.

I only play stock maps so I doubt that 'poorly made map with too many entities' could be the issue.

I've got 512meg of ddr dual channel ram so I doubt that a shortage of ram is the issue. At the times of the lag spikes I check all the system health statistics and both ram and CPU are pretty close to idle. Cpu around 4% and ram nowhere close to used up. As the other poster said: 'it ain't the box' My Battlefield Vietnam server running on the same box(not while playing NS) never sees lag like this.

I'm using the same stock cmd line I always have to start ns:
/steam/hlds_run -game nsp +localinfo mm_gamedll dlls/ns_i386.so

autoexec.cfg contains my maxplayers and map xxx cmds.

your idea on checking for memory leaks is interesting, how do you suggest doing so? specific instructions for either linux or windows would be interesting.

As both the starting post and several others have noted, severe lag is being seen on servers that should have all the cpu and ram needed to get the job done while taking a nap and still not break a sweat. General system speedup suggestions are nice and all but I don't those are going to be the solution here. NS/HLDS should run like silk on boxes this powerfull even if the sysadmin was a moron and didn't do much at all to make them run well and shouldn't cause 1000+ lag spikes.

Also here are client reports of this same issue:
<a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=71010' target='_blank'>http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/in...showtopic=71010</a>
<a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=71126' target='_blank'>http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/in...showtopic=71126</a>

dPP

ok i do rcon stats without boosters and its around 50-60 FPS with a full server, with a booster it goes from 150-300 FPS, much better with a booster also alot less lag, even though i know it uses alot of CPU.

The CPU goes to a maximum of 90.50 at times but usually around 60