Wierd "lag" on Team Fortress 2 server

[No Name]

My TF2 server runs fine, with 1 megabit upload rate, and doing the math (change to kilobytes, notice it's BYTES not BITS on this one, then divide by 8) will allow me a 16 slot server. My server is 12 slots. I usually play TF2 while the server is on, but that should impact my performance, and even if I log off, players still seem to have problems.

The problems are reported to be latent airblasts/gunshots, late appearance of rockets on screen, even though they are still flying towards people, just invisible, and killfeed lag. I have tried everything, from emptying out my server plugins and cleaning out extensions, to changing the cmdrates and the likes.

[Knappy]

Is this a true dedicated server or a listen server? If it's the latter, then lag is expected and the only workaround is to either host on a seperate machine or purchase a host.

Edit: Also, your bandwidth is a minor factor when dealing with servers. The Processor and RAM has more of an adverse effect if the they are not up to dedicated standards.

[Blaquicat]

1megabit is not enough, you have 125KB/s (maximum possible)
it is 12,5kb/s per player in a 10 server slot.. wich will lag a bit..

[Knappy]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Blaquicat:

1megabit is not enough, you have 125KB/s (maximum possible)
it is 12,5kb/s per player in a 10 server slot.. wich will lag a bit..

1megabit is enough to run a server, however since this appears to be a listen server it is not enough due to the fact the the client side of the machine is running background processes that not only suck bandwidth, but also kill the resources of the machine hosting said server.

Note that a 10-player with 12.5kb/s transfer (upload) equates to 1.5625kB/s of data (0.0015Mb/s), which is a small fraction of the upload capacity. Therefore it does not present an issue when it comes to bandwidth, but as previously stated if this is a listen server, then the resources are more than likely at the peak because of the bg processes running.

[No Name]

This is a dedicated server running Sourcemod, if that changes anything. My machine uses an Intel Core i5 4670 (4 cores) clocked at 3.4 GHz, RAM is 8 gigabytes. Typically, it's usually 12 people online (full) and all of the clients have ping in the 5-50 spectrum. Sometimes there are high pingers with lag that is expected. But most of all, when the server is full, it usually has this wierd lag of projectiles not rendering, latent airblasts and such. There is no stuttering or teleporting, everything is smooth.

I do not experience the lag but some players do, hinting at possible network issues.

[Knappy]

Again, true dedicated or listen server?

[No Name]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Knappy:

Again, true dedicated or listen server?

Yep. The SRCDs thing, except on my own machine.

[Knappy]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Its7up:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Knappy:

Again, true dedicated or listen server?

Yep. The SRCDs thing, except on my own machine.

Then you should expect lag since this is a listen server. Of course you won't experience lag as you are the host and client, which means you will have the lowest ping of all connected clients. However, should a client connect from Russia or Brazil (pending your location, i.e. the more distance the more lag), then they will not only have high ping but also inflict lag upon the other clients as the server is "being delayed" by the high-ping client while it attempts to communicate with the others at the same time.

Processing power is good, however when you run a SRCDS and Client at the same time, you will notice that the available resources are depleted as a server can at times use %50 of the processor power, and the client can use the same.

Just in short: If you run a listen server, there's nothing much you can do about the lag for your connected clients. You can try a high-ping-kicker plugin but as stated, listen servers will still lave lag. If it's possible for you to rent a server or VPS (if you intend on hosting the server for a while) then I would highly recommend it.

[No Name]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Knappy:

-snip-

Alright, thanks for the clarification! Is it feasible to block distant clients, and only allow clients from my area?

[Knappy]

Not Necessarily by distance, just ping. See this[forums.alliedmods.net].

[No Name]

Anyway, I've tried the ping kicker and it didn't seem to help. What did help is me using an old post I dug up in the old Steamcommunity disscussion forum about the sv rates and such. It's top notch now. Thanks all of you.

mod-edit: removed reference to deleted post.

[Knappy]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Its7up:

What did help is me using an old post I dug up in the old Steamcommunity disscussion forum about the sv rates and such. It's top notch now.

Be careful with the min/max rates as though it may seem great on your end, your clients my experience degredation. See this for more details. Good that you got it working,

[Blaquicat]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Knappy:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Blaquicat:

1megabit is not enough, you have 125KB/s (maximum possible)
it is 12,5kb/s per player in a 10 server slot.. wich will lag a bit..

1megabit is enough to run a server, however since this appears to be a listen server it is not enough due to the fact the the client side of the machine is running background processes that not only suck bandwidth, but also kill the resources of the machine hosting said server.

Note that a 10-player with 12.5kb/s transfer (upload) equates to 1.5625kB/s of data (0.0015Mb/s), which is a small fraction of the upload capacity. Therefore it does not present an issue when it comes to bandwidth, but as previously stated if this is a listen server, then the resources are more than likely at the peak because of the bg processes running.

kB/s is not the same as kbps
1megabit is 1000 kbps (kilobit / s)
1000kbps is 125kb/s (kilo byte / s)
This is maximum, the ratio will be close to 110 - 115kb/s
Will lag in a 12 slot server (when full)
Unless you tweek a little the sv rates.


Edit: my mistake, im thinking about l4d2, way more heavy than tf2..

O got a l4d2 server, and 1mbit/s, and the server works on the limit of my upload rate. (100kb/s all the time)
Searching online, i found out you need 1700k/s (~1,36megabit) to run a 32 slot server (with some tweek on rates)

[No Name]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Knappy:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Its7up:

What did help is me using an old post I dug up in the old Steamcommunity disscussion forum about the sv rates and such. It's top notch now.

Be careful with the min/max rates as though it may seem great on your end, your clients my experience degredation. See this for more details. Good that you got it working,

I think it's working. The only problem is it's reversed now.. Clients get absolutely no lag at all, while I get some network stutters. But it is expected. I don't really mind it.

Thanks guys.