Server Max player slots?

[Nicod3mus]

Hi Guys, I've looked around a lot and I cannot find much info on the max player slots allowed via the server admin panel. Additionally does anyone have any info on the resources required or recommended per slot? Thanks!

[Monoxide]

I dont have a solid answer, but from what I have heard from other hosts is that its less about the amount of players, and more about map size.

No data to back that up though, sorry.

[Annie]

I've heard that, the higher the max player slot, the less lag on the server for same-time logins. I could be wrong about this, but I've heard it a few times, so I thought of mentioning it here and seeing if others know better.

Also, depending on how you host, you could be limited on slots. If you host via a provider, some only give you 50 slots. For new servers, thats a decent amount. I have a private server I play on and the basic package at bluefangsolutions works perfect for what I do: Wurm Unlimited Package[www.bluefangsolutions.com]

EDIT: Link given not for advertising, but for refernce on specs

[bob_2059]

I started a reply to this a few days back, then deleted it. I've been keeping a closer eye on things in the meantime.
I can't give you any hard numbers. I'll get into why lower.
First: map size is a big factor on memory requirements. But that's not the question in this thread, it's about player slots so I won't get into that.

It's hard to pin down how much memory consumption is required per player. The server, with no players on, fluctuates wildly in its memory usage. From watching lately, I've seen it using anywhere from 320MiB to over 700MiB with no players. It might be using 700MiB with nobody on, then with several people connected it's using 500MiB. Hard to say how much each person is raising the usage in that scenario!

As for bandwidth used, as with most servers, outgoing is much more important than incoming. Outgoing is more than incoming at a factor of 5x to 10x. Per player, I haven't seen anyone break 2kbytes/sec. It rarely breaks 1.7kbytes/sec. In a multi-server cluster, the single biggest BW consumer is intra-server communications. This will probably be over LAN if you go this route, so that shouldn't be a huge impact.
If you used a mod like ServerPacks and are sending out new graphics (maps, models, etc) to players, I expect that would be much higher while those downloads are occurring.

CPU utilization is also hard to pin down. Just about any recent processor has a variable clock- it runs faster as load increases. So you may not see much, if any, rise in CPU utilization as people join because the OS is ramping up the clock speed to compensate for the load.
What I mean is, CPU utilization with nobody on stays in the low single digits, 1-6%, but CPU clock is fluctuating between 50% and 60% of max. A few people log on, CPU utilization is still in single digits, but clock speed is fluctuating from 60% to 80% of max. I'm having a hard time giving you exact numbers.

You won't need a top-end processor unless you have tons of people. One of mine ran for a time on a P4 2.8HT (520). With player counts in the teens on it, I don't recall utilization even hitting 20% and no complaints of lag. That's with a fifteen year old desktop (not server) processor. I'm not recommending it, just posting it for information purposes. You can pick up a ~5 year old i3 that will outperform it by a factor of 5 or 6 times dirt cheap. Or if renting server space, get something decent but you probably don't need to go broke renting top-end hardware.

Sorry I can't be more precise.

If you're renting server space:
a) find out how hard it would be to upgrade. If you can, start relatively small, then if usage requires it THEN pay to upgrade
b) take into account the memory requirements of the JVM itself. Java will need 500-800MiB (depending on how it's configured) above and beyond what Wurm is using to create the JVM. You also need some way to manage the machine. Whether SSH or VNC, FTP, or whatever- and those will require RAM as well.
c) ask if they have any experience with multi-server Wurm clusters, and if it's possible with them. I forget the name of the host, but I know there's at least one out there that doesn't allow it. This may not matter to you now, but as you grow it can be a factor!

[Monoxide]

You could always just join Bob's server, too. Then you wouldnt have to worry yourself with all the numbers =p

[bob_2059]

He could, but I'm guessing a person who's asking about server requirements is more interested in running a server than joining one.
If I'm wrong, of course he is welcome.

Also, the Wurm Launcher only uses 8 bits for the number of slots. It will never report more than 255, no matter what you set the server to. Even if the server is set to a max value in the thousands, the launcher will still report 255 or less.