General Trouble Shooting

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bOoya
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General Trouble Shooting

Post by bOoya »

My server is down and I cannot bring it up through the control panel!!!
Among the myriad of help requests we recieve about gameservers, this is one of the most frequent.
There are a number of things that could be causing this type of malfunction and it is the goal of this thread to go over and hopefully solve some of those issues.
  • The most common issue is an incomplete map. Almost all custom maps require more than just a .BSP file to run. When the server tries to run a map that is missing some of its resources, it will crash and usually leave a FATAL_ERROR in the server log. To remedy the server, go to your control panel's server contol page and first STOP and then START the server. (Note that a simple restart will not work, since the server is not technically 'down' or 'up')
    • So, how do I make sure I have all the required resources?
      When you download a map from a server, many times the extra files; sprites (.spr), sounds (.wav), models (.mdl) etc download so fast that you cannot catch the name. They are automatically distributed into the folders on your computer and can be very difficult to sort out. It is recommened that you download all of your new maps from a source that is likely to contain all of the files in one package, that way you know exactly which files that map needs. Another solution would be to try a tool called ResGen. (see this post for information on .res files and ResGen)
    Another common reason for the server not coming back up is that you have a buggy metamod plugin running. Normally metamod will discard the buggy plugin and note that it had a bad_load. However, certain mods will load correctly and then cause the server to crash because they are missing a certain model or sprite. I am aware of one such plugin called 'Ent Mod' that causes this behavior.
    • How can I be sure that its a metamod related error?
      This one is easy, just go to your control panel's server control page and change the server dll to 'plain game dll'. Then do the STOP-START method I mentioned earlier. If the server goes up and remains up, you know its a metamod problem, remove all non-default mods and try to load up metamod again.

      I am only running stock metamod plugins (AmxModX, StatsME, HLGuard etc.) but the server still wont start!!
      Often times, a simple amxmodx plugin can cause the same damage as a full on metamod plugin, disable all of the non-stock amxmodx plugins and double check that the server will start up (again, STOP-START method). Enable the custom plugins one by one untill you find the culprit(s).
Help I'm getting lots of choke in my server!!
Contrary to common belief, choke is controlled almost soley by the client machine. Please see our other tutorial about client rates.

The ping in my server is abnormally high. Whats going on?
Inherently, the internet is an ever-changing environment. Unfortunately, things happen that can affect the ping (more specifically; the route) to your sever. Routers can be shut down, ISPs can change their routing, and Peering agreements can be violated. It sucks, and we know that. Heaven forbid this type of thing happen to you, the best thing you can do is send us a tracert. A tracert is like a trail that we can examine to try and find where your ping problem lies. Often times, we can (or we can have our ISP InterNAP) re-route you around the troublesome area and regain your lower pings. For instructions on preforming tracerts, please see our other tutorial: here.

I hope to add more topics as needed.
Remember, if you are ever having any type of troubles with your server, don't hesitate to contact us for help.
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