Automated Repair Script did more harm than good....

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Degenatron
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Automated Repair Script did more harm than good....

Post by Degenatron »

...but Wipe + Restore fixed the problem.

First, let me preface this post with this:

I am running an "HL1: Opposing Force" server which is an outdated MOD which virtually no one supports anymore - including Gearbox (the creators).

Not only does NFO still support this MOD, but my server has been running flawlessly ever since I got it (more than a year).

I was the original source of the problem, and while the Automated Repair Script did not function as intended, NFO gave me the tools I needed to fix the problem myself.


What happened was that I had added a custom map to the server. This is nothing new, my server runs many custom maps. I logged into the server and switched to the map and it seemed to be running fine. However, over night when that map came up (I am assuming this part) the server would crash. After three crashes the automated repair script ran and "repaired" my server. The report I found the next morning said:
Processing <server name>:
Refreshing hardlinks:
2688 missing or corrupted files were replaced.
Resetting custom.hpk.
Checking autoexec.cfg.
Checking server.cfg.
Checking mapcycle.txt.
Loading and checking addons/metamod/plugins.ini.
Refreshing steam_appid.txt from mod folder.
..Done.
I didn't know any of this had happened until I tried to connect to the server. I received and error: "Your dll (dlls/client.dll) differs from the server's". I thought that my game client had been updates by Steam overnight. I tried to connecting to three other Opposing Force servers, and I was able to connect to them without any problems. That's when I went back and checked the server logs and found that the Automated Repair Script had run on the server.

So I brought down the server so that it would simply be "absent" and not turning people away with a "bad dll" error and scheduled a wipe + restore. That fixed the problem - the server is now back up and running as before (minus the bad map).

I post this only to help the NFO admins be aware that for this very rare case, the automated repair is not working as intended. I suspect that it has a store of outdated files for HL-Op4.

Also, I'd like to make a feature request for the Admin Console - the ability to trigger a wipe and restore right away. I don't know if this is possible with your backup system, but if it is possible it would have been a great option for me and would have reduced me server's downtime from 16 hours to just 2~3. It also occurred to me that had I not seen the problem with my server, it would likely have run the Monday Morning Backup, which would have overwritten my good backup. It would be nice if backups were disabled in the event of an Automated Repair until an administrator could acknowledge the action in the control panel.

Again, this is not a gripe, but simply an FYI and a big THANK YOU for a great service.

D-Gen

<edited - Title was too long and truncated>
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Edge100x
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Re: Automated Repair Script did more harm than good....

Post by Edge100x »

Valve's current HL1/GoldSrc files are not fully compatible with many mods like OP4. Some clients (though not all) will receive .dll errors when connecting to servers running these files. The wipe wasn't needed/relevant, but when you ran the restore, your old .dlls were restored, which would have undone the upgrade to the ones in the latest HL1 files.

We are waiting patiently for Valve to fix this. We have been told that a fix is in the works.

All a repair does is to check the regular files for the game and make sure that they're the same as the ones being distributed with the game (along with the other basics that it mentions). This is similar to the "verify" operation through SteamCMD, although it's a bit less invasive, because it does not replace your configuration files.

You can ask us to run a wipe or restore for you at any time and we can do it if usage is low enough. We do not expose the ability to run these immediately to standalone game servers because they can cause performance problems and potentially even crashes for other customers on the same machine. Managed-server customers have access to the functions through the "Managed panel" page, since all servers on each managed machine are run by the customer.
Degenatron
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Re: Automated Repair Script did more harm than good....

Post by Degenatron »

That's good to know. Great info. I totally understand about limiting the restores to preserve performance for other clients.

Once again, a huge thanks to the whole NFO team for the great server!

D-Gen
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