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So I setup a Windows 2008 R2 VDS to run some NS2 servers. I currently have a 6-core plan and right now only have one NS2 server running on two threads (Core 3 and 5) to start as a test. The only other server application I have running is Minecraft, and that is on Core 2 and 4.
About 30 minutes and on into a NS2 match I begin to see some massive tickrate drop.
Graph of a match towards the end of the round
Is there anything I can do to help improve this in anyway? I'm usually good with optimizing stuff (used to run two DayZ servers and a minecraft server flawlessly off one VDS), but this one seems to be puzzling me. Is it a limitation of the CPU of the VDS? This game seems heavy on the main thread.
The main issue with NS2 is that the main thread is extremely intensive, not to mention the overhead from being in a virtual environment. I've been working since it's release for tweaks and ways to optimize but I haven't come up with much, unfortunately :/
Your best bet is to stick to running 18 slot servers and not assigning them to affinities. Windows does a fine job of bouncing services around cores to help keep it balanced.
Even on the fastest machines it just doesn't like being in a virtual environment. Some games handle better then others. I would say open a request and have us check to make sure you are on a fast machine and if not we can get you moved over, chances you are on one since you have a six core but it never hurts to be sure.
Edit: You'll always see tickrate drop at the end of a round since that is when you have 6 exo and 5 onos going insane.
@Kraze^NFo> Juski has a very valid point
@Juski> Got my new signature, thanks!
@Kraze^NFo> Out of context!
@Juski> Doesn't matter!
@Juski> You said I had a valid point! You can't take it back now! It's out there!
Thank you for the advice kraze. I'll try drop affinity settings on the game to see if that helps at all once the server clears out. Also put in a request to have that checked out.
Did you come up with any tweaks for this game, Kraze? I have not set affinity, but getting crazy lag on the server. Running an 8core VDS with 10 gigs RAM.
While the game is getting better optimized, it is still very poorly optimized.
I've been seeing reports of different things causing lag issues such as having the webadmin enabled, extremely large log files and playing the same map for an extended period of time.
I haven't seriously tested any of these in-depth but for anyone seeing issues I would recommend you play with a few of these and see if it helps with performance at all.
I am still doing some internal testing and trying to find the limit for VDS servers, but so far 18 seems to be the max.
@Kraze^NFo> Juski has a very valid point
@Juski> Got my new signature, thanks!
@Kraze^NFo> Out of context!
@Juski> Doesn't matter!
@Juski> You said I had a valid point! You can't take it back now! It's out there!
I have the webadmin running, so I could monitor the performance. Are you saying I should deactivate it entirely? Or just not keep it open to monitor?
The rumor is, that every time it refreshes it creates a lag spike. You could probably just keep it closed but I'd say try disabling it.
Would running it off an SSD help?
It may help since the logs don't append, yet but I wouldn't go spend money and place one on your machine, no. I don't even know the performance impact on this, yet but I would suggest you just delete your old log files and test the server to see if it performs better.
What kills me is my overall CPU usage seems low, and still plenty of RAM to spare, and it still lags.
Your screenshot actually confuses me as whenever I see performance dips it's because the server is maxing out a core but yours is not. What is the overall CPU usage for the NS2 server process?
@Kraze^NFo> Juski has a very valid point
@Juski> Got my new signature, thanks!
@Kraze^NFo> Out of context!
@Juski> Doesn't matter!
@Juski> You said I had a valid point! You can't take it back now! It's out there!
Server running as high priority? Also one thing you may try is limiting affinities. I know this goes against what I said above but in some specific cases this can help make performance a bit more constant. Try setting the server to use two cores.
@Kraze^NFo> Juski has a very valid point
@Juski> Got my new signature, thanks!
@Kraze^NFo> Out of context!
@Juski> Doesn't matter!
@Juski> You said I had a valid point! You can't take it back now! It's out there!
I do not have server running as high priority. I have not set any affinities, but will. I have it set to 18 slots, has been full for a while. Installed on the SSD drive. Already had SSD space for my B3 bots. Server seems to be running much smoother. I can not monitor the stats as I did, from my control panel. However, this does show some interesting stats. There are still some tickrate dips, but nothing like it was. I really think that web interface is causing issues.
The drops down to zero there can be ignored on that graph, it appears to do that for all servers. Setting high priority can decrease fluctuations in the tickrate so it could make it a bit more stable.
Setting the affinity on the server did provide a bit more stabilization in the tickrate but it wasn't dramatic. I imagine since NS2 only has two main threads setting it to 2 helped keep it consistent when Windows was throwing it around.
@Kraze^NFo> Juski has a very valid point
@Juski> Got my new signature, thanks!
@Kraze^NFo> Out of context!
@Juski> Doesn't matter!
@Juski> You said I had a valid point! You can't take it back now! It's out there!
I just installed and setup Shine admin mod, as I have no other way to admin the server. Servers seems to run pretty good now. That web chart shows an average of 22 ticks at 18 players. I guess all in all, not too bad. So my setup currently is.
Installed on SSD drive
High CPU priority
Affinity set to 2 cores
Web interface disabled
Slot count at 18
Mods: NS2Stats, Shine admin mod
