BF4 Server Crash thoughts

[Cableguy619]

Has anyone else noticed when your server goes down due to a mass server dump and you look at procon the client never disconnected nor did the actual procon server?

I would assume this to be the EA stream/PB/Server losing communication causing the mass dump?

NFO any thoughts or anyone else?

[markym]

I've been noticing that our server crashes more often starting late at night and this is also evident on our server use graph. We had about a 6 hour run from 3pm PST to about 9pm PST and then the server started crashing every other map. So we would have about one hour of up time and then go down. It also pretty much always crashing when the server slots are full at 64 players.

Looking at my server graph this has been the pattern for the past two days with better up time during the day and then hourly crashes from 8:30pm on into midnight. By then we have lost all our players who have moved on or are tired of the constant crashes. I've had some players tell me there are servers they play on that don't crash at all but I don't know if that's true or not.

Meantime, there are maps with significant sound issues where sound is clipping in and out and others were when some of the Levolution kicks in it lags the server heavily. Here's my list of maps with significant issues.

MP_Damage -- sound clipping in and out
MP_Journey -- sound clipping in and out
MP_Resort -- lags the server heavily when the hotel starts coming down
MP_Siege -- when the skyscraper comes down, half the server gets disconnected -- this was the beta map and that never happened during the beta. I have removed this map from our rotation.

The real issue here is crashes, sound issues and other game issues really hurt the community we are trying to build as most players are blaming this on the server being crappy (which we know NFO runs the best servers) and they then decided they won't play on our server anymore and start avoiding our server to play somewhere else. Building a community of gamers is hard enough these days, and having server crashes and all the other issues noted just ruins a clans reputation. Again most players don't understand it's a PB issue or an EA/DICE server code issue. Gamers just want to play the game and rank up and they expect servers to run without hiccups. I don't know if EA understands this.

My request -- EA needs to put out a message to the entire BF community and own up to this issue being theirs and not the fault of the gaming community running servers. I'm going to post this message in the BF4 fourms as well. I've been running gaming servers for my clan for 7 years now so I do have an understanding of the community and it's expectations.

[eruffini]

I've been noticing that our server crashes more often starting late at night and this is also evident on our server use graph. We had about a 6 hour run from 3pm PST to about 9pm PST and then the server started crashing every other map. So we would have about one hour of up time and then go down. It also pretty much always crashing when the server slots are full at 64 players.

Looking at my server graph this has been the pattern for the past two days with better up time during the day and then hourly crashes from 8:30pm on into midnight. By then we have lost all our players who have moved on or are tired of the constant crashes. I've had some players tell me there are servers they play on that don't crash at all but I don't know if that's true or not.

Meantime, there are maps with significant sound issues where sound is clipping in and out and others were when some of the Levolution kicks in it lags the server heavily. Here's my list of maps with significant issues.

MP_Damage -- sound clipping in and out
MP_Journey -- sound clipping in and out
MP_Resort -- lags the server heavily when the hotel starts coming down
MP_Siege -- when the skyscraper comes down, half the server gets disconnected -- this was the beta map and that never happened during the beta. I have removed this map from our rotation.

The real issue here is crashes, sound issues and other game issues really hurt the community we are trying to build as most players are blaming this on the server being crappy (which we know NFO runs the best servers) and they then decided they won't play on our server anymore and start avoiding our server to play somewhere else. Building a community of gamers is hard enough these days, and having server crashes and all the other issues noted just ruins a clans reputation. Again most players don't understand it's a PB issue or an EA/DICE server code issue. Gamers just want to play the game and rank up and they expect servers to run without hiccups. I don't know if EA understands this.

My request -- EA needs to put out a message to the entire BF community and own up to this issue being theirs and not the fault of the gaming community running servers. I'm going to post this message in the BF4 fourms as well. I've been running gaming servers for my clan for 7 years now so I do have an understanding of the community and it's expectations.

Marky,

I am in the same exact position as you. Those four maps are having the same problems for me, and I removed Siege completely. I believe Lockers also crashes clients so I have removed that map out of my rotation as well.

It takes a good 6 or 8 seed players for people to start rejoining my server and it's getting annoying with the crashes. After four to six hours there will be a crash and it will take almost an hour to refill the server. Thankfully some of the players did favorite the server and I am starting to see regulars but it still sucks nonetheless.

Our 64-player server, with high-CPU priority has been running great when it isn't crashed. No lag, very little evidence of rubber banding as well - but the crashes kill it

[wihgaming]

you know... now that I think about it, my server also crashes much much more often in the evenings than during the day. Is it possible that the amount of players online is overloading some back-end server at EA?

[SFLUFAN]

you know... now that I think about it, my server also crashes much much more often in the evenings than during the day. Is it possible that the amount of players online is overloading some back-end server at EA?

It's more than likely a combination of issues with the server code that's been installed on the GSP boxes and back-end issues at EA/DICE.

[markym]

you know... now that I think about it, my server also crashes much much more often in the evenings than during the day. Is it possible that the amount of players online is overloading some back-end server at EA?

It's more than likely a combination of issues with the server code that's been installed on the GSP boxes and back-end issues at EA/DICE.

I agree here and thanks guys for posting -- at least it makes me feel better to talk about this with others having the same problems. I sent my earlier post to EA HQ forums with some minor edits. I don't know if it will make any difference but I wanted them to hear about this. Here's the link to that post if you want to add your own comments.

http://answers.ea.com/t5/Battlefield-4/ ... 5#U1758635

[SFLUFAN]

The face of the matter is that these issues are impacting ALL GSPs, not just NFO.

It's a systemic problem in the server code itself.

[markym]

The face of the matter is that these issues are impacting ALL GSPs, not just NFO.

It's a systemic problem in the server code itself.

Indeed it is ...and that's why EA/Dice needs to put up a post that this is a problem that is theirs and not a RSP or gaming servers fault. Most players blame the server for everything including hit detection and most players don't even realize this game is client side hit detection as well.

Hoping we see a fix today for server crashes ...and praying too!

[eruffini]

The face of the matter is that these issues are impacting ALL GSPs, not just NFO.

It's a systemic problem in the server code itself.

Indeed it is ...and that's why EA/Dice needs to put up a post that this is a problem that is theirs and not a RSP or gaming servers fault. Most players blame the server for everything including hit detection and most players don't even realize this game is client side hit detection as well.

Hoping we see a fix today for server crashes ...and praying too!

+1 to NFO here. They've been uber helpful and responsive, even if DICE really haven't.

[Cableguy619]

930 PST crash for anyone else?

[underclocked]

We have also noticed more stuttering/crashes in the evening hours, but definitely better since the R4 patch. Only 1 hard crash last night.


Regarding siege working OK in beta, I think it has to do with the addition of more physics-based being added. You'll notice a huge wave rip through the water when the building comes down.

R5 today, anyone?