Awesome! Nice to have more 24/7 servers.

Unfortunately, FL and its server program do not support dual CPUs.

Considering you have a large internet pipe and a lowish mid-range CPU, i say around...20-30ppl. Not really sure about player limit.

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FL doesn't support dual CPUs? I guess I had figured it did since Elite has dual 1.3s as well. You might want to look into overclocking those 1.3s a bit, maybe to 1.4 or 1.5, should help a little and it shouldn't generate too much extra heat.

EB, I have been wondering myself about the dual processor thing. I'm like you, I remember seeing something about it, but I'll be darned if I can find anything official. Do you remember where it is mentioned? I've looked through all the places I can, no luck. Can you see if you can find anything official please?

Based on some tests I've tried on Elite - setting the affinity of the flserver process to only one proc, and having the CPU usage of that single proc double - I believe that it is actually using both processors.

>>BTW, the Elite server is running Windows 2000 Advanced Server.

I'd love to hear the official word on this.

Edited by - akataka on 20-02-2003 21:07:57

I asked the dev team at DA. They said they wouldnt do it. I dont remember the reason why exactly.

I though the same thing with bf1942 it seems to split the work between the 2 cpus, and when you set affinity to one or the other the work % doubles, BUT when you tried to join the 1942 server, it would kick you and restart itself frequently, i believe it was competiting with itself for port 14567 (default port) so that no one could connect. If you have a server running dual cpus, and both cpus are running ded server, and people are playing on it thats a good indication its using both cpus CORRECTLY. unlike 1942

Ok then the question is whats a better setup, the dual 1.3 512 pc2100 ddr, or a single 1700 or 1800+ unlocked on an older kt133 512 pc133 board? for being able to hold more people.

And again if people are running dual cpu servers stably and without lag, maybe xp by default is using both cpus correctly. despite what DA says

or would more ddr ram in the dual cpu board be better? hell if it would help i could put my current 1800 in it, get a second one, and buy my gaming machine a barton

Im gonna give a few friends of mine a poke at my ISP maybe someone can be done



Fluffle Master..

Are there any GOOD bandwidth tests that would realistically test bandwidth for gaming, as opposed to just BURST top speed tests? Or should i just gradually tweak player limit once i get my server up until it lags?

None I'm aware of that are public domain

*edit* my bf 1942 server can handle 32 people on one cpu, and 16 on the other cpu, if i put 250-300 ping limit on it doesnt lag on either server without ping limit having that many players on gets laggy, i believe because of bandwidth rather than cpu power.

Is it possible hypothetically speaking, to bridge 2 10/100 connections to that computer? Lets say i put in a second network card and using windows xp, bridge the 2 connections, (im unfamiliar with how bridging works though) would that in THEORY double my bandwidth? Remember im on an edu connection so i can just plug ethernet cable into wall and get a new dedicated ip since its a totally independent connection.

Yes, this is done all the time. Doubling the pipeline. You see this a lot from different levels of ISDN on the way to the comp and servers can be build with double pipe out.

Is there going to be any kind of dynamic control over server settings? or will i have to reboot server every time i want to increase player limit or decrease it? that would suck if i had to take it down just to change small settings like that

You can not change overall parameters like that on the fly, reboot of the server is needed and that takes all of 20 seconds

*second edit* will there even be a setting to limit pings ie kick laggers or ban them (or kick ban control to begin with? god i hope so

kicking and banning are definte options of the server admin

Edit be Stinger - good questions! Email me if you're interest in hosting a server!!


Edited by - Stinger on 21-02-2003 15:24:41

EB, I'm fairly certain they were talking about the client itself, not the dedicates server program, though I can't remember. Are you sure?

Well the best thing to do is just set the server up with fastest CPU you can get! Haveing two CPU's is ok due to it helps with the work load but haveing 2 CPU's at 1200,1400 or whatever well your still running at 1200. So if you have two CPU's that are both 1,200's well your not gaining any speed performance because your still at 1,200. You be better off haveing a one CPU at 2,000 or more than two plus alot less issues. So yes their is some benfits in haveing two but in game servers not that much unless your going to be running one program like FL on one and something else on the other. But still your performance is only going to be as fast as the CPU is so if it a 1200 then that's all you will get!

*i edited posts above that are important so read those too anyone who skips down this far*

Yeah but my dual 1.3 system CRUSHES my overclocked 1800xp in seti which takes advantage of both cpus. my 1800 runs at 8x200fsb 1533-1600 overclock yeah i know not much overclock, but it kills nforce2 for mem bandwidth. But anyway my dual 1.3 finishes a seti unit in a good 3/5 of the time it takes the 1800 to finish a seti unit. The question remains if the server software supports it or not, if it does you get a significant boost in performance.

If it doesnt support it i could try running 2 instances of ded server one per cpu, assuming bandwidth doesnt become a bad issue on my edu connection (and hoping 2 network cards bridged would work)