PIII/800 mhz with 320mb RAM as Server ???

[hornile 0]

A friend of mine plans to use his old PC as a Server for our flashpoint sessions (up to 8 people). At the moment OFP-server is running on my PC while playing (P IV 3.0Ghz, 1024mb RAM) and I can't see any lag. So does make sense at all to use the PIII ? I doubt it, I guess it will be more laggish then...

What do you guys (and girls) think about this ?

[HitmanFF 6]

It largely depends on the type of missions (number of objects like vehicles, AI etc) and the amount of addons used in them.

If you play 4 vs 4 CTFs/C&Hs and small coops, the PIII should hold just fine. If you plan to play CTIs with lots of AI, you will experience lag quite soon into the game.

[cain2001 0]

I used a 1000mhz 384SDRAM computer as a server for fdf cti. We played 3 guys and they server FPS never went below 7. (server fps sucks yah, but 7 is good for cti)

So we had no lag and such.

[Odin -AEF-Kampa- 0]

3 Guys arent very much !

We play:

7vs7 + Max.8 person at every group

|| 7x7+7x7

|| 49 + 49 = 98 AI + Full Resistance AI

I dont you will have lag as hell !

[RN Malboeuf 12]

a rule of thumb, is about 2-10 mhz will get used for CTI, as the more AI are created the less mhz that are availble

also as time progresses, or the more scripts are run, more mhz will be diverted from the AI

in CTFs, you should be fine for 30 min stints, you may even be able to handle 8v8 CTFs

but that server wont even beable to handle CTIs, the more AI that get created, the more dysync it will get (prob 200 or so, and RES starts with about 260)

in CO-OPs as long as you stay with about 4-8 players, it should handle 100 AI with out much problems

there's no harm in testing the 800, just make sure his line has atleast 30-100kb out per conected player (CTI uses about 85 kbs per player, CO-OPs are about 20-60 kbs, CFTs about 10-40 kbs)

[sneakysix 0]

Intersting as Ive got an old 1ghz PIII doing nothing but gather dust, Id love to set up a server to play coops with a few mates.  The problem is the know how?  

A) Do I Install Operation Flashpoint and all the addons I want on the server PC??

B) Set up a standalone server using 1.96a download?

C) Do I need to split my broadband connection to go into 2 P.C's or will I need a new line into the house to run 2 Pc's online??  If the later than theres no way I can afford it

EDITED,: Thx for info below

[shinRaiden 0]

900mhz Athlon with 512mb DDR2100 running Gentoo. Not the greatest compiler ever invented, but it's fine for the home 2 client lan games or MP dev testing.

[crashdome 3]

Intersting as Ive got an old 1ghz PIII doing nothing but gather dust, Id love to set up a server to play coops with a few mates.  The problem is the know how?  

A) Do I Install Operation Flashpoint and all the addons I want on the server PC??

B) Set up a standalone server using 1.96a download?

C) Do I need to split my broadband connection to go into 2 P.C's or will I need a new line into the house to run 2 Pc's online??  If the later than theres no way I can afford it

You will need to install OFP and Resistance, then apply the standalone server as directed. The server will also need the appropriate add-ons for the missions.

To get two PCs online all you need is to purchase a router capable of port-forwarding. Generally they can run about $30 and up. There are other ways, but this is the easiest and most stable way. Also, if you are going to LAN, make sure you buy a router with enough ports to connect the max number of computers (i.e. a 4-port router will connect three clients and a dedicated server)

There are many threads on how to setup your router and getting a dedicated server set-up too.

[Artak 0]

lotech rules!

At the moment I've got a PIII @650MHz with 192Mb of 100MHz SDRAM running some no-addons missions and MFCTI 1.16 coop missions. The comp even has an ancient 2Gb HDD, which makes terrible noises and is slower than most snails I've seen. The OS is Win98 (with no updates), because that's the only thing I could fit in there with Flashpoint!

Running smooth.. (ok, so the win98 sometimes crashes..)

I've even run a dedicated with as slow as a Pentium Pro @200MHz and 64Mb of who-knows-what-memory (SIM chips). Had no problem with the standard BIS MP missions.. never tried anything like the FDF, because it ran out of HDD space too.

Anyway, the point is, go crazy. Experiment. Better a small server than no server at all. It doesn't have to be 50 vs. 50. Many people enjoy small coops too.

[Garcia 0]

small coop = good coop Anyway...I've been having fun on Artaks server with playing CTI...it works perfectly (except the crashes caused by win98). Only lag I've had is because of the old driver I have to use since OFP crashes with the newer FX drivers

[x582gr51 0]

A server being a PIII is not the whorst thing here.

But the 320meg RAM is not enough  min 1024

About your HD's (in the case you have more than one hopefully) it need least 2 of them as master and on different IDE channels 1- containt the OS 2-Applications. It make the reading faster

About the OS you can run Xp no probs but windows abuse of a swap file wich you sadly can't disable. But you can set this sawp file named pagefile in windows systems to a partition on the second hd. Leave least 200meg of freespace on the partition you installed windows.

Windows use services that you no need at all but they are running by default  they take precious cpu time.

This site can help you through this part  http://www.blackviper.com/index.html  

About the beast explorer.exe wich take 50 meg ram on his own while not being used. Make explorer.exe your priority target and disable it.

Also dont run your desktop at 32 bit and all these kind of settings.

Don't install or enable sound card drivers.

Disable all onboard sound and network and video if possible.

Use a network card with a processor on it to save cpu time

A powersupply with least 150 WATTS more than the min required for your motherboard would also help a lot.

And try to use missions that delete dead units and create units at the moment they are wanted.

Forget about dogfights with many planes and huge battlefields with lot of tanks.

Winter islands are not for you for some reason then tend to lag on low spec pc's.

Don't have a TeamSpeak server or an OFPWATCH server on your OFP dedicated.

If this computer is in your basement then check your max upload speed cuz the min required to serve a decent ofp gaming session is 1500Kbps. The download part usualy is not an issue but 1500Kbps is also the min required.

oh and if you are not using this computer for anything else than serving ofp then logout of your user or admin account.

one more thing is the energy saving settings change them so your disk are never in hibernation same for the powersupply.

it's about all i can think for now on how to take the maximum of say: "Old crap"

When i test my missions i use a dual PII 400MHz 512 meg ram. Some of these missions s have addons and many external scripts running with arrays plus a few large very triggers also spawnpoints where ai's are created in infinite loop (until a player reach the trigger that exit the loop) all runnig fine. I get arround 10FPS. It's still playable.

[KaRRiLLioN 0]

You should be able to run most missions OK unless they have a lot of AI. Fat_Tony's suggestions will help you the most in this. I'd say for most player vs. player missions with few AI you'll be ok, and also for smaller coops.