Dedicated Server Tipps, Tricks and Tweaks

[insomnianshadow 0]

Hey folks,

I recently started to play around with ArmA and got totally caught up in this game.....

Now after experiencing a couple of amazing online multiplayer games I thought it was about time to setup a dedicated server.....

I am quite experienced with all the technical work that goes into setting up and running dedicated Servers since I am an active Modder for years for several game engines, but to my surprise I found out that there aren't really clear and detailed threads on the web about setting up and tweaking ArmA dedicated servers. And since I ran into a couple of strange issues I would like to start this thread here to help myself and all the other admins out there understanding ArmA hosting better...

So here is what I experienced:

My primary goal was to get a dedicated server running stable and reliable at home.....

My internet bandwidth is a 1,5 Mbit down and 1 Mbit upload connection at a very reliable ISP alowing me usually to have really amazing ping values  (regularly below 10 ms) in germany and also very good values worldwide (logically increasing the further away you connect)

I have 5 Computer Systems (due to Mod Development) ranging from a dedicated server only system up to my Gaming Rig which has the latest Hardware installed....

The dedicated server hardware is a 2 Ghz CPU with 1 GB of Ram running XP PRO SP2.....

The server.cfg file I use is:

Quote[/b] ]passwordAdmin = "XXXXXXXX"; // password to protect admin access

password = ""; // password required to connect to server

hostname="5.56mm Full Metal Jacket 1.05";

motd[]=

{

"Welcome to Oneofthe8devilz's ArmA server.",

"Hosted by Oneofthe8devilz",

}; // Welcome message

motdInterval=1;

voteThreshold=0.33; // when one third agrees, this is enough to confirm a vote

reportingIP=""; // private server - no reporting

//  voteMissionPlayers=3; // start voting when 3 players connect

// checkfiles[]={"HWTL\dta\data3d.pbo","dta\data3d.pbo"}; //list of files to check for identity

kickduplicate=1; // do not allow duplicate id

// equalModRequired=1; // require equal mod

MaxMsgSend = 256;

MinBandwidth = 768000;

MaxBandwidth = 1024000;

maxPlayers=15;

The arma_server.exe is launched with the following options: "-config=server.cfg -netlog -port=2302"

The mission I am using for testing is "Evolution 1.1"

Once the Server is started I launch my Client (located in the same LAN) and connect to it (either browsing it over the "INTERNET" or "LAN" browser ingame option)

when typing #monitor I recieve a FPS value of about "20" from the server and the memory Usage starts at about 360 MB and increasing , the bandwidth in and out values are at about 30 Kbps

after a couple of seconds (or minutes) the first users start to join and all seems fine till we get about 8 users...

Suddenly it takes people abnormally long to load and recieve the mission and though ping values, server bandwidth values and FPS values stay normal the upload to a newly joining client gets slowdowned to hell..... Even when I disconnect from the server myself and try to reconnect my mission recieve will take minutes till I can rejoin the mission (keep in mind that I am connected to the server through a 100 MBit uplink... though once rejoined I can play absolutely normal with a good ping value on the server just like everyone else who is connected and playing on the server.....

The bad thing about this is that most users don't have the patience to wait a couple of minutes to join a mission and so they disconnect before being able to join and the player number of the server never exceeds 10 (although I set it up to be able to go up to 16...

I don't think it is a bandwidth issue since I know that ArmA uses per 32 Kbps per client since the output bandwidth of the server with 10 ppl connected (according to #monitor) never exceeds 512 Kbps (and I have 1024 Kbps available)..  I also ran the server on a system 3 times as fast with the same result......

Also a wrong software or hardware setup of the network or server can be excluded since I perfectly run BF2, Doom3, OFP, Ravenshield, SW Battlefront, SplinterCell 3, Quake 3 and alot more other servers with plenty of users without any problems....

I really hope the experienced admins among you might bring light into this case since I really love this game and would like to contribute my part to this community [/b]

-Chris

[PaveQ 0]

Well evolution is one of the most heaviest missions there are, I suggest you try something else. I used 1.8GHz core duo, and got server-side fps down to 10 with that map, 20 players.

[Monkwarrior 0]

Thanks for sharing the info.

I will be setting up one too very soon and will post my results too.

Monk.

[Soviet Spetsnaz 0]

Your CPU is overloaded. It cannot process the information fast enough, which is why the fps drop. My guess on the long load times: the mission stores all the (unnecesary) events (such as information about destroyed entities), with which it updates connecting clients. Simply put, Evolution is one unoptimized resource hog. I've unpacked the pbo and taken a look at the mission. Its literally dotted with waypoints and triggers.

My server specs:

2 Opteron 275

4096MB Ram

10MB/s up/down

OS: WS2003 on VMware

Running Evolution:

Running with 47fps for the first few minutes.

After 15 minutes and several players more: 20 fps

After 2-3 hours: 15-10 fps

After about 4 hours: 0 fps / server comes to a complete halt

[insomnianshadow 0]

Thanks for your replies folks .. last weekend I bought a Core 2 Duo Conroe dedicated server system and got it running at 3 Ghz .... Evolution now runs like a charm

I am about to change the way Evolution 1.1 works since after days of Gameplay I found several issues that have led to problems once you play this mission for several hours.......

Does anyone here know how one could make the server send a colored Welcome Message to the clients on connect ?

Probably sending the message over a Side Channel ? How would I do that ?

Btw the soon optimized Evolution map will be available on my server named "Oot8d's Conroe ArmA Server 1.05"

My other internet-synonyme is "Oneofthe8devilz"

Features so far are:

-Reenabled Grass (No Speed Impact at all and clients can still decide to turn the grass off if needed)

-Reworked respawn system (So vehicles don't get lost throughout the map or become unrepairable)

[killswitch 19]

The server.cfg file I use is:

Quote[/b] ]passwordAdmin = "XXXXXXXX"; // password to protect admin access

password = ""; // password required to connect to server

hostname="5.56mm Full Metal Jacket 1.05";

motd[]=

{

"Welcome to Oneofthe8devilz's ArmA server.",

"Hosted by Oneofthe8devilz",

}; // Welcome message

motdInterval=1;

voteThreshold=0.33; // when one third agrees, this is enough to confirm a vote

reportingIP=""; // private server - no reporting

// voteMissionPlayers=3; // start voting when 3 players connect

// checkfiles[]={"HWTL\dta\data3d.pbo","dta\data3d.pbo"}; //list of files to check for identity

kickduplicate=1; // do not allow duplicate id

// equalModRequired=1; // require equal mod

<span style='color:red'>MaxMsgSend = 256;

MinBandwidth = 768000;

MaxBandwidth = 1024000;</span>

maxPlayers=15;

Hello insomnianshadow! A word of advice - just like in OFP, the settings marked in red above will do precisely nothing for ArmA if placed in that file. The proper place for those tuning parameters is in the main ArmA configuration, ArmA.cfg. (For OFP, it was "flashpoint.cfg")

See here: ArmA: dedicated server

Good luck tuning your new server!

[insomnianshadow 0]

@Killswitch.... Thanks alot for pointing that out to me .. this actually could explain alot of the behaviour I am witnessing...

By the way .. is there any information on the net about exactly how much bandwidth is used up per Client in Kbps for an Armed Assault Server ?

[mcpxxl 2]

Here is a part of my BUG-Tracker question about Settings etc.

Quote[/b] ]Soldiers and Vehicles are interpolating (teleporting 1- 5 Meters )to much at distance (more then 10 Meters).

Is there a chance to get more information about the Server params ?

I would like to have a complete sample for understanding the values here or in BIKI

As sample all parameter for a Server with 2Mbit up/down this would help very much i think.

So more people vote so faster we get a Solution ;-)

Here is the Link