TF2 on 1 vCore VDS - Best configuration and what is reasonab

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zoomer4321
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Re: TF2 on 1 vCore VDS - Best configuration and what is reas

Post by zoomer4321 »

Edge,
Ohnoes replied to the previous ticket to let you know you can convert the current machine to one that will support a managed linux install.
Is this sufficient or should we open a second ticket?
Z
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Re: TF2 on 1 vCore VDS - Best configuration and what is reas

Post by Edge100x »

That will work just fine.
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Re: TF2 on 1 vCore VDS - Best configuration and what is reas

Post by zoomer4321 »

Well the news isn't good. We test drove the managed 2 vCPU linux install. We ran as bare as possible, no metamod/sourcemod, turned off logging, no stats, disabled STV at the base 250 fps.

First I threw in 32 bots on dustbowl. At the start of the round the FPS went down to < 10 for significant periods.

Thinking that bots may trade network overhead for CPU overhead due to the AI calculations, we asked/begged people to join (we don’t like to annoy our regulars). FPS was stable until about 12 players. Then it goes wild but stayed above 66 until we get to over 24 players. At about 30-31 players, the average ticks/command rate from the server was below 66 long enough to be felt in game with hiccups/minor warping/lag.

So, it's got to be one of the following:
- At max players, there are simply too many calculations to be done within one ticks time so the next tick is missed. The only correction for this would seem to be a faster CPU or getting the game server to use multiple threads (which I'm not sure is possible).
- Xen is somehow interfering with CPU throughput or scheduling.
- Valve broke something in the engine.

If the ticks are requiring more CPU processing than is available, the real question is why isn't the CPU maxing at 100% on one of the cores?

Edge, is there anything you can think of that we could test or you can analyze on your side either from the collected statistics or during a load test?
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Re: TF2 on 1 vCore VDS - Best configuration and what is reas

Post by rlm850 »

I'm setting up a TF2 server right now with no mods running (unless you want to send me yours so we can test them). I really don't see how it's possible the FPS can drop that much, let alone that low.

It's downloading right now at 20%, should be done in 3 minutes.
I can tell you I don't care about the server, as I'm using it as a test server for you, so fuck around with whatever you want on it, honestly. Being there's no way of contacting you directly from the forums without asking you first, I'm just going to say this. The RCON password is the LAST word in your FIRST post.

IP will be: 64.74.97.229:27020

61% now. I'm on IRC if you need my go on when it's ready. (If you're on any time soon)
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Re: TF2 on 1 vCore VDS - Best configuration and what is reas

Post by rlm850 »

Didn't want to post again, but I have to.

1) it's not on port 27020, it's on port 27021. I have 27020 in use. So 69.74.97.229:27021

2) This is without a doubt an issue on VALVe's end. My FPS is dropping like mad even without players in the server.

10:20:57 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
0.00 0.00 0.00 1 0 395.39 0
10:20:57 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
0.00 0.00 0.00 1 0 507.79 0
10:20:58 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
0.00 0.00 0.00 1 0 299.62 0
10:20:58 CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
0.00 0.00 0.00 1 0 389.71 0
zoomer4321
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Re: TF2 on 1 vCore VDS - Best configuration and what is reas

Post by zoomer4321 »

Rlm,

We've seen that behavior too. Even on an empty server, the FPS will vary. I'm not so concerned about that. The problem is as more people jump in, the FPS will get even more crazy. Eventually, like around 20-26 players the FPS will start to briefly drop below 66 and you may "feel it" in game. At max players (32), it's likely that the FPS will drop low enough to reduce the average ticks the server sends and lag is likely to occur.

I'm at work now and for some odd reason they don't let us install games here! So I'll try to hammer your (much appreciated) test server later like 7pm EST if it's still available.

However, it's easy to stress the server to the breaking point with bots. Hop on to the test server make sure you have net_graph up and rcon these:
changelevel cp_dustbowl
tf_bot_add 30
commands to spin up DB with 30 bots.

Then wait until the round starts and the bots start to battle. You will likely see the server FPS in the range BELOW 10fps.

Now, it's not an absolutely fair test in that bots require some extra CPU for the AI (but I doubt it's very much) and it's somewhat unusual to have 30+ players alive and interacting with each other (but it can happen)

If you want to contact me directly then my email provider is comcast at the TLD name net and my mail box is anon4321. I'm sure you can figure out how to build my e-mail address.

Thanks for your help.
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Re: TF2 on 1 vCore VDS - Best configuration and what is reas

Post by rlm850 »

Just pop me a message on IRC and I'll start it up 8) TF2 hogs my VDS more than all three of the servers I'm running.
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Re: TF2 on 1 vCore VDS - Best configuration and what is reas

Post by Edge100x »

Bots can't be used to measure server performance, because they massively drain CPU power. Seeing huge FPS drops with bots is expected on any hardware or configuration.

zoomer, I'd have to watch the server when it has the players in it and is dipping to get a good idea of what might be going on.
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Re: TF2 on 1 vCore VDS - Best configuration and what is reas

Post by zoomer4321 »

At 9:20ET on the real hardware with 28 players no addins/plugs at the start of dustbowl, FPS dropped to below 40fps for a noticeable time.
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Re: TF2 on 1 vCore VDS - Best configuration and what is reas

Post by zoomer4321 »

CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
0.00 89442.44 347753.22 520 6 41.66 31
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Re: TF2 on 1 vCore VDS - Best configuration and what is reas

Post by zoomer4321 »

CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
0.00 88013.20 586440.31 524 6 62.50 32
CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
0.00 97701.35 478376.31 524 6 250.19 32
CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
0.00 97992.55 477503.44 524 6 83.33 32
CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
0.00 94651.30 478020.41 524 6 83.33 32
CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
0.00 93871.24 515996.03 524 6 83.33 32
CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
0.00 94807.26 508655.44 524 6 50.00 32
CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
.00 97710.32 497212.44 525 6 62.50 32
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Re: TF2 on 1 vCore VDS - Best configuration and what is reas

Post by ohnoes »

It was dropping a lot lower than what zoomer posted there... at one point I just randomly sent an 'rcon stats' and it said 25 fps.

We disabled SourceTV and kick it as well... and completely disabled it in the control panel, but the fps drops still occurred when we were reaching upper 20s in player numbers.

We had a few hitches tonight, and a very noticeable registration issue at times.

I personally saw, using the in-game netgraph, the fps drop so low that it turned yellow several times.
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Re: TF2 on 1 vCore VDS - Best configuration and what is reas

Post by Edge100x »

It sounds like we're looking at issues in the game itself, in that case, since I have you on a very fast machine in NYC, you have your own core, FPS locker, highly tweaked, and so on. But, we can try you on a bare hardware Windows machine as well, if you'd like.
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Re: TF2 on 1 vCore VDS - Best configuration and what is reas

Post by zoomer4321 »

Edge,

After researching all this, it is apparent that the code is just too heavy for max players. We appreciate all the help with various hardware.

At this point we need to get the account back to what we are going to pay for.

We would like convert the existing account to:
- A two core managed linux game server in NY with a web server "lite". The total for this would seem to be 67.98/mo
- Preferably, due to our experiences, we would like to be located on a host with the highest clock speed available.
- As we will run hlstats under the managed plan, we would like to move/import the database on our web host to the managed plan's stats web host. Is this possible?

Thanks in advance.
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Re: TF2 on 1 vCore VDS - Best configuration and what is reas

Post by Edge100x »

zoomer4321 wrote:We would like convert the existing account to:
- A two core managed linux game server in NY with a web server "lite". The total for this would seem to be 67.98/mo
That's not a problem. A change order request should do this for you, but I'll take a closer look to make sure and respond to your support request.
- Preferably, due to our experiences, we would like to be located on a host with the highest clock speed available.
I believe that the last machine that I had you on there was the fastest possible. I will double-check on this for you also.
- As we will run hlstats under the managed plan, we would like to move/import the database on our web host to the managed plan's stats web host. Is this possible?
This should be possible. Our HLStatsX installs come with full FTP access, so you could replace the files on disk, and use a program like PHPMyAdmin from your webhosting plan to import the database. In doing this, you'd also need to update the passwords/log sources/logging port. If it doesn't work afterward, I could take a closer look for you to help you find the problem.
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