We've added initial support for s&box to the game server order page (order a s&box server).

This game is very simple on the server side. Its dedicated server just takes a few options, including the gametype/map (which it then downloads and loads) and a hostname. It is currently set up to proxy traffic through Valve's Steam Datagram Relay (SDR) network, so clients can't connect directly to the server by IP address and instead have to connect through that. (The SDR is a proxy service that we have excellent connectivity to, so latencies should be low, but perhaps not quite as good as our regular services because it depends on Valve's connectivity to the various ISPs, as well as Valve's internal network.)

s&box doesn't support IP binding, but we have a proprietary internal workaround for this that fixes it, and customers will still receive a dedicated IP address for each server.

s&box doesn't appear to have rcon support initially. We are looking into other possible solutions to allow server administration. If you find a particular customization that works well and might help other customers, please let us know!

Run your own AI chatbot here at NFO with our new AI chatbot service: https://www.nfoservers.com/order-ai-chatbot.php

Complete privacy. No extra usage or API fees. No ads. Unlimited users and usage. We handle all the setup and maintenance, including your own secure website. Introductory 25% off sale for a limited time!

Check it out here: https://www.nfoservers.com/order-vpn.php

There are many advantages over using an ordinary shared VPN, such as that:

• It's truly personal -- no other users share the same VPN or have access to your unencrypted data. There's no logging (and you can even personally audit that, because you have full root access to the OS!)
  
• We have a full Firewall page allowing custom rules (you can block attacks, block other access to it, etc.)
  
• Other applications can be run on the same VDS (such as a webserver, voice server, game server, etc.)
  
• Since we use dedicated IP addresses, ports can be forwarded and services hosted on the VPN client side
  
• Performance is at the highest level (low latency and high throughput)
  

These use our VDS infrastructure and automatically support both IPv4 and IPv6. We do all the setup and maintenance, and we provide a VPN control panel page with login information (including WireGuard codes), custom port-forwarding options, and the ability to turn on Pi-hole to block many ads.

We've created a new template system for VDSes, allowing systems to be configured through a script as part of a wipe!

We have a few default templates, including a much-requested personal VPN setup (providing a preconfigured VPN with WireGuard/OpenVPN and a control panel page for setting up forwards and accounts) and a private AI chatbot (acting like the paid ones, but with no external tracking, no daily limits, no charges for extra users, etc).

Customers can also create their own templates through a page in the user accounts section, and we've made a new forums section for sharing/discussing them

The feature is in beta as we continue to test. If you have a VDS that isn't currently in use, please consider experimenting and sending us feedback!

We've launched a new sale to celebrate the completion of our move to a new physical datacenter in Chicago, with a sale on dedicated machines and VDSes at all locations!

• Intel E3-1270v3 / E3-1271v3 / E3-1270v5 / E3-1275v6 / E-2186G bare-metal machines are $15/mo off
  
• Intel E-2286G / E-2288G bare-metal machines are $30/mo off
  
• Intel W-1290P / E-2488 / 6369P and AMD 5950X bare-metal machines are $30/mo off
  
• New VDSes are 30% off the base price.
  
• Existing customers can also take advantage of the 30% off when upgrading to a package that has the same value as their current one (or more) -- upgrade for free!
  

We've made some additional kernel tweaks and updates to our FPS Locker system, which benefits all managed/standalone game servers that we host on Linux and most noticeably games that run at high tickrates (such as our "ultraaccelerated" CS 1.6/DoD/TFC servers). The result is lower CPU usage and more stable FPS -- now within +/- 5 FPS at all times on most 1000 FPS servers. Take this output from a busy DoD server just now, for instance:

>stats
CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
0.00 206.58 425.95 935 284 1000.76 20
>stats
CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
0.00 214.83 455.38 935 285 1000.64 21
>stats
CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
0.00 265.96 589.30 935 285 999.71 21
>stats
CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
0.00 279.30 623.89 935 285 1000.45 21
>stats
CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
0.00 245.30 537.36 935 285 1001.19 21
>stats
CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
0.00 257.21 564.78 935 285 1003.00 21
>stats
CPU In Out Uptime Users FPS Players
0.00 254.38 557.05 935 285 1001.62 21

(Numbers will be a bit more variable on VDSes than bare hardware, since their emulated timers aren't quite as precise and there's more multitasking going on with other customers.)

Give it a try for yourself and let us know what you see!

We added a new location recently called "Proxied Chicago" which is available for certain game types and causes fast query responses to go out to players from every location. Some GSPs call this "anycast". We talk more about in a FAQ entry.

The location is still in beta and performance will improve over time as we make tweaks and adjust our upstream blends to be more uniform across locations.

If you have the chance, please give it a try and let us know how it works for you! Standalone game servers can be ordered, and managed game server customers in Chicago can order up to two servers per VDS/machine during this beta.

A new sale for both new and existing customers!

- 4+ core VDSes get 20% off the base price. No coupon code required -- this is applied through the order page automatically! This applies to both new servers and upgraded ones.

- Want to upgrade your dedicated machine (and keep your IPs) but don't like the thought of paying the one-time fee again? For anyone with a dedicated machine wishing to upgrade to a higher-value package, we will waive the "Reduce the monthly rate with one-time payment" amount, up to what was paid on the current server. Now's the best time to nab a faster machine! (Just order the new machine without paying, then contact us, and we'll adjust the amounts.)

We've marked down new E3-1270v5 and E3-1275v6 dedicated machines by $20 and most new E-2186G+ machines by $30! This makes an E3-1270v5 as low as 79.99/mo and an E-2186G (with its much beefier processor and 50% more cores) as low as 129.99/mo. The best value might be the E-2288G, with even more cores and faster cores, for as low as 159.99/mo.

Now is also the perfect time to test-drive a new VDS or game server -- with coupon code JOMREP, they are 50% off for the first month!

(When you're passing this along to others, don't forget our about our new affiliate program, too -- it can be combined with coupons.)

We've added Intel's recently-launched 6369P processor as an option now to our dedi order page, starting with US locations that don't have a spare E-2488 available. It is slightly faster than an E-2488, with a 3.3GHz base spec and 5.3GHz all-core turbo (that's 0.1GHz higher for both than the E-2488). Both the E-2488 and 6369P use the same generation of silicon (Raptor Lake) and have the same RAM, motherboard, and other specs.