Dedicated GOTY Server Lags every 5 seconds
Hi. I just set up a dedicated server for UT GOTY. I put it on the same laptop I used 5 years ago where it ran great, and everything seems fine. The server shows up on the internet and can be accessed for game play. However, whether I play on the internet, or on the LAN, I experience a several second lag every 5 seconds or so. It's kind of like 5 seconds okay, then 5 seconds of lag where the player can't move. The bots all exhibit repetitive runs over their areas. By the way, I disabled Norton's firewall and use the Windows firewall with the appropriate ports allowed, which is exactly what I did a few years ago. Since this lag also shows up on the LAN, I'm assuming it's the server setup on the laptop. Has anyone else experienced this problem? I'm thinking it's a setting somewhere within the server options, but I don't have a clue what it might be. Thanks for any advice you can give me.
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Please post OS, service pack and internet connection method. [I.E. wifi lan to cable modem].
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try adjusting this section in the .ini
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[IpDrv.TcpNetDriver] Do a broadband speedtest here , take note of your UPLOAD BANDWIDTH and perhaps read through this webpage for more info A Server Depends more-so on your UPLOAD speed then download. <=512kb upload is good for a 6 player match @ maxclient rate of about 7500. *Failing these things , have you tried a stock standard server .ini?... Rename your ut.ini to ut.ini.bak and run again... & see if there is a difference. if there is , then you have a Server Packages/Actors conflict problem of some sort *Another point worth mentioning , is OpenGl Drivers or these ones, as they tend to have this (pause every 30-60sec's) effect on game play. As for Bot's doing the Loop-D-Loop Around the Right-Hand-Side stairs on DM-Deck16][. (Well!,we all get that.... ahh most (-) a select few :P), put it down to bad bot pathing (that one) *Finally your Laptop may be in what is known as 'Depressed mode' (My Term for Overheated Lappy's) due to build up of Dust molecules in the Ventilation Shafts.. heh.With a PC you can just whip out your vaccy and give it a a good erm.. sucking... including disassembling your Graphics card and giving that a good go as well!?! Asia & Blanch on my mind....still... >Using a utility such as SpeedFan will assist in sorting these issues out (or at least acknowledging that there is a over-heating problem). Apart from that there could be several other factors , such as other Server based software utilising the bandwidth , the likes of a Apache server (see services) - RAM (the lack of) - NEW VISTA (Crap) OS or Windows 7? - A VIRUS or other Dodgy Application that is chewing up your CPU/BandWidth (see task manager) hopefully , this will help in resolving your issues... or enlighten you (as well as other's) to causes of such things. :cool: |
Unless his laptop is connecting via WiFi, as asked, then his internet connection wouldn't have anything to do with his lag, since he says he experiences the same behavior when he plays on the server through the Local Area Network.
I am leaning more towards a video drive issue, as you mentioned. Although his bots wouldn't experience that behavior either. |
NetServerMaxTickRate=40
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to tick or not to tick?
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Actually I use 35 for both & 10000 for MaxClientRate. But then you need external mod's Such as TNSe's TickFix. etc. or get Ownd by nubnub with his overpowered MiniGun... which ever the case may be. :eek: |
Sorry. I should have posted the relevant information in the first post. This is an older Sony laptop. OS is Windows XP SP3. AMD Athlon 1GZ and 512 MB Ram, 20GB HDD, with 10GB free. This laptop only has 8mb of video ram, but it worked fine with this UT GOTY server before. I am on WIFI, with a D-Link router. The setup is exactly the same as 5 years ago, and I have the laptop in the exact same spot and distance from the router as before. But I will try your suggestions and let you know what works. Thanks for all the responses.
I did the broadband speed test: Download: 12.97mb/sec Upload: 2.66mb/sec Ping 29ms Task Manager doesn't show any unusual activity. Max Client rate was set at 20,000. In steps I took it all the way down to 5500. Didn't help. Netservermaxtickrate was set at 20. I changed it to 40. Didn't help. Just for jollies, I turned the game speed down to 70. Also didn't help. Much as I hate to to do it, I may reinstall everything and see if it helps. |
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Ok, enough generalities. Can I assume you are running the server "Non-Dedicated"? That is - You see the game on the laptop screen. If this is so, please try running the game in Dedicated mode. [It will reduce itself to an Icon on the system tray] You will need to have someone else test for lag and report back to you. You could also try raising the priority of the Unrealtournament.exe task one notch to "Above Normal" using the Task Manager interface. Try this in both Dedicated and Non-Dedicated modes. You could try the "Tick-Fix" mod, but I doubt it will do anything about your problem. Note: Be sure to remove it if it doesn't help. Please report those answers. One other thing.... Please look for things running in the background. IM tools, Magic Jack, email, stuff like that. Turn all that stuff off while serving the game. I find it suspicious that TaskManager shows no other tasks taking CPU cycles from the game every 5 seconds. Note: In Dedicated mode the game will not take 100% of available CPU unless many players are in. |
Hi. I've been running it in dedicated mode off the laptop and accessing the game over the internet from my desktop in the next room. I did the uninstall and reinstall and nothing has changed. The lag is still there. On a different site I found a post from people having the same problem. They had core duo laptops and solved the problem by putting a CPU Speed command batch file in the Unreal Tournament system folder. They used 1500 as a baseline speed. I tried it and noticed that the lag took about 15 seconds to appear when I adjusted the cpu speed to 1500. But any other adjustments, higher or lower resulted in pretty much going back to the 5 second lag. I'll try the priority thing and let you know. I can't see anything repeating in task manager every 5 seconds, but maybe I'm just missing it. I'll watch it again. I'm really beginning to think it has something to do with SP3 though. Thanks for your input.
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Just exploring here now...
So, try removing or stopping all unnecessary programs and services just to be sure they don't matter. Include in this any resources being shared from the laptop like printers. The game and only the game. Still no difference... try another thing while you've slimmed things down... try running the server in Non-Dedicated Mode. I have seen laptops [especially Sonys] that would not give fair cpu attention to a task unless it was doing video IO. If this makes things better... we need to look to laptop BIOS settings and drivers [no matter how it USED to work] I'll stop here and wait for some answers. [BTW - I forgot to ask what game revision you're running] |
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I have hosted Dedicated Servers from this machine and connected to the server(s) via the same machine, with similar effects. UT99 installed in Sep Folder for Client-side gameplay. Ironically enough the server works alright for even players with 400ms ping.. even though I was lagging as if I had 400ping , players reported how smooth is was running...lol A fix for the dual core problem can be found here This has greatly fixed alot of problems that I have had... with UT99. Apparently Quad core processors don't have the same issues as Dual core systems. As 50BMG was implying , revert laptop back to SP1 or 2 perhaps? alternatively you could try the ubuntu Server or another linux type server? |
Hi. I disabled all power options on the laptop that allow it to hibernate, etc. then I played in non dedicated mode and the laptop ran like a champ with no lag whatsoever. So I switched to dedicated mode and tried from my desktop accessing over the internet, and the lag was there just as bad as ever. Am I correct in assuming it has to do with my wifi. Either the router itself, or the wifi card in my laptop (which is the same one as always, but obviously 5 years older)
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I think it is more to do with your CPU not giving the server enough resources in dedicated mode.
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This was a very typical problem for laptops made up to 4 years ago. There's some kind of battery optimization or cpu usage optimization that causes the OS to incorrectly starve that app, because it thinks it's not doing anything. I personally don't know if there's a sure cure for it, other than to run it non-dedicated. This fools the OS into giving it what it needs. I've helped other admins on these forums try to figure it out. Some can cure it by a re-install of the OS, some don't. I don't know if you'll be sucessfull reverting to a previous SP. It's dangerous to try unless you are ok with reloading the OS should it fail. We could pursue it, if you feel determined. Personally, I'd use non-ded mode and forget it. Other things I can think of now that we've isolated it to this:
Let us know what you end up with. Also, please report the BIOS version / Date and precise Laptop Model description in case others come along [in the future] and see these posts. Maybe it will save them some time. |
or course the easiest way to troubleshoot this would be...
This has helped me more often then not to resolve almost any WinD0ze problems worldwide.
there were instances where I gave up in regards to <56k connections and 2min pauses between clicks :S if you download and install TeamViewer onto your laptop, and 50BMG download the same application onto his Computer...
*- marquis103 can terminate the session at any time. *- TeamViewer supports Shortcut keys from Client by pressing the [Scroll Lock] key: [Windows key]+E = Explore :D *- marquis103 TeamViewer is a remote Administration tool that is the best that I have used yet. RADMIN has nothing on this one. (including File Size) *- marquis103 Note: be sure to hide (move) anything personal off of your desktop and other places of interest (like pictures of cats etc) before accepting the connection, ps: is best used in conjunction with some kind of Chat facility GoogleTalk/MSN(crap Messenger) and or Skype/Ventrillo/Telephone pps: Please report back here any resolution/problems so that others with this problem in the future may find the solution as well... :thumbup: |
Sorry back4more, but I won't be doing that remote thing, so marquis103, please don't bother going there for my sake.
Unless you wanna take this further, I suspect we're done. If not, there are better ways to get remote access, should we need to resort to it, thanks. I'll wait to see how you make out and what you decide. |
Hi everyone. In answer to some earlier questions, I launch the program through the GUI. There have been no Bios updates in the past 5 years. All the talk about power management and battery options reminded me that the one difference might be the fact that I never left the battery in the laptop before, but now I've had it in all the time, even though it's running on AC power. I removed the battery, but as you might imagine, it didn't help. I'll probably try the wired network option at some point, but right now it's not necessary. The reason for that is stated below.
Here are the stats on the machine. Sony PCG-FXA47 laptop AMD Athlon 1.0 Ghz processor 512MB Ram Windows XP SP3 ATI Rage Mobility-M1 AGP 8 MB Bios version R0114K5 2002 D-link DL-624 router D-link DWL-G650 Wifi laptop card Now for the good news. Besides this 8 year old Sony laptop, and a fairly new Sony Desktop that's my workhorse, we also have a 9 year old Compaq desktop with a 1.2 GHZ processor, and a D-Link internal wifi card. This afternoon we loaded UT GOTY onto it, and put in all the server settings, and VOILA !!! It works like a charm as a dedicated server. No lags, or problems whatsoever. When I access the server over the internet from my Sony desktop, game play is excellent. I haven't tried the Sony laptop yet, but I have no doubt it would work fine since it worked so well in non-dedicated mode. I want to say thanks to all of you for the time and effort you put in helping me. It's truly very much appreciated. 3/12 Update: Just for the fun of it, I tried the wired option, and the lag is still there in dedicated mode. Since I have another PC to act as my server, I'm not going to worry about it any more, but wanted to update the info. |
Control Computer using Iphone, that's got to be handy.
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in terms of Remote access? |
Well, most OS's have remote control built in. [All Windows since XP]
For 95 thru 2000 I use WinVNC. It's not secure itself, so you can't leave it up 24/7 unless it's through a VPN tunnel. It's small, easy to install, easy to remove. When connections are initiated by the computer to be viewed, it drills through outbound firewalls without any special settings or changes to them. I've been using it for over 10 years on that basis. The iPhone app is cool, but a last resort. |
Hi everyone. One more update. I rolled back the SP3 update on the Sony laptop, rebooted and loaded the dedicated server. Lag and jitter problems are still there. I guess you can't win them all.
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