Jan 28, 2011, 08:23 PM
I will admit goldrush and the other servers on that box (vm2, arena, prophunt) are suffering from lag issues. The server can't even maintain a 66 update rate. Part of this is Valve's problem. It could be solved by throwing more hardware at the problem, but remember, this box was once good at running TF2. I'll see what I can do about getting the server frame/update rate back up (which will also slightly reduce pings), but there's not a whole lot I can do besides bug Valve.
Getting another machine at this point would be suicide for the server since we'd have to get new IP addresses and we saw what happened when 2fort no mods switched IP. That server lost of all the late-night players because most of them were foreigners and probably didn't know good English and missed out on the memo that the server was changing IP. That and when a server suddenly dissapears off your favorite list, most people won't spend a whole lot of time tracking it down when they have other options on their favorites already.
The lag spikes (the half second or so of unresponsiveness) are something I need to investigate more, but I suspect they have to do with slow disk access when flushing logs and reading player sprays. This is probably something I can solve without Valve's help so more information about it would be helpful.
All that said, keep in mind some people just don't know what the hell they're talking about. Walk into any pub at any time and ask if anybody else is getting lag too. Somebody always says "yes."
In response to your points about community growth, yes there are definitely some improvements that could be made. I don't have the time to run 400 events every year and hire dozens of new admins, and finding other trustworthy individuals who can handle it is ... difficult. There are far too many people, even worse than Hell-met, who just get way out of control with the power. You're always free to recommend somebody (just don't recommend yourself -- asshole).
If I make separate forums for each individual server, how is that going to help? I foresee about one post per week in each. It's not helpful that people don't recognize the website for the SourceOP.com server they are playing on is SourceOP.com. Maybe that's my fault? Though I don't see how...
What's wrong with the Flame Bucket? None of the threads there are flames at community members.
Second, half the players are probably bots anyways. These servers maintain a bot quota of something like 16 players (and show 23 in the server browser) and will disguise the bots as real players with real SteamIDs. Don't believe it? I'll get proof for you sometime or you can just see for yourself at around midnight when all of the Lotus servers have players with identical names.
It's completely dishonest but clearly the population is too stupid to notice and thus it works. It'd be easy enough to implement, but I think it would hurt in the long run.
Getting another machine at this point would be suicide for the server since we'd have to get new IP addresses and we saw what happened when 2fort no mods switched IP. That server lost of all the late-night players because most of them were foreigners and probably didn't know good English and missed out on the memo that the server was changing IP. That and when a server suddenly dissapears off your favorite list, most people won't spend a whole lot of time tracking it down when they have other options on their favorites already.
The lag spikes (the half second or so of unresponsiveness) are something I need to investigate more, but I suspect they have to do with slow disk access when flushing logs and reading player sprays. This is probably something I can solve without Valve's help so more information about it would be helpful.
All that said, keep in mind some people just don't know what the hell they're talking about. Walk into any pub at any time and ask if anybody else is getting lag too. Somebody always says "yes."
In response to your points about community growth, yes there are definitely some improvements that could be made. I don't have the time to run 400 events every year and hire dozens of new admins, and finding other trustworthy individuals who can handle it is ... difficult. There are far too many people, even worse than Hell-met, who just get way out of control with the power. You're always free to recommend somebody (just don't recommend yourself -- asshole).
If I make separate forums for each individual server, how is that going to help? I foresee about one post per week in each. It's not helpful that people don't recognize the website for the SourceOP.com server they are playing on is SourceOP.com. Maybe that's my fault? Though I don't see how...
What's wrong with the Flame Bucket? None of the threads there are flames at community members.
Hell-met Wrote:You are hurting the server for your own personal fun.Hell-met is correct here. Part of the reason the goldrush server has had a steep decline in players is because of the regulars' incessant whining. What attracts players more? A group of players having a light conversation over voice chat and participating in team work (see Valve maps 1) or a server full of people who aren't communicating and on the offchance they do are bitching about how terrible their team is or how there aren't enough fucking people on the cart or how there are too many fucking snipers or how they hate how stacked the teams are right now or how auto scramble sucks balls.
JamaicanTJX Wrote:God forbid we have to play with those Lotus noobs.There's a reason they're noobs. You may not realize it, but these servers use a combination of fake players and bots (disguised as real players!) to steal players away from other servers. For example, if a Lotus server has 26 players in it, it will show 32/33 in the server list. People, naturally being attracted to a crowd, join this server first and then when they see teams are only 13v13 don't do anything about it because it's close enough.
Second, half the players are probably bots anyways. These servers maintain a bot quota of something like 16 players (and show 23 in the server browser) and will disguise the bots as real players with real SteamIDs. Don't believe it? I'll get proof for you sometime or you can just see for yourself at around midnight when all of the Lotus servers have players with identical names.
It's completely dishonest but clearly the population is too stupid to notice and thus it works. It'd be easy enough to implement, but I think it would hurt in the long run.