Hey guys.

 

I am currently running a server right now. Ping times have been good, yet for some reason we have this one issue that puzzles us as to what it may be...

 

While the server is on and people are playing like normal, there seems to be this random insane lag spikes where people will rubber-band all over the place for only 1-3 seconds, then it just completely goes away. It is not predictable when it shows up, sometimes it's every couple of minutes, sometimes it's an hour or two. :evil: We know it is not our server, since it only happens with the MW2 server. ( We run multiple servers on it, it's a VDS ).

 

We have tried everything, restarting the server, defrag, kicking high ping players (250+ ping), closing all background applications and other servers, still doesn't solve the problem. Our server is definitely more the powerful enough, and it is hosted with data-center grade internet. Maybe someone has had this problem and found a fix? Or if you have just had this problem with your server, post in as well.

Does this happen on other servers?

Also, what is your ping to the server

Does this happen on other servers?

Also, what is your ping to the server

 

Does not happen on other servers.

His ping is usually ~85-90, mine is usually ~60-65.

 

I posted on this thread: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4905

which has to do with a message I noticed in the console: "Failed to get a cached snapshot for antilag".

EntagFabulous":15vajh0q]Hey guys.

Our server is definitely more the powerful enough, and it is hosted with data-center grade internet.

 

Is it a dedicated server or VPS, and what are the actual specs?

It's a VDS with dual core Xeon at 3.4 Ghz, 3 GB of Ram, 200 GB HD, and it's running on a 60 MB DL, 20 MB UP speed

and Windows or Linux?

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard.

Have you tried starting the server with the -console parameter? Ex: iw4m.exe -dedicated -console [...]

I know there was a bug earlier with the window title causing lag and high CPU usage, but it's worth a shot.

Have you tried starting the server with the -console parameter? Ex: iw4m.exe -dedicated -console [...]

I know there was a bug earlier with the window title causing lag and high CPU usage, but it's worth a shot.

 

We are using the -console command, as stated in the post I linked earlier. ( viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4905&p=33784#p33784 )

 

(Thanks for the support thus far.)

How about background 'cron jobs' / services using the harddisk? Have you checked the performance of it, other than defragging? It may be a harddrive issue. Also can I get a screenshot/video of the lagometer when you're in the server? (/drawlagometer). It may give some additional information/

How about background 'cron jobs' / services using the harddisk? Have you checked the performance of it, other than defragging? It may be a harddrive issue. Also can I get a screenshot/video of the lagometer when you're in the server? (/drawlagometer). It may give some additional information/

 

Also note that we have WAMP Server (64-bit & PHP 5.3) 2.2E and B3 along with two added plugins (MakeRoom & PingKicker) running on this server.

 

Cron jobs - None (nothing scheduled to run via any programs or anything like that)

Services - Optimized to bare minimum needed (no Print Spooler, etc.; done when server was 1st set up)

 

 

Screenshot of Disks in Computer (MineCraft is ran from SSD, and takes up most of RAM due to amount of mods installed):

 

Screenshot of Defraggler after analyzation:

> Full-size: http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/3043 ... nalyze.png

 

Screenshot of Rainmeter on Desktop (resources; 'Download' doesn't report for some reason):

 

Screenshot of Task Manager (main processes marked in red):

 

 

Screenshots of lagometer in server when lag occurs (taken in rapid succession):

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/8408 ... 708103.png

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/9383 ... 710849.png

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/6053 ... 712689.png

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/6531/i ... 714553.png

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/6444/i ... 716363.png

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/3615/i ... 902270.png

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/2169 ... 904172.png

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/8135 ... 932221.png

I see.. Well my first thought is MINECRAFT. It is the most poorly optimized resource hogging piece of shit ever. I HIGHLY recommend that you host minecraft and all high performance servers separately. The lagometer is giving an interesting result. You lose gpu sync (the yellow) to the server. But no lost packets or higher ping, which indicates the connection is fine, but something, I believe resource wise is preventing the server from keeping up with the client. My suggestion: stop minecraft if you havent already, and move the iw4m server to the ssd. (providing you have the null iwd's, as it's about 2gb total) Hard drive performance is a big factor of server performance. I dont believe wamp is an issue, as long as you dont have a poorly optimized code somewhere that sucks cpu usage. I assume you just host a forum or something. Let me know the results.

I see.. Well my first thought is MINECRAFT. It is the most poorly optimized resource hogging piece of shit ever. I HIGHLY recommend that you host minecraft and all high performance servers separately. The lagometer is giving an interesting result. You lose gpu sync (the yellow) to the server. But no lost packets or higher ping, which indicates the connection is fine, but something, I believe resource wise is preventing the server from keeping up with the client. My suggestion: stop minecraft if you havent already, and move the iw4m server to the ssd. (providing you have the null iwd's, as it's about 2gb total) Hard drive performance is a big factor of server performance. I dont believe wamp is an issue, as long as you dont have a poorly optimized code somewhere that sucks cpu usage. I assume you just host a forum or something. Let me know the results.

 

Well, as noted before MineCraft is ran from the SSD, so any disk usage it may be using would be separate from the MW2 server. The only interference between the two would be CPU, RAM, & net speed, which doesn't look to be an issue.

I'll talk to Entag and get his thoughts on moving MW2 to the SSD, however we don't have the null .iwd's. Could you point us in the right direction to obtain those (I've searched Google and 'other' sites with no luck)? Also, if you could find us the SP files remover, that would be great as well (couldn't find that either). Only then would we be able to consider that option.

Thank you for all of your help so far.

 

EDIT >>> Some of our members made the observation that the lag mainly occurs when a new player is connecting to the server. I'm not sure on how that would make the server lag like it does, but it evidently has some form of impact.

 

I should also note that we've made a fairly large change today regarding the maximum ping for players. I changed the command set sv_maxPing (maximum ping to connect) from 250 to 200, as well as lowering the PingKicker plugin in B3 from 250 to 205. In this way, players need to have a ping that is <= 200 to connect, but if it goes above 205 for more than 30 seconds, then they will be kicked. This has seemed to minimize the issue a bit, however it still happens.

http://iwnet.q23p.de/iwnet_dedi.zip

 

If you can get that on the ssd and temporarily exit minecraft, the probablem "should" be completely gone. If not, let me know. I forgot to ask, are you running any mods? If so I may need to take a peek at the code, since it is possible a mod is causing the lag.

No, we're not running any mods. Just a vanilla server install with B3. I'm currently working on getting it set up on the SSD right now. I'll report back by editing this post with the updates. Thank you SO much for your help thus far. You've been very good at responding in a timely manner.

 

EDIT >>> Well, we've got it running from the SSD - but there's a problem. This 'version' doesn't create a games_mp.log file, so we can't use B3 because it depends on that file. As far as performance from using the SSD, that is to be seen as I literally just started it about 5 minutes ago.

 

However, I will note one major improvement - one of our members suggested not using FireDaemon to run the server, so we tried that for a few hours. The lag has been reduced by quiet a bit, however it's still pretty bad. Also that the lag seems to increase with the amount of people in the server, as well as when players are connecting.

 

I'll report back with the SSD version performance.

 

EDIT 2 >>> SSD performance is no different whatsoever. We have all came to the conclusion that it has absolutely nothing to do with our server whatsoever. We're out of ideas other than it has to be the 4D1 master server setup or something like that.

Well I don't know what to tell you. I've got a server running on a low spec Linux machine, and it runs flawlessly with 18 players. I've used to rent a 2 quad core dedis running same os as you, and it worked no problem. Have you tried a speed test just to make sure the connection is completely stable? My only other thought is it might be an issue with the provider, as you said it was a vds, it is very possible another client could be causing issues. Unless you know the total load of server, it's always best to stick with dedicated servers over vps/vds. What are you currently paying per month for your vds? I might be able to find a comparable true dedi for about the same price. Anyway, from my experience, there's never server wide lag, not caused by the server, it has to be something on your end. But, as you pretty much eliminated all potential problems caused by your use of the hardware, it can only be concluded that another user or network quality is the issue. Did you ever try it without minecraft running?

>Have you tried a speed test just to make sure the connection is completely stable?

>My only other thought is it might be an issue with the provider, as you said it was a vds, it is very possible another client could be causing issues.

>What are you currently paying per month for your vds?

>Did you ever try it without minecraft running?

 

> Speed tests back to back and at regular intervals return about the same result.

> Very well could be another client, but we've not noticed anything that would infer that from the use of other servers.

> I'm not sure exactly what we're paying right now - just a very rough estimate = ~$30.

> Yes, many times.

We've added the following lines to the Server.cfg file:

 

set sv_master2 ""
set sv_master3 ""

 

but it didn't stop the lag like some posts have implied. We're just fed up with it to be honest.

Does it only happen while playing on your dedicated server, or in others aswell?

 

Also, for games_mp.log, that files is created on m2demo folder now, not "main" as it used to be. Change the log's path in B3.xml and you're done.

Does it only happen while playing on your dedicated server, or in others aswell?

 

Also, for games_mp.log, that files is created on m2demo folder now, not "main" as it used to be. Change the log's path in B3.xml and you're done.

 

I only play in our server, so I can't say personally. As far as other members go, they say that some have it and some don't.

 

B3 is correctly setup and working properly (in other words, it's pointed to the m2demo folder).

Your problem seems preety much like a memory (RAM) problem on the client, or CPU on the server. That's why I asked you if the problem also accoured on other servers.

Do something... open the resorce monitor on the server and see if either RAM or processor have spikes. As said above, it's known that some versions of minecraft server have a resorce management bug.

He's already checked all that stuff. It's pretty much come down to external causes not fixable by him.

He obviously didn't read the rest of the thread. .___.

Same happens with my server. Instant lag spikes which make the game just unplayable. Happens only on my server. Just a few months ago it was all OK and the server could handle up to 18 players. It all started to happen suddenly, without modifying the hardware or the software. I've set the max players number to 14 and the max ping to 190. I have no idea why this occurs either :cry:

 

EDIT: Lol I didn't notice this was such an old topic