How Much Upload Would You Need For An 8 Player?

th0r0n

<div class="IPBDescription">Thinking of starting a small server.</div> Not sure if I've got the kit to do this, which I probably haven't, just thought I'd check anyway.

I want to start a small 4v4 server, here's the gear I have:

1.7Ghz Pent 4.
256 DDR RAM (Gonna make it up to a gig soon)
1mbps Cable (1024 down, 256 up).

I don't think it's possible, just thought I'd check.

biomass

I would say that you need about 5kb/player in upload speed if you want to make sure that everyone's got enough bandwidth constantly so in your case 8 players might be pushing it. I can't back this up with any statistics but there's probably someone else in here that might give us a more "researched" figure. The server spec is fine though although 256MB Ram might be a bit tight if you want to use the machine for other services as well but since you are upgrading that won't be a problem in the long run.

Roobubba

You could easily fit 8 players on a 256 connection, but they might have a slight delay when maps change and they all start downloading higher.

You can get away with 2kB/s per player mid game.

5 is obviously preferable, but not necessary.
Roo

th0r0n

I may try it then, would be sweet, I'd love to start my own server, problem is, if I wanted to play NS (As at the moment I've got one net connectiong in the house, then it would hit my server, so obviously I wouldn't be able to run it while I was playing games or anything.

I'd feel bad cutting players off on the server, So I might run it either when I'm asleep or doing other things.

<!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->

The_Thing

My clan leader has a cable modem and he ran a 10 player server with good band and lack in lag. He said it took him a very long time to program it. <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif'><!--endemo-->

Roobubba

cable and DSL are very different bunnies when it comes to running servers. DSL with low contention should do nicely.

eaglec

I did for a while manage to squeeze 12-16 players onto a dsl line with a spare P3-750, but contention issues became a problem when dsl started to get more popular in my area. I was able to connect and play on the server when it was full from a friends house several times but eventually it came down to the simple fact that a DSL server cannot compete with the big boys. For HL it ran for ages (about a year) but moving to NS was the death of it. The problem for dsl servers is that NS games are long and dsl bandwidth suffers high contention and variable speeds.

Playing HL I remember seeing a full16 player game with every player having a sub 100ms ping! Quite an achievement.

Give it a try, check the stickies at the top of the thread, use a router/nat to your line and you can play on your server from a second pc.

Good luck.

Licho

You need approximately 2-3k/s of upload per user (set sv_maxupdaterate to 25 to achieve such small server uploads). I run very good server for 16 player on line which is limited to 360kbit/360kbit, no problems with ping choke or packet loss at all. (Note server is actually on 100mbit/100mbit line, but its limited by router to such bandwitch and therefore it might work differently than your ADSL).
At any time you can check current data flow in by turning on net_graph 3

MasterShake

You really need to check what upload speed you can consistently get. The 256kb your ISP is publishing does not necessarily mean you'll consistently get 256kb. Depending on where your players are connecting from, you could be getting less than half of that.

Go to <a href='http://www.dslreports.com/stest' target='_blank'>http://www.dslreports.com/stest</a> and try out your line. Test it several times, especially in the evening and on weekends. If you're really getting 256 you should be able to run a 16 player server fairly easily.

(NOTE: You <b>do not</b> need a dsl line to test your connection, and there are several different sites that provide this service. Try google if that link isn't working.)

verbose

<!--QuoteBegin--MasterShake+Jul 1 2003, 09:45 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (MasterShake @ Jul 1 2003, 09:45 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <a href='http://www.dslreports.com/stest' target='_blank'>http://www.dslreports.com/stest</a> and try out your line. Test it several times, especially in the evening and on weekends. If you're really getting 256 you should be able to run a 16 player server fairly easily.

(NOTE: You <b>do not</b> need a dsl line to test your connection, and there are several different sites that provide this service. Try google if that link isn't working.) <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Please do use several testing sites several times (or a more reliable testing measure if you're tech-savvy) before complaining to your ISP. I've had to personally handle complaints from clueless users who shout "DSL reports says I'm not getting what I'm paying for!" After hand-testing their link, I discover that DSL reports isn't responding fast enough to give accurate results at that time, and that they are in fact getting full speed, just not to OverLoadedReports.

Lightning_Blue

I have been hosting a 8 person Sven Coop server on my home DSL line for the last two weeks, when 5+ players are in I seldom hear complaints about the lag. (main lag comes on maps like svencooprpg2 on my PIII600.) <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->