Server Crashes - Need Some Tips

MaverickSA · August 2004

Good day everyone,

I am a server admin for an NS2.0 won server gone NS3beta steam server.

As you can infer from the topic title, we are having a little trouble.

Typically the server is running great, except we are experience random crashes when the server just "quits" and hlds gives no error(s).

It is usually within the first few moments of playing a map, but it does occur some time later in maps as well.

<b>Basic server setup</b>
HLDS 4120 (patch 2770)
Metamod 1.17.1 (now using amx released version)
AMXmod 0.99 release
Whichbot 0.92e
Rcbot 1.37 beta

<b>other MM plugins</b>
audiotracker (2.0.0.0)
chatveriables
fireworks
humanlimit (lazy)
lerklift (2.0.1.0)
marinebleed
award (2.2.0.0)
onosblocker (3.0.0.0)
unstuck pro (1.0.0.0)
umbraspawn (1.0.2.0)
structurehealth (1.0.1.0)
selfweld (1.2.4.0)
phaseEQ (1.0.5.0a)
pra remove
offthehive (lazy)
rspore (1.1.1.0)

<b>AMXmod modules</b>
fun
ns2amx_amx099

<b>other AMXmod plugins</b>
alltalk
godmode
noclip
nukem
say sounds
easy_speach
howmanyrts
gorgerecycle
equipstore
roll the dice
rock the vote
waypointsfix

We originally thought it was an issue with RCBots (as an RCBot was present whenever a crash occured) - but have also tried loading the server without them, with ultimately the same crashing result.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thank you much,
Maverick[SA]
<a href='http://killerz.dns2go.com' target='_blank'>http://killerz.dns2go.com</a>

Vadakill · August 2004

What else have you tried? Does plain vanilla NS server work? If you can't run a plain NS server, try removing everything except the bare minimum you need for administration and build from there.

Also some other things that might help:
What OS you have
How much horsepower
How much RAM
How many players
What you general observation is on CPU usage with a full server
How many characters (including punctuation and spaces) your motd.txt is

Whenever you get new information post it here.

MaverickSA · August 2004

Thank you much, I shall get back to you with the info momentarily.

Sandman · August 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Vadakill @ Aug 6 2004, 12:54 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> What else have you tried? Does plain vanilla NS server work? If you can't run a plain NS server, try removing everything except the bare minimum you need for administration and build from there.

Also some other things that might help:
What OS you have
How much horsepower
How much RAM
How many players
What you general observation is on CPU usage with a full server
How many characters (including punctuation and spaces) your motd.txt is

Whenever you get new information post it here.  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
We have tried stripping it down to just MM, whichbot, rcbot and AMXmod and it does last just a little longer then the 30 minute adverage that we have been getting thus-far. A plain jane vanilla NS server does work and is nearly rock solid but gets quite boring quickly.

As for the other info you requested......

Windows XP home (sp1)
Intel P4 3.06ghz hyperthreaded
1gb pc2100 DDR
12 players on a 384k UL ADSL
Adverage CPU usage is around 20% to 30% with a full server at late game rounds.
The MOTD is fairly short at saying only this: </div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>MOTD: Please join the MARINE team because you are playing against bots.</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

I hope this gives you enough info to work with. Maybe I have just overlooked something?

Vadakill · August 2004

This may not be true anymore but I'll post this here anyway as a thought.

In the past, when I ran a CS server, I found that running it with bots it would often crash if any kind of message was sent to them. I would get an Uninitialized buffer_t error which would kill the server. This would not be a problem if I ran only the bots with no adminMod or AMX mod, only when I would have these administrative programs in place. What I found was happening was a plugin I had in place would try to write a message to all clients real or not. Unfortunately, there is no message buffer for bots and therefore it would crash. You might want to try turning off all plugins that modify or announce text messages and send them to all clients to see if that helps.

Again, this was a long time ago, I'm sure bots are much more sophisticated now. Just a thought.

Bry · August 2004

Yes i would say its either whichbot or rcbot or both in combination causing the problems

Lumpy · August 2004

I can't seem to find this on either wb or rcbot's forum, but I recall that there was an issue in the not so distant past where if both rcbots and whichbots were both on aliens it would crash after awhile. This may not apply in your scenario but I figured I'd mention it just in case.

kabo0m · August 2004

<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/marine.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='marine.gif' /> It's a shame switching to Steam has caused these problems. We had no problem when it was 2.0.

Well, just thought I'd say hi <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /> <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

Sandman · August 2004

Thanks for all your help guys. It turned put to be Whichbot all along. Version of whichbot I have finished testing with, v0.92e through v0.93a for win32 seem to be broken. Im not sure when this problem crept in but I hope clam can fix that soon.

Server Crashes - Need Some Tips

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