Linux Ns Server Takes Lot Of Cpu, Not Windows One

CrK0CrK0 Join Date: 2004-07-09 Member: 29815Members
edited July 2004 in General Server Discussion
<div class="IPBDescription">Linux server, 16 players, 70% CPU</div> I've a big problem, my NS server under Linux , takes me a lot of CPU.
For example, in a P4, 1 mb L2 Cache, 1 GB RAM, 2.8 GhZ and HT, with 16 slots, it takes 67% Of CPU.. i think it's a lot.
I've tested also in a DualXeon, 2 GB ram, 2.8 GhZ 2 micros, and It seems not work well.., becouse virtual stats are collapsed and idle is 0%.

I've seen windows NS too, it takes 14 players about 3% in a dual xeon 2.4 ghz processor..

Is there a fix about my linux server ? or the solution is to install windows ?..

Thnx a lot, mi mail is : crk01@newlightsystems.com
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Comments

  • billcatbillcat Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 4903Members, Constellation
    running HT when the HLDS process can't handle HD is a waste of half of your processor. I have a p4 and run HLDS as well and I noticed a good gain going from HT to normal single processor mode. Without a HT aware app you are chopping the speed of your CPU in half to "simulate" two processors and insure that if a single app runs away with a CPU other apps can use the "other half" of the HT cpu.
  • CrK0CrK0 Join Date: 2004-07-09 Member: 29815Members
    I'm running other half life based servers, like counter strike, or DOD, and the extreme CPU load only appears to be in NS, not in CS 1.5, 1.6 or DOD for example.
  • VadakillVadakill The Almighty BSO Join Date: 2002-04-02 Member: 373Members, NS1 Playtester
    When I ran Redhat 7.3 I would almost never go over 30-35% CPU usage. Most people couldn't believe how little CPU usage I was using, I couldn't understand why other people weren't getting the same statistics.

    Recently, I've upgraded my system to Fedora Core 2 and now my usage is around 60% for a 14 player server. Over the next couple of days I'm going to stick another Hard disk in my system and reload RedHat 7.3 to see if the usage goes back down as an experiment.
  • KParksKParks Join Date: 2003-11-07 Member: 22356Members
    Any results from that test?
  • billcatbillcat Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 4903Members, Constellation
    What you are seeing here is evidence of what I call 'distro bloat' and redhat suffers from it worse than any other distro, partly as a side effect from the distro's popularity. As RH the company has more and more people request/demand their distro support a wider and wider hardware platform, the kernel they ship gets more and more bloated.

    I'd suggest you look into some other distros, slackware or debian being prime examples of distros with a light footprint and a good stock kernel. Even if you insist on runnng redhat you can always rebuild your kernel and strip out all the crap your computer will never have in it. For example, if your computer lacks SCSI you can remove a massive amt of code from the kernel that you will never need. Same goes for USB, on most servers the USB code will never be needed.

    Check out the kernel howto for instructions on how to rebuild your kernel. Running slackware I never see more than about 20% cpu usage so you really should try a few other distros. All those slick looking GUIs and graphics that you can't avoid running redhat really slow your server down.
  • VadakillVadakill The Almighty BSO Join Date: 2002-04-02 Member: 373Members, NS1 Playtester
    <!--QuoteBegin-KParks+Jul 29 2004, 11:50 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (KParks @ Jul 29 2004, 11:50 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Any results from that test? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    No, I haven't done it yet. Rather I'm playing with custom kernel compiling in hopes I can figure out a universal way to make this better. If I find something that works I'll write up a guide to help others. If nothing works I might go back to trying the reload of 7.3 again.
  • VadakillVadakill The Almighty BSO Join Date: 2002-04-02 Member: 373Members, NS1 Playtester
    edited July 2004
    Under Fedora Core 2 (FC2) I tried recompiling the 2.6.7 kernel and selecting only optimizations for the AMD processor. Then I tried it for just the Pentium Pro. Then I stripped out everything to the bare minimum that I needed in order to make the system run. Each time it didn't seem to make a difference in how much CPU usage the HLDS process took up.

    Right after I starting the HLDS server it would be sitting there taking up .3 to 4% of the cpu with no one on the server. When I joined the server, it would jump up to 5%

    So, I took a spare hard disk, downloaded the RedHat 7.3 ISO images and installed that again. Guess what, I'm back to the same CPU usage I was before, about 30-35% for a 14 player (on Classic) server.

    From here on I'm just going to be talking out loud, maybe this will click with someone or maybe I'll just be babbling:

    I have a real hard time blaming this on Distro bloat since I pretty much stripped out everything except the drivers, file systems and CPU optimizations when I recompiled the kernel for FC2. I think there is something else going on here. Could it have something to do with the version of the C libraries on a system (unless they are all statically linked)?

    I noticed something different between the two systems. First, in the HLDS console if I type "stats" on the Redhat 7.3 system I show 35-49 FPS. When I do that on the FC2 system I show 70-95 fps. Could this be an indicator of cpu usage? The FPS is doubled or nearly doubled on the FC2 system vs the RH7.3 system and so is the CPU usage.

    I think this might have something to do with the HZ settings in the kernels. The HZ setting increases the interactivity of the server. Basically the amount of times per second the Kernel is interrupted to do something else. At a HZ=100 setting the Kernel is interrupted every 10ms, at 512 it's approx 5ms and 1000 its every 1ms.

    <a href='http://kerneltrap.org/node.php?id=464' target='_blank'>In this KernelTrap article</a> they talk about how previously the 2.4 kernel (the one in my 7.3 box) is typically set at HZ=100. On Redhat 8 and 9 Kernels this is set to HZ=512. Nearly all 2.5/2.6 Kernels are set at HZ=1000. Could this one change affect the perfomance of Linux systems so dramatically? I think I'm going to see what happens if I recompile the FC2 kernel with HZ=100 setting...this might take a while so don't hold your breath.
  • LumpyLumpy Join Date: 2003-08-20 Member: 20026Members
    I would have to say you're most likely right. In FreeBSD -pingboost doesn't work, so we up the HZ of the kernel which does the same thing. ie increase increase server fps, which increases cpu usage, and lowers players pings.

    Also in one of the valve mailing lists someone (I believe steven hartland) found that some versions of the linux kernel (2.4 I believe) incorrectly report the cpu usage via top.

    <a href='http://www.mail-archive.com/hlds_linux@list.valvesoftware.com/msg27542.html' target='_blank'>http://www.mail-archive.com/hlds_linux@lis...m/msg27542.html</a>

    This is perhaps not so likely in your case considering the fps is lower as well. If it was the same fps then I'd be more inclined that it was being reported incorrectly.
  • cracker_jackmaccracker_jackmac Join Date: 2002-11-04 Member: 6891Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited August 2004
    This is from a thread between Vadakill and I:

    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->
    Well, alot has changed.  First off, using patches are the best way to get performance.


    <a href='http://ck.kolivas.org/patches/2.6/' target='_blank'>http://ck.kolivas.org/patches/2.6/</a>

    patch your kernel with it.  any ck# will do.  They include the staircase Process Schedular.  Info available <a href='http://members.optusnet.com.au/ckolivas/kernel/' target='_blank'>here.</a>

    Keep in mind that the amount of CPU latency more important that actual CPU usage.  For example, your latency was 5ms and mine was <1ms, then if we both used identical systems and util was 50%, my pings would be lower than yours and my system would be more responsive via SSH.

    ck patch sets are geared for desktops...however,

    <!--c1--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>CODE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='CODE'><!--ec1-->
    Wed Jun 16 21:11:13 EST 2004
    Server usage?
    The staircase scheduler includes two special sysctl settings which allow you to optimise it's behaviour for different workloads

    echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/interactive

    will disable interactive tasks from having bursts, thus being even stricter about nice levels (suitable for non gui desktop usage or a server)

    echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/compute

    makes round robin intervals much longer, delays task preemption and disables interactive mode to optimise cpu cache usage - suitable for computational intensive tasks.
    <!--c2--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--ec2-->

    Meaning this might be something to experiement with.  I haven't run a NS server in quite a while.  But in theory, HL isn't a server.  <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->  hahah, Silly I know, but listen.  HL isn't a realtime process either, so WTH is it?  Its an interactive process, meaning if you leave ineractivity on, it *should* get more time slices (lower latency) per cycle.  If you renice it, it will be given a minumum amount of time slices in the schedular.  And if bursting is enabled (/proc/sys/kernel/interactive)  then we should see a large performance boost by using more time slices.

    If you have alot of I/O activity,  in your lilo or grub append evelator=cfq  (i spelled it wrong, but you know what I mean).  This will lighten disk activity and lower disk iowait.  It is a Fair Queuing Async IO schedular.  meaning disk reads are very fast and writes are placed when they have a chance.

    Another big problem with servers is memory.  Cron jobs and old file handles being cached into memory.  2.6 includes a really cool feature called swappiness (/proc/sys/vm/swappiness)  echo # > /proc/sys/vm/swappiness where # is a value between 0 and 100.  100 means commit alot of stuff to VM, 0 means hold out as long as you can.  default is 60.  You might want to set this to 30, this way map changes are swapped out and the ingame memory growth doesn't require any swap commits.

    HZ settings should be 1000 or atleast 500, this is due to the fact that HL needs more clock cycles that a db server.  So, in short, turn off pre-emption, bump HZ to 1000, enable "Use register Arguments", :MTRR support",  use ACPI if you have it.

    Now, you might not see a change in cpu utility, but HL should run better <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo-->

    Sorry It took me so long to check this thread, I just haven't been checking my email <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->  I hope this was informative and helpful.
    <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->


    Now, with that all said. Vada was onto somthing.
    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->
    I noticed something different between the two systems. First, in the HLDS console if I type "stats" on the Redhat 7.3 system I show 35-49 FPS. When I do that on the FC2 system I show 70-95 fps. Could this be an indicator of cpu usage? The FPS is doubled or nearly doubled on the FC2 system vs the RH7.3 system and so is the CPU usage.
    <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    CPU usage is not an indicator of HLDS performance. FPS is all that matter. 100%, 40%, who cares really. 20% CPU and 14FPS = The suck. 100% and 75FPS = l33t lag free server. For example. SETI and Dnet clients take 100% CPU usage, but their nice level is VERY low. If you renice to -20 or so, then it occupies more minimum time slices reducing other processes abliltiy to use those slices. HLDS can utilize more CPU time (resulting in higher FPS) because it occupies more slices. HZ has to do with the number of ticks per timeslice I believe. maybe want to google for it.

    edit: HT now has a penality in SMP evalutation now as of 2.6.5 or 2.6.6. you can download schedutils (by Robert Love) to set CPU Affinity for HLDS

    <b>Utter BS to system lag:</b><ul><li>System "bloat"</li><li>crappy distros</li><li>windows is better</li><li>NS needs -O3 -march=athlon-xp</li><li>NS was written for windows and not linux</li><li>linux is becoming more unstable with 2.6</li><li>the 2.4 is better for servers than 2.6</li></ul>Hope this was informative and gets sticky.
  • GiGaBiTeGiGaBiTe Join Date: 2003-10-07 Member: 21489Members
    im thinking that the cpu usage and the fps are proportional to eachother. if you use hl booster and pump the fps up to 500, the cpu usage is stuck at 50% with 0 players on it.

    then, if you turn hl booster off and the fps drops back down to 60 the cpu usage drops down to 1-2%

    and since the hl engine is based on fps, that would be a good assumption.
  • GhozerGhozer Join Date: 2003-05-22 Member: 16617Members, Constellation
    I dont have a problem with CPU useage (16 players 24% CPU PEAK) My problem is RAM, it seems to not be clearing the ram its using on MAP Change, on first statup the RAM is on about 34% -- as-soon as the map changes, it goes up to 99% - and stays there till i kill the server, which takes it t oabout 75%, i re-boot the machine and its back on the low 34% (this 34% is after the server has been started, before first map change)

    System Specs
    AMX XP2800+
    GB DDR 400 Ram (Corsair CL2.5)
    120GB hdd (SATA)
    Redhat 9
    HLDS_L 1.1.1.2 (Insecure RCON)

    I have the latest admin mod and amx 9.7
  • cracker_jackmaccracker_jackmac Join Date: 2002-11-04 Member: 6891Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    <!--QuoteBegin-GiGaBiTe+Sep 16 2004, 10:49 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (GiGaBiTe @ Sep 16 2004, 10:49 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->im thinking that the cpu usage and the fps are proportional to eachother. if you use hl booster and pump the fps up to 500, the cpu usage is stuck at 50% with 0 players on it.

    then, if you turn hl booster off and the fps drops back down to 60 the cpu usage drops down to 1-2%

    and since the hl engine is based on fps, that would be a good assumption.


    <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Proportain...maybe...but not enough to even make a graph by it. There is a 'correlation' between FPS and CPU usage. But like I said, they aren't truely proportional to each other. Too man factors play into running this type of usage. (meaning the HLserver).

    Ghozer:
    What NS are you running? You probably don't have a memory leak if it is being "freed" when you kill the pid. Look at these and see if it helps:
    <a href='http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=175419&highlight=ram+usage' target='_blank'>http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=1...light=ram+usage</a>
    <a href='http://home.earthlink.net/~jknapka/linux-mm/vmoutline.html' target='_blank'>http://home.earthlink.net/~jknapka/linux-mm/vmoutline.html</a>
  • GhozerGhozer Join Date: 2003-05-22 Member: 16617Members, Constellation
    only a Small percentage is being freed.. heres some more exact figures (obviously cant be EXACT cause that would be down to the byte but <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->)

    Fresh Boot 33% Used
    Start HLDS_L with NS - 56% Used
    Change Map - 99% Used
    Kill HLDS_L with NS - 75% used


    IT Doesnt free the full 66% that it should free if It freed ALL that NS used...

    if its 33% without HLDS_L and 99% With it (after map change) - when i kill it it should free up 66% of the ram, returning it back to 33% -- which it doesnt... :\
  • cracker_jackmaccracker_jackmac Join Date: 2002-11-04 Member: 6891Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited March 2005
    <!--QuoteBegin-Ghozer+Sep 17 2004, 09:02 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Ghozer @ Sep 17 2004, 09:02 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> only a Small percentage is being freed.. heres some more exact figures (obviously cant be EXACT cause that would be down to the byte but <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->)

    Fresh Boot 33% Used
    Start HLDS_L with NS - 56% Used
    Change Map - 99% Used
    Kill HLDS_L with NS - 75% used


    IT Doesnt free the full 66% that it should free if It freed ALL that NS used...

    if its 33% without HLDS_L and 99% With it (after map change) - when i kill it it should free up 66% of the ram, returning it back to 33% -- which it doesnt... :\ <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Type in free -m and you'll see that its not all really *used*. You should really read those links that I gave you. I promise, its very informative <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->

    For example, check out my system info on <a href='http://users.evilsquid.net/phpsysinfo/' target='_blank'>http://users.evilsquid.net/phpsysinfo/</a> and <a href='http://littlenemo.evilsquid.net/sysinfo/' target='_blank'>http://littlenemo.evilsquid.net/sysinfo/</a>

    Both of which are production servers and you'll see that ran is using "100%". But If it were really that high, I'd be swapping, which I'm not using any. Read those articles I gave you, then explain the VM system quite well.
  • GiGaBiTeGiGaBiTe Join Date: 2003-10-07 Member: 21489Members
    hmm, i think hlds has problems reporting accurate cpu usage. look at hlds's report of cpu usage and at the same time look at the operating systems report. i was amazed at what the difference was.

    windows reported

    cpu#1 26%
    cpu#2 9%

    hlds reported

    cpu#1 90%


    maybe we can con valve into releasing the hlds source so we can start optimizing it. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • CaucasianCaucasian Join Date: 2002-11-26 Member: 9993Members
    I've actually never seen CS or TS, or other mods for that matter go over 10-15% on my linux hlds. NS has only been the one where you have 16 players and the cpu is @ 70-80%.

    Due to this, I am going to go back to windows since there is really no motivation to "fix" the problem on linux....

    sigh
  • CrK0CrK0 Join Date: 2004-07-09 Member: 29815Members
    Hi all.
    I tested the server on a P4 ( now without booster ) with preemtible activated and SMP ( P4 with hipertrheading ) and the CPU Load on kernel 2.6 is "lower" at TOP but it gets lower performance than booster -1 or -3 of course.

    I think that there must be a logical combination of lots of parametres starting with kernel and finishing in tickrate.

    I assume also that NS tooks anytime, anyway more resources than any HL mod.

    So, now i run it at sys_ticrate 300, kernel 2.6 and it goes normal, fps are up and down, but i think i can optimize this touching sys_ticrates.
  • GiGaBiTeGiGaBiTe Join Date: 2003-10-07 Member: 21489Members
    i stopped using hl booster on my server because it caused lots of server instaility and caused frequent crashes with a small amount of players (around 8 or so) and steam dont seem to handle it as well as won did.
  • cracker_jackmaccracker_jackmac Join Date: 2002-11-04 Member: 6891Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    <!--QuoteBegin-CrK01+Sep 21 2004, 09:23 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (CrK01 @ Sep 21 2004, 09:23 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Hi all.
    I tested the server on a P4 ( now without booster ) with preemtible activated and SMP ( P4 with hipertrheading ) and the CPU Load on kernel 2.6 is "lower" at TOP but it gets lower performance than booster -1 or -3 of course.

    I think that there must be a logical combination of lots of parametres starting with kernel and finishing in tickrate.

    I assume also that NS tooks anytime, anyway more resources than any HL mod.

    So, now i run it at sys_ticrate 300, kernel 2.6 and it goes normal, fps are up and down, but i think i can optimize this touching sys_ticrates. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I'm curious, did you enable the SMP(HT) or just SMP ? And which version of 2.6? 2.6.8.1 is latest as of this writting.
  • SpurtySpurty Join Date: 2002-11-16 Member: 8944Members, Constellation
    Ok, I'm reading all your very clever ideas and would like to note that the BEST performance optimization is to turn log files off.

    NS is way over the top with the information about each and every bullet and this causes a nasty hard disk thrashing. Switching log files off dropped my ping from 250 to 60 and my cpu from 99% to
    <!--c1--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>CODE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='CODE'><!--ec1-->PID  PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND             USER
    1896  14  -1  215m 114m  10m R 66.9 12.9   2105:26 hlds_i686           Balrgsnapper1<!--c2--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--ec2-->

    The above is after a long game of ns_hera with 16 players on debian kernel 2.6.8 (and no patches or tweaks, which it does need for other reasons)

    Hows about the mod team assign a ram drive of about 10 meg for log files which are swapped to disk end of the round while every one is in the ready room or is that too sensible and involves too few kernel tweaks?

    RAM is cheap, CPUs are not so cheap

    <!--emo&:0--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/wow.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wow.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • SpurtySpurty Join Date: 2002-11-16 Member: 8944Members, Constellation
    Puzl seems to think (and i guess would know) that Linux is getting a knee cap job from the Steam Team.

    <!--emo&:angry:--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/mad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • blackjackelblackjackel Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 2151Members, Constellation
    well, the truth is it is.

    Linux is a modular operating system used mainly by programmers...

    Each module is compiled specificly for compatibility and optimizations with the hardware that the software is being run on.

    What -insert whoever the hell runs steam here- is doing is they are realeasing one package that is supposed to run on all machines...

    And thats not even the worst thing, they are using shortcuts and and hackeyed strategies to "get things done" at the cost of performance, truth is they dont much care for linux.... Steam runs bad with ALL halflife mods when run under the linux platform, its not just natural-selection.

    As much as i love linux, and as much as I hate using windows for ANY kind of server, i would say that it just dosent make sense to run a steam server on linux if you can do it on windows.... mind you this is a very recent change of opinion on my part.


    Who cares about the mass security holes? Its a gameserver for gods sake, it dosent hold any creditcard numbers. Besides, you can strip windows down so much that theres barely anything left to hack, and you can be anal about ports and such.

    With that said, i run my server linux =P the only reason right now is that many other software applications are running on it and are more critical than the gameserver, and they were programmed to work on linux only.
  • GiGaBiTeGiGaBiTe Join Date: 2003-10-07 Member: 21489Members
    on fedora core 3, with 10 players on a P4 2.0 ghz, the cpu usage is around 25-30%

    its just the more players that join, the higher the ping gets, even if they on lan.
  • radonixradonix Join Date: 2005-02-14 Member: 41094Members
    I'f i were to setup windows on a box for hosting game-servers, would I need CAL's for each player that connects?

    From reading the licensing terms on microsoft's website it appears not, however I have no experience with this so I was wondering if someone has a MS Server OS running game servers and knows what the situation is with licensing.
  • VadakillVadakill The Almighty BSO Join Date: 2002-04-02 Member: 373Members, NS1 Playtester
    I'd say Microsoft has bigger fish to fry.
  • frGfrG Join Date: 2005-02-21 Member: 41961Members, Constellation
    I've exactly got the same problem a 12-14 Player server is taking about 70 - 80% OF Cpu...


    Cpu is a XP3200+, even though sys_ticrate is at 1000 (For better ping) it shouldnt be that high am i correct ?

    i read the kernel recompile guide from VadaKill and havent tried it yet cause the server is in a datacenter not close to my home <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->

    So is this cpu usage normal at sys_ticrate of 1000 ?
  • VadakillVadakill The Almighty BSO Join Date: 2002-04-02 Member: 373Members, NS1 Playtester
    edited March 2005
    <!--QuoteBegin-frG+Feb 21 2005, 09:02 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (frG @ Feb 21 2005, 09:02 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->
    Cpu is a XP3200+, even though sys_ticrate is at 1000 (For better ping) it shouldnt be that high am i correct ?
    <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Jeeze! The default 100. I never modify my ticrate and everything works fine. Jacking the rate up as high as it can go will of course increase your CPU overhead. Try reducing it. HL2DM's default ticrate is 66, and CS:S is 33.
  • modiemodie Join Date: 2003-02-19 Member: 13758Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin-radonix+Feb 16 2005, 01:46 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (radonix @ Feb 16 2005, 01:46 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I'f i were to setup windows on a box for hosting game-servers, would I need CAL's for each player that connects?

    From reading the licensing terms on microsoft's website it appears not, however I have no experience with this so I was wondering if someone has a MS Server OS running game servers and knows what the situation is with licensing. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    If your worried about it - use 'nix
  • DaddyFoxDaddyFox Join Date: 2005-01-07 Member: 33514Members
    MY english is not good. sry about this first. I like to share sum of my experience.
    I m running linux for my ns server. I op 2 servers. 1 is ns 1 is co.
    HW config both same. P4 2.4(socket 478)HT enable, 512MB ram, 80G SATA HD.asus p4p800.
    SW config. Fedora core 2 running now. plugin, metamod 1.17.4p20,amx0.99,AMXMODX1.0 on 1 server.
    B4 I use FC1(running 3.0b5). when over around 1x players on the server playing, it lag like in hell. & i checked the stats. it nvr up over 50fps(48.x-49.x), cpu loading around 6x-7x%.
    Then I upgraded to FC2 kernel 2.6.9-1.11_FC2smp(running 3.0b5) I can have over 20 players(server max 24 players) online without any lag. the stats was 8x-99.3fps. cpu loading maximum is 5x%. it works fine.
    Now. use same version of kernel running ns3.0, when over 15 players online. it also lag to 1xx-2xx ping.(no plugins has changed.) & the stats normal(no one on server) is 83.x-100fps. but when over 1x players, it go from 3-100 fps, very unstable. then I updated the kernel to kernel 2.6.10-1.14_FC2smp & the result is
    stats
    <!--c1--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>CODE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='CODE'><!--ec1-->17:42:42 CPU   In    Out   Uptime  Users   FPS    Players
            97.50 52.76 61.40     270   213   20.41      21<!--c2--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--ec2-->
    <!--c1--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>CODE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='CODE'><!--ec1-->17:43:23 CPU   In    Out   Uptime  Users   FPS    Players
            97.00 49.01 56.64     270   213   11.91      21<!--c2--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--ec2-->
    <!--c1--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>CODE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='CODE'><!--ec1-->17:44:23 CPU   In    Out   Uptime  Users   FPS    Players
            95.00 58.35 75.65     271   216   50.02      21<!--c2--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--ec2-->

    CPU loading
    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->top - 17:48:11 up  9:42,  1 user,  load average: 0.88, 0.88, 0.83
    Tasks:  54 total,  3 running,  51 sleeping,  0 stopped,  0 zombie
    Cpu(s): 47.3% us,  0.3% sy,  0.0% ni, 51.3% id,  0.0% wa,  0.2% hi,  0.8% si
    Mem:    513868k total,  408008k used,  105860k free,    38256k buffers
    Swap:  1052216k total,        0k used,  1052216k free,  246964k cached<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Hope the developer team can find out how to fix it soon. <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
    Thanks a lot.
  • MarineEaterMarineEater Join Date: 2004-04-06 Member: 27760Members, Constellation
    Yeah, i have also found that NS 3.0 uses a heck of a lot more CPU than Beta 5..
    Full 16 player server on Beta 5 = 40-50% cpu.
    Full 16 player server on v3.0 = 65-70% (MINIMUM) and above.

    Theres definately something wrong with it :/
    I have also seen with just 5 players on the start of a map that the cpu usage is at 27% with NS v3.0, on Beta5 it was 10-20%....
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