Any plans for an "official" hosting server?

PhilD · #1 August 28th, 2006, 06:21 AM

With Dom2, there was (at least one) user-made hosting server.

Are there plans for Shrapnel to provide some kind of "official" hosting of games? (this could be either TCP or email, in my mind)

The only other Shrapnel game I own (Land of Legends) has a (unique) server for online play. Having something similar for Dom3 would be nice, I think.

Tim Brooks · #2 August 28th, 2006, 09:59 AM

We are taking a look at this. I will get back with you here...

okiN · #3 August 28th, 2006, 11:12 AM

Glad to hear it's being considered. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Gandalf Parker · #4 August 28th, 2006, 11:32 AM

In My Experience:

The hosting part isnt hard but there is a ton of file managment. Alot of script writing. Try to find someone who thinks things like that are fun.

Windows servers running only tcpip games would not be able to run very many. I suppose you could start a new game every month and hope that the fact it will run more than a month will keep it from being the same people joining every game.

Interfacing to web pages for game stats I think is an important feature that is rare and shouldnt be overlooked. Interfacing a web page for upload/download of turns is a security concern but there are plenty of tested scripts for that.

Setting it up for PbEM games would be more efficient altho abit more to iron out.

Linux would me more efficient. You could run more tcpip games on less server.

Linux running in text mode would be the most efficient. More games could be run and its much eiaser to interface to webpages. But its not easy to dive into linux text-mode. A background in other text modes, even DOS, is a big help.

I will happily provide all my scripts. Or even provide an account to someone you choose and let them poke around.
Here is a game-start page I messed with abit (it doesnt start a game).
http://www.dom3minions.com/lab/MakeGame.htm
But I decided that my server would not support everyone starting a game whenever they were in the mood.

Gandalf Parker

Daynarr · #5 August 28th, 2006, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Gandalf Parker said:
The hosting part isnt hard but there is a ton of file managment. Alot of script writing. Try to find someone who thinks things like that are fun.

That would be you.

Bluebird · #6 August 28th, 2006, 01:04 PM

I do have my own 24/7 linux server on the net, which I currently using for hosting. Is there really a problem getting somebody host games? I could easily host 3-4 more games if it had been requested.

Though I have to admit that the mosehansen.dk interface was a nice thing. Anybody knows if it is possible to grab the source code of that beast?

Tyrant · #7 August 28th, 2006, 01:55 PM

A pro hosting server would be a GREAT thing for the community. One need only consider the massive drop off in DomII games that happened when Mosehansen shut down to see
how important it would be for the community.

Tim Brooks · #8 September 27th, 2006, 10:39 AM

Okay. We have questions for those who are 'in the know'...

1. How many games can be hosted by a dedicated server at one time?

2. How much bandwidth does this take?

3. If we supplied the server, could we get the code (some already exists, correct?)?

4. Would there be any volunteers to administer the server?

Thanks.

JaydedOne · #9 September 27th, 2006, 11:20 AM

Tim,

The mere fact that you're asking rocks.

I now sit back to watch Gandalf and Esben offer more useful comments.

Gandalf Parker · #10 September 27th, 2006, 12:46 PM

Tim Brooks said:
Okay. We have questions for those who are 'in the know'...

1. How many games can be hosted by a dedicated server at one time?

Im not good at exact numbers but here are my impressions so far. Going with a simple linux server (1 unit, max memory, max standard desktop CPU, min hard drive, min graphics, min sound) that is dedicated to this purpose by itself...

I would say that it can host 5-8 mega games in Xwindows and tcpip mode. (easier to manage but uses up the most system resources)

That becomes 10-15 mega games if its run in text mode

Easily 20-30 if they are not run tcpip (direct connect) but are instead as pbem

Also small blitz games would raise the number

Those sound like alot of games but consider how long they can last. If a game lasts for months, and you can run 10 large games, then you might be looking at only starting one game a month to make sure that things run smooth.

In MY opinion (and this will probably tick some people off) the biggest gain that Shrapnel could provide us is to not worry about pbem and blitz games. Those can be done by the players. Its the high end stuff. Large maps, many players, needing an impartial host we trust. Those need abit more machine than someones crowded desktop to run. If Shrapnel could run one big official game a month it would go far toward stablizing this community. Maybe one game for each era, so that would be starting 3 games each time.

2. How much bandwidth does this take?

Very little bandwidth. The game is very efficient that way. The big bandwidth is if a game is started with a randomly generated map then it sends the map to the players. But thats only on the initial connection.

The problem area is in CPU. Altho Ive watched that be incredibly improved during beta testing. But getting late into a large game can make the hosting the turns into something that the machine will "feel" the load. Games that are run as 24-hour turns and then space the hosting times so they dont overlap will take care of that.

3. If we supplied the server, could we get the code (some already exists, correct?)?

Esben has the decent code. I dont think its for the types of games I described. Of course I will provide my scripts which can be used to generate large occassional games.

4. Would there be any volunteers to administer the server?

No Im too flakey for that. Id be glad to help out setting things up or working on problems that come up. But Im better at sporadic help than I am at being regular and dependable.

Gandalf Parker