Poll: Official Multiplayer Game Server - Page 2

Velusion · #11 February 14th, 2007, 05:02 PM

Quote:

FAJ said:
I would be willing to pay 10+ bucks a month to garuntee my games went smoothly.

Aren't you in three of my games?

I'll PM you my address for payment....

Lormax · #12 February 14th, 2007, 05:59 PM

As a newbie to the community, I will probably be the last chosen for this, BUT...I have 2 extra computers doing nothing...I wouldn't mind at all setting up one as a server for the community. I'm on a stable internet connection thats up all the time as well. What would be good specs for the computer to run the games..? Then I'll know if using either one is even feasible.

Gandalf Parker · #13 February 14th, 2007, 06:27 PM

Mostly its memory and cpu. How much depends on alot of variables.

Lets say we start with an imaginary number of 1000.
Linux -500
Mac (I dont really know)
Windows +500

TCP/IP games +100 each
PbEM games +10 each

Small Games stay the same
Mid Sized games (<10 players and <500 provinces) +100 each
Large Games (>10 players, 1000+ provinces) +500 each

So the biggest hog would be trying to run 23 nation games on big maps as tcp/ip (always available to login) on a windows machine. The smallest hog would be running linux, even smaller if you only offer small blitz games, even smaller if you run them as PbEM (play-by-email, having the turns sent by mail or file upload and processed at a set hour each night).

But any windows machine can host one game at a time. And any crappy old box can be a decent server for a dozen games if you load linux on it. So pretty much anyone can be a host if they want to.

Velusion · #14 February 14th, 2007, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Gandalf Parker said:
But any windows machine can host one game at a time. And any crappy old box can be a decent server for a dozen games if you load linux on it. So pretty much anyone can be a host if they want to.

I host 3 large games on a single windows box with no problems. Dom3 uses remarkably little memory if you have the correct game settings (typically 2-5 MB per game) with CPU usage only being used when processing a turn.

I should probably put all the tips I've discovered for hosting games on a windows server in a post someday.

Lormax · #15 February 14th, 2007, 07:59 PM

Put em up Velusion, or email me lormax23@yahoo.com. Windows it the only OS I know personally. I'll get a server started ASAP if there's enough community need for it. I'll bet the only thing the comp will really need is a memory boost. I've got enough spare other "things" (monitor, etc) laying around to get it setup.

Gandalf Parker · #16 February 14th, 2007, 08:18 PM

I have mine set up on KVM switches. Thats a Keyboard/Video/Mouse switch. It lets me keep both boxes running side by side and when I need to work on box two I just throw the switch. My keyboard, monitor, and mouse work on whichever machine the switch is pointing to.

Micah · #17 February 14th, 2007, 10:09 PM

Velusion's been doing a remarkable job hosting, there have only been a couple of issues between the 2 games I'm in, and all of those were confined to the first 2-3 turns of the second game...plus he's evidently got a shred of decency since he's keeping the servers up after getting knocked out. (seriously, I thought leaving and taking your ball with you stopped around kindergarten, I don't want to believe people would drop the server just because they got knocked out, but I'm sure its happened)

He's also got an automatic email generation upon hosting, so I don't have to obsessively check the server for my turn. I don't think we'd need an Illwinter server if everyone took a cue from him though. Excellent job (as I've mentioned to him before now)

Velusion · #18 February 15th, 2007, 04:45 AM

Quote:

Lormax said:
Put em up Velusion, or email me lormax23@yahoo.com. Windows it the only OS I know personally. I'll get a server started ASAP if there's enough community need for it. I'll bet the only thing the comp will really need is a memory boost. I've got enough spare other "things" (monitor, etc) laying around to get it setup.

I'm working on it now. I'll post the draft in the forum when its complete.

Saxon · #19 February 15th, 2007, 07:57 AM

It may be worth checking in with the people who did the Space Empires 4 play by web site. It was a very effective and user friendly site and I believe the mechanics are quite similar to Dom. It was community produced and funded, with the blessing of the developer and Shrapnel. It might be possible to piggy back some of their ideas and experience. I just checked and it is still running, several years since I last used it, so it is doing well.

http://seiv.pbw.cc/text/index.jsp

Ygorl · #20 February 16th, 2007, 12:26 AM

Esben Mose Hansen was running 15 TCP games on an old (400 MHz?) Linux box - with a nifty web interface for administering the games!
If someone's serious about this, it might be worth looking him up and seeing if you can get the code from him. The web server was pretty slick. There were also places where it could have been improved on, rendering it even slicker...