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Dedicated Game Servers?

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- Thread starter McRackin - Start date Oct 10, 2011



I am curious about the process of creating a dedicated server for a game such as BF3. Multiplay offers 64 player servers starting at $70/month. That seems quite reasonable.



Is it possible for you to build your own desktop server for $1000? Upgrade your line to a 100MB connection, and create your 64 player server. How difficult is it to do it yourself?



Oct 10, 2011



McRackin said: Is it possible to make your own desktop server build for around $1000, upgrade your line to a 100MB connection and create your own 64 player server? It is not difficult to do. Click to expand...



Although it is a bit simplistic, it works in a certain way. It really depends on how much you know about servers and networking.



D



dashpuppy



Supreme [H]ardness



Joined May 5, 2010.



Messages 6,163



Danny Bui said: A bit simplistic but yes in a way. The level of your knowledge about servers and networking will determine the complexity of the task. Click to expand...



depends on hardware too, you buy shit stuff your server won't last or be able to handle the load, over build it and should be good..



T



Tiramisu



Joined January 8, 2004



Messages 11,066



It's easy to build a system to serve as a game server for under $1000. The hard part of running a game server is ensuring you have the right software, and a reliable network connection.



You don't need to do too much for the physical system. For example, you only need the following:



Intel Core i5 2400 Intel IntelH61 or H67-based processor 8-16GB DDR3RAM Video card that is good enough to run the game(s), the server doesn't require a high-end card.
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It's been a while since I've last heard of a request for a game server build, so I don't know what software, in addition to a copy of BF3, you would need to run the server. The connection is crucial. A 100MB internet connection may not be enough. I can't even imagine how much it would cost compared with the average 5-6MB line.



0



00PS



Joined May 5, 2009.



Messages 1,798



I checked it out a few months ago and, if EA releases public server files it is highly unlikely it will be considered a ranked Server.



Although I thought I had seen something about BF3 Beta Server files being leaked recently,



M



moose517



Gawd



Joined February 28, 2009.



Messages 640



I'm with you about the internet connection LOL. Spent about 1500 on a server for minecraft, now having serious issues with players not staying connected because my internet isn't fast enough.



So Multiplay and other companies that have EA contracts will be allowed to have ranked server?



McRackin explained that only Multiplay, which has a contract with EA, will be allowed ranked servers. Click to expand...



Pretty much: http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/...st-look-bf3-pc-game-servers.html#post19744967



C



C7J0yc3



[H]ard|Gawd



Dec 27, 2009 - Joined



Messages 1,353



Not to mention that 100MB with a static Ip (will need to have something like fiber or metro e for low-ping) is going cost A LOT MORE than $70 per month (try adding an 0 then doubling).



EA won't release the dedicated client to anyone except their official partners, Danny Bui also mentioned. BC2 had to launch before they released a ranked dedicated customer (though you could still run an unranked client right away). Pretty much this is how EA keeps cracked servers from leaking their way into the server browser. It will be interesting for MW3 to find out if they have the server client on disk. (They have announced LAN Play and I hope it isn’t listen servers only).



Last edited: Oct 11, 2011



Do a search...there are many threads in these forums that go into great detail about how to make your own gaming server. I typed quite a few .... as I did quite a bit building and running public gaming server.



As for BF3..I don't believe it's possible, last I knew you could only do those at EA certified game server sites...meaning, you literally cannot build/run your own from home.



I used to co-locate them at data centers and ISPs the performance is superior to your home internet connection. It's more than speed.. it's about latency.. and the power behind the router/firewall where your server is located. It is also important to ensure that your server is close enough to the ISPs gateway that everyone in the country has a low ping.



Server grade hard drives work better when used with certain games. Server-grade network cards handle heavy traffic more effectively than desktop grade cards.



Things like that.



So who are the top gameserver host? I've been looking into Multiplay, Gameservers, End of Reality. Are there any other respectable hosts out there?



We had a great experience with http://www.ultimategameserver.com/



You can either rent one from them or send it your way and co-locate. Our support team was fantastic. There are many locations around the country that you can choose from to optimize your latency and support your core players.



McRackin



Limp Gawd



Joined Dec 27, 2008.



Messages 284



Sorry, I didn't mention that i'm looking at official servers which can host ranked server BF3



Dangman



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Joined Dec 15, 2005



Messages 46.062



Apparently the official [H]ardGaming BF3 server is being ordered from End of Reality: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1639862



- Oct 11, 2011



The hardware needed to run most game servers really can be pretty modest.



Each instance of Source game servers we currently run (Counter Strike, Team Fortress 2, and Left4Dead2) run in a single core VM with 768MB of ram. If running the game server is the only thing its doing it does not have to be a beefy machine at all.



The UT3 that we use is the same, but with 1GB of RAM.



Crysis Wars has 1GB RAM and two cores. I'm pretty certain the server is multi-threaded.



Most servers are single-threaded. It doesn't matter if you have a super powerful 8 core CPU, it wont be used. You are just wasting resources. It's not unusual to see an i7 stuck at 12 percent CPU usage, because the server has only one thread.



Faster hard drives could be nice, but spending the extra money to me isnt worth it. The only time the server can access hard drives is when it starts up and when it switches between levels. Even then, the server will not access gigabytes worth of information. How big are the map files? It's not huge at all. Most Source maps are less than 50MB.



Remember that the servers aren't as intense as the games themselves.



As others have stated, internet connections are crucial. You won't get the best performance if you have a slow internet connection, or if you use that connection for other purposes like netflix, etc. I get great pings up to the west coast when I run my servers on a Fios connection.



You will not be allowed to host your own BF3 server, as many others have stated. Its a direction that the entire game server community is going. I have my own theories about kickbacks from the hosting providers, and being able to peddle DLC among other things. Support the games that offer the server files. Brink 2 and Red Orchestra 2 were terrible, but they offered the server files and they got my cash. I'm currently setting it up an RO2 Server. Keep in mind, despite the distain displayed on this forum, that Modern Warfare 3 will be out next month and will offer community-hosted servers like MW1. It could be what keeps me in the CoD franchise.



We hope this helps.



Y



YeOldeStonecat



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Joined Jul 19 2004,



Messages 11,330



jadams said: The hardware needed to run most game servers really can be pretty modest.



Each instance of Source game servers we currently run (Counter Strike, Team Fortress 2, and Left4Dead2) run in a single core VM with 768MB of ram. If running the game server is the only thing its doing it does not have to be a beefy machine at all. Click to expand...



You can't make blanket statements such as that without knowing the purpose of the server such and what game(s).



The public gaming servers I built going way back to the NT 4 server days, old Quake, Quake 2, Quake 3 (and all sorts of mods/variations), call of duty, castle wolf, tons and tons of Unreal Tournament servers (my server sat in the top 20 of NGStats global top server list for over a year), and of course many of the Battlefield games...Desert Combat, Vietnam...several servers running at the same time. One Battlefield server could pump 20 megs per hour during peak hours.



Some of those games...if you want a busy packed server that performs well, you will want more than modest desktop hardware. I have seen the difference a server-grade network card can make to the exact same server we used for LAN parties..big LAN parties were held in hotel conference rooms that hosted guests from all over the US..and Canada. I have seen the difference between server-grade hard drives and the servers we used to host LAN parties. Yes on some games...

as you noted, they don't "load" much...and they won't make a difference. Yet...other games will load larger files. And what if you're running several different game servers at the same time. That hard drive can get busy. For big LAN parties, I would format and re-install servers. I used the same motherboard, different NICs and drives. In heavier load conditions and with more games, I saw a dramatic difference in performance.

I'm a firm believer in server grade quality components in a public game server. If you are just running a 20x man server from home, then any $599 special Presario tower at your local BestBuy should be fine. If you are looking to host a large server that can accommodate over 100 guests , you should invest in hardware. Server grade components are also reliable. A reliable box is essential if you plan to transport your server and place it in a remote data center. One that will last for a while. If it has issues, you don't want the time or expense to fix them.



All moot though, OP heading in direction of a hosted virtual BF3 box.



- October 12, 2011



J



jadams



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Messages 4,086



YeOldeStonecat stated: You can't make blanket statements such as that without knowing the purpose and of the server such the game(s) it will host. Click to expand...



I can. You are referring to servers from the early 2000s. Theres a huge gap in performance of todays hardware vs the actual requirements of the game servers. A Counter Strike server with 24 players will not be able max out a Pentium 3Ghz Pentium 4. Source Servers (like many other servers) are single threaded. Even if you have all the latest hardware, it all goes to waste. Remember the Minecraft Server thread in here a month or so ago? One prime example of his i7 Extreme, Xeon w/out ECCRAM, was lagging when cpu spiked at 12%.



I was mistaken though, the most resource intensive game server we have is our new Red Orchestra 2 which runs in a quad core 1GB ram system. Which perplexes me because the UT3 server we run is only single core. RO2 and UT3 share the same engine. RO2 wouldn't even start if I was using a single core VM.



In a dual core 1.5GB system, I can run three instances of a CoD4 Server (vanilla promod and gungame). The systems don't need to be super-fast. They arent running the game. The server is much more demanding than the game.



What about the network connection? I echoed what other have said in this thread. I need my servers set up to send out bandwidth usage reports. I haven’t paid much attention. My internet connection has never been maxed before.



Network cards? I have used 10/100 Intels and RealCraps. I couldn't tell the difference. The server is only making a very limited number of connections. You gotta have a truly craptastic NIC if it cannot handle a game server. I'd be more concerned about my internet connectivity than I would about the NIC's I was using.



While the OP may have made the point, it is not relevant to their position. However, discussion is always good. This thread could be searched by someone in the future as the title is Dedicated Game Server, and not BF3.



Oct 13, 2011



H



houkouonchi



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Joined Sep 14,2008



Messages 1,622



jadams stated: I can. You're talking about servers from the early 2000's. Theres a huge gap in performance of todays hardware vs the actual requirements of the game servers. A Counter Strike server with 24 players will not even be able to use a 3Ghz Pentium 4. Source Servers (like many other servers) are single threaded. Even if your hardware is the most up-to-date, it all goes to waste. Remember the Minecraft Server thread from a month ago? An example of his i7 Extreme was the Xeon w/out ECCRAM. It was lagging at 12% when the cpu was spiking. Click to expand...



Multi-core is a good idea if you have many servers that you want to run on the same machine. If you want to ensure no lag, make sure to give them cores with set affinity.



Unless you have FIOS, don't try to run servers from home. It's the only residential internet connection that is worth using to host game-servers. Even if you don’t rape your internet connection that much, it is worth having a dedicated internet connection for game-servers to ensure they don’t lag.


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