I'm running a 24 man DoD:S server, and everything works fine except that every minute or so there is a pretty bad lag spike that everyone experiences. I originally had the server on a wireless connection and thought that might be it, but after moving it to a wired connection the issue is still there. I've tried 66 and 100 tickrates, to no avail. Any idea what the problem might be?

Edit: Should probably give a little more info. Internet connection is 15/5 Mbit/s. The machine running the server is more than capable (Q6600, 4GB ram).

This post was last modified: 05-09-2008 03:17 AM by zeek215.

is your isp throttling you?

Hmm, I don't know. How would I check that?

whos your isp?

Verizon (Fios).

hmm, they dont do traffic shaping (i dont think)

Make sure you have completely disabled wireless on that computer

does it happen no matter how many people are in the server?

When it happens, make sure your system isnt spiking for some reason

it could also be your router. Maybe try plugging the modem straight into your server and have some friends see if it still happens

The computer the server is running on now has no wireless adapters, and the lag spikes occur no matter how many or how few are on the server.

Since I've reinstalled the server on a second computer (the wired one) and still have the issue, I'm thinking it must be the router. I'll give your suggestion a try and see what happens.

One thing I forgot to mention. Before running this DoD:S server, I was running a TF2 server with no lag spikes or any issues at all.

Also, I'm not exactly sure how I'm supposed to try what you suggested Ryan. The router is plugged into from the wall. I've tried plugging the server PC to the wall, but that doesn't work.

you probably have a router/modem combo from verizon so that suggestion is pretty much out of question.

i dont know what to tell you, try eliminating one possible problem at a time as best you can

Okay, I tried disabling every non-essential service running, and then ran the server. It "seemed" like the lag spikes were happening less frequently, but they did still happen (felt like a minute and a half apart now). Also, when the lag spikes happen, the server disappears from the server list in steam for a few seconds and then comes back. It's strange how TF2 server worked just fine but this one is having problems.

Edit: I decreased the maxplayers limit to 16, and the lag spikes are now further apart (but still there).

This post was last modified: 05-09-2008 04:46 AM by zeek215.

Alrighty, after a lot of testing this is what I've found out:

Regardless of what I use for tickrate, maxrate, or any other cfg config, the lag spikes occur.

The first lag spike always occurs at a different time, but within minutes of connecting to the server. The following lag spikes ALWAYS occur exactly one minute after the previous spike.

In the steam server browser, when these lag spikes hit, the latency reading on the server shoots up to around 2000.

Conclusion: I'm gonna give Verizon a call and see what the heck is going on.

Wait dont! Verizon FIOS doesnt allow servers (like most ISP's) to be run from home connections.

Well I already called and talked with them. Apparently they're still recovering from an outage we had a few weeks ago. I told them about running the server, and they didn't seem to mind it at all. My TF2 server now also has this lag spike, so I'm thinking the cause is definitely that outage. They said everything should be back to normal in a week or two, so we'll see.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Oh then lucky you.