Painful FPS and Lag

[jameshaigh]

Hi,

I'm on this dedicated box:

Intel P4 2.8Ghz
2GB RAM
2 x 80GB Hard Disks
100mbit Internet Connection

I'm getting painfully low FPS when more than 20 people are online.. stuff like this:

Code:

00:05:20 CPU   In    Out   Uptime  Users   FPS    Players
         81.20 56533.72 218596.66     283    12   14.71      26

I'm...

..using this autoexec.cfg:

Code:

// MANI STUFF
mani_reverse_admin_flags 0
mani_reverse_immunity_flags 0

// DYNAMIC PRICING OFF
mp_dynamicpricing 0

// NO UPLOADS
sv_allowupload 0

// RATES
fps_max 450
sv_maxrate 14000
sv_minrate 5000
sv_maxupdaterate 30
sv_maxcmdrate 30
sv_mincmdrate 20
sv_minupdaterate 20
sv_unlag 1
sv_maxunlag 1

// SURF
sv_airaccelerate 200
sv_gravity 800

// CONSISTENCY & PURE OFF
sv_consistency 0
sv_pure 0

// ALLTALK
sv_alltalk 1

// EVENTSCRIPTS STUFF
es_load examples/auth/basic_auth
es_set BASIC_AUTH_ADMIN_LIST "STEAM_0:1:0000000;"
es_load popup
es_load noblock
es_load time_left
es_load vwarn
es_load nokilling
es_load vipslot

..this server.cfg

Code:

// MAIN SETTINGS
hostname "DEATHMATCH SURF | Nitrous 32 | NOBLOCK + FASTDOWN"
rcon_password xxxxxx

// TEMP SETTINGS
//hostname "DEATHMATCH SURF | Temporarily Down For Maintenance"
//sv_password xxxx

// SURF SETTING
sv_airaccelerate 200
sv_gravity 800

// TIMELIMITS
mp_timelimit 30
mp_roundtime 9
mp_freezetime 0

// FAST DOWNLOADS
sv_downloadurl "http://69.73.157.xxx/xxx"

// ALLTALK
sv_alltalk 1

// MANI
exec mani_server.cfg

It's also running:

- Metamod:Source
- SourceMod
- CSSM v2

What can I do to sort this out? I have a popular server, but this lag is just too bad.

[fqdn]

15 fps is bad, what is the fps when the server is empty?

[jameshaigh]

This is with 0 people on:

Code:

CPU   In    Out   Uptime  Users   FPS    Players
0.00  0.00  0.00     938    41  124.73       0

[Muppet]

jameshaigh Wrote:This is with 0 people on:

Code:

CPU   In    Out   Uptime  Users   FPS    Players
0.00  0.00  0.00     938    41  124.73       0

Looks as if you're still running default kernel will config_hz 125.

Try recompiling at 1000hz and running server with +fps_max 600 or 1000.

Either way, i doubt it will work. FPS drops that low when CPU is being hammered.

[jameshaigh]

Muppet Wrote:

jameshaigh Wrote:This is with 0 people on:

Code:

CPU   In    Out   Uptime  Users   FPS    Players
0.00  0.00  0.00     938    41  124.73       0

Try recompiling at 1000hz and running server with +fps_max 600 or 1000.

How would I do this? I'm fairly comfortable with Linux, but I've never tried recompiling a kernel.

Thanks

[Muppet]

What OS we talking about here?

Best bet would be google, should be plenty of HOW-TO's around.

google: 'recompile 1000 hz <insert os>'

[jameshaigh]

I'm on Debian Sarge

[Muppet]

http://technowizah.com/2005/12/debian-how-to-custom-kernel-compile.html

[jameshaigh]

Will I have to make any changes to make the system boot into the new kernel?


Thanks for your help, Muppet.

[Muppet]

Assuming after following that guide - there shouldn't be a problem.

It should recompile your existing kernel so you won't need to edit your /boot/grub/menu.lst to set it up to boot a different kernel. It may even add the new kernel automatically to the /boot/grub/menu.lst as the default option - which if it does, you won't need to do anything else.

However if it doesn't overwrite your existing kernel or add the new kernel to the menu.lst, you *may* need to:

Code:

sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst

or

Code:

sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

and add the new kernel into the file there ABOVE the other ones currently residing there - just using the exact same format but pointing to the new kernel name.

For example, my ubuntu box (based on debian) menu.lst contains:

Code:

title        Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
root        (hd0,2)
kernel        /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic ro quiet splash
initrd        /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
quiet

title        Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic (recovery mode)
root        (hd0,2)
kernel        /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic ro single
initrd        /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic

title        Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.20-16-generic
root        (hd0,2)
kernel        /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-16-generic ro quiet splash
initrd        /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-16-generic
quiet

title        Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.20-16-generic (recovery mode)
root        (hd0,2)
kernel        /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-16-generic ro single
initrd        /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-16-generic

title        Ubuntu 7.10, memtest86+
root        (hd0,2)
kernel        /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

If needed, you may need to add something like this in the follow format (replace title and paths):

Code:

title        Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic-1000hz
root        (hd0,2)
kernel        /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic-1000hz ro quiet splash <== [PATH TO NEW KERNEL WITH STARTUP PARAMETERS]
initrd        /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic <== [PATH TO NEW KERNEL]
quiet

[jameshaigh]

Ok, thanks for your help.

I'm going to try it in a Virtual Machine right now, because if I mess up I'd rather it be on a VM than a server thousands of miles away



Thanks again.

[jameshaigh]

I have done the kernel update, and it's now at 1000hz.

Using fps_max 600 I'm getting about 493fps with one player online.

Excellent result!


Just hoping that it doesn't lag when lots of people come online.
Thanks

[jameshaigh]

Getting roughly this:

Code:

CPU   In    Out   Uptime  Users   FPS    Players
27.40 30044.11 79071.28      24     2  333.33      12

..but still with some small lag.

That's VERY high CPU usage for a P4 and only 12 people on?

[Muppet]

jameshaigh Wrote:Getting roughly this:

Code:

CPU   In    Out   Uptime  Users   FPS    Players
27.40 30044.11 79071.28      24     2  333.33      12

..but still with some small lag.

That's VERY high CPU usage for a P4 and only 12 people on?

You'll be surprised how much CPU srcds on linux uses now

What tickrate is that?

[jameshaigh]

This is a 60 tickrate surf server with 200 air acceleration.

I have the "ht" flag in my proc/cpuinfo, so I'm checking with my ISP to see whether HyperThreading is enabled in the BIOS. If it is, it'll probably kill performance.

I've been thinking that having all of these mods:
- MetaMod
- SourceMod
- CSS: DM
- EventScripts
- ES_Tools
- Various EventScript Addons

..will add a LOT of lag to the server. I'm going to try to eliminate MetaMod and replace its scripts with EventScripts variants, as I much prefer the way I can tweak things.

Do you think this will help?