Optimal TF2 Server Settings

[CrimsonGT]

So far I have just been renting a TF2 server from a company and that is easy enough. I just rented a dedicated server now and heres the specs.

AMD Athlon 64 5200+ Dual Core
2 GB of Ram
250 GB Sata II 3gb/s
CentOS 5.x
2000gb T1 Bandwidth

I am running 4 TF2 Servers off of it right now. Have yet to fill them up so not sure on what the server will be able to handle.

1) TF2 Official Maps Server 22 slot (20 public, 2 Reserved)
2) TF2 Custom Maps Server 22 slot (20 public, 2 Reserved)
3) TF2 Match Server 16 slot
4) TF2 Official Maps Server 20 slot

Only the first 2 will really see much activity. Our pub servers stay full usually 12-15 hours a day. Our match server will only be used very minimally, and the last official maps server is one another clan is renting from us, and there server basically stays dead unless they are having a match as well.

What I want to know is what would be the optimal tickrate and max FPS to set for these? I am pretty sure TF2 caps out at 66, but theres a ton of servers that are 100 tick, so im not sure. What tickrate do I use?

As far as maxfps, I read up a lot, and it seems like for a public server, its anywhere from 256-512, and seems most people go around 330 or something. For a match server I am assuming 512 for sure.

Also, I read that whatever you set the tickrate to in the command line is not actually what its set to. People were saying set it to 600 if you want 512 or whatever? Why is this and how do I know exactly what to set it to?

And last question, what is the rcon command to see what the maxfps are? I am pretty sure this is much different from anything cl_showfps or netgraph 3 are showing me.

[CrimsonGT]

Forgot to add, if I make the servers all 66 tick (which I am assuming is the max for TF2) what would be good values to set in the server.cfg's as far as sv_maxrate, sv_minrate, sv_maxupdaterate, sv_maxcmdrate, etc...

[blik]

Are you running fps booster? or

CrimsonGT Wrote:And last question, what is the rcon command to see what the maxfps are? I am pretty sure this is much different from anything cl_showfps or netgraph 3 are showing me.

fps_max in console will tell you whats it's set at.
stats in console will give you current fps the server is producing.

[CrimsonGT]

Nah I am not running fps booster. When I did stats, it said 166 or so for max FPS. What should I change this to for a public server? I just want it nice and smooth.

[Spartanfrog]

Run fps booster and set fps_max 400. You should get bout 256 FPS

[CrimsonGT]

I set +max_fps on my match server to 600 and supposedly thats supposed to give me 512 fps. For some reason its stuck at 333.33 and doesn't move.

[Drocona]

What OS is that?

try 700 (that always works for me, never tried 600 really).

If it's Linux, you might have to rebuild the kernel.

[CrimsonGT]

Yeah it is Linux, for a complete Linux newbie, how hard is rebuilding the kernel?

[Drocona]

I'm not sure myself since I don't have Linux or know anything about it.
There should be quite some explanations in the linux section, just do a quick search.