Network optimization

[pudly]

I'm in the process of setting up a little bit of a practice CS:S server on a spare FreeBSD 6.3 server at home.

I'm running into trouble though with my bandwidth.

I have a 1.5megabit outgoing pipe, however as soon as i get more than 8 people playing on the server - their pings sky rocket to 1000+. This doesn't make sense to me as every player takes up about ~5k/sec worth of bandwidth. I'm wondering if there is any network optimization techniques I can implement to remedy this situation?

I've heard of people on windows-based dedicated servers being able to fix similar issues by simply launching windows media player prior to running the dedicated server. I'm sure this has something to do with optimizing the TCP/IP stack, or could just be some crazy talk.

Any and all help in the matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[erictooth]

Starting windows media player doesn't do anything to help with network bandwidth--it helps the server reach a higher FPS (a lot of people claim this makes the game feel more responsive -- including me). But it wont help you in your situation.

The best thing you could do to reduce the pings is lower the sv_maxrate to about 15000 instead of 30000 (which it is probably set at).

[Frito]

What kind of firewall are you running? It could be seeing the players as a udp attack or something silly like that? Check your router/firewall logs.