Server Power In Response to Consistent HighPop.

[ColdSuit]

Since the server is now consistently surpassing 200+ players even on week, I had a question about the server power behind the game. I am impressed that lag levels are reasonably log despite the presence of hundreds of mobs, projectiles, and server messages at any one time. However, does the CM dev team have future plans to expand server hardware?

[Philby0]

I wonder what it'd take to have a second server.

[Renomaki]

I dunno, running a server isn't cheap, and having two servers would require more staff, which could lead to reduced quality due to the greater number of staff that managers would need to manage.

You also have to remember that it is SUMMER, or about to be, so high pop is gonna happen no matter what. The question is what will the pop be like AFTERWARDS?

And even then, for all we know, they might just make an update that pisses off a lot of people and forces them away, causing a population drop. So it is risky to invest for higher pops with a community that is pretty picky when it comes to updates.

[Heckenshutze]

Summer is the peak of baldies ffing your head off lets hope for it to end soon

[Cry of Wolves]

Which is why we are actively looking for moderators. If you want to try out just for the summer, make an application. We can use more numbers since it is gonna be high pop forever during the summer.

[Philby0]

I don't think having a second server would require a lot more mods, since it's more of a staff/player ratio. The cost is definitely the main issue.

The thing is, the map can only accommodate so many players. If the numbers get big enough, Apop might reopen donations to fund a second server.

I don't know shit about how the server runs though so there might be more cons.

[ColdSuit]

Fair responses, though I am curious to see how a second server would split the playerbase.

My question consists of two parts:
1. Can additional processing power be devoted to this single server to increase performance?
2. How large can a map feasibly be in order to accomodate the player numbers we are currently seeing?

[Sulaboy]

What if the second server only was up during certain days of the week, or at certain times. Though I also don't know anything about servers so my ideas aren't that useful. Only thing I do know is that higher populations sometimes make the game less fun at least for me.

[Karmac]

we dont need a second server

[Shuffl3]

Traffic seems trace back to one of NFOservers dedicated boxes in chicago. So the cost is somewhere between 125-170usd/mo. I guess if they're not already they could always bump up to the most expensive CPU but even then its only buying a couple more MHZ. Given that SS13 is all about single core power and each box has four cores they could probably run a second server without having to rent out another. Looks like they also run the website and probably some other stuff for dev/admin work off it as well so there would be tradeoffs if they went that route.

Personally, I think this huge spike will settle down in a few days so I don't think spinning up a second server would help to much.

Edit: Nevermind. Looks more like an unmanaged virtual server now. so 30-50usd/mo, probably about as much to stand up another.

[spookydonut]

The biggest improvements we can make are codewise, which we are constantly doing.

[ColdSuit]

The biggest improvements we can make are codewise, which we are constantly doing.

Again, I am impressed with you and your team's efforts. You have managed to make a server that routinely has 150+ players run much better than servers with 30-50% of those numbers, with much more background calculations (bullets, health tracking, explosions, mass multi-Z level transitions of dozens of players at a time). I applaude you all.

[xXen0zS1ay3rXx]

Second server would be nice for quality of life, once rounds get over 100 people the fun also takes a bit of a dive for !FUN!

[awan]

http://www.byond.com/docs/notes/512.html

That lists improvements to client pre rendering. Those I hope reduce lag by a noticeable amount. (But likely will not be that obvious.

[Kasius]

I don't agree on a second server either. High Pop is laggy as heck when it comes to gameplay but what about when you have two servers and it's low pop? That ain't gonna fly unless one server goes offline during "low pop hours" or something.

[ThePiachu]

I would gladly donate some money to bump us to a faster server for the time being. I think a lot of people also want to toss money your way for being awesome...

It might also be interesting to have some "lower clutter" map, where you strip away say, X% of items from the map most people don't use anyway and see if that helps. This way if lag is noticeable people could vote for low-lag map to try mitigating it a bit.

[Philby0]

Two servers obviously isn't an idea for right now.

But if the playerbase keeps growing at this rate, in a year or two how big will it get ?

The map has its limitations, which for now only show on very high pop, and the server can't just be expanded forever.

[ThePiachu]

There are also logistical limits to the current Almayer - how many players can be serviced by 3 people in requisitions in 20 minutes? How do you handle 20 people needing a surgery with only 4 operating tables, etc.

Also, the problem might be exacerbated by having two large updates released soon after one another - the tank and the alien castes. If those were more spaced apart we wouldn't have that big of a population bump.