hiddious hit reg on our multiplay bf2 servers

[majorj0nny]

we have had 2 Multiplay servers for a long time now - they have always been great .... just recently (the past few weeks) a lot of our regulars have reported that the hit reg on the servers is very very bad .... there is this nasty stuttering almost constantly throughout gameplay, even though no ones pings are high particularly.

both our bf2 servers are hosted on different physical servers at multiplay, and multiplay insist that there is nothing atall wrong with them.

well - they say a lot of things, but one time they said the server had been up for 208 days and that a restart would clear the issues - it didnt.

this is not a client issue as my regulars can have a nasty hit reg on our bf2 servers, go to a different multiplay server - have no problems, come back to ours and get the same lag issues again ?

With this in mind Ive gotten multiplay to put us on different servers - to test if there is improvement... Im getting mixed results as to if this has improved - most saying slightly - some saying its the same..

anyone else getting these issues on bf2 servers at the moment ? its like you can stand a foot away from an enemy - open an entire clip into him - and apparently not a single bullet hit ? or another regular reported throwing granades - and them nades vanishing ???

whats going on ????????????????????

[lyn]

Probably best you either submit a ticket http://support.multiplay.co.uk/ or you log into irc and chat to the guys there to get it sorted.

[majorj0nny]

Probably best you either submit a ticket {silly forum rules} or you log into irc and chat to the guys there to get it sorted.

Ive submitted several tickets on this matter - Multiplay refuse to accept there are 'issues' ?

[rick_2k]

Just a thought but have you checked your own connections?

Ran some traceroutes etc to server? They prob allready have asked you this.. but that shoudl let you know where the problem is... Your end or theirs.

[majorj0nny]

Just a thought but have you checked your own connections?

Ran some traceroutes etc to server? They prob allready have asked you this.. but that shoudl let you know where the problem is... Your end or theirs.

they have give me a little program to run during gameplay that recorded typical ping rates and such - Ive sent them several examples over the several tickets Ive logged and even after asking what they interprited from that data I never got a reply...

actually Multiplay said that the server running my bf2 server had been on for 208 days .... they had restarted it and the person saying this believed that was the cause of my problems (ie the server melting) .. this did nothing to fix the issues ...

I do sometimes get frustrated with multiplay ticket system ... I can ask a load of questions trying to push multiplay to helping me find a solution ... but I get one one answers or they seem to just answer select questions and ignore the rest .... it sometimes feels like they just ping the server and wont investigate further.

they have also suggested local networks - but I would have thought everyone connected experiencing the same faults who are from all over the uk and europe - cant be that each one of them has the same network fault ?

At the moment Im doing things like dropping VOIP quality settings from 3 to 1 on the server ... removing auto announce messages .... just pluking at straws really since I dont feel that Multiplay really cares.

[K]

Please let us know a ticket number for this and I'll chase it up.

[majorj0nny]

Please let us know a ticket number for this and I'll chase it up.

its 122390

I think the last thing that happened was that I got multiplay to swop the servers to different servers ... but people are still reporting the same issues..

[SquireMuldoon]

We're sorry that you feel that we are not doing much about this, however I can assure you that this is not the case. This issue has been investigated quite extensively amongst ourselves but the problem is we can't find a problem.

I do not believe it is the box. Our continual usage stats of the box indicate that it is well below our max CPU threshold. Igloo responded to you believing that it might be an issue with memory and/or the machine uptime. The machine was rebooted to see if that would make a difference. It did not. We then moved the server to an alternative box with twice as much memory, and again no difference. We're running out of things where the box *might* be at fault.

So what else can it be? At this moment in time, I am leaning towards a possible config setting... perhaps punkbuster being ****? Tho I am told by Igloo that your config is virtually as pure as the driven snow... so that seems unlikely. That only leaves network issues which if were something at our end, would impact far more than just your servers.

Of course, we'd be more than happy to move you to yet another machine if you believe that to be the problem, you just need to be aware that it will mean an IP address change every time we do this.

[majorj0nny]

thanks for the reply and explanation ...

I noticed that one of the IPs we were moved to on thursday/friday? was the same as one of our 2142 server - and we have not had the same issues with that.. (no one has complained anyway).

Initially I didnt not think this was a problem, I first heard about it a few weeks ago, but at that time there was multiplay network problems and also various problems with PB updates ... so at the time I just put that down to other issues and not the servers...

within the last week Ive heard lots of our regulars complaining of 'stuttering' ingame - not lag particuarly though some have reported 'lag spikes' ... but for on a whole everyones pings have stayed healthy looking. Ive played on our bf2 server towards the end of last week and found there was some nasty stuttering ... even with my ping low and my PC has not changed. others with this problem have said they have joined other bf2 servers and suddenly problems are gone - nice hit reg etc ... so indicating possibly that this isnt a user client network problem ..

over this weekend Ive dropped the VOIP settings of both our server from 3 to 1 and apparently this has improved things quite a bit ... Im at work currently and our server peak times are usually aroun 6 onwards at night in the week so I will be able to test this claim then.

Ive also heard other members at 50Klicks (our site) say they have heard that Punkbuster problems have been reported that cause crash to desktop issues and slowness in game ... though I dont know if this is related.

we use pb steaming on all our servers and I was planning on switching that off to see if it makes any difference.

[SAF.Ryan]

Hit reg? Well have you tried modifying your usersettings.con file in your EA Games\Battlefield 2\mods\bf2 & xpack folders respectively?

Google around, you can find the guides for these. Basically you match them to suit your average ping.

I personally cannot see why the server would be at fault, unless it is something wrong with the internet connection at multiplay, ie. packet-loss etc. This is not happening though, and I can't say this has been happening to any of our clan servers...

[majorj0nny]

Hit reg? Well have you tried modifying your usersettings.con file in your EA Games\Battlefield 2\mods\bf2 & xpack folders respectively?

Google around, you can find the guides for these. Basically you match them to suit your average ping.

I personally cannot see why the server would be at fault, unless it is something wrong with the internet connection at multiplay, ie. packet-loss etc. This is not happening though, and I can't say this has been happening to any of our clan servers...


no this is NOTHING to do with client side ... Ive not altered ANYTHING on my computer let alone the game for several months - infact Ive never altered anything on bf2 unless you count past patches.

the servers gotten a little better of late, but only after dropping and increasing VOIP quality setting... Multiplay gave me the port of an alternative server to try on the same IP as our server (i assume to see if its laggy and therefore points to a server issue) this other server had more people playing - with higher average pings and there was no stuttering ingame like on our server... I could then re-join our server and have the same stutter and p1ss poor hit reg.. go back to the other server and its fine again ...

this indicates it cant be a client or local network problem ...

Over the past few days Ive heard rummblings of Punkbuster (that ever reliable system) causing similar 'issues' with other bf2 servers out there ... I wouldnt be suprised if this problem just vanished one day... its that kind of really random fault.

[SAF.Ryan]

Sorry for the confusion mate.

What I meant was, have you tried editing those files client-side after you started having the problems? Its perfectly ok to do with those .con files.

As for only your server doing it, it leads me to believe that a config is not quite somewhere, most likely under your punkbuster configs. Can you give more info, like are you streaming anti-cheat info to someone like PsB or PBBans?

I wouldn't be suprised if its the actual punkbuster software either. They released the required services not so long back that have to remain running as a process on your machine. And my god, does it make you lag when it feels like it!

;)

[majorj0nny]

Ive disabled PB streaming on one of our bf2 server to see what the effect is..

typically our bf2 servers have been empty the last few days so I cant get any decent feedback as to wether the problems are still there or not..

i will just have to wait and see.

[SAF.Ryan]

Ok mate.

[SquireMuldoon]

Just to add my thoughts again. If you did end up evlauating another server on the same box as the one you have been moved to, and it didnt have the problems you are experiencing, then it lends a lot more credance to the idea that it is a config setting of some sort.

All the BF servers on a given box run from the same image. The only differences between the servers are the config files that define how each server instance is to run and with what settings. It would seem that your description exhonorates the box, network or even the install image as an issue.

I dont know if you have tried it, but have you attempted to use a fresh profile based on the template? Do you have the demo recorder running?