GE game server in the making!

Post by **Vortagh** » Sat May 07, 2005 3:20 pm

With great joy I can announce that the GE will have it's first gameserver this fall/winter!

Allthough it is still a few months away, I managed to secure a quad Pentium III Xeon motherboard and four 700MHz Xeon processors!
Together with 4GB of memory and two superfast SCSI drives, this should work nicely for a gameserver. (If you are interested in more hardware details, please tell me ;-))
With the big hunger for power and the need for a good connection, I might have found a friend who'd be willing to host it at our town's very own little ISP's backbone.

I am not to sure what game(s) I will run on it, though.
I know that the CPU power will only be enough for dedicated (read - no graphics power needed on the server) server games, but even with that limitation, I do not know how well it will perform, because I have no experience with that kind of machines and usage.
The only gameserver I owned was a 600MHz PIII used as a dedicated "Tactical Ops" (Counterstike, just on the UT engine and a LOT better :P) server - which worked perfectly and ran very smooth with 4 players and lots of bots.
However, I do not know how this is comparable to other games and the totally different system.

Anybody here have a few ideas?

Post by **Jagged Fel** » Sat May 07, 2005 3:26 pm

Well besides JO/JA which I think we should do, what other games are you looking at? Personally I really only play Raven Shield and a Half-Life mod that chances are none of you play.

Post by **Vortagh** » Sat May 07, 2005 3:39 pm

I was thinking about two versions:

1.) An "on demand" server.
In other words, I'd install games like JA, JO, BF and so on. Whatever we want to play get's loaded by an admin (I have a few people in mind) and you go and play it.

2.) A dedicated Free Worlds server.
Explains itself, no? :P

The problem with both versions is easy to explain: "Will the games run fine on the hardware?". I am currently typing a question to the guys at freeworldsmod.com, so we'll see.
Other than that, I will have to decide which one of the two versions I want to run, because one cancels out the other.

Post by **Vortagh** » Sat May 07, 2005 5:52 pm

Ok, I just talked to somebody who also runs Freeworlds and he says that with his server (Dual 500MHz, 512MB RAM, normal DSL line) he could do a 10 people server fine.

So, seeing how I have 2 CPUs more with 200MHz more and about 3,5 GB more RAM, we should be able to have a nice FW server - IF we need it. We'll have to see how the Hyperion server goes.

LC Eddard Stark · Post by **LC Eddard Stark** » Sat May 07, 2005 11:54 pm

This just might incurage me to get Freeworlds

Wedge · Post by **Wedge** » Sun May 08, 2005 9:44 am

It might encourage me to get back into Freeworlds. I found a lot of the rules and regs of the USA 24/7 server get in the way of creating a free ranging and wild galaxy. All the limitations they pose on civilians, for instance. I agree [CIV]s shouldn't own any purely military ships, but if they want to save up and buy themselves a bulk cruiser or a YV-666, I say let them. Plus, there are people luck me that absolutely suck as piloting fighters. If there capital ships were more accessable I'd be able to do something I'm good at: shooting at things while I'm sitting still.

Besides, if you restricted capital ships to TE's only it would keep things balanced.

AND, I always hated the way an enemy could just fly right through your faction's NPC patrols in your home system and come after you. If we could set up a code that makes a Rebel automatically hated by the Empire and loved by the NR, and vice versa, we'd have a more realistic game environment. Not to mention those pesky little one man assualts will be stopped by your NPC patrols.

Post by **Vortagh** » Sun May 08, 2005 11:13 am

The problem is that most of those rules were needed and I will definitely also enforce them on my server.
The server was a pure Roleplaying server and the dumb thing was that nobody back then was really roleplaying, so the rules might have put many people back.

Other than that - Wedge, if you know a programming hotshot who can pull that suggestion off, I suggest you go into game design with him. :P

AD Polanski · Post by **AD Polanski** » Sun May 08, 2005 11:44 am

Surely one might be able to implement code based on ship; considering its a role playing server, anyone in the wrong ship deserves to get shot by their own side!

eg, if you fly and X-Wing, then Imperial "designated" ships will auto attack...

Post by **Vortagh** » Sun May 08, 2005 12:32 pm

They will do that anyways. Ask Steel, he can sing a nice song about jumping right into the middle of big NR vs IMP NPC ship fights in Bespin. :P

Wedge · Post by **Wedge** » Mon May 09, 2005 10:03 am

Vortagh wrote:Other than that - Wedge, if you know a programming hotshot who can pull that suggestion off, I suggest you go into game design with him.

Funny you should mention that, but it's still a few years off. I have to finish college first.

And it wouldn't actually be that hard. When you start a new character for the Empire or the Rebels, you'll just be required to bribe a certain group in the Multiplayer Nexus. All you have to do is fiddle with the +/- amounts so that instead of your designated enemy being somewhat annoyed with you they become almost completely red and come after you on occasion.

Vortagh wrote:The problem is that most of those rules were needed and I will definitely also enforce them on my server.

i'm not saying all of their rules are worthless. In fact they have a loit of good ones. But there are still a few that could be done differently, to encourage a more freeform game environment rather than an over regulated one.

Post by **Fel** » Mon May 09, 2005 11:58 am

Wedge wrote:/me suddenly finds himself without the edit or delete buttons. Odd.

Could someone please delete the first two post and this one as well? Thank you.

Done.

Post by **Vortagh** » Mon May 09, 2005 6:15 pm

Wedge wrote:And it wouldn't actually be that hard. When you start a new character for the Empire or the Rebels, you'll just be required to bribe a certain group in the Multiplayer Nexus. All you have to do is fiddle with the +/- amounts so that instead of your designated enemy being somewhat annoyed with you they become almost completely red and come after you on occasion.

No Problem, that would be a 2 minutes job.

Vortagh wrote:i'm not saying all of their rules are worthless. In fact they have a loit of good ones. But there are still a few that could be done differently, to encourage a more freeform game environment rather than an over regulated one.

Also no problem :P

steel · Post by **steel** » Mon May 09, 2005 7:26 pm

I am not sure if you guys are considering how maniac, stressfull and depressing it is to do TEs when the NPCs are going all berserk around ya :p

Wedge · Post by **Wedge** » Mon May 09, 2005 11:11 pm

I not only considered it, I'm counting on it.

It'll make things a lot more interesting, no doubt. And promote the use of proper small unit tactics to allow people to both fight of the human players while defending themselves against the NPCs. And as I mentioned before, it'll stop those annoyingly unrealistic instances of a single enemy pilot slipping through the Imperial defensive lines and hitting a cargo ship in it's home system. And as an added bonus, it ensures that everyone will comeply with the trade route restrictions. If you try to dock at a place that no longer belongs to your faction, you might just get yourself blown out of space.

Wedge · Post by **Wedge** » Mon May 09, 2005 11:15 pm

On reflection the constant change in ownership may be a bit of a pain to take care of, but in an effort to practice what I preach I'm willing to volunteer to help with that. just as soon as someone teaches me how to do it (Hey, how 'bout it Vort?).