Your Guide to Setting Up a HLDS

Maybe you could make a webpage with the full version and link to it. You could just put an abreviated version on the forums.

ah well i think that will then defeat the point of the ocforums thread
I will just put a Link to the pictures instead of using the tags anymore.
I have down the most important pictures, the ones that are left to do are about 2 tweaking pictures and the rest troubleshooting which is not much hassle to click a link.
Ill make the links nice and big + colored so people know they are there.

I have almost completed the thread now, just did 80% of the tweaking and a few troubleshooting questions.
The CS:Source guide will come soon by Eatmyshorts5679.

Thanks guys

My Part of the thread is now officially complete. Sorry it took a longer time than anticipated...school and stuff

Soon, CS:Source will come! Hold tight ladies and gentlemen

Enjoy <3

Thread glue applied.

thank u sir

Another way to improve FPS (frames per second) On your server​

I have just found a nice little program that appears to work very good in conjunction with HLBooster, which is explained above in the proper thread.

This tweak will improve the FPS (frames-per-second) that the server puts out. Most servers put out around 99 FPS, the handy application will make that FPS go past 300 FPS.

1) Download the following program:

http://cpnclan.home.comcast.net/srcdsfpsboost.zip

2) Extract and launch srcdsfpsboost.exe
3) Minimize screen and your done.
4) To exit this program, maximize the screen and press any key followed by enter

TIP for resource saving!

Minimize any window. Having windows not minimized will use more resources, although its very little, everythign adds up. That minimization might make you one ping lower at one point in the game. Every tweak is worth it.
Enjoy.

Hehe, funny how things wander around the net srcdsfpsboost is something I hacked up quickly and posted on the steampowered forums about a month ago (along with the source code, reproduced at the bottom for the curious).

Anyhow, I think 20mb per player is way over the top, at least for Linux servers. I run a 16-slot Linux dedicated server and have never seen hlds get into triple-figures memory usage wise (and yes it does fill to the brim on a regular basis). Possibly the Windows one is less efficient, but at least for Linux, 8mb/slot should be enough.

Also, hlds tends to fall apart CPU-usage wise around the 12-16 player mark. Up to 12 players, the CPU (a Duron 1600 in my case) is pretty much just idling (less than 5% usage in even the most intense firefights). However, once the number of players hits 16, CPU usage can get up to the 50% mark during heavy firefights. I haven't managed to get enough players organised to test scalability beyond this point, but it doesn't look promising.

Finally, if you run a Linux dedicated server (or a Windows console one) and also have the CS GCF files, you can save having to update both independently. Using GCFScape, extract the relevant GCF files to a temporary folder then copy across (as GCFScape won't overwrite files, apparently).

For CS:
Counter-Strike Base Content.gcf
Half-Life Base Content.gcf

For CS:S
Counter-Strike Source Shared Content.gcf
Base Source Shared Models.gcf
Base Source Shared Sounds.gcf
Base Source Shared Materials.gcf

HL2DM:
Half-Life 2 Deathmatch.gcf
Base Source Shared Materials.gcf
Base Source Shared Models.gcf
Base Source Shared Sounds.gcf

You need to extract the Windows/Linux dedicated server GCF as well (though you can't get the Linux server GCF through Steam). This extracts some stuff you don't need (such as textures) but saves having to download the same stuff twice. Good if you're on bandwidth-metered internet, for example.



#include <stdio.h>
#include <windows.h>

int main(void)
{
timeBeginPeriod(1);
printf("Press any key to restore normal timer frequency.\n");
getchar();
timeEndPeriod(1);
return 0;
}

Well i believe that if you have under 512mb RAM, then you need 20mb to support it.
I am yet to move my server to linux..i gave up when i couldnt figure out how to install anything lol...

On your above post, can i get files from inside the gcf? There is a soundtrack inside of it that is really good and i wanna get it. Anyway to do that?

It actually appears to depend more on the maps than anything. Shortly after a reboot, I had 16/16 online on de_dust2 and hlds had 65mb usage (give or take). However, it's now gone through a couple of larger (resource-wise) custom maps and the memory usage is now 94MB. The current memory usage of the server (just HLDS running at the moment, along with a few smaller things like samba server, NFS client, few SSH sessions etc) is 99.4MB out of 256MB (no swapfile).

The application you need is GCFScape (as mentioned). It's a .NET 1.1 app, so you've got a somewhat hefty download ahead of you if you don't already have 1.1 framework ...

just begun the download. Its going at 400kbps...should be done in about 4 minutes

Do i need to know anythign to use GCFScape? is it easy to use?

2005-04-27 23:36:14 EST: 1079 / 930
Your download speed : 1105173 bps, or 1079 kbps.
A 134.9 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 952532 bps, or 930 kbps.


Would that run the server without lag or whats the connection reccomendations?

that will hold a 18 player very nicely
i run mine on 512kbps upload. and mines a 14player

eh i dont think some of the images are working on the tweaking guide... that host you used deleted them or something

They are all working for me...

www.whatismyip.com for the IP you give out to the poeple followed by a 27015
eg.
65.7.6.9:27015

was just tweaking my server. this came in handy.
thanks... i love that fps program it really improved our server when we increased the tick rate. we still only run at 66 but our line speed wouldn't be able to handle anymore since it is just a friendly place to frag... if you guys wanna stop by and pwn some noobs the server ip is ---> 69.198.109.173

Im glad it worked out for you
If you have any more questions please feel free to post them.

I will updating to include a LINUX HOW_TO Very soon

One big thing you need to fix is the memory usage thing. I've had 28-player "deathmath" style CS matches on a 32-player server and the Linux memory usage has still not exceeded 100MB. My XP1700 maxes out CPU-wise around 20 players (as in CPU usage will spike to 100% sometimes with 20 players) and by 28 players I need to cut back the rates a bit to avoid lag. From the more limited testing I've done on the Windows server (only up to ~16 people on a 32-slot server), the memory usage again does not vary with the number of people playing. I was running this on a stock XPSP2 install (though with the useless XP cruft disabled of course), on the XP1700 with 256MB of RAM, and it still had ~80MB of RAM free. The ONLY two things that affect the memory usage are which maps you use, and how long you leave the server running (it leaks memory, even with noone connected). The number of players has absolutely ZERO effect on the memory usage. Suggesting that people even need 320MB for a 16-player server is just ridiculous.

On a different note, I've written a program that removes most of the unused files from the extracted GCFs for HL2-based games. For example, CS:S. First, unpack (using GCFScape) the files "counter-strike source shared.gcf", "source models.gcf", "source sounds.gcf", "source materials.gcf", and "source dedicated server.gcf". However, this wastes space because it extracts things like the textures, music, etc. The program I wrote prunes out this wasted space.

I use it because the server lives on a college network. To keep everyone in sync, I wait until there's an update pushed through Steam, but only download it to my computer. I then extract the files, run the pruner, and then do a MD5 comparison to see which files have changed to those that live on the server. I then produce delta patches between the old and new GCFs, and then upload both of these (the changed files and the deltas) to the server. Then I schedule a cron job to run at 5am in the morning, where it applies the patches to the GCFs on the server, shuts down the SRCDS server, copies the changed files into the server directory, and then starts srcds back up again. This change is also announced on the web page, so that the players then download the deltas to their Steam directory, run a batch file, and everyone kept up to date and in sync version-wise with the server without them having to spend megabucks accessing Steam from their college.

I'm sorry for being a little vague on that topic, im having a problem with the thread where i cannot edit it because each time it gives me back a message saying i have too many tags...

CS 1.6 and CZ use different amounts of RAM because CZ uses lot more la-dee-da environmental graphics as compared to 1.6 and its obvious if you have played it.
I have dealt with both 1.6 and CZ servers and the performace is pretty clear. 1.6 runs a lot smoother than cz on the same system.

Also you mention that you were running a 28 player CS Deathmatch on Linux not exceeding 100MB ? Im new to linux so im not sure how much RAM it uses yet...

[quote]the memory usage again does not vary with the number of people playing[/quote]
I must disagree with that, watch memory usage when the server has no players and when it does, there is a clear distinction that memory drops when there are players on.
When i was using windows xp on my duron900 /w 386MB RAM (tweaked to the max with practically 90% services disabled etc..) I was about 260MB RAM left at desktop.
I run HLDS with a full server at 16 players and im hitting about 45MB RAM left.
I'm sure that your server spiked with that amount of RAM. Sure it runs and its playable, but did it spike every few minutes? Running smooth is the most important function.

[quote]The ONLY two things that affect the memory usage are which maps you use, and how long you leave the server running (it leaks memory, even with noone connected)[/quote]
I do agree that different maps affect it a lot. Especially small maps with a lot of players like aim_map or aim_ak-colt, my server sometimes spikes at the beggining
I have observed that HLDS leaks memory on win32, but after a while i saw that it recooperates the memory and i saw no need to restart the server. I have heard also that linux has a huge memory leak currently going on and everybody in the steam forums are asking for a fix...

Thanks, ps2cho