So being an IT guy and playing on the Gauntlet servers for about 6 monhts now, I've been thinking about server performance lately. What got me thinking about this more was the new deemer madness a001 map Wild created. The concept was sound, but it's impossible to play, even with just 1 player present.
So I started thinking about possible bottlenecks that might be impeding performance. WHY would just a single player not be able to play? Is the server CPU being maxed out? Is the upload speed from the server too low? This game is from 1999. There are people who play on this server who weren't even BORN yet when this game came out. Desktop computers are many many times more powerful than a computer from the year 2000. The same goes for internet speeds. So when a game from 1999 slows down, you have to ask "Why?".
If someone has already come to a conclusion as to why it's happening, chime in... however, below are some bottlenecks that come to mind.
1. CPUUnless the UT99 server is running inside a virtual machine, CPU most likely isn't a constraint. CPU usage can be monitored in Windows using task manager, while the UT99 server is running2. Bandwidth (upload) on serverIf the UT99 server is running on a home internet connection, upload speeds are usually paltry compared to download speeds. Network statistics (up and down) can also be monitored within Windows' task manager3. UT99 serverIt's also possible a configuration or even a limitation in the UT99 software. With the configuration of the UT99 server, there may be a setting in the unrealtournament.ini to accommodate the increased number of objects (I mean, the game wasn't originally designed to track 1,000 monsters), or even the increased amount of data to send out to each client (MaxClientRate?) . There is also the possibility that the UT99 code was never designed to handle that large an amount of 'actors'. If that's true, there may be nothing that can be done.I realize this may have already been addressed, and maybe the problem has already been identified. It's just such a shame that an astoundingly fun game has to ruined by 'old age'.
I leave the floor open.