What all would my buddy need for a tf2 server?

J

johnnyrebel87

Limp Gawd
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Feb 12, 2009
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My friend is buying a server for the house, and he wants to make it a tf2 server. I was jw if anybody had some web pages I could send him with information on everything he'll need and all that good stuff. He wants to run a 32 man server, he is going to have 20meg service. Will that and a dual core 2.4 server be enough horsepower to run it smoothly? All of us guys are local, but it will be a public server. Any information? Thanks guys,

Ian
 
Really not trying to be a dick, but if you're friend really wants to do that, and even knows was a game server is, I would assume all this would be obvious to him. Not to mention the intelligence to figure out what he doesn't know on his own.

That out of the way, yes a dual core machine will be enough.
 
You may want to check to see if his ISP allows him to have a public server, most don't if I recall correctly...that is why you see clans/people pay a monthly fee to a company that has the hardware and dedicated bandwidth.

Good luck tho, let us know the IP once it is up.
 
riot8ap said:
You may want to check to see if his ISP allows him to have a public server, most don't if I recall correctly...that is why you see clans/people pay a monthly fee to a company that has the hardware and dedicated bandwidth.

Good luck tho, let us know the IP once it is up.
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he should be fine as long as it's a semi-private server and not the worlds most popular server, and when it gets to that point he should either a) start renting a server or b) open up a business hosting them.
 
Thanks, I'm trying to convince him to rent one, but he's set on getting one of his own. I might have him talked into renting one for a month to try it out! Anybody have any reasons I can tell him to just rent one?
 
johnnyrebel87 said:
Anybody have any reasons I can tell him to just rent one?
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For the vast majority of people I would tell to rent one for the ease of use - but since your friend seems to have a spare rig, a fat pipe and a static IP then he might as well just run it at home.

I just googled for "how to set up a TF2 server" and got a bunch of good info.
 
renting one would be the easiest.. But i agree with FrozenLuiqidty, theres no need for another tf2 server..
 
I want to set up a CS:Source or TF2 server without all the custom material/maps/ 24/7 crap. Just a vanilla, 24 player server.
 
Treat it like running a business. Sit down and envision and plan everything first. Technically building a server and getting it up and running are the easy parts. Making it stand out from the crowd, attracting regulars, and finding good and fair admins that play alot are the hard parts. You need help from others.


So he'll also want to think about setting up a teamspeak/ventrillo service on the server. Also webpage with a message board. Any good server will have a small community around it. At the very least, you'll want good admins that play on the server, and read up ont he messageboards. Won't hurt to get someone to help out as a webadmin too. Don't forget to setup a donation link :) Set a launch date and spread the word.


Research bandwidth requirements! You should hvae a very clear idea of how much bandwidth is required for # of players and tick rate. My suggestion for TF2 btw? Do a good 20 player server. There are plenty of other overfilled spam-grinder 32 player pubs out there.

A good rented server can give better and more consistant pings if they are hooked up to a good network "backbone". You never have to worry about maintaining the server. Some places let you supply your own server if thats what you want. A good place will have an admin on call that can physically reboot your box if necessary.


Oh, and if you have power and bandwidth to spare, having a 2nd private server instance is great to have. You can host private/semiprivate scrimms on it without taking your main instance off. Your regulars will really enjoy it.

Else, especially for TF2, it'll just be another server out there on the thousands existing today.
 
What upload does the 20mbit connection have? You need about 100-200kbps per player upload depending on the game, for 32 players you'd need between 3 and 6Mbit upload

For the price you'd pay for a capable internet connection you could rent a server from a 3rd party site, at least in the UK where upload is expensive.
 
If it's 20/20 I'm guessing he has FiOS and that would be more than enough.
 
AMDXPCottonFire22 said:
If it's 20/20 I'm guessing he has FiOS and that would be more than enough.
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Yeah...IF...

Thats not exactly typical of internet services though (at least not in the UK), usualy it's ADSL or cable with very tiny upload like 1mbit for that kind of download, which wouldn't be enough for more than 4-6 player server.
 
Frostex said:
Yeah...IF...

Thats not exactly typical of internet services though (at least not in the UK), usualy it's ADSL or cable with very tiny upload like 1mbit for that kind of download, which wouldn't be enough for more than 4-6 player server.
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My 1.1 Mb upload can host a 16 player CS:S server just fine.

CS:S only needs 2-5 kB or bits? per player.

I can probably do 18. The thing is back in the day of CS 1.0-1.6 we were hosting servers on Speakeasy DSL = 768 kbps at the time in 1999-2003 and this was great upload at the time, and T1 connections for 32 person servers.

I think 1.1 is more than enough for a 16-18 person server.

32, you're going to need at least 5 up.


I don't know where you're getting your numbers. :-\
 
Couple things:

Depending on his ISP, they may or may not allow public servers, its a bandwidth issue and they dont like this stuff usually.
If they do allow it, you are going to need a static ip, it will cost a little more than the standard fees, but your ip will remain the same.
Dont let him run it off a router unless hes paying booku bux for faster services, which he may need to do anyway to allow more bandwidth on the upstream side of things.

Dual core machines for TF2 are a good idea, and make sure you have proper memory amount, even if its just a base system, it needs at least 4gb to be modest for a server. Do not run anything else on the server machine except for the OS and TF2 Dedicated Server, other than that, it gets a little jarring.
Try to use a good high rpm, fast SATA hard-drive as well, the less the system has to load and process during a game, the better the results will be.

And finally

RENT A SERVER!
 
I've ran a 32man pub on 7Mb/7Mb.

The hardware was Dual 1.6ghz Xeons, 4gb ram, 2x320gb WD Sata's raid1.

Never had any problems with it, just got tired of it and took it down.
 
Try it and see. If 32players get a good ping and no packet loss on his connection, buy a server and run it from home. If not, rent one.
 
Frostex said:
What upload does the 20mbit connection have? You need about 100-200kbps per player upload depending on the game, for 32 players you'd need between 3 and 6Mbit upload

For the price you'd pay for a capable internet connection you could rent a server from a 3rd party site, at least in the UK where upload is expensive.
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lol wut?
 
^^

I love it. Someone posts that a 32 person server uses 3-4mbit when full, which is about 100kbps+ per player.

Next post? Someone laughs at Frostex for suggesting you'll need about 100kbps+ per player.

I'm glad I already have no faith in humanity, otherwise this would be bad news.
 
that just seems like a lot to simply transfer player position, health, rockets, and shit.. 200kbps per player? I dunno about all that.. although I've never had any server hosting experience, so :)
 
f1y said:
although I've never had any server hosting experience, so :)
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So then why would you open your mouth?

Unless you have more than 1-2Mb you shouldn't be hosting more than 8-12 player servers... which is more for Clan matches...
 
f1y said:
that just seems like a lot to simply transfer player position, health, rockets, and shit.. 200kbps per player? I dunno about all that.. although I've never had any server hosting experience, so :)
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Unless you like warping around, it's the frequency with which that data gets relayed that jacks up the bandwidth needs.
 
Well we are renting a server friday night for a month to try it out, a 24 man public server. Now we have to figure out how we want everything set up. Thanks for the info guys!
 
Now we just gotta get all those dang settings how we want em, and get people to start coming to it!
 
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