Server disonnect for unknown reason

hallibarbie · Post by **hallibarbie** » Fri Apr 16, 2004 7:16 am

First of all this only a question if somebody has also realized that ET server is crashing with "Server disconnected for unknown reason" if it works alone for a long time.

"Alone" means that the server is running and nobody is connected or tries to connect. "For a long time" means something around 10 mins.

We are running one gameserver for ET. We are fighting against many crashes on server side. Most are these disconnections so that no one can connect this server. Funny (not really) is that server disconnects on everybody after client has loaded his map from hd into memory. Exactly when client should join the spectator and show up the limbo menu.

The second great problem is map downloading. I know it is discussed hotly so I will not ask for a solution. Is it really a bug in the engine?

I'm more worried about this strange crash explained above because it seems the server is still running even rcon is reacting on my commands but cannot revive the server to real life. Even watchdog does not restart the server which seems that server does not completely crash.

Does anybody know something about this? Config error (I doubt)? Or has it something to do with our server hard- and software configuration?

Server configuration is:
SuSE Linux 9.0 (Don't blame me, pleaz. I don't want it)
AMD 2600 XP+
160 GB Samsung hard disk (IDE)
MSI VT6102 (VIA Rhine)

Thanks for any advice.

Regards,
Stephan Haller

DG · Post by DG » Fri Apr 16, 2004 9:19 am

Sounds like you're having major problems, try reinstalling ET, patching to ET1.02 then running a very basic server (passworded, no mods or custom maps/pk3's [definately no custom campaign .pk3], no PB, minimal .cfg) and see if the problem persists. At worst this will help you eliminate possibilities, if it starts being OK add back things until it stops being ok again.

hallibarbie · Post by **hallibarbie** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 2:23 am

In turn of getting more free traffic from our ISP we also got a complete new, fresh and clean server which now runs our ET servers.

I'm sure this problem has nothing to do with either OS or hardware components because we changed everything: SuSE -> Mandrake, AMD Athlon XP -> AMD Athlon64 and so on.

We also run now four different ET servers. Two public servers with standard maps and campaigns (absolutely pure ET installation), one (fun) war server running also standard maps and the public one causing these problems

The standard servers are running well. No problems at all. But the public one running custom maps still causes troubles.

Even deleting the settings folder (.etwolf) before starting the server does not help. This problem is also map-independent. Even mixing standard maps and custom maps does not help. What does it depend on?

The strange behaviour that the server forces the client to disconnect after map loading still exists and causes headaches if I may say it.

I would be glad for any hint .....

Thanks

Server configuration is now:
MandrakeLinux 10.0 Official for AMD64
AMD Athlon64 3000+
MSI K8TM (Motherboard)
160 GB Samsung hard disk (IDE)
MSI on-board Via Rhine 6102 (Network card)

hiro · Post by **hiro** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 4:36 am

how many custom maps do you have on that server?

I am not a server admin, but I understand there is a problem if too many pk3 files (100MB+) are in it. If I create a local server it crashes when I change maps, perhaps it could be the problem you are having? If you have lots of customs try removing some and see if that helps.

hallibarbie · Post by **hallibarbie** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 7:53 am

We run a 6-map custom campaign and only these 6 maps (except for the standard maps should in pak0.pk3 which are loaded each time).

Since we have a voting system for next 6 map campaign so that in the worst case we load up to 20 MB for each map so could reach the 100 MB boundary you mentioned.

In real life most maps voted use up to 10 MB so we get a total of 60 MB on a machine having plenty of RAM (1024MB to be precisely).

Erm..... So is that really the problem?

But perhaps I try to get under 50MB and take a look at the server then.

But maybe I should mentioned that the server also behaves strange if there is no need to change the map. Think of starting the server and 10 mins no one connects. Result: Server crashes. So nobody has come to play on it there is no map change in the meantime. So what's up? (**arghh** These headaches!

)