server dying on .config load

[blakjack]

helping out a clan that just hired a game server running ET 2.6 and etpro 3.2

The server kept dying and through testing and the process of elimination, we've determined it runs fine as long as an etpro .config file is not loaded.

Stick in a fairly default server.cfg and it'll run happily for hours. Its been running baserace nightly with no problems. Execute an etpro .config for a scrim (have tried various ones, including one certified, so it is not the configs) and the settings all load fine, but within a short time or when players have rupped (which ever comes first) the server will die and players will get disconnected.

When you reconnect, it will be back in campaign mode as if it just restarted - the provider has it running with an auto-restart - but the log files give no indication what the error might be. Clients see their lagometer go full yellow then get disconnected shortly afterwards for unknown reason.

I've been one of three people to look at the server and the configs and go 'wtf dunno', and Yes he's tried support through the provider but unbelievably they want to charge for a server reinstall so if we can rule out everything else first hopefully we can prove the original install was b0rked. We have ftp and rcon access but beyond that no control over the server.

I have renamed the existing etpro folder on there and uploaded a fresh one (from the same etpro download I used on another working server) and the problem still occurs.

Any ideas what could be causing such a problem?

[gotenks]

helping out a clan that just hired a game server running ET 2.6 and etpro 3.2

The server kept dying and through testing and the process of elimination, we've determined it runs fine as long as an etpro .config file is not loaded.

Stick in a fairly default server.cfg and it'll run happily for hours. Its been running baserace nightly with no problems. Execute an etpro .config for a scrim (have tried various ones, including one certified, so it is not the configs) and the settings all load fine, but within a short time or when players have rupped (which ever comes first) the server will die and players will get disconnected.

When you reconnect, it will be back in campaign mode as if it just restarted - the provider has it running with an auto-restart - but the log files give no indication what the error might be. Clients see their lagometer go full yellow then get disconnected shortly afterwards for unknown reason.

I've been one of three people to look at the server and the configs and go 'wtf dunno', and Yes he's tried support through the provider but unbelievably they want to charge for a server reinstall so if we can rule out everything else first hopefully we can prove the original install was b0rked. We have ftp and rcon access but beyond that no control over the server.

I have renamed the existing etpro folder on there and uploaded a fresh one (from the same etpro download I used on another working server) and the problem still occurs.

Any ideas what could be causing such a problem?

does it die or does the watchdog restart it? which .config's are you using? who's your server provider?

[Deus]

what i can think of is:
most configs do create external logfiles for cheatlogs or gamelogs (Specified in the config itself)
maybe et is not allowed to create/read/write/whatever new files
and therefor it crashes.

i dont know how your hoster checks if the serve ris running, but obviously the script/whatever thinks the server is down and restarts it.
maybe it crashes before restart, unless there is no console log we will never know

try
set logfile 2
and see if a etconsole.log is created (you might want to check if it is already there before altering the server.cfg)

try to find information there and maybe post what you think is relevant on this topic.

[blakjack]

does it die or does the watchdog restart it? which .config's are you using? who's your server provider?

how can you tell?
MGL s3 config (certified) as well as GA s3 and s4 configs.
mcgoohq in australia.

there's a whole bunch of log files I will peruse them in a bit more detail tonight but there was no immediate sign of the cause.
i copied my working configs over from another server (changing the important settings of course - clients, passwords etc) and the same thing occurred. dersaidin (who hangs around here a bit as well >_> ) also gave it a go with his configs and got the same.
support has already 'fixed' the server and the next step would be a reinstall, but they were quoted for it >.< and thats a last option.

[ReyalP]

one thing that seems to cause server crashes is pb_sv_enable

Suggestions:
run pbweb
make sure +set sv_punkbuster 1 is in the command line, not pb_sv_enable.

(most league configs contain comman "pb_sv_enable". This seems to be OK as long as pb is already enabled)

[blakjack]

bullseye reyalp, punkbuster looks like its the cause
we're on to support now we know whats causing it.
danke.

[mouse]

reyalP to the rescue! (like often )

[EagleReloaded]

We actually had PunkBuster issues with McGooHQ, it got to the point that PunkBuster simply refused to start, either via server.cfg or manually via RCON, it just wouldn't run. So we left it off and used sv_cvar and all was well. I'm guessing however they've got their permissions configured doesn't sit well with PB.

[ReyalP]

We actually had PunkBuster issues with McGooHQ, it got to the point that PunkBuster simply refused to start, either via server.cfg or manually via RCON, it just wouldn't run. So we left it off and used sv_cvar and all was well. I'm guessing however they've got their permissions configured doesn't sit well with PB.

As I stated above, PB really wants to be started on the command line.

For me at least, adding +set sv_punkbuster 1 to the command line, and running pbweb solved the crashing problem.

[EagleReloaded]

Yeah but McGooHQ wasn't fond of giving access for the command line nor editing it themselves.