Fwiw I do think windows runs the steam servers a lot better and you can slip more servers on them (currently running them on both OS's). Just think its a case of figuring out decent information between the disinformation to guage how much, and what the real issues are. Most don't have an issue with bandwidth, so its typically not an issue tweaking server side (ie conservation of bandwidth, unlike people hosting them on smaller home connections etc), as most have bandwidth to spare (doesn't mean they want to pay for more it to be used though ;)), apart from setting at decent high values, and let the clients cap themselves in effect.
Biggest problem when multiple servers (imo) is straightforward cpu usage (and again with that one be careful with hyperthreaded cpu usage reporting as you don't "really" have 4 CPUs in a dual cpu setup), so gets tricky again figuring some out except from other baselines to judge from. I would be very interested if anyone has a link (or knows) the interaction of tickrate & fps_max with the turnaround of client sending info, being processed serverside and return. FPS I always assumed was in effect game states server side, but then whats tickrate..out of band packet processing or something and frequency? And why does the fps vary so much from o.s to o.s? I just get an odd feeling this game isn't really tested on many Linux platforms which can vary more, but Windows tends to be more static? Just find it interesting as sometimes there are "sweet" spots which although may not give amazingly low cpu usage, will give the best "feel" to the players, and thats the main thing I think most here are after. Regarding the windows & MediaPlayer aspect, whilst I half agree its not valves "fault", if you code on a system where such things as o.s frequencies change, surely the coding should be taking this into account. Similar to the Linux kernel issues with different frequencies. No one should be expected to recompile their kernels to host a game (imo), and no one should be expected to run MP in the background to change something (altho Epic fell foul of that one with their tickrates as well, so not alone..but learnt their lesson partly from ut in 2k4). So whilst yes, its a background/O.S issue, these games run on these O.S's and should be coded to be solid in all environments and run as identical as possible within them, so I'll take it back and say half Valves fault, and half Bill Gates' :D. /me quietly slips past Linux on this one. _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds
