Rich Menga (page 1271)

CZ ditched for CS and gettin' SuSE-ified

The server has been up and running for a day now. After a few attempts with Condition Zero, the box just wasn't up to the task. There is something about CZ which for some reason uses more server process than CS does. So... I went with a CS mod instead of CZ. Works much much better. I saw 8 people on the server today. The ping rates were a little high, but, the server did not crash. As I type this right now, there are a few people on the CS server right now. It's running good for what the box and pipe allow which is all I could ask for. (grin)

In addition to the nerdy game server things I've been doing, I decided to give SuSE Linux another shot today on the blow-up box (2.4GHz P4 Dell Dimension) to see if I could get TightVNC to work on remote. As normal readers of this blog will know, my first attempt failed miserably. But guess what, I figured it out this time. IT WORKS. Kick... Ass. I will be posting screen shots in my next post so people can see what it looks like. The reason I can't post screen shots now is because I have to reinstall SuSE to get the partitioning of the hard drives correct. I did a Windows/Linux dual-boot thing just in case the SuSE failed again.

Some of you may be wondering why I was trying so hard to get SuSE working in the first place, and why I don't just stick with Windows. Here's a few good reasons why:

1. Reliability.

Windows crashes. Everyone knows this. Linux does not crash. Well, that's not entirely true, you can crash it - but - you'd have to be literally trying to crash it on purpose.

2. File integrity

Ever have a file that for some reason just got corrupted, like an MP3 that for some reason started to get little "glitches" in it? That's Windows doing that. I notice that over time Windows will eventually start corrupting files, even by having them just sit there and do nothing. I've never understood that... but that's just Windows for ya.

3. Virus free

The majority of viruses that exist on the internet are made for Windows because everyone uses Windows. I can safely say that Linux users never have this problem. Viruses are mainly gearned towards mainstream applications and operating systems.. like Windows.

So anyway, more info on that when I'm done with it.

If you haven't watched this movie, you should.

CZ server back? Part 4

Update: Done and online.

Had to go to bed last nite, was too tired to finish up the server (hehe). This morning I VNC'd back to the box and finished up the install, and now the server is up and running with Condition Zero. Kick... Ass...

I launched the server and put up 4 bots. On connection to it I get an average ping reply of 29 to 34. Good enough for me. Granted, I was the only player on the server with 4 bots.. so we'll see what happens when more human players get on there. But the end result is: It worked. Gameplay appeared to be smooth.

Now we'll see what happens when I start adding AMX and other plugins.

To those interested, the server IP is 69.0.103.230:27015

CZ server back? Part 3

As I type this I am "VNC'd" into the soon-to-be CZ server (in another window) waiting for the HLDS and CZ Dedicated Server install programs to download and complete. This takes time unfortunately; the combined download size of the two is 557MB, roughly... and even on the fastest connections you gotta wait for those to complete.

I had to spend the better part of the evening cleaning out the server box. The guy who donated it had his kid use it before I got it, so of course it was chock full of spyware, loads of games and other crap. I haven't virus scanned it yet but will be doing that later, I just needed to get the server setup done first.

I've been debating whether go to CS or CZ, because I could do either. I believe I will go CZ unless it poses a problem (which it shouldn't). Even though CS has many more players (just look at this), I still like CZ better. Better graphics, better gameplay (in my opinion) and it's got the option to put "bots" in the server out-of-the-box. CS Bots are really, really tough to get working right. CZ bots on the other hand are really easy.

The P4 box the server is being installed to should be able to handle 14 slots, with should being the operative word there.... I simply don't know just yet if it's up to the job or not. If it isn't I will remove the bots because that takes up server resources. If that doesn't work, I will "demote" the server to 12 or 10-slot. I'm almost positive the box will do at least 10 easily.

I've tried in my best effort to make this XP box as barebones as possible to allocate as much memory as possible to the game. I'm using everything I know to make this work effectively. Obviously this is no Recon Gamer setup. It's just a home-grown type of thing on a local business-DSL. I'm sure there will be a few obstacles along the way - but then again that's half the fun. 🙂