What game servers should we host once we start renting a dedicated server?

Tek7

Tek7

CGA President, Tribe of Judah Founder & President
Staff member
What game servers would you all like to see Tribe of Judah run once we select and start renting a dedicated server?

We currently run game servers for:
  • Team Fortress 2
  • Unreal Tournament 3
  • Left 4 Dead 2
  • Battlefield Bad Company 2
  • Call of Duty Black Ops
GameServers.com is the exclusive provider for CoD BO server hosting, so we could not move that server over. If we go with Art of War Central for dedicated server hosting, we will be able to run a Battlefield Bad Company 2 server. If we go with another dedicated server hosting company that does NOT host BC2 servers, we wouldn't be able to move that server over, either.

We'd likely bump our Team Fortress 2 server to 24 slots and our Battlefield Bad Company 2 server to 32 slots if there's interest. (Personally, I prefer 10v10 to 12v12 in TF2, but I'm probably in the minority on that point.)

I would like to set a second Team Fortress 2 server but keep it private (password-protected) for members. I'd also like to run a second Left 4 Dead 2 server.

If there's interest, we can also run a Team Fortress 2 beta server.

We currently have plans to backup Tribe of Judah's unofficial Minecraft server and move it to a dedicated server; once the move is complete, the server would be official but maintained by the same admins.

We would set up a Counter-Strike: Source server on a dedicated box as soon as possible. Joshinator would resume his duties as CS: S Server Operator.

We would probably host a Counter-Strike 1.6 server as well, even if only for nostalgia and to play xmas_lodge during the Christmas season.

I plan on setting up a Natural Selection 2 server myself as soon as we have a dedicated server. I'll pass the NS2 server to the Lead Server Operator once he or she is appointed to staff.

I'd like to run a Unreal Tournament 3 Warfare server or Unreal Tournament 2004 Onslaught server, but we'll see what system resource usage looks like after we have our initial batch of servers installed and running. (I <3 Onslaught and, to a lesser degree, Warfare, but the game modes aren't very popular these days, so this is more of a wish than a requirement.)

There are a few older games (Deathmatch Classic, Half-Life Deathmatch, Sven Co-op, Half-Life 2 Deathmatch) that I'd like to host as well, but aren't must-haves.

We would shut down our high-speed file redirect account (trimming $10 from our monthly expenses) and host a redirect from the dedicated server itself.

Our plans is to continue hosting the Tribe of Judah web site through GearHost. We do not plan to host the web site on our dedicated server.

So, what are your thoughts/questions/suggestions?
 
Obvious question: Ignoring potential performance issues how many games max can the server we are looking at run?

How easy is it to start/stop games because it seems like you could have one open "slot" to run several of those games when called for and swap them out. Like for TF2 we've only needed a passworded server on rare occasion. We don't have many reasons for passwords anymore like scrim practice and achievements, the only remaining one is updates. It doesn't seem worth it to have something continually running that's never used (that reminds me of Windows XP's services... XD ).

...And yes I'd like 24 slots for the TF2 server please :D ! Maps were designed for 24 players max so going beyond that can create some issues. I'd like the max though as I know a few people get turned away because of a full server sometimes.
 
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Not sure how other BC2 players feel, but a 24-slot BC2 server would be more balanced if we were switching it to Conquest or Rush mode. 32 is just bonkers.

Wouldn't mind seeing a Killing Floor server (passworded since it's only 6-slots).
 
Keero said:
Not sure how other BC2 players feel, but a 24-slot BC2 server would be more balanced if we were switching it to Conquest or Rush mode. 32 is just bonkers.
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Fair enough. That will trim 8 from our total number of projected game server slots, too, so that's a bonus.

Keero said:
Wouldn't mind seeing a Killing Floor server (passworded since it's only 6-slots).
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I forgot about Killing Floor. Since it's based on Unreal Engine 2.5, it shouldn't be too demanding and since it only uses 6 slots, sure, let's do it.

Joshinator said:
CSS :)
Maybe a 1.6 Scoutzknives server?
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I have no idea what that is, but CS 1.6 isn't terribly demanding in terms of resources (correct me if I'm wrong here), so, sure, why not. If it's inactive for a while, we can always close it down.

Which brings me to the next point: Since we'll be running server processes on a dedicated box, we'll be able to install servers on a whim and kill the server process(es) if and when we don't see any activity on that server for a while--but we'll be able to still keep the server files installed. This will give us significantly greater flexibility in choosing which servers we run.
 
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The Mighty Gerbil said:
Obvious question: Ignoring potential performance issues how many games max can the server we are looking at run?
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That depends greatly on what games we're running servers for. A TF2 server is going to be more demanding than, say, a Half-Life 1 Deathmatch server.

We'll also have the option of keeping server files installed but kill the server processes if a server isn't inactive for a while. That way, if it regains activity (say, after a Steam sale), we can just update the server files and fire it back up.

But it's my inability to "crunch the numbers" regarding number of servers we can run, how many player slots we can run without running into bandwidth issues, and so on that helps explain why I need help making this decision. If I could just make an executive decision and pick something with reasonable confidence, I'd have done it already. I really do need expert help from the community on this one (at least, if we're going to get the most value for our money).

The Mighty Gerbil said:
How easy is it to start/stop games because it seems like you could have one open "slot" to run several of those games when called for and swap them out. Like for TF2 we've only needed a passworded server on rare occasion. We don't have many reasons for passwords anymore like scrim practice and achievements, the only remaining one is updates. It doesn't seem worth it to have something continually running that's never used (that reminds me of Windows XP's services... XD ).
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How easy it is to stop and start the server will depend in part on the game and in part on how we manage the servers. Newer games see frequent updates (TF2 and L4D2 probably being the two most updated games in recent memory, if not in all gaming history) so multiples may add more administrative overhead than they're worth. On the other hand, if we're updating one server, it's not too troublesome to update a second while we're at it.

Specifically regarding TF2: I maintain a private TF2 server for occasional use on my LAN and all I have to do to update it is run a batch file. The same goes for all Source-based games. So while updates are frequent, the process of updating is simple enough.

The Mighty Gerbil said:
...And yes I'd like 24 slots for the TF2 server please :D ! Maps were designed for 24 players max so going beyond that can create some issues. I'd like the max though as I know a few people get turned away because of a full server sometimes.
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Good point. I just don't want to see TF2 turned into a spamfest, but I think upgrading from 20 to 24 slots should be okay. And yes, it would have the major bonus of allowing more members and regulars to play in our TF2sday events without having to resort to auto-retry.
 
I'd consult with danny about gameserver because I have heard from many people that they are the worst server for UT 3. It's cheap. I know, but if there's anything else you can get, please consider that. Again, talk to Danny please : )
 
Tek7 said:
Fair enough. That will trim 8 from our total number of projected game server slots, too, so that's a bonus.

I forgot about Killing Floor. Since it's based on Unreal Engine 2.5, it shouldn't be too demanding and since it only uses 6 slots, sure, let's do it.

I have no idea what that is, but CS 1.6 isn't terribly demanding in terms of resources (correct me if I'm wrong here), so, sure, why not. If it's inactive for a while, we can always close it down.

Which brings me to the next point: Since we'll be running server processes on a dedicated box, we'll be able to install servers on a whim and kill the server process(es) if and when we don't see any activity on that server for a while--but we'll be able to still keep the server files installed. This will give us significantly greater flexibility in choosing which servers we run.
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any source based game has cpu hits..:) get your package chosen first..then based on cpu/ram i can better advise folks on the mix of games..:)
 
Mostly_Harmless said:
I'd consult with danny about gameserver because I have heard from many people that they are the worst server for UT 3. It's cheap. I know, but if there's anything else you can get, please consider that. Again, talk to Danny please : )
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I'm not committed to going with Art of War Central, but I'm not going to be the one to research alternatives at this point. The community has had more than sufficient time (several months at the minimum) to propose specific hosts and specific plans. It's 2011 now and we're past due for spending the money members donated on adding game servers FOR the purpose of adding game servers.

Again, if people want to suggest specific hosts and specific plans, they're welcome to do so. But if there are no specific suggestions in the next 2-3 weeks, I'll pick whatever host I believe is best and, if members commit to donating the amount we need to maintain a dedicated server each month, I'll set up the account.

Also: I just noticed that you mentioned GameServers.com in your post. We're looking at closing down our account with GameServers.com (with the possible exception of our Call of Duty Black Ops server) and moving everything to a dedicated server hosted with Art of War Central.
 
/bump

Let's continue the conversation!

What servers would you like to see Tribe of Judah run?
 
I play Team Fortress 2, Minecraft and (in the future once the bugs get better) Natural Selection 2.
 
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