Idle servers now to be shut down?

suibhne · 11-03-2010, 10:16 PM

Voodoo Extreme is reporting that EA is requiring GSPs to shut down servers idle for more than 8 hours, to lower the resource demands on EA Online:
Inactive Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Servers Being Disabled - Voodoo Extreme

Can anyone confirm this? We haven't gotten this info from our GSP. I'm a little horrified that EA would require GSPs to shut down servers that we've paid for, even when they're idle...but I also find it pretty believable after the way EA has handled the daily master server problems over the past 8 or 9 days, by trying to limit the BC2 player community rather than fix their own capacity.

Monkeyfiend1 · 11-03-2010, 10:20 PM

Just deactivated (not removed or anything) while they fix the problem... to be honest even a popular server like ours might get deactivated (8 hours overnight not long for a server to be quiet)

Just make sure you've got a bunch of admins with minimal access to clanforge to restart your server

Confirmed on multiplay btw, or at least it's on the clanforge news :P

Bazajaytee · 11-03-2010, 10:20 PM

This is inaccurate.

We will do a blog post tomorrow on what this is about but be assured your servers won't be shut down even if you leave them idle.

However the basics are that we have asked Multiplay to help us reduce load on EA Servers caused by large numbers of servers (the reason we took down public servers) by turning off servers that have no players for 8 hours or more. As you know we tried to reduce our server count while we work on the fix in the client but even though we put a freeze on new servers we have doubled our server count since Thursday of last week.
This is totally up to the people/clans renting the servers from Multiplay but we hope most will opt in to help and help. If they don't opt in then the server will not be taken down at all even if left empty for days/weeks/months etc.

Lavitzz · 11-03-2010, 10:23 PM

Well kinda sad isnt it this is EA first Real TRIPLE A game in along time.. Odd they can't meet the demand. Well this what you get when u want to track everything on server side

d3vilsrefugee · 11-03-2010, 10:25 PM

If i had one wish with this game, it is that i wish bc2 was fully integrated with steam.

suibhne · 11-03-2010, 10:27 PM

Thanks for the prompt response and clarification, Baza!

Bazajaytee · 11-03-2010, 10:31 PM

I know that article scared a lot of server rental clans so need to clear it up for you now rather than wait until tomorrow for the full blog on this

Dangerdoggie · 11-03-2010, 10:35 PM

Why isn't there a minimum player count needed before a game can begin? Shouldn't the server only engage the master server if a legit game has started like previous Battlefield games did?

If not to fix the master server strain then to not enable stat padding on empty servers.

keebler117 · 11-03-2010, 10:36 PM

One word... LAN

Wouldn't that would help with the EA Public server issues...?

My BF2- BFVietnam and BF1942 servers are Unranked with all unlocks, and I still keep them full. I really dont care about Scores or Ranks... We just have to get in and wreak havock upon the enemy...

LeeJr03205 · 11-03-2010, 10:37 PM

I noticed if I let a player be idle in our server to help get it started...the player is kicked within 5 minutes or so. I have had servers for years and have bought multiple copies of the game so I could put 3 or 4 idles in to help start. Are we not going to be able to seed our servers with idles to help start. That would be a huge blow as sometimes it is difficult to get servers populated, and this has been a definative way to populate.

Bazajaytee · 11-03-2010, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dangerdoggie

Why isn't there a minimum player count needed before a game can begin? Shouldn't the server only engage the master server if a legit game has started like previous Battlefield games did?

If not to fix the master server strain then to not enable stat padding on empty servers.

The problem isn't so much the players in the servers it is the fact the server browser sees all the servers. So even empty servers cause extra load on the EA Servers. The client side fix the team is working on will solve that but we just need to get to next week for that.

Storm3y · 11-03-2010, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazajaytee

The problem isn't so much the players in the servers it is the fact the server browser sees all the servers. So even empty servers cause extra load on the EA Servers. The client side fix the team is working on will solve that but we just need to get to next week for that.

I know it's a little off topic. But when can we expect a fix for the server crashed :P Seems to be when our server is highly populated it crashes.

pickfr · 11-03-2010, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by r0ck5tar

If i had one wish with this game, it is that i wish bc2 was fully integrated with steam.

seconded. :P

Bazajaytee · 11-03-2010, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Storm3y

I know it's a little off topic. But when can we expect a fix for the server crashed :P Seems to be when our server is highly populated it crashes.

We are always looking at server crashes and adding fixes. Who is your RSP? We can get logs from your server that way.

The KELRaTH · 11-03-2010, 10:52 PM

So what is it that's so different to previous BF games?

soulz2003 · 11-03-2010, 10:52 PM

We are also getting server crashes, although to be honest, I don't think most of the disconnects are crashes, I think they are EA back-end issues. MyIS is our provider.

Bazajaytee · 11-03-2010, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The KELRaTH

So what is it that's so different to previous BF games?

Other titles ran at GameSpy stats backend, this is the first BF PC title to run at EA for everything. So it is a learning process for the EA Online teams on what kind of demand you guys can generate on their hardware.

karmakorrupt · 11-03-2010, 11:05 PM

plus this is the first time the game engine has been used for a PC title.
Im being patient, and I hope its all sorted soon.

During the downtime of the idle servers, DICE should be looking into:

Auto timed messages (without need for 3rd party app)
Server auto balancing (make server force to team instead of allowing to choose team)
Filters in browser needs fixed. (Checking punkbuster only shows non-pb servers)
Connection Issues for some (Starts loading map, then goes back to server screen)

If those 4 things are sorted, this game will be epic. Currently, I think the majority are going to be burned out fairly soon if these issues continue to plague the game.

soulz2003 · 11-03-2010, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by karmakorrupt

plus this is the first time the game engine has been used for a PC title.
Im being patient, and I hope its all sorted soon.

During the downtime of the idle servers, DICE should be looking into:

Auto timed messages (without need for 3rd party app)
Server auto balancing (make server force to team instead of allowing to choose team)
Filters in browser needs fixed. (Checking punkbuster only shows non-pb servers)
Connection Issues for some (Starts loading map, then goes back to server screen)

If those 4 things are sorted, this game will be epic. Currently, I think the majority are going to be burned out fairly soon if these issues continue to plague the game.

You forgot the 5 minute idle-kick. Clans/Communities can't populate their servers idle because of this

. Everything else is spot on.

Bazajaytee · 11-03-2010, 11:08 PM

The idle kick is a server side option usually set by your server provider. I'll need to check at work tomorrow if it is built in to the server itself.

BF2/2142 was totally at the disgression of the hosting company whether to kick idle players or not.

Storm3y · 11-03-2010, 11:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazajaytee

We are always looking at server crashes and adding fixes. Who is your RSP? We can get logs from your server that way.

Multiplay.co.uk is my GSP

Crazy Gamers BF:BC2 HC Rush Server
IP: 85.236.102.99:19667

Cheers

jaystax · 11-03-2010, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazajaytee

The problem isn't so much the players in the servers it is the fact the server browser sees all the servers. So even empty servers cause extra load on the EA Servers. The client side fix the team is working on will solve that but we just need to get to next week for that.

Omg! Next week! You suk

soulz2003 · 11-03-2010, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazajaytee

The idle kick is a server side option usually set by your server provider. I'll need to check at work tomorrow if it is built in to the server itself.

BF2/2142 was totally at the disgression of the hosting company whether to kick idle players or not.

That would be great if you could check that

. Thanks!

MalexT · 11-03-2010, 11:22 PM

I would like to find out what the criterio to have the PLAY NOW feature influx of players are. SOme of the servers seem to get 8 players or so joining at once constantly. Others none at all.

Perhaps Dice could let Server providers know so we can all work to getting the servers as full as possible.

EeekiE · 11-03-2010, 11:24 PM

I wonder if this is why I couldn't find a server for ages tonight. They were all rammed full.

EA needs a kick in the nuts. They need to spend money, and they need to do more than just the bare minimum.

11-03-2010, 10:16 PM	#1 (permalink)
suibhne Rookie Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 33	Idle servers now to be shut down? Voodoo Extreme is reporting that EA is requiring GSPs to shut down servers idle for more than 8 hours, to lower the resource demands on EA Online: Inactive Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Servers Being Disabled - Voodoo Extreme Can anyone confirm this? We haven't gotten this info from our GSP. I'm a little horrified that EA would require GSPs to shut down servers that we've paid for, even when they're idle...but I also find it pretty believable after the way EA has handled the daily master server problems over the past 8 or 9 days, by trying to limit the BC2 player community rather than fix their own capacity.

11-03-2010, 10:20 PM	#2 (permalink)
Monkeyfiend1 Forum Guru Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Liverpool, UK Posts: 1,215	Just deactivated (not removed or anything) while they fix the problem... to be honest even a popular server like ours might get deactivated (8 hours overnight not long for a server to be quiet) Just make sure you've got a bunch of admins with minimal access to clanforge to restart your server Confirmed on multiplay btw, or at least it's on the clanforge news :P __________________ =SM= SneakyMonkeys.com #2 31.193.134.84:25210 =SM= SneakyMonkeys.com #1 31.193.134.84:25200 SNEAKYMONKEYS.COM

11-03-2010, 10:20 PM	#3 (permalink)
Bazajaytee DICE Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: LA, California Age: 33 Posts: 3,551	This is inaccurate. We will do a blog post tomorrow on what this is about but be assured your servers won't be shut down even if you leave them idle. However the basics are that we have asked Multiplay to help us reduce load on EA Servers caused by large numbers of servers (the reason we took down public servers) by turning off servers that have no players for 8 hours or more. As you know we tried to reduce our server count while we work on the fix in the client but even though we put a freeze on new servers we have doubled our server count since Thursday of last week. This is totally up to the people/clans renting the servers from Multiplay but we hope most will opt in to help and help. If they don't opt in then the server will not be taken down at all even if left empty for days/weeks/months etc. __________________ Associate Producer - Online Launch Director Medal of Honor Follow Medal of Honor on Twitter at http://twitter.com/medalofhonor Follow Battlefield on Twitter too if you get time Last edited by Bazajaytee; 11-03-2010 at 10:26 PM.

11-03-2010, 10:23 PM	#4 (permalink)
Lavitzz Rookie Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 354	Well kinda sad isnt it this is EA first Real TRIPLE A game in along time.. Odd they can't meet the demand. Well this what you get when u want to track everything on server side __________________ Steamid:Kythlo www.justin.tv/lavitz <-- Live streaming BFBC 2 and soon moh

11-03-2010, 10:25 PM	#5 (permalink)
d3vilsrefugee Rookie Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 170	If i had one wish with this game, it is that i wish bc2 was fully integrated with steam. __________________ episode-3.com battlefieldforum.co.uk My Youtube Page!

11-03-2010, 10:27 PM	#6 (permalink)
suibhne Rookie Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 33	Thanks for the prompt response and clarification, Baza!

11-03-2010, 10:31 PM	#7 (permalink)
Bazajaytee DICE Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: LA, California Age: 33 Posts: 3,551	I know that article scared a lot of server rental clans so need to clear it up for you now rather than wait until tomorrow for the full blog on this __________________ Associate Producer - Online Launch Director Medal of Honor Follow Medal of Honor on Twitter at http://twitter.com/medalofhonor Follow Battlefield on Twitter too if you get time

11-03-2010, 10:35 PM	#8 (permalink)
Dangerdoggie Forum Regular Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 955	Why isn't there a minimum player count needed before a game can begin? Shouldn't the server only engage the master server if a legit game has started like previous Battlefield games did? If not to fix the master server strain then to not enable stat padding on empty servers.

11-03-2010, 10:36 PM	#9 (permalink)
keebler117 Rookie Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 7	One word... LAN Wouldn't that would help with the EA Public server issues...? My BF2- BFVietnam and BF1942 servers are Unranked with all unlocks, and I still keep them full. I really dont care about Scores or Ranks... We just have to get in and wreak havock upon the enemy...

11-03-2010, 10:37 PM	#10 (permalink)
LeeJr03205 Forum Regular Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Pennsylvania Age: 52 Posts: 733	I noticed if I let a player be idle in our server to help get it started...the player is kicked within 5 minutes or so. I have had servers for years and have bought multiple copies of the game so I could put 3 or 4 idles in to help start. Are we not going to be able to seed our servers with idles to help start. That would be a huge blow as sometimes it is difficult to get servers populated, and this has been a definative way to populate.

11-03-2010, 10:52 PM	#15 (permalink)
The KELRaTH Rookie Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Outside looking in.. Posts: 152	So what is it that's so different to previous BF games?

11-03-2010, 10:52 PM	#16 (permalink)
soulz2003 Rookie Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 166	We are also getting server crashes, although to be honest, I don't think most of the disconnects are crashes, I think they are EA back-end issues. MyIS is our provider.

11-03-2010, 11:05 PM	#18 (permalink)
karmakorrupt Banned Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 638	plus this is the first time the game engine has been used for a PC title. Im being patient, and I hope its all sorted soon. During the downtime of the idle servers, DICE should be looking into: Auto timed messages (without need for 3rd party app) Server auto balancing (make server force to team instead of allowing to choose team) Filters in browser needs fixed. (Checking punkbuster only shows non-pb servers) Connection Issues for some (Starts loading map, then goes back to server screen) If those 4 things are sorted, this game will be epic. Currently, I think the majority are going to be burned out fairly soon if these issues continue to plague the game.

11-03-2010, 11:08 PM	#20 (permalink)
Bazajaytee DICE Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: LA, California Age: 33 Posts: 3,551	The idle kick is a server side option usually set by your server provider. I'll need to check at work tomorrow if it is built in to the server itself. BF2/2142 was totally at the disgression of the hosting company whether to kick idle players or not. __________________ Associate Producer - Online Launch Director Medal of Honor Follow Medal of Honor on Twitter at http://twitter.com/medalofhonor Follow Battlefield on Twitter too if you get time

11-03-2010, 11:22 PM	#24 (permalink)
MalexT Rookie Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 380	I would like to find out what the criterio to have the PLAY NOW feature influx of players are. SOme of the servers seem to get 8 players or so joining at once constantly. Others none at all. Perhaps Dice could let Server providers know so we can all work to getting the servers as full as possible. __________________ Also known in game as Catziggy and One93. Part of the RFG, the Rackage Friends Group.

11-03-2010, 11:24 PM	#25 (permalink)
EeekiE Forum Guru Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 1,203	I wonder if this is why I couldn't find a server for ages tonight. They were all rammed full. EA needs a kick in the nuts. They need to spend money, and they need to do more than just the bare minimum. __________________