Installing games

[Angusp]

Do we have to keep the "downloading" page running for the game to download/install?

I was doing COD4 just then and I accidently closed the tab, it's been going for hours now and was at about 40%. COD4 is so damn big, 5gb....

How do we know when the install is finished, does it show up in WHM? (This is my first install)

Cheers!

[Angusp]

Nevermind, I got it to work.

The whole timing out thing is annoying when downloading and installing, but I am sure it will be AJAX'd in the future.

[darren]

Glad you got it to work. It is annoying for those large files, especially if the pipes between the server and the mirror are being slow. I'm planning some way to "pick back up" where it left off in case a browser is closed or times out, the computer crashes, etc. No ETA on that just yet but it's definitely on the list. These server packages aren't gonna be getting any smaller in the future I'm afraid (unless they look at how the Battlefield series servers are done)

[Angusp]

Some things you might want to consider with COD4 because it's so big, I think a few of those files in the /zone folder can go.

On a quick count there is 2494mb of what I think is not needed files in the /zones folder.

I would bet that all the files in there without mp in them, are for SP and not required.

If you want I am willing to remove all these and see if everything still works.

Reducing the package to 50% of its current size would be a great bonus. This could also be possible with COD2.

I am happy to help out with anything I can on this, just let me know. If I didn't have only 150gb bandwidth on my dedicated server I would mirror the files, but a few people downloading just a handful of packages would probably break my limit.

One quick question, how can I change the args, as in the command that starts the server. I have tried the start.command file but it doesn't seem to do anything.

Cheers from down under!

[darren]

If you can slim down the files and verify it still works ok that'd be awesome. If I recall correctly, I had tried it without *any* of the /zone/ files but it failed to find some things, so I packed them all there and it started working ok. It's quite possible that only a handful of those are really needed for multiplayer.
The startup line right now can't be totally changed, but you can append options in WHM if you want to add additional options. Things like the IP, Port, max clients/slots (usually), will always be there when starting a game. Once I get a few more of these other features in I'd like to add a template system for the startup command line, so folks could pick and choose exactly what was used for each client/game.

[Angusp]

As far as I can tell, the MP maps are in the /zones folder, so thats probably the problem you had.
I will try slimming it down now, and if it works, post the files that can be removed.

That would be good to see customisable startup args. To use mods you need to be able to add "+set fs_game mods/modname"

If you wanted to get really fancy, you could see what dir's exist in the mods folder, and add them into a drop down with "None", "Folder1", "Folder2" etc. Then we could just select which mod we wanted really easily. The pb and pure settings would be nice to turn off too.
I am just throwing ideas out there for you by the way, don't want to sound like I am demanding anything from you

I also have the 1.3 COD4 files if you would like them, as the 1.0 servers are not compatible with any patches after 1.2.

[darren]

What's the 1.3 patch file you've got, cod4-linux-server-12032007.tar.bz2 ?
Good ideas on the other stuff. Most of the servers allow changing sv_pure and punkbuster on and off. If it's not there already, let me know which game(s) and I'll try to put it in next release.
Known mods are already shown in a drop down box in the user's cPanel, if the directory exists. Right this minute I am working on permissions to run each mod (so a client could run counter strike but not day of defeat or team fortress classic on their halflife install, etc.)

[Angusp]

Yes the files are cod4-linux-server-12032007.tar.bz2

My server died just before. The game started but I always got "awaiting connection", after a few starts and stops I think my server rebooted, or at least the http service or something.

Not sure if it was my playing around or not, as I reversed it and it was fine.

I just uninstalled it and its re-installing now, no big loss.

I will still see about these files, making the package 50% smaller would make it install/uninstall for clients much quicker too, possibly inside the 8:19

[darren]

I checked over at fpsadmin and it seems all the zones files are needed:
http://www.fpsadmin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13507
They could always be wrong however Let me know if you have any luck slimming it down.

[Angusp]

I seem to have broken something badly somewhere.

I have uninstalled the server, then installed it again, so all my slimming attempts are gone, but now I cannot connect to the game server, it just times out yet the actual server is still working because I am using cPanel and WHM. Also FTP doesn't seem to be working on that account anymore, yet it works fine on all other accounts.

Very weird, it's like something is blocking my ports or knowing me probably something worse I broke

[darren]

Put in a ticket with login info (user account too) and I'll take a look and see if I can figure it out.

[Angusp]

Done. ([cPanel ID# 229555])

To add to the weirdness, on the main cPGS page where all the games are listed, the cod4 server says "not running", yet when you go to the cod4 page, it shows it as running.

Another thing I noticed, when the server is starting up it seems to use more CPU resources, going as high as 140% I think I saw.

[darren]

The server startup is ruthless, it's like the computer starting up, trying to get everything it does up and running as fast as possible. Lots of disk reading and processing. I should probably have it nice'd so as not to cause any lags in another server. I just noticed the cod4 thing on the dev server as well, that'll be fixed in the next release for sure.

[Angusp]

All fixed now, flushing the iptables worked.