[TF2] Changing map crashes server

[jljr222]

Hello,

I am using cPGS to run a small gaming community and I am running across an odd problem where changing the map to my TF2 server brings the server offline. It's very odd and I have not been able to discover why it does that.

Has anyone experienced this or know why this would be happening? I am using the latest release on a CentOS 5.3 64-bit box. It's a dedicated server not a VPS. Thanks for any assistance.

[jljr222]

Just as an update for anyone experiencing the same problem. If you have Configserv Firewall installed, disable it. It causes way too many problems with the ports used from VAC to changing maps. Once disabling it I was able to change maps just fine.

[darren]

Interesting, this is the 3rd such case I've seen about TF2 with crashing maps. The first time I looked at it I was unable to find out what was causing it. The second case I looked into showed it seemed to be a bad plugin/mod from either sourcemod or amxmod. If the firewall is the case here, then it seems there is yet another culprit possible. Thanks for letting us know what you did to fix it so others with the same issue will know to take a look at it when troubleshooting.

[RasterMan]

I sometimes run a TF2 server & I have not had any problems running it with Configserv Firewall! I use centos 5.3 32 bit as 64 bit isn't recommended by most game hosters.

[jljr222]

I must have missed a few ports, and I have no problems running any of the servers on a 64-bit system. I opened up all the ports recommended on the forums, but the quickest solution was to disable it until I can find the cause. If there is a better list we can use of ports to open I would appreciate a link.

[darren]

jljr222 - Some of the ports are assigned dynamically I think. Find the PID of the game server process then on the shell as root via SSH, run lsof against it to see what all it has open, like if the TF2 server was running with pid 4173, run `lsof -Pnp 4173 |grep IP` on the shell and it should show you all the ports, both TCP and UDP that the server process is listening on. Other connections may be made client-style, where it's not acting as a server but connecting out to the remote stats/auth servers and failure there could be triggering the problem. To find those you'd need to use tcpdump/ngrep or strace the process while it made the connections.

[jljr222]

Thanks for the info darren, but it appears I was wrong. The CSF fixed my problem with the server crashing from running map changes through HLSW. However, after the conclusion of a map vote or map change the server crashes while switching maps. It does it every time on any map. This is a serious issues for me, has anyone else experienced this before?

[darren]

Are there any mods installed on the server ? If not, put in a ticket for me, I'd like to see if I can narrow it down some more.

[jljr222]

Sorry darren, been all types of busy. The server has SourceMod and Metamod running with SourceBans. That's it and I have other servers (non-TF2 servers) running the same exact configuration.

Something odd I also notice is that our server never changes maps, it stays on the default map and never rotates to what I have specified int he mapcycle. Should I put in a ticket?

[darren]

jljr222 - Can you verify the server crash on map change happens without any mods installed, just the plain vanilla server install ?

[omgwtfbbqhax]

jljr222, have you had a look at the log files when the server goes down to see if you can work out if its server related, or box related, usually, if the server goes down when changing maps, it's due to server side errors (addons etc) or Valve (master servers going down, vac server down, etc).