I have been trying to work out what is causing server FPS to drop below 10. The first event we held worked perfectly but the last 2 events have been plagued with the FPS drop causing pings to jump over 1000 and huge in game lag. Restarting the server can give alright performance for about 15 minutes before it plays up again. Problem seems to impact Race sessions more than any other. Server is done through SteamCMD, run on a VPS in a data center running Windows Server 2013 with 100/100mbps connection, plenty of HDD space and normal seek times, server is not maxing out CPU thread/s, 2GB+ ram available when running. Things I have tried: - With and without +fullproc on the command line - Removed all unnecessary plugins (only non-standard is LiveRacers) - Cleared all replays and logs - Run a full trace with no unusual errors or information when the lag presents - Tried multiple tracks - Shutdown every other non essential process/service on the VPS Any help or suggestions would be hugely appreciated.
More info VPS is actually running Windows Server 2008 R2, thought it had been updated but was thinking of a different host. Max Data Per Client was at 128, have changed it to 160 to test if it makes any difference. Up/Down bandwidth was set at 8192 for both, have changed it to 20480 for both for next test
If you have any real-time scanning apps (Defender / antivirus etc) on the machine try adding exceptions for the dedicated directory and it's UserData dir. Does your vps plan have dedicated resources?
I have tried shutting down the antivirus and confirmed it in both processors and services with no improvement. I shut down everything except essential Windows services and the AMS server. The VPS we have does have fully dedicated resources, specs from memory are 4 threads @ 2.8ghz, 5GB ram, 100GB SAS HDD (pretty sure this is allocated from a larger raid). As I mentioned, the VPS isn't running out of resources and can run 3 rF2 and 1 rF1 with 30 in one of the rF2 and a few in rF1 at the same time without any FPS drop on any of them.
@Dave Stephenson No further ideas what may be contributing to it? Very much seems to be an AMS issue. Going to try a new server install and delete all content except for the ones being used, less than practical but not sure what else to try. BTW, a "Lite" server package would be awesome as an option for secondary servers as all the content is already in the first one, and it save downloading 22GB only to delete 20GB of it.
@Carr not off the top of my head, I've run it without issue in similar environments recently. With regard to the multiple installs, several server instances can be run from a single installation as long as they use different profiles. If you do wish to have seperate ones maintaining only one instalation with steamcmd and using junctions for the content and post update file copies for the rest can achieve only downloading everything once but updating multiple installs. A simple bat file can make that a one click, repeatable, process. I'm not sure with the little time available there will be a possibility to setup another lite build on steam, we are already having to be selective about what we can address in the next patch. It's a fair shout though for sure so will definitly look at it for AMS2.
@Dave Stephenson We are still getting the issue with a new clean install with all Locations and Vehicles removed except the content being used for the server, all new config files and everything. When there are 20 people int the server, you can see the FPS drop as each person joins. Do you know what things would cause the server FPS to drop in general? Any thoughts would be appreciated, I have tried everything I can think of.
@Carr Sorry, it's usually on the top of the list of things to ask but can you confirm what content you are using please and if any of it is modded content can you check if the issue persists when running all stock content?
@Dave Stephenson I also forgot to include that, but didn't think of it as it was an issue I have seen on the forums before with varied content. Testing clean base content with the same numbers is very hard to obtain due to commitments of the usual drivers and the problems doesn't appear until 20+ are in the server. I know this is less than ideal in troubleshooting which is why I was trying to direct any assistance to a more general idea of what causes the server FPS to drop so I can investigate the content and server. I have been modding rFactor 1 and 2 for years and am very familiar with how it works, just never needed to look into this sort of problem until now. We are running an Australian track series with the SuperV8 with additional vehicle models added and .veh files for each driver. No modification to any physics files, custom .SRS and .GEN's to allow for new models. The additional models were setup by experienced AMS modders who have built/converted many vehicles. I have looked over the files and can't find anything abnormal myself based on my rF experience. The tracks we have run so far are: Original Server Adelaide (DLC) - Seemed to run fine with no noticeable lag. First event held by us and was a new server install, DIdn't notice server FPS due to lack of lag, 28 Drivers Melbourne GP (mod) - Major lag presented only in race after about 15min, with server FPS hitting 0 many times and usually bounced between 3 and 11, 29 Drivers Symmonds Plains (mod) - Some lag in practice and qualifying, major lag after about 10-15 minutes, server FPS again bouncing between 3 and 11, 27 Drivers Philip Island (mod) - Some lag in practice, significant lag in qualifying, Server FPS below 10, was unraceable. 26 Drivers. We then switched over to the backup server as follows: New separate server install - all content removed from install except the track and vehicle being used. Exact same options set within the multiplayer.ini and the .PLR file (except I forgot to enable Warmup session). Philip Island (mod) - Very minor random lag during race, very significant improvement and was acceptable performance for race, was not able to monitor server FPS due to another admin controlling the server was they couldn't monitor as closely as I usually do, I believe it was higher than 10 though. 26 Drivers
