Optimization tweaks for Dedicated Servers found thus far

So I run a dedicated server.. and it is growing to a regular population of 5-10 online any moment most days. So the problem is combating lag. The server software uses almost no resources whatsoever. 30-60 % of 1 core and 3-4 gigs of ram when heavily populated is all that happens. Can either of those numbers be unlocked? The server has 48 gigs of ram and 2 quad core cpus (oddly enough I see SE using more than one thread though very lighty outside the main thread 5-20% ) I do notice the server does a lot of read and writes to the HDD. Would changing from a 10k HDD to a SSD help any realistically or no? On that note also wondered if anyone has played with running it on a ramdisk. Anyone done testing with ram timings? Overvolting, overclocking, or lowering timings help any? Lastly, the server is using 2.4 gHz xeons right now. With it's low CPU utilization, would throwing a 3.6 GHZ xeon help any? If there is no real gain, no reason to up my power bill as this is run on a dell c6100 aka power thirsty!

Now policy wise, we've been finding things that lag the server. We found turrets kill sim speed. Welders, grinders, solar pannels on moving ships, and mining do little bits of lag which can add up so we try to limit those in usage. Projections KILLLLLLL the server if of anything semi large. so we tweaked factions building capitals off of projected blueprints to non peak hours.

That all being said, would be nice to have a collection of optimizations to compensate for the current system/state of dedicated servers.. The above is what I've learned so far, so share your thoughts!! Ill make fancy lists in this post as other DS admins contribute.


~~~The Fancy List~~~


Laggy Blocks

• Projectors with semi large ( 30x10x20 large block ships ) projctions -.2 // .5 Sim whole server
• Arrays of welders/grinders (typically 5+) - .1 // .4 Sim whole server
• Solar anything on moving ship -.05 // .3 *Note, no lag noticed from stationary solar*
• Large assembler/refinery arrays -0-.2 *Note, seems to be more locally affecting
• Unwelded blocks *Note, completely

DS improvements

• Set priority to 'Above Normal' or 'High' (*Cautious with real time, can freeze a Server*)
• Remove threads (cpu) 0 and 1 from usable threads (Setting affinity) as windows uses those mostly
• Reduce maximum floating objects. Lower the better, though 0 can frustrate players as items dissapear instantly (64 is a nice number)
• Enforcing the beacon rule and deleting non beacon ships can clean a lot of broken grids/trash

Mods that help with performance

• }DT{ Graphical Tweaks

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=299845945

• 0.088 MB

​

• Arghlex's Armor Without Edges Replacements - Sloped Armor Types Addon

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=430945157

• 0.010 MB

​

• Armor Without Edges Replacement

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=300685868

• 0.116 MB

​

Hardware to be tested

• HDDs: 7400 / 10000 / 15000
• SDDs: MLC / eMLC / SLC
• Raid settings: None VS 0 VS 1

(HDD tests complete, minimal improvements found even between SSD and HDD, mostly in save speed. )

• RAM speeds ( if anyone has 1066, 1333, 1600 laying around to test improvements if any on same map and other hardware)
• Ram Timings: Test lowering clock timings for improvements
• CPU speeds: using a i7 'K' chip overclocking can test if improvements are made when CPU is 1 ghz faster than previous. Looking for good info if a 2.8 or 3.8 is worth often thousand dollar upgrades ( speaking from a xeon server perspective )

Testing should be done with a freshly started map,
~Log in and take a Screenshot of the [shift][f11]
~Change 1 piece of hardware/timing
~Restart PC
~Start up map again, press [shift][f11]
~Take another screenshot and post findings!


As a community we can unlock the proper way to optimize the havok in it's present state!

 

I can tell you that the server application is single threaded at the moment. I know they are trying to work making it multithreaded, but look how long it took for Minecraft to get it (version 1.8). It's one of those be very patient things.

From what I've found, reduce the maximum floating objects below 150, and view distance to less than 15KM. I've got mine at 125 objects and 12KM, but I have a very low population server. Also, I'm running an i7-2600K @ 4.6 Ghz. The overclock did nearly nothing to the performance (very slight). One thing that provided a 'slight' improvement was adjusting the process priority to 'Realtime' in the Task Manager.

An SSD may help, but right now, the biggest bottleneck is lack of multithreading. I went from a single SSD to dual in Raid 0, didn't notice any improvement over a single drive config.

P.S.- Really looking forward to seeing if anyone else has found some goodies.

 

Have you tested Raid 1? Got my eye on a $80 samsung drive I can raid 1, though this would require me to put backups on the webserver drive which is another 10k instead of a WD green drive ( only have 3 drive slots in the server ) When you state slight improvement. Do you have any numbers or can you get numbers? IE sim speed of .7 with 3.6 ghz and .8 with 4.6 or __? Curious of it as to upgrade my CPUs will cost a pretty penny. I have been putting priority on high ( scared of real time as a lock up on the server can jack up other things ) Also been turning off the server's ability to use threads 0 and 1 which is what windows runs itself and the majority of programs on.

 

Found and tested with success 3 mods that VASTLY improve the server's performance for clients and slightly for sim/game clock speed too. Adding to the list above. Anyone else find others?

• }DT{ Graphical Tweaks
  • https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=299845945
  • 0.088 MB
• Arghlex's Armor Without Edges Replacements - Sloped Armor Types Addon
  • https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=430945157
  • 0.010 MB
• Armor Without Edges Replacement
  • https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=300685868
  • 0.116 MB

 

Bump.
Does anyone else have any info about optimizations?

 

I read somewhere that Dedicated servers use Graphics cards to offload physics.. Being that our server runs on a real 'server' Our options are very limited. I have bought both of these: https://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R5-230-vs-PNY-GeForce-GT-610 Also, I have to do some careful cutting of the GFX mainboard to get them to fit, but was able to lol. From a numbers perspective the Radeon looks like the clear winner. However, We all know ATI is good at putting up great numbers that always fall short in performance. (partially due to games being optimized for nvidia )

With that being said, does anyone know if the engine's physics that gets offloaded works better on an nvidia card despite the specs seen in the link? I