Is this a safe way to speed up my server?

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Qqite

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Joined: 28th Feb 2010

Location: Florida, U.S.

Posted: 27th Feb 2011 23:41

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My old loop for my server used to have all my functions followed by a "sync" for every loop. This didn't seem very necessary in my mind so what I did is change to this:

+ Code Snippet

do
   HandleMessages()
   HandleSoftCorrections()
   HandleLeft()
   
   inc syncnum, 1
   
   if timer() - synctimer > 1000
      if net connected() <> 1 : print "SERVER FAILED, LOST CONNECTION!" : print "SERVER FAILED, LOST CONNECTION!" : print "SERVER FAILED, LOST CONNECTION!" : print "SERVER FAILED, LOST CONNECTION!" : wait key : end : endif
      HandleUI()
      sync
      synctimer = timer()
      
   endif
loop

By changing my FPS to LPS my LPS changed from 2500 LPS to a crazy 522000 LPS. Is this valid? Or am I just slow and needed to do this a long time ago xD

Ventures of the worlds around us are only limited by imagination.

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Wyldhunt

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Joined: 27th Sep 2009

Location: The Dark Side

Posted: 28th Feb 2011 07:14 Edited at: 28th Feb 2011 07:17

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That's valid if your UI is mostly static. Since the UI is only updating once per second, it may appear to be very very laggy to anyone using it. If they click a button and your code to detect a button press is in your UI, they may need to hold the button down for a full second before it's recognized. If you're tracking button press via a global var somewhere in the main loop, the button press may be caught immediately, but the UI still wont recognize it for up to a second later. Then you'd have to reset the global keypress var in the UI functions...

Overall, it will probably work, but people will hate the laggy feeling of it if the UI has to update based on user input.
If it just auto-updates health and ammo and random game stats that are not dependent upon user input, then it may be a good idea.

Of course, this all depends upon your program too. If it's a 3d game, you have to sync every loop to update animations and characters.

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Qqite

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Posted: 1st Mar 2011 02:34

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Ok this is not good, with both methods, my server is KILLING my cpu. Running on an actual server computer, this would be ok. But we're talking a 4% to 87% difference in cpu usage. Does anyone know how to tell this program to slow down a bit? Should I pop in a "Wait 1" to make the program give leeway?

Ventures of the worlds around us are only limited by imagination.

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KISTech

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Location: Aloha, Oregon

Posted: 1st Mar 2011 17:40

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Use NICE WAIT with a variable that you can adjust that will give you some control over how much power to give it under heavy loads.

I don't know if it's changed since NICE WAIT was created, but the WAIT command still uses up CPU time, while NICE WAIT (from the Matrix1Utils) gives that time back to Windows.

I do the same thing with my server and run it at 5 FPS, although the server is constantly calculating planetary orbits, and handling the dynamic weather, so I don't have it wait at all. I probably should though.

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Mobiius

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Posted: 1st Mar 2011 18:47

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Why bother trying to slow it down? Just let it run as it does and when needed, windows will let other processes have CPU time.

I've never saw the point in optimising your game loop, then forcing it to slow down?

My signature is NOT a moderator plaything! Stop changing it!

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KISTech

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Location: Aloha, Oregon

Posted: 1st Mar 2011 20:10

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You would do it dynamically based on how many players you have online. If there are no players, there's no point in your CPU running flat out. (unless you're using your server as a heater)