That subject line didn't come out right. I know (in my case) it's not enough to max out a core but damn... I'm seeing some bad performance. My latest server test were with PCs sitting on my LAN as opposed to external hosted servers. My first server test was with a Core i7 920 4.0 GHz, 12 GB 1600 MHz RAM.. that is, power to spare. When I connect (with the PC listed below) to a session running in the dedicated server EXE and add 10 AI it's lag city. Cars are blinking in and out and wrecking me in the process. The same thing happens using a little dual-core Intel Atom box I have as a server. Even though AI cars are lagging on the server the CPU usage is no more than 50%. rF2 and mods are up-to-date versions. There are no problems with my network. Am I missing something here? This should be possible right?
Have you checked the LAN option in the server browser? Also did you check the up/down bandwidth of the server? Because lagging and blinking cars is usually a sign your internet connection cannot handle the load (usually upload is the problem). Probably you will see bandwidth up at 100% or even more. For 20Mbit upload (2MB) you can usually host around 8 cars, since for 10 you need around 256kb each (x 10 = 2,5MB).
The dedicated server.exe is set for 4 Mbps up and 4 Mbps down. Bandwidth isn't a problem it's a mixed gigabit/100 Mbps LAN and I can max it out easily (i.e., 50 Mbps HD video will stream perfectly). The internet connection is 100/5. I did not check the LAN option. What exactly does that do other than bypass the Matchmaker server for locating games? Pings to my test race server were in the 2-5 ms range as it was so I doubt the server traffic was leaving my LAN and my router was doing its job recognizing that all traffic was local. Your units are a little confusing in the last calculation and I think leading you to the wrong conclusion although I understand the point you are making. 256 kbit/s per AI car x 10 = 2,560 kbit/s = 2.5 Mbit/s (so half the rated upload speed of my 5 Mbit upload speed).
Yes i assumed 256kb not 256kbit, but i still think you have a bandwidth problem since you said cpu is max 50% and you have plenty of RAM. Maybe try the option in multiplayer in - by default it is set to "2" (ISDN), try changing that to "3" (128kbps). And also try with maybe 5 AI first.
I'll dig into this a bit more over the holidays. rF1 servers were so easy to setup... rF2 is going to take a bit more thought.
Set the bandwidth to half whatever you have, for starters. I have 20mbits up and 80mbits down, so I allow the server 10 up and 40 down. It's also worth noting that bittorrent will kill your ability to host a server unless you know what you're doing with it. So if you run one of those on the network, turn it off before hosting.
