[Resolved]Is net_maxClients has a maximum value?

[dlqingxi]

I found here is a setting item named net_maxClients in manaserv.xml.
It described in wiki as below :

Code: Select all

net_maxClients	  (default)1000	 (means)Total simultaneous allowed client connections.

Is there a maximum value for it ? For example, 2048, 65536 etc. (If the server‘s specifications is very very good)
In general, how much should it be set ?(I feel 1000 is too small)

thanks

[Ablu]

The server uses size_t and int for handling the value. So expect it to be in the int area (for 32 bit: 2147483647 if i am not totally wrong).

However i doubt that the server will handle that many people

Regards
Ablu

[Frost]

Code: Select all

net_maxClients	  (default)1000	 (means)Total simultaneous allowed client connections.

In general, how much should it be set ?(I feel 1000 is too small)

This doesn't answer your question directly, but have you considered how to build a service capable of supporting thousands of concurrent players? Even a "very very good" server will have serious limitations that companies like Sony have addressed by creating networks of load-balanced game servers. How long will it take all 21,000 players to log in again after you do maintenance on your server?
There are maybe a handful of people in the world who have managed a single (microcomputer) server with >5000 interactive users; talk with one of them before you plan very far.

tl;dr I don't think manaserv has been tested with more than 100 players at once. Also, you won't get 10,000 players.

[dlqingxi]

Hi Ablu, Frost,

Thank you for your helpful replies.

I realize that this is a silly question now.

thanks

[tux9th]

There are no silly questions!
Don't hesitate to ask... ever!

[Crush]

tl;dr I don't think manaserv has been tested with more than 100 players at once.

Why don't you do a stress test and find out how many clients it can handle? It's not like you need thousands of people in flesh and blood.

As some of you know, I am currently developing an MMORPG on my own, and I do stress tests with a primitive bot I wrote. It does nothing but connect to the server, create an account, create a character, log into that character and move around the start map randomly. To do a stress test, I just start a few 100 instances of that script. It took me just a few hours to set up. You can see a screenshot on my development blog.

This is, of course, only a pretty rudimentary test, because it results in all clients being on the same map (which is kind of a worst-case scenario, but not an unrealistic one, because you certainly want to do events where the whole server participates) and it doesn't test all actions which can be performed by player characters, but it gives you an idea how much your server can handle and it's easily extensible to simulate more realistic player behavior.

Sure, you are essentially creating a headless bot which could later easily be abused to DOS your server or build a bot which levels on its own, but it's not like you have to publish it. Also, when you don't create it, others will do it anyway.

[Frost]

tl;dr I don't think manaserv has been tested with more than 100 players at once.

Why don't you do a stress test and find out how many clients it can handle? It's not like you need thousands of people in flesh and blood.

As some of you know, I am currently developing an MMORPG on my own, and I do stress tests with a primitive bot I wrote. It does nothing but connect to the server, create an account, create a character, log into that character and move around the start map randomly. To do a stress test, I just start a few 100 instances of that script...it gives you an idea how much your server can handle and it's easily extensible to simulate more realistic player behavior.

That's a great idea to stress-test using a script. You're right that a high number of clients could be simulated that way. Thanks, Crush! (Also, good luck with your HTML5 game. )

[Ablu]

The most performance killing thing for manaserv at the moment are the monsters. Their AI consumes most of all resources. Players have not been a that big factor from what i saw on the invertika servers.

So the invertika server hits its limit when having 121 outdoor maps (each 200x200) while many of them have around 50+ mobs (some have values over 200 or 300 iirc) on them. This means that there are at least 6050 mobs on the world map only (so +indoor maps like caves/etc). However having many beings in a single area should cause a bit more effort to calculate and a if a character is near a lot more networking. So this is probably very hard to stress test in a nice way.

EDIT: The invertika server configuration uses an old manaserv version (new one has a lot more optimised RAM use for maps). But it ran fine on a normal pc (i always used it on a 2x2GHz + 2GB Ram laptop for development, the client ate more resources than the server here)

Regards
Ablu