Hi, and this is my first post :)
I have FEAR Combat and hosting off my home pc. I downloaded the FREE game about one week ago, (noob <---). Here are my observations of hosting off my home pc AND playing at the same time:
1-Internet speed: 10meg down, 1 meg upload. Actual speed test are: 9.7-9,8meg download/1.012meg upload. I am set up for a direct connect to the cable modem. Games are all about the upload! when hosting. I am playing the game while hosting.
2-After hosting for 5 hours or so, I would send out approximately the following TOTAL data quantity: Upload 7.4GB, Download 3.8GB. (its all about upload). This info taken from the WinXP local network connection "general" tab. I hope my internet service provider is not observing my upload :) Even tho your ISP package is, say....... 10/1 doenst mean that your are getting those speeds. When peeps say their speed package, the real number is what is the true actual speeds your are gettting.
3-Server game type: Control 15 player-25min games/400pt total
4-when server is full (15), I am uploading approx 800-875K, with bursts up to 1.3megs (not very often). 14 person server I noticed 750-800K. I have ran a 16 person server DM style at 1.5 speed, but some bitch about lag on small maps, when I check the current upload, it is not near the max of 1meg upload. I think this maybe video card related for some without high end pc's. But. I would prefer a "no lag" server, and at 15, I may not hear one person say anyting about the lag for "days" :)
5-One game option that may reduce lag is extending the time to respawn after death. When I hosted DM, 1.5 speed, I had respawn set to 0 secs. That means 16 players in the game at all times. If you add seconds to the time to respawn say 8 sec, you may have 11-14 playing at any one time. The remaining players are "dead" waiting to respawn.
6-people playing on my server show pings mostly under 100ms. I only see 1 maybe 2 with pings at low 200's. But most players are around 50-125ms. Server Located in St Louis MO.
7-netstat live is a very good tool (and free) that I use to see how my down and upload if preforming while hosting. This little freebie can be found at:
http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/nsl.htm
8-Netstat Live will also show you your CPU usuage. With FEAT Combat it indicates about 28-30%. Which is surprising low. Of course this can be different from one system to another. My rig is a Dell XPS Gen2 purchased in May of 2004.
9- With PB enablesd you do have serveral options to reduce the number of checks PB doesn throughout the game so that the game play on your home pc will run a bit smoother while hosting.
So when a server lags, it could be one of many reasons. What I can control is the data being transfered and make game adjustments where needed. If your pc is running smooth and the internet connection doesnt have any issues, then it could be that your rig has limitations. I know for a fact I can not host a 32 person FEAR game because of my "limitations" :)
Hope one or more of my comments can help someone if they are experiencing issues while hosting FEAR from a home pc :)
Toothless
