A few Noob questions

[Steven Palmer]

Guys forgive me for my ignorance, but what is a "dedicated server"?

I've been trying to race online via steam but there seems to be a lot of lag,and very few opponents I'm guessing a dedicated server is just that somewhere I could race like minded indiviuals on a relatively lag free server

so how do I join these "dedicated servers"?

thanks in advance

 

[Jarrod Crossley]

A deadicated server is a machine that only severs as a server it does nothing more. Due to the fact that all it does is host the game it has more resources to use on that task.

There fore ping times should be pritty low. depending on its location.

You may notice some lag but not as mutch as you would if you joined a friends online server. the lag is due to a few things one mojor one is people join from all over the globe and that alters there time to and from the server and to and from you.

Joining the RaceDepartment racing club is one way of getting involved with like minded people such as your self. The only reason the club has such defined rules regarding joining is RaceDeaprtment went through a stage of gaining members that were spoiling the fun for other members.

I know you may feel this is a bit of a pain but stick with us and you'll soon be racing on RD servers.

 

[Steven Palmer]

thanks for the reply, now this may not be relevant but when I try to run the dedicated server from E:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\MY_NAME\race 07\RaceDedicatedServer_Steam it just throws up an error, Steam dll not found. anyone else get this? and how do I fix it?

 

[Jarrod Crossley]

Can you not run it from the steam menu.

Right click steam icon /games/ tools tab

You should find the deadicated sever there.

 

[Steven Palmer]

Thanks Jarrod :thumb:

 

[Steven Palmer]

OK had a look at what that does..Sets up an online game.. Now my next daft question..How do I join these dedicated servers other people have set up? and how do I see them?

 

[Jarrod Crossley]

Ok so youve worked your way around the easy bit. Now the fun begins:

1. You have to set the ports for your router and firewall other wise your ping will always be "500" and noone will ever be able to join your server.

2. Joining and seeing other people servers is quite easy - kickup evo/race 07 goto multiplayer and select online find a sever and away you go (as long as its not passworded)

 

[Andrew Evans]

start game... multiplayer... internet game... the vast majority of those are dedicated servers - i think there's a little symbol with differentiates which are and which aren't... you almost always want to play on a dedicated for the reasons already stated...

edit: jarrod got there first... like a little ninja

 

[Jarrod Crossley]

I was just walking around with my wet kipper that is all officer ...

 

[Steven Palmer]

Thanks I,m going to take a look...here goes:becky:

 

[Steven Palmer]

Hmmm joined a game but kept getting sychronising game (498ms) and the game kept jumping forward which was a real pain going into corners. Is this what you was explaining earlier

Ok so youve worked your way around the easy bit. Now the fun begins:

1. You have to set the ports for your router and firewall other wise your ping will always be "500" and noone will ever be able to join your server

 

[Andrew Evans]

on the list of servers look at the ping time on the far right.... you want something relatively low, ideally 100ms or less.... the higher the number the more lag (jumping around) you will experience.... generally, you don't want to connect to somewhere on the other side of the planet to yourself...

anything with a ping of 5000 you won't be able to connect to - they're sitting behind a firewall... (that's what jarrod was saying)...

 

[Warren Dawes]

generally, you don't want to connect to somewhere on the other side of the planet to yourself...

I don't think this is totally true. I have found that ping is not a good indicator of lagging, but can be used a guide only. for example, I regularly race on the RD Servers (which are in Europe) but I am in Australia, can't get much further away.
Whilst my game lobby shows very high pings (about 400), I don't normally have major lagging issues. Conversely, we have had people with very low pings, lagging terribly. Other issues seem to come into play, such as internet stability, background processes running, etc.

Of course, lower pings are desireable

I don't think there is a single simple answer to this lagging problem.

 

[Lee Downham]

Rough rule of thumb ...

What Andrew is saying is generally true and good advice tho' ... the more physical distance you have between you and the server, the higher the likelihood of encountering networking issues and lagging.

Refreshing the servers list will also give you an idea of how stable the connection to the server is (ie wildly different figures after each refresh and you have an unstable connection, or vice verca)

I would suggest the following as a rough rule of thumb:
Faster pings (~150ms or less) = good connections = less likely to lag
Slower pings (~250ms or more) = poor connections = more likely to lag

 

[Steven Palmer]

Again cheers for all the advice. I've tried a couple of servers now and both times in game I keep getting the "syncronising game (498ms)" message and choppy game play. I've been playing Call of Duty 4 online for the last few months with server ping in the region of 40 - 100ms ( I never go for higher pings than that) with no problems at all. I have a 4Mb connection with orange(formally wanadoo/freeserve) and run the game at 1680 x 1050 every setting maxed out, likewise Dawn of War and Supreme Commander....strange :-( I'll have to try a few more servers tonight after work out of curiosity. I'll post back my findings for those interested

 

[Steven Palmer]

OK HAPPY DAYS :becky:

Tried the multiplayer out tonight and what a difference. For a start there were about five times the amount of servers from previous nights. So I took the plunge and went into the RD MINI server and....game froze Grrrr. Reboot and back into the lobby and tried the RD PRO server, complete chancer I know considering I have never raced online before let alone around the Nordschleife, OMG what a laugh, took out the SEAT Toledo GT, stock setup and done a 10.39 coming off only about 5 times which I thought was good. Second lap I done a 8.10 and qualified 5th out of 6. Now I went to the chat room and told the guys it was my 1st race and that I would stay out of there way. All The while the counter in the corner was ticking down and I missed the raceound:I didn't know I had to go back to the menu screen and click on RACE LOL What a numpty

Anyways just thought I'd tell you all that I've finally experienced a lap or two online :thumb:

now I'm off to try the mini's

Thanks all for being patient and pointing me in the right direction, if not on the track, then at least off of it. Hope to join the club soon and compete in a few races.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Simon Trendell]

You CHOSE to use the Seat Toledo GT, you need a Doctor....

 

[Lee Downham]

:lol: @ Simon ... he is big enough to admit he is a noob and numpty though, more than most of the rest of us would do or have done in our times of noobinumptiness :wink:

Sounds like it will be amusing to have you around DG ... nice one :thumb:

 

[Steven Palmer]

You CHOSE to use the Seat Toledo GT, you need a Doctor....

appointment booked sir ;-) in all honesty I was looking at the real SEAT Leon K1 at the weekend and that influenced my game choice;-) but at over £20K I think I might choose something a bit cheaper for the real thing. I here ST's are going cheap at the moment. :becky:

 

[Steven Palmer]

noobinumptiness ound:

My new favourite word :thumb: