Reopening some old servers

#1

I am part of https://xorhub.com/ , a team that opens stable servers for free/open-source games. We have at this point the possibility to host some Tremulous servers, and I thought it would be great to reopen some working servers of old mods.

For now, the mods planned would be :
- Korx mod
- xserverx mods if possible

The server works on a Debian stable (Jessie), if you have sources or working executables for those mods, we would enjoy help with this. For now, we tried to compile xserverx mods (without success), didn't yet try with Korx.
The idea would be to revive those mods, and, maybe, to bring people to maintain them ?

I have to say we are very few and wouldn't be abled to do anything about the code of the game, so if you can help us on that case, feel free to do so.

#2

Hi @obani. Everybody loves free, so hell yeah bring some of those servers online. I do however, have a few questions. I'm a official dedicated server host, that offers dedicated servers on the fly, around the USA, & 3 country's. What are the specs of your servers? What are your uplink speeds & restrictions? Where are they located? With these servers being free, do you offer any kind of access remotely to the server (SSH, VPN, REMOTE DESKTOP, ETC..)

Those mods you're interested in bringing back, you'll have to sit down and sort through the code, those two mods are two of the buggiest. I did however have success with the xserverx bots but extremely buggy and a few things didn't work as they should like menus.

I'm sure there might be someone who can assist you with this, but as of right now I can't think of anyone who can put down what they're doing to help bring back those servers in working condition. If I got some time, I may be able to assist. Great idea buddy, and look forward to seeing these servers online.

#3

Actually, the servers run on an OVH's hosting, located in East Canada. I will ask the full configuration ofthe server, I think it's an Intel Xeon 2/3 with 16 or 32 Gb RAM, and working on Debian 8 (Jessie). I will precise you later if you want, but I think it's enough to host some Tremulous servers ^^

About coding, you can see our community there : https://github.com/MinetestForFun/
Most of the people in here are either more like moderators or people that quitted a long time ago and that come again from time to time. That's why I ask here (and also because I'm a newbie to coding)

The servers are not free, we pay them and have access to them, but we use them for what we want to do in the free/open-source universe : reopening game servers.

Some told me opening back a Korx server would make some people redownload Tremulous, I hope it would be the case ! About X servers, I mostly wanted to reopen F, but Sex seems to want to keep his baby...

#4

That server is it hosting multiples games, or is it designated to tremulous? That's a decent server and probably capable of hosting 30 or 40 clients. That network host is a really good host, I've done business with them in the past with some of my servers I had. I've heard the same in the past about the KOR servers, but you have to remember, you're in a new age in time where everyone has the new clients, and more then likely will not be able to play in the 1.1 tremded. Once multi-protocol is released, and maybe a patch for the multi-protocol tremded to import in the KOR source, might see game play. Tremulous community 98% (seems pretty accurate) play in GrangerPub. Once the release, and we see start advertising it, we should see a wide range of new players! Then hopefully start filling up servers.

#5

Actually most of the player base currently use 1.1 clients (such as tremfusion), and then maybe 25% or so use the "old" gpp client. Very few use the latest client at the moment (even without multiprotocol). Also I have heard even recently that there are old players that would be interested in playing again if KoRx was available. I don't know how active in reality it would be in the current state of things, but if it happens to be successful in bringing back some more old players, that would be a good thing.

But yes, multiprotocol could help such a server, and the release of the new clients with multiprotocol (amoung many other cool features) would help even more, but what would help even more would be (like you mentioned), actively promoting the game in conjunction with those things. Bottom line, Tremulous needs more active players, and we can't be thinking in terms of the current number of active players for Trem to have a successful future.

#6

I don't think maybe %25 would even be accurate. There's no way to even throw a prediction on what players use what client. A majority still uses 1.1 I'm almost sure, but they stick to what they know. I've already put a KoR Server online, and it was sitting idle for 2 weeks with maybe a hand full that I can count have entered and then left. I can however put it back up just to prove my point once more, that without a multi protocol, it's highly doubtful you'll see traffic.

Once the release, I can help with promoting. I have several ties to social media pages, and gaming websites that can put up for a ad.

#7

I have a pretty good idea on how many gpp players there are left, but around 20% might be a bit more accurate.

#8

that is enough for multiple full servers. i guess the limiting factor will be network throughput. there's a shitton of excess RAM, so one can also run some crappy software in the background.

#9

We're still uncertain, can't put a number on something like this. :smirk: Good ideas aren't accurate.

The network is 250mb down / 250mb up with a 1G reserve uplink.

#10

Yeah that'd work. A 64 slots server filled up with pub's settings would require ~3-4mb up to be fully enjoyable afaik. It can be more if you decide to make the server rate cap higher.

#11

I wouldn't doubt it. I'm not saying it won't work, I threw a estimate player count at it. I always do a load test on my servers to get gather data. So I just put a ball park number, it is fully capable of hosting multiple trem servers.