Server Redirect problem?

[Boltte]

Hi, I've just notice that some maps(whilst testing some maps using my home dummy server as I was gonna upload to the dedicated one), even though they are already uploaded to the re-direct server, they don't seem to download through there but instead straight from the game server(or I think it is...), which takes a several times longer!

Some of these files are huge, 50MB+; I know this doesn't look that much but when downloading from the game server, it would appear that they cap your download speed to snail pace(I have no idea what the exact speed is, but it's definitely not 1MB/s(my max download speed when no one is at home using the net except me) or else I would have been able to download that 50MB file in 50 seconds(actually speaking of which, since this is hosted locally, I should be able to get that 50MB with a snap of my fingers - not through the internet with my less than average internet speeds, it's as if the file is requested via the internet which then talks to the server which is hosted on the same computer I have the client KF running on and then downloads from there - what should suppose to happen if servers are hosted locally is it doesn't even need to request anything from the internet, just talk straight to the computer the server is hosted on!) - it's already taken more than a few minutes and I've cancelled.

A couple or so times in the past when this happened, I just let it download to see if it will work, but once it goes to 100%, it keeps going, so 101.1%, 101.2%, etc and so I never even get the file and it never loads into the game/map so I can test the map out(only way I've found to fix this is just copy and paste the map file from the home dummy server straight into your KF map game directory clientside so I don't have to download the map... So it looks like some maps are bugged for re-directs..... I have no idea how this will work out when I put the offending maps onto my dedicated server, I would presume they would have to sit there for 10 or so minutes to get to 100% and even then, it might fail on them and thye quit and join another server or they just hop onto another server because they cbf waiting to download even a 2MB file....yes even a 2MB file takes forever to download from the game server without using a re-direct service...

The redirect server I'm using is http://www.skillzservers.com/kf-redirect/
Would it help if I used a different re-direct server....do you guys any other re-direct servers I could check out? Or would it also be the same - and its just a problem with KF that hasn't been fixed yet?

 

[DasB]

A few things.

1. Did you enable compression for your redirect? As far as I can tell, Skillz only offers compressed files on his redirect.

2. Upper / Lowercase filename issue? (only relevant if os is linux iirc)

3. Have you tried downloading the map from the redirect you're using and placing this file on your server? Because if there is a mismatch, the client will always fall back to the direct download from the server, which is horribly slow. It doesn't matter if it's on the same host or not, the server limits the available download bandwith for clients. I assume this is due to low connection speeds back in the day. When UT with online multiplayer went live, the majority of the people were still rolling 56k connection speeds and servers didn't have too to much bandwith to work with either.

4. The 101% 102% etc. is something I've seen before, I don't really know what causes it though. Since it never really was an issue besides giving wrong information to the client, I haven't bothered looking into it any further.

About alternative redirects: As far as I'm aware, Skillz is the only one who offers a public one, free to use for everybody. I personally run my own fastdownload mirror. There is an automated job which copies all the files into the webroot directory, so that I don't really have to take care of updating it all too much. The files on the redirect are always in sync with the files used by the server itself. If you have rented just the kf-instance itself (and not the actual dedicated server / vhost), this won't be an option for you though. To my knowledge, most service providers already give you a free redirect if you rent a kf-server instance, so you might wanna check if that's the case with yours.

 

[Boltte]

Hey thanks for replying. I've just let one map file go through, because I was having dinner and thought why not, lets see how this turns out. And it actually took the time to properly, but slowly, download the map and I was in! Map in question was KFO-FPChallenge_BioticsLab_V00_WS.rom which is a ~9MB file. Yes, the file was already on the re-direct server(you can just paste http://www.skillzservers.com/kf-redirect/ into your web browser and crtl+f and paste in the map file name you want if it's not there, then it would fail to find it, but if it does exist, and hopefully it's the exact same version and not some slightly edited one than yours(or you download a slightly edited version and was not told by it or was omitted in the description or there was no description), then it should work - so long as the re-direct system for KF1 is working as well of course which in this case appears to be somewhat buggy...) so I didn't bother uploading another uz2(the compress format would be ~2MB and since its on a redirect service, it should download much quicker) file of the same file name. It took about half an hour, as that's about how long it took me to finish dinner and watch TV and then came back to finally meet the lobby screen.

So I guess not all files are bugged with this over 100% download thing...

A few things.

1. Did you enable compression for your redirect? As far as I can tell, Skillz only offers compressed files on his redirect.

That's just adding the URL to KillingFloor.ini right? Or was there another step that I was supposed to do as well besides that, that I wasn't aware of...? I was told to just add the URL like that and that's it.... :/

It has worked for the other maps I've tested on but why not some of the new maps I've found that I thought might be great additions to my dedicated server?

Here's what it looks like in the ini file:

[IpDrv.HTTPDownload]
RedirectToURL=http://www.skillzservers.com/kf-redirect/
ProxyServerHost=
ProxyServerPort=3128
UseCompression=True

2. Upper / Lowercase filename issue? (only relevant if os is linux iirc)

Um, well I'm playing the game via Windows ...the home dummy server is also ran under windows too...though not too sure what OS my dedicated server is running on....

I also heard about this too, but it was only in relation to that music loader mut....I'm not using the music loader mut for this game mode(KFO), now that I've moved Devilsdollhouse to its own dedicated vote option so that I can separate out that greylisted mut which'll interfere with the whitelisted part of the server which is meant for those players who are wanting perk/achievo progression.

3. Have you tried downloading the map from the redirect you're using and placing this file on your server? Because if there is a mismatch, the client will always fall back to the direct download from the server, which is horribly slow. It doesn't matter if it's on the same host or not, the server limits the available download bandwith for clients. I assume this is due to low connection speeds back in the day. When UT with online multiplayer went live, the majority of the people were still rolling 56k connection speeds and servers didn't have too to much bandwith to work with either.

But the files are in UZ2 format....unless I can still use and put them in the map folder...? ...or is there a way to uncompress them and then put them into the map folder?

Yeah, I've came across a few map files that didn't want to download from the redirect server so I re-uploaded my version and overwritten the one on the server and it downloaded fine(after I cleaned the cache from my client and made sure such map doesn't exist in the map folder), so I guess it must have been a different version of the same map but whoever edited it didn't also change the file name to reflect said version(could have been a slight personal touch or something, but I bet once they find this out, they'll overwrite the version I uploaded and then I have re-do it again(once I find out that it's doing it again - probably never unless someone calls out on it) and this cycle of re-uploads continues until one of us stops or whoever edited the original file finally changes the file name - or until Skillz bans one of us for re-uploading the same file so many times!)..... I can now see the frustrations of mis-matches and map editors not changing file names to reflect said change from the original...hahaha

4. The 101% 102% etc. is something I've seen before, I don't really know what causes it though. Since it never really was an issue besides giving wrong information to the client, I haven't bothered looking into it any further.

I would guess it's to do with the server or the redirect service because once you have the same map as the one from the server, everything plays fine - so I don't think it could be the map file problem...

About alternative redirects: As far as I'm aware, Skillz is the only one who offers a public one, free to use for everybody. I personally run my own fastdownload mirror. There is an automated job which copies all the files into the webroot directory, so that I don't really have to take care of updating it all too much. The files on the redirect are always in sync with the files used by the server itself. If you have rented just the kf-instance itself (and not the actual dedicated server / vhost), this won't be an option for you though. To my knowledge, most service providers already give you a free redirect if you rent a kf-server instance, so you might wanna check if that's the case with yours.

When I asked about re-direct servers, they were the ones who referred me to Skillz server and that's how I found out about it...or maybe I found out about it beforehand but wanted to ask them on some assistance on if there was any other extra steps needed besides placing the URL in the ini file... I suppose I can ask again, but this time be more direct and ask if they actually have their own KF1 re-direct server/service that I could use free of charge...

EDIT:
After some extensive testing, I think it fixed itself...must be a bug(I've searched around apparently a previous update - 1036 or somewhere around there, was supposed to fix this but it looks like it didn't work as it's coming back!), in either the server or the game itself. I was unable to deduce whether it was from the game or the server(I have tried though, three times - wiping cache and starting from scratch and it would appear that it's working again and was unable to re-produce the problem and yes I've tested all the newly acquired maps that I had to shutdown my dedicated server for....and they all work fine.... :/) but all I know is that if you reset both the server and game, the re-direct system works as intended...

Well it was actually a force reset anyways, because the game crashed on me, presumably too much alt-tabbing? hahaha I heard there are some games that don't like this and I can't restart the game without shutting down the server as Steam thinks I'm already running the app which is obviously wrong as it's only the dummy server I am running but steam's stupid...hahaha - so had to quit out of that and start the game first before the server, or run the server outside on a different system. I usually have my tower for this, my lappy as the dummy server and my tower as the game app but I'm too lazy right now to do that and it's almost midnight anyways as I will be going to sleep soon anyways...hahaha

And since this game's dead, update wise - we're not gonna get anymore new fixes, unless there's enough demand for it......anyone want to start a petition...?

 

[DasB]

Um, well I'm playing the game via Windows ...the home dummy server is also ran under windows too...though not too sure what OS my dedicated server is running on....

You're having the same issue on your home server as well, right?

That's just adding the URL to KillingFloor.ini right?

Correct. The parameter which is responsible for wheter your server expects compression or not is "UseCompression", which can be either set to "True" or "False."

But the files are in UZ2 format....unless I can still use and put them in the map folder...? ...or is there a way to uncompress them and then put them into the map folder?

ucc.exe is your friend.

ucc help
=======================================
ucc.exe: UnrealOS execution environment
Copyright 2001 Epic Games Inc
=======================================

Usage:
   ucc <command> <parameters>

Commands for "ucc":
   ---- snip ----
   ucc decompress            Decompress a file compressed with ucc compress.
   ---- snip ----

I would guess it's to do with the server or the redirect service because once you have the same map as the one from the server, everything plays fine - so I don't think it could be the map file problem...

Precisely, if the files match you're golden, if they don't you either have to use the version which is on Skillz redirect, or host/use your own.

I suppose I can ask again, but this time be more direct and ask if they actually have their own KF1 re-direct server/service that I could use free of charge...

I guess, yeah. Or maybe you know someone who is running a small website/server or something and would be OK to host some files for you. I mean, if you're familar with stuff like that you could even grab something low power consuming like a RaspberryPi for a few bucks, and host one at home. If you don't wanna spend anything, you might wanna google around and find a service provider which gives you a few hundred MB of free webspace, that might work as well.

so had to quit out of that and start the game first before the server, or run the server outside on a different system. I usually have my tower for this

I'm using VirtualBox running a seperate OS for that, makes it really easy to just test stuff and then restore the inital snapshot of the VM, if stuff breaks.

whether it was from the game or the server

More often than not, it's an issue related to the client. Purging your /cache folder works wonders in many cases.

we're not gonna get anymore new fixes

Well a few weeks ago there was a security update which (kind of) fixed some whacky exploits, so I guess if it's gamebreaking and people are still playing the game, TWI will keep fixing stuff like that. But I don't think we'll see any small bugfix/feature/content updates anymore.

 

[Boltte]

You're having the same issue on your home server as well, right?

To be honest, it's rare this happens but when it does - it's annoying to say the least....hahaha

Correct. The parameter which is responsible for wheter your server expects compression or not is "UseCompression", which can be either set to "True" or "False."

Well mine's set to True so I should be good.

ucc.exe is your friend.

ucc help
=======================================
ucc.exe: UnrealOS execution environment
Copyright 2001 Epic Games Inc
=======================================

Usage:
   ucc <command> <parameters>

Commands for "ucc":
   ---- snip ----
   ucc decompress            Decompress a file compressed with ucc compress.
   ---- snip ----

What are the parameters? I copied a compress batch from some user here who simplified it for ease of use. Is there one for decompress too...?

Precisely, if the files match you're golden, if they don't you either have to use the version which is on Skillz redirect, or host/use your own.

...or overwrite them assuming they have the corrupt/earlier/edited version....

I guess, yeah. Or maybe you know someone who is running a small website/server or something and would be OK to host some files for you. I mean, if you're familar with stuff like that you could even grab something low power consuming like a RaspberryPi for a few bucks, and host one at home. If you don't wanna spend anything, you might wanna google around and find a service provider which gives you a few hundred MB of free webspace, that might work as well.

Wouldn't hosting one require a decent amount of bandwidth and upload speed...? And since I'm only getting 1MiB/s down and with a bandwidth of ~1.2MiB, you can probably predict what my upload speed is on ADSL2+....

Hmmm, would dropbox work, besides the 2GB limitation since I'm using agree account? Hmm, I suppose I could use a mega account with their generous 50GB storage space(I had an account for the purpose when my Dropbox free acount is all use up, so somehow I used up all 2GB of space....and since I'm cheap I just go take advantage of another service...hee hee hee), though not too sure if they have the bandwidth or even cap people's download speeds....

Yeah no, I don't think a few hundred MiB will cut it, some files, even compressed to UZ2 format are 50MiB in size! And I do intend to make a comprehensive server eventually so it'll cover all working maps(as far as I know, there is over 2000 maps - I know there was one server that had over 2000 - I didn't of course count them but it said it had over 2k maps and of course I believe it because the scroll thingy was pretty tiny and scrolling through the maps did look like it could make the 2k mark) as of the date it was put on of course(so no guarantees if another update comes along and screws it up - which I won't know until I play on it again or someone reports it to me so I can search for a fix/updated version or remove it completely)

I'm using VirtualBox running a seperate OS for that, makes it really easy to just test stuff and then restore the inital snapshot of the VM, if stuff breaks.

Yeah that would be much easier and quicker then removing the offending line(s) or file(s) until you find out it was a mut that broke it....or a map file that's corrupted or something...heh, took me a few days for me to figure out a cause of the crashes and found out it was a mut that was either broken due to the new version of the server or was corrupted....

More often than not, it's an issue related to the client. Purging your /cache folder works wonders in many cases.

Yeah, it could also be to do with different version, despite same file name(shame on you whoever edited it but didn't change file name!)

Well a few weeks ago there was a security update which (kind of) fixed some whacky exploits, so I guess if it's gamebreaking and people are still playing the game, TWI will keep fixing stuff like that. But I don't think we'll see any small bugfix/feature/content updates anymore.

Yeah I did notice that...what was those whacky exploits, do you know? Just curious is all.

Yeah I still play, sometimes casually and sometimes hardcore 8 to 16(when I see that there's plenty of players playing or and when I just feel like KF(both KF1 and KF2 - though I'm more casual with this one) and got time to kill) hrs straight a day for seven days of the week, 52 weeks in a year...but I'm starting to no longer have that kind of freedom due to my work, damn work getting in the way of my video gaming hobby.....hahahahaha, but once I'm back on the dole.....hee hee.....hahahahaha