Server bandwith usage? (Question)

[Marcus1981]

Hi all,

I'm thinking about running a dedicated BF2 server on our systems (internet company, high speed links (Gigabit range ) however before I commit to doing so I would like to know how much data-traffic my server would be consuming per month. This is due to cost limitations as the server would be free for all to play on (testing new mods/maps )

The server would be playing 64-player maps with a user limit of 48 users. I expect it to hold the full 48 playerslots for most of the time. Can anyone give me an estimate of how much traffic I might expect?

Many thanks in advance,

Marcus.

[Furious-AGE-]

Re: Server bandwith usage? (Question)

our 64man ranked server averages between 60 and 80gb per day if that helps you at all, it's crazy

[Marcus1981]

Re: Server bandwith usage? (Question)

our 64man ranked server averages between 60 and 80gb per day if that helps you at all, it's crazy

Wow, that's serious traffic, I might want to consider limiting to 24 users at first and see how it plays out... don't like maps that are too crowded anyway Or maybe try and make it a sponsored game portal. Many thanks for the estimate, much appreciated (to speak in commander-style language )

Hope for your sake you have a flat-rate deal with your ISP :hmm:

Thanks again!

Marcus.

[Furious-AGE-]

Re: Server bandwith usage? (Question)

I would start with a 16 man server, if it's ranked you'll be full all the time, if it's unranked then set it at 24 or 32 as the unranked servers seem to be pretty empty for the most part.

[Marcus1981]

Re: Server bandwith usage? (Question)

I would start with a 16 man server, if it's ranked you'll be full all the time, if it's unranked then set it at 24 or 32 as the unranked servers seem to be pretty empty for the most part.

Sounds like a good idea. I'm wondering if I should make it ranked.

Still have a couple of question about that though, like:

- does EA charge fees for exploiting a ranked server?
- how will being ranked affect traffic as there will probably be statistics being sent to the EA server
- does EA allow you to run custom maps on a ranked server? I can imagine they might not as you could probably abuse this for statistics padding...

Anybody know these answers?

Thanks,

Marcus.

[Marcus1981]

Re: Server bandwith usage? (Question)

By the way thanks for the answers so far furious

[Furious-AGE-]

Re: Server bandwith usage? (Question)

sorry I haven't seen this topic over the weekend.

EA will charge you to run a ranked server, but you'll have to rent the server from one of their trusted providers as they won't let you run it off your own equipment. The cost is pretty high as well, anywhere from 6-8 dollars per slot per month from most of the ones I've seen.

If you'd rather run it off your own equipment and connection, then unranked would be the only choice. A lot of unranked servers have had problems getting people to play on them (due to massive following of stats) but if you were to have a custom maps server or be running a mod (such as bf2 nights which was recently released) then you'd cut down the number of people who could play on your server, but I know there are a lot looking for a place to play custom maps or mods, so you might find that you'd have several regulars (which is always good)

Good luck, post your server name when you have it up and maybe you'll get some traffic from the forums

[NoSoup4You]

Re: Server bandwith usage? (Question)

If you are going to put up a ranked server, you will need to have atleast 10 servers up and running at the time you request to be a ranked provider.