thegmanshouse

Sorry about the extended absence.

The number of TF2 servers has tripled since I first started renting this one.
The mammoth servers have most of the traffic and the newer ones keep about 1 to 3 players idling that otherwise might be playing here.
I don't care for the larger player counts myself, but I also don't like playing in tumble weed.

I'll try to keep the rest of this post as objective as possible, but I would like some feedback regarding the player count.

Here are some brief pros and cons of having a larger server; feel free to add some.
I'm listing these based on the conditions a 32 player server might experience

Pros
People will be more likely to join.
Spies would have more chaos to hide in.
There would be less need to aim... LOL

Cons
More admin regulation might be required (rules/spectating/listening to complaints).
The game would be laggier or unplayable for low-end users.
Chaos/bedlam/spam (this might go under the pros list for some people, lol)
It would feel more like death match than team fortress.
More likely to have e-arguments in chat.


I'm not opposed to adding slots.
24 would be absolutely no problem.
32 (or anything above 24 for that matter) does pose potential tech concerns.
First off, 32 player servers aren't necessarly Valve friendly.
They require a plugin and some hacked dlls.
I would need to do further research and find a host willing to run it.
Second, Valve might possibly take steps in the future to remove such servers from Steam lists or other steps to discourage this activity (ie a headache and downtime with every patch).

Any server changes will probably correspond with the website launch.
This way, if traffic does pick up, new players will actually have something to browse when they check out thegmanshouse.com.


FEEDBACK!

Double posting may be NECESSARY.
There seems to be another problem with this forum.
If anyone's posts have disappeared recently, blame freeforums.org.

24 Sounds fine to me.

I really don't like 32 player servers. There are some maps that work well but sometimes it feels, as you say, more like deathmatch than TFC. I played 2fort with 32 players once, it was fun for about 5 minutes.

Are there currently non-Valve maps in the rotation? Perhaps returning to the standard maps for a while might drum up some business. The 3rd-party maps are a lot of fun, but some folks find them a turn-off.

My 2¢

--JD

The hacked version dll for 32 players = PITA. Everytime TF2 gets updated any non-valve dll's are over-written.

Currently most server-ops use a plugin to get above 24 players, because quiet some time ago, within a week or two when valve dropped the server limits from 32 down to 24, they made the steam browser only list upto 24player servers, so there was a lot of 32 player servers empty.

Personally, 24 is MORE than enough for some fun, but i am one of these that HATE these no-spawn-delay servers, i find it makes dustbowl very unbalanced in particular.

Keep the server as it is, or make it 24 player but no more, please i beg you, for the LOVE of god

You might like to know, valve are releasing a BETA (might be out by now as it was said last week on the mailing list) of a new steam server browser, that allows you to filter games and make it a bit better than having server listings with lots of TF2-Server-32 man-No Crits-Instant Spawn that tends to put a lot of people off. Custom servers can be searched for, so there will be no need to have a server name that is just spamming reasons why you will NOT join that server.


32 man servers are crap, im admin on 4 of them and there are no players on them. One of them removes the FF Block but that one is dead, you only get us old timers on it who know you do not shoot everything that moves...

When looking for a server the biggest turn off for me are servers with more than 24 players. That game seems built for 24 at most. Everything else I can live with.

Some how for me as a spy I have trouble with large servers. I have trouble finding a safe spot to decloak. Maybe I just need to give it more time. It would still be better than the 64 player CS servers!

Over at HLF we have a weekly game night. We get together in chat and choose a server to play on. If it's ok I can suggest we play here one day. Not everyone wheres the tag (don't like being mistaken for a clan) and we try to just have fun.

I agree with all of my esteemed collegues. 24 and no more. It's very enjoyable with a small group who all know each other than some of those huge servers that tend to draw idiots who donn't know how to play a game and just have fun.

Try 24, what can it hurt. I would like to see Valve's maps in rotation until a regular player base is established.

That's not ging to happen until "we" start going there ( empty or not) and start playing ourselves on a regular basis so other's will join.

UK has a good point. Quill and I will sometimes get on to practice/snipe each other and often find more people jump in by virtue of a couple people being there. I've been bogged down with Real-Life(TM) lately but things seem to be clearing up and I have more time for TF now.

I like Fox's idea of a 'game night' too. If a group like HLF comes by and has a good time, they're likely to come back individually.

24 would be a good amount for the server.

Also, it may be beneficial to go back to an all-stock rotation until a dedicated player base builds up a bit.

I agree with the mapcycle thing.
The current rotation is:
cp_gravelpit
cp_well
cp_dustbowl
cp_badlands

The previous rotation was:
cp_gravelpit
cp_well
cp_dustbowl
cp_castle3

The boot up map is ctf_2fort.

I may have to make some of the third party maps admin only/non voteable.
This would keep it from sitting on gems like MARIO_KART for hours. ROFL

You do know about the event timers in TF2 ?

Just because a map cycle might say 30mins per map, it does not mean that the map will change after 30mins. Map makers are only NOW understanding 50% of the TF2 way to do things.

I was wondering why it seemed to always be on MarioKart whenever I looked in on the server. That's a heinous map I gotta say

mariokart is a great way to get people onto the server.

Two days ago i refreshed my list for about 2 minutes, every sever that actually had people on it, and i was able to join, had mariokart.

anyway, 24 people i think would be fine.
i'll start playing on it again.

Mariokart or is it marioair that has a sniper's funland.... I have a ball on that map.

It was very funny on the mailing list when TF2 was released as BETA, people could not understand WHY the map's were staying on maps like Dusty and never seemed to change, all you have to do is think of CS:S and and not being able to start playing until there is two teams, that is when the timer starts for the 30min map, but then if certain objectives are not met the map plays for longer and if they are met sooner than the 30 min's then the map is changed.

As a side note, Vista 64 IS the spawn of Satan. It took 14 hours to transfer 100GB from one Sata2 drive to another Sata2 drive, and now it is taking the same amount of time puting the files back. Peaks at 70mb/s then drops to 10mb/s if im lucky, it goes as low as 500kbps.