i know a lot of u r making mmorpg''s and i was wondering what kind of servers do u use? do u buy ur own or r u with companies or do u use virtual servers? i was working on one, but i kinda slacked off because of this issue. i think it''s better 2 have ur own server, but they''re kinda expensive. virtual servers can be rented, but if the game crashes, u don''t have direct access 2 the server. how do u guys handle this?

Try purchasing your own server but putting at an ISP''s location. Usually you can rent a 10-mbit connection on their backbone for around $250.00 a month. This is much cheaper than paying for a T-1 ($$$) or better yourself.

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i c, thanks guys. i still want to do the game, but funds r kinda low. another bad thing is that dsl isn''t offered in my area yet so there''s another barrier! oh well, i''ll c what happens

I''m currently running WinME on an AMD K6-3 333 128mb ram. The connection is a DSL 256k dedicated connection w static IP. Cost $40 a month.

It''s been going 50 hours straight now with no problems. I''m giving it another week before I do anything major with it. Currently it supplies the whole house with an internet connection. 4 computers. And runs Apache.

With no DSL in the area you''ll either need to wait or find someone willing to network a machine for you to use over their connection. I might be able to hook you up. I don''t have a dedicated game server machine yet but when I do I''ll see what I can offer. I need one myself so might as well put it to good use. Depending on demands I''d have to figure out cost if any.

Keep an eye out on my site for any news concerning this. I''m working on an MMORPG myself which is why I have the setup. I''m still doing my programming and testing over LAN currently with an occasional test using my server.

Ben
http://therabbithole.redback.inficad.com

If you''ve checked out my site in the Server Updates you see that my Intel DSL card went bad or something and had to be replaced. I got my Cisco 675 running now and the computer is not on the house network which uses a dial up. Peace of mind reasons. I use Zip Disks to transfer if I need to.

Anywayz as I type this I''ve hit 827600sec uptime. 9.57 days.

It''s not conventional but it works. With my tax return I''ll being getting Win2k Pro for it so I can have a private SMTP server. And also set up a second network so I can share the connection with computers that don''t have private info on them.

Ben
http://therabbithole.redback.inficad.com

If you are going to make an mmorpg, you will be faced with two choices, selling the game to someone else, or creating your own network.

Seriously, if you want people to play a decent mmorpg you are going to need more then one machine, in which may need to be observed at regualar and semi-frequent intervals.

A 10Mbit connection is not a whole lot. Lets look at EverQuest, I would estimate that it transmite at about 2 - 3 k/sec for a non-lagged connection. (which should be your goal).

a T1 (which is 1.5 MBits) would do up to 187k/sec in theory, I would bring that to about 150 burst max due to line resistance.

10Mbits is about 900k/sec burst max which would only hold up to 300 - 400 people maximum... and possibly less.

Most servers have a REALLY difficult time sinking 10Mbits... in fact most computers cannot sink over 2Mbits. a p3 at about 800Mhz could do a max of 5Mbits, and running a server which would have to synch data between 150 clients would really bog it down.

For an MMORPG, you are looking more along the lines of an OC3 connection, lots of money, but what you need if you intend on having more then 400 people using your game at once. You would also need a network of computers to handle all of the incoming information. And the types of machines that you would be looking at would be along the lines of Dual 1Ghz P3s.

OC3 is a 155Mbps connection capable of about 20M/sec, Running a dual p3, 3 machines should easily and safely cover this speed and likely any processes you will need for the server application itself. Items like RAm will be of great importance, 512Megs min in each machine would be recomminded although I suppose you could get away with 256Megs in each. You network should have a switch hookup, not a hub (if using 10baseT), a dedicated router owuld most likely benifit here. And fiber based ethernet networking. even 100BaseTX will not cut it in full duplexe).

I do not mean to be pessimistic, but if you are serious about this game, this will be what you will have to look at.

Dsl is usualy not a good choice to run a server for many reasons (although rarely not applicable).

1) They tend to be asynchronus, faster downstream then upstream, normally a 1:2 ratio.

2) A lot of DSl providers like to incorporate a form of private networking to dynamic IP NAT (Network Address Transulation).. menas you have an internal and external IP address.. works in most situations however.

3) Not enough speed to run a severe gaming server like and MMORPG server intended to connect more then 80 people at once.

I have seen several static IP address DSl out there recently. If you are un capable of affording or getting an ISDN or T1 (T3) line, then a coaxial service may be better.