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Symptoms of a slow server?

Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2017 2:37 am
by Jon8RFC
I can't move except sporadically, and sometimes my keystrokes get "stuck" and I'm running when I've released the key. The multiplayer clocks appears almost solid because it is very quickly flickering on/off.

Interestingly, if I alt+enter, the clock goes away and I can move normally for about half a second and can place/remove items, and my UPS drops briefly. The clock blips a bit, then goes back to almost solid flickering as my UPS climbs back up.

It's a large multiplayer map. My cpu usage is usually around 18-20% on this particular server(4-core cpu), and on other large multiplayer maps when I start to lag (I don't ever see the clock) my cpu usage is usually 27-40% and my FPS plunges, but here my FPS/UPS is high. I took a few screenshots until the multiplayer clock actually displayed in the shot, as it is in constant state of flicker (except immediately after alt+tab), rather than actually being on.

Is this a symptom of my client going faster than the server?

Re: Symptoms of a slow server?

Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2017 2:55 am
by Loewchen
Post the log after a session with the issue please.

Re: Symptoms of a slow server?

Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2017 2:59 am
by Jon8RFC
Attached is the log.

EDIT: Well, shoot. The server isn't listed anymore. I was hoping to rejoin and try and figure out a way to play or try and troubleshoot some more because I really like the map.

Re: Symptoms of a slow server?

Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2017 3:26 am
by Loewchen
The clock means, that your client is waiting for the server, the symptoms you describe (input delay, rubber-banding) usually signal insufficient client performance or network instability but your screenshot and the log do not show either, so I have no idea. If this only happens on this server I would assume the problem to be on the server end.

Re: Symptoms of a slow server?

Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2017 3:42 am
by Jon8RFC
Well, that stinks. Thanks for the quick explanation of the clock and taking a peek at the log though.

Re: Symptoms of a slow server?

Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2017 7:48 am
by sillyfly
There seem to be a lot of messages like "Device reset internal" - I don't know what they mean, but that doesn't sound healthy...

There are also lots of latency changes - it was reported in the past that Factorio can sometimes be too optimistic in setting the latency, setting it to a value too low, resulting in frequent rubberbanding.
The developers added a "minimum latency" setting, but - it is a server-side only config - which IMHO is a rather dumb idea. As a server operator/owner you can't really know, nor should you account for, the connection quality of the clients connecting to your server. Moreover, these will undoubtedly vary quite a lot.
To me, it would have made so much more sense to allow this as a client-side option, so if i know I have a bad/slow connection I can just tell my game not to try to set the latency below a certain threshold.
As is, this is left to the server, which seem to rarely use it. I guess this makes sense, as someone operating a server would get one close to them and will want the latency to always be low.

Re: Symptoms of a slow server?

Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2017 10:17 am
by Jon8RFC
sillyfly wrote:There seem to be a lot of messages like "Device reset internal" - I don't know what they mean, but that doesn't sound healthy...
This shows up when you alt+enter or resize the window; device reset external shows up when you disconnect or connect monitors. I'm also not sure what it means, precisely, but that's what it logs for those events. My guess in the past was a purge of vram, but I'm truly just making that up.