Server side spam filtering options?

[jaspen]

I run a server for a friend and I. With this we use bots on raids the best we can. Obviously as raids get more advanced and scripted this ultimately is not going to work very well but I refuse to just summon gear.

Soon as I summon around 3 groups of bots, not counting my own group, he begins to lag horribly and often just freezes. I have, in best conditions, 1mb upstream. Is there a way of telling the server not to send spam data like melee hits and spell damage from players/bots? I know this might be a long shot but I figured I would ask.

This spam data is something we can live without. We use the hide option on the client anyways. Using hide options on the client only hides the data but still receives it.

I tried looking for this information on the wiki and didn't see it. Obviously I am on the assumption that combat spam uses a sizable amount of data, relational to other things like positioning and such.

[N0ctrnl]

I'm not intimately familiar with how all that works, but I'm pretty sure without all that "spam" your clients wouldn't be able to update properly.

[jaspen]

It would only not be sending certain types of data. Positioning data, buffs, player/mob health and such are all separate data. It all depends on what they have setup to be handled by the client, what is handled by the server and what is synchronized at intervals between both. One way, this type of filtering could work. The other way, yeah you could have major updating issues on the client.

If I am not mistaken, long ago during the dial up days, EQ had a server filter option, through a / command, similar to what I am talking about. It told the server not to send certain spam data to it. I realize live EQ and the Emu are not completely relational. This is just to show potential options that may be available.

My fingers are crossed but i realize most likely there isn't an option for this.

[demonstar55]

The clients hide option does prevent something's from being sent. Some data has to be sent for things to work right, so it is.

[jaspen]

If hide is telling the client not to request certain data then I will verify with him again that he is using those options. I wasn't sure if there were any options on the server side I could tweak.

[DanCanDo]

Originally Posted by jaspen

Soon as I summon around 3 groups of bots, not counting my own group, he begins to lag horribly and often just freezes.

I've played around with bot groups on my own little server here and had 24 bots
spawned at once, so far with no issues like that. The bots following/grouping
array is the only thing I found annoying, but just some more tedious adjustments
to hash out.
Not sure what kind of setup you got for a client computer, but I had 2 copies of
UF client going at once, one with the 24 bots and no real lag issues.

[jaspen]

You mentioned running multiple UF clients so I assume your experiences are on your local network or do you have others connecting to your server from other locations as well, outside your home?

It probably wouldn't be a problem if my friend was playing on the local network as there would be plenty of bandwidth. He connects to my server from a different state. At that point he is reliant on my internet connection speed. My internet upstream probably averages at around .7 Mbs.

[N0ctrnl]

You could always see about prioritizing your server's traffic going out of your network. Then your friend would be less susceptible to changes in your traffic.

[jaspen]

While I do not usually have anything running while he is logged in I could look into setting up QoS for the server through the router. It might provide a little bit more stability and every little bit counts. Ultimately it appears I am going to have to trim down the army size which was already too small. I could design raid bot only gear that is a bit overpowered to compensate. I will brainstorm more. I am doing my best to allow us to actually work our way through the content. Obviously this is challenging since it is only two of us and realistically that number, for scripted raids, is just too low.

With the said, any recommendations for a content editor. I see PEQ has one and Akkadius has one. Not sure if anything has become outdated or not. I will go hit up the Wiki and see if I can figure it out.

[N0ctrnl]

The PEQ editor and Akkadius' EoC are two very good tools. There are more, but those are for sure up to date.