[bf1942] Linux server status update 2003-04-28

[Casey Zacek]

Sam Evans wrote (at Tue, Apr 29, 2003 at 10:32:36AM -0400):
> I agree, I too have run many game servers in the past, but I guess what I
> am saying here is when you look at the amount of information that say,
> Counterstrike, Jedi Knight 2, Quake 3 servers log, it's really Not a whole
> lot given all the action that takes place in the game.  Yes, now granted
> we have tanks, planes, etc. that adds more logging overhead, but how
> *much* more are we talking about logging here?  There becomes a point
> where too much logging does not do any good, and causes more overhead.

I run CS servers (and occasionally other HL mods), and I have run
Quake, QW-Team Fortress, and RTCW servers as well.  The only one of
the bunch that logs (almost?) enough information is the Half-Life
engine and the mods that follow the server-admins-created logging
standard that Valve so nicely followed, after *years* of begging from
the admin community.

Anyway, my point is that no game server developer has yet passed the
"too much information" threshold in the opinions of those who develop
stats/storyline analysis software based on the logs.  XML may prove
too bulky for the logging, but the advantages offered by the language
(Perl & other language APIs out the wazoo) probably outweigh that
disadvantage.

> > I do think the .so/.dll method of logging would be fantastic, but we
> > can all manage text/XML files with ease, or we're at least able to
> > download and install something that can do it for us.
> 
> Well, that's your opinion.  Requiring .so / .dll for logging once again
> blows out developers who want to use a cross platform language.  Sorry,
> but I'm not gonna write two different C programs to run on Windows and
> Unix that perform the same function.

Nobody said anything about requiring .so/.dll for logging.  The
original suggestion by Scratch Monkey simply said "A stock library is
provided that just writes to a file.  The admin can plug in his own
library that does more exotic things."

It's a good idea -- basic functionality is provided by the vendor, and
the ease of expansion by the server admins is fantastic.  Nobody's
requiring any action or effort from you, so there's no need to be up
in arms about it.

-- 
-- Casey Zacek (Zippo)                  Beer for Breakfast servers
   66.111.111.66:27015 (CS multi-map)     <http://bfb.bogleg.org/>
   66.111.111.66:27016 (CS inferno/dust2/aztec/militia) Dallas, TX
   66.111.111.66:14567 (BF1942)