[experimental] Headless running on high end server issue

[compuryan]

So this is a weird one. I've been back and forth with my hosted gaming provider about an issue where previously the game was running too slowly. They responded by moving me to a brand new machine with very few other VM servers on it. Now when I try to connect to the new server, my "catching up" bar actually reduces slowly to 0% and then I get the error message "You were disconnected as your computer was not fast enough to keep up with the server". My gaming desktop is pretty darn decent, built last year to the top specs available at the time. The hosted server provider and I have agreed that actually the brand new server he has assigned me to may have a processor that is so fast that my desktop version of Factorio can not keep up. If this is the case, perhaps the game needs to be limited in regards to the amount of resources it is allowed to consume. It is very strange to be moved to a brand new machine and then find I cannot connect even though the bandwidth and my own processing power is quite good.

[AlienX]

Heya,
To me your GSP is just showing knowledge that doesnt quite comply, Factorio is a single-threaded beast, most server providers who virtualise will use multi-core beast CPU's to ensure that VM Ready and Wait times are as low as possible, because of how many cores Intel shove into a Xeon chip their single core performance gets lower and lower (due to heat).

However, if this is the case you can try the following to see if it is indeed the issue (this will however disable achievements on your map):

• Stop your Factorio headless client
• Download the save game zip file from the server to your %appdata%\factorio\saves folder
• Load the save up in your client.
• In the LUA Command box (it's also the chat box) type: /c game.speed=0.5 (you will have to type it twice if you have not used a /c command before in that save)
• Save the map, and reupload to the server
• Start the server and attempt to reconnect

If you're able to connect now, i recommend that you attempt to change the game speed up in small increments until your tick buffer starts to fill.

How do i see my tick buffer?
This is quite simple, in game press F4 (which should open up a debug panel full of tick boxes).
Find the entry called something along the lines of show_multiplayer_statistics and tick it, press F4 again to close the debug panel.

On the right side of your screen by your radar you should now have a set of information, one of them is buffer: x/x/x - if the first buffer value is going up, then your CPU cannot keep up with the servers simulation.


Increasing the game speed
The command

Code: Select all

/c game.speed=x

is quite simply a percentage value, where 1 = 100%, 0.5 = 50%, or even 3 = 300% (if you wanted to run your base 3x quicker, CPU dependent though!)

If you're still having issues, feel free to drop me a PM about server hosting, I run my own server hosting company (http://www.vps-solutions.co.uk) and I would be more than happy to assist you to ensure you get the best Factorio experience possible.