[Grimman]

About a month ago my TF2 servers started to get these strange lag spikes where everyone just freezes for a second or two. These seem to happen at complete random, sometimes a map can go without any lag, sometimes it can happen 5-10 times per map.

I've tried to tweak my rates and enable/disable some plugins that I installed during the time these spikes started, but I haven't managed to fix it. Anyone else with these sort of issues or does anyone have any clue what might be causing it? Here's some details about my settings and plugins:

My rates:

sv_minrate 60000
sv_maxrate 100000
sv_minupdaterate 33
sv_maxupdaterate 67
sv_mincmdrate 33
sv_maxcmdrate 67

Plugins:

01 "Admin Help" (1.4.2) by AlliedModders LLC
  02 "SMAC Eye Angle Test" (0.7.8.2) by GoD-Tony, psychonic
  03 "Win panel for losing team" (1.4) by Reflex
  04 "Basic Comm Control" (1.4.2) by AlliedModders LLC
  05 "Admin Menu" (1.4.2) by AlliedModders LLC
  06 "Basic Votes" (1.4.2) by AlliedModders LLC
  07 "Anti-Flood" (1.4.2) by AlliedModders LLC
  08 "Map Nominations" (1.4.2) by AlliedModders LLC
  09 "Ban disconnected players" (1.04) by mad_hamster
  10 "Nextmap" (1.4.2) by AlliedModders LLC
  11 "IRC Relay - Modules" (2.5.0) by InterWave Studios
  12 "Basic Commands" (1.4.2) by AlliedModders LLC
  13 "Updater" (1.1.4) by GoD-Tony
  14 "SMAC ConVar Checker" (0.7.8.2) by GoD-Tony, psychonic, Kigen
  15 "SourceMod Anti-Cheat" (0.7.8.2) by GoD-Tony, psychonic
  16 "Basic Chat" (1.4.2) by AlliedModders LLC
  17 "SMAC Aimbot Detector" (0.7.8.2) by GoD-Tony
  18 "SuperLogs: TF2" (2.0.28) by Thomas "CmptrWz" Berezansky & psychonic
  19 "High Ping Kicker - Lite Edition" (1.0.0.1) by Liam
  20 "Basic Info Triggers" (1.4.2) by AlliedModders LLC
  21 "IRC Relay" (2.5.0) by InterWave Studios
  22 "Advertisements" (0.5.5) by Tsunami
  23 "SMAC AutoTrigger Detector" (0.7.8.2) by GoD-Tony
  24 "Rock The Vote" (1.4.2) by AlliedModders LLC
  25 "MapChooser" (1.4.2) by AlliedModders LLC
  26 "Admin File Reader" (1.4.2) by AlliedModders LLC
  27 "AdminSentinel" (1.2.100) by <eVa>StrontiumDog 
  28 "HANSE Reserved Slots" (1.5) by red!
  29 "HLstatsX CE Ingame Plugin" (1.6.15) by psychonic
  30 "Client Preferences" (1.4.2) by AlliedModders LLC
  31 "Spray Tracer" (5.8a) by Nican132, CptMoore, Lebson506th
  32 "SourceBans" (1.4.9) by SourceBans Development Team
  33 "Player Commands" (1.4.2) by AlliedModders LLC
  34 "SMAC Client Protection" (0.7.8.3) by GoD-Tony, psychonic, Kigen
  35 "AFK Manager" (3.4.3) by Rothgar
  36 "[ANY] Automatic Steam Update" (1.4.1) by Dr. McKay
  37 "HLstatsX:CE SQL API for Sourcemod" (0.4 alpha) by psychonic
  38 "[TF2] gScramble Team Manager" (3.0.11) by Goerge

Extensions:

[01] Automatic Updater (1.4.2): Updates SourceMod gamedata files
[02] Webternet (1.4.2): Extension for interacting with URLs
[03] TF2 Tools (1.4.2): TF2 extended functionality
[04] BinTools (1.4.2): Low-level C/C++ Calling API
[05] SDK Hooks (2.1.0): Source SDK Hooks
[06] SDK Tools (1.4.2): Source SDK Tools
[07] Top Menus (1.4.2): Creates sorted nested menus
[08] SteamTools (0.8.2): SteamWorks for SourceMod.
[09] cURL Extension (1.3.0.0): cURL Extension
[10] Socket (3.0.1): Socket extension for SourceMod
[11] Client Preferences (1.4.2): Saves client preference settings
[12] SQLite (1.4.2): SQLite Driver

I am using the latest SourceMod and Metamod: Source. My upload speed is around 100 Mbps. My CPU isn't spiking when this lag happens and I've got plenty of free RAM available.

http://i.imgur.com/fASte.jpg
Here's what net_graph shows when the lag spike starts. Notice the red spikes on the bottom.

[Lob (UK]

Try lowering your sv_minrate. 60000 is high for the minimum.

These are the Server Rates i have been using for a few years on both CSS and TF2 Servers and have never had any problems.

//Server Rates
sv_maxrate 25000
sv_minrate 13000
sv_maxupdaterate 67
sv_minupdaterate 33
sv_maxcmdrate 67
sv_mincmdrate 33

- Lob (UK)

[11530]

I wish there was some kind of automatic function which sets all these vales optimally given the server's upload/download speeds.

[Grimman]

Originally Posted by Lob (UK Try lowering your sv_minrate. 60000 is high for the minimum. These are the Server Rates i have been using for a few years on both CSS and TF2 Servers and have never had any problems. //Server Rates sv_maxrate 25000 sv_minrate 13000 sv_maxupdaterate 67 sv_minupdaterate 33 sv_maxcmdrate 67 sv_mincmdrate 33 - Lob (UK)

I tried to tweak my rates before and I tried to use those rates that you suggested, but the lag is still present.

I also updated my SourceMod to the latest stable snapshot, but that didn't help either.

[Bacardi]

ps. these are just mine opinion of settings.

Try set
net_splitpacket_maxrate 30000 (or higher, It's 1500 by default)

"net_splitpacket_maxrate" = "15000" min. 1000.000000 max. 1048576.000000
 - Max bytes per second when queueing splitpacket chunks

This actually help somehow, in Cs:s when there lot of players & round restart, there appear huge lag.
This reduce it.


Better set sv_min/maxrate higher than lower. When have enough upload bandwidth.
Players are taking server bandwidth as much what they need, depending how much action happens his screen.
When most players are same area, shooting and jumping, one player could download temporary about 15-30KB/s peak.
It's better not limit rate too low to avoid choke on players.
So use your previous setting

sv_minrate 60000
sv_maxrate 100000

But if still give lags, could cause.
- Plugins what use MySQL+database. (HLstatsX perhaps)
- Plugins what check every so often player convars (anti-cheat perhaps)
- "Huge wide area" maps, where almost all players see each others on field.

- Player own Steam web browser open on background while playing, there have discuss on steam-forums.
All those flash animation laggyn player computer.