Hi, am running rfactor and gtr2 dedicated servers on win2003 server, as soon as i launch the first lfs dedicated even if i run it in a different remote session as a different user the cpu for gtr2 goes up to as much as it can and rfactor goes up to 1%-2% usage each (this behavior for those servers is usually when users connect to them but its happening even with no connections) and that cpu usage becomes constant until i shut down all lfs servers note that lfs cpu usage is null, i cannot see any network connections from lfs to rfactor or gtr2 or vice versa, anyone has an idea why this is happenning or any clue how to sort it.
this is not occasional, i tested it many times and it happens everytime.

thanks

you do realize this is the LFS technical assistance forum, right?

I do realize that and thats what am asking for assistance with, because as i said cpu usage is 0% and then i launch lfs and cpu usage goes on a constant 100% for all applications, lfs is interacting with them somehow which seems to me like its making them think they have users connected.
is anyone able to replicate the problem on a win2003 server please try and let us know.

Maybe they have a built-in Anti-LFS "protection" ?

Have you tried another OS? xp / vista / win7 ?
It does not seem an LFS Dedi related issue, more like a GTR2/rF bug.

If there was a problem with LFS wouldn`t you see LFS.exe @ 99% CPU usage?

How can it be a GTR/rFactor bug if when LFS is Launched it hogs all the system resources?

its not happening on xp or vista anyway, i only seen it on win2003 server.

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

How can it be a GTR/rFactor bug if when LFS is Launched it hogs all the system resources?

LFS uses 0% of CPU, learn to read, kthx.

Quote from imad :

I do realize that and thats what am asking for assistance with, because as i said cpu usage is 0% and then i launch lfs and cpu usage goes on a constant 100% for all applications, lfs is interacting with them somehow which seems to me like its making them think they have users connected.
is anyone able to replicate the problem on a win2003 server please try and let us know.

@shadowww.

kthanxbai

Quote from imad :

Hi, am running rfactor and gtr2 dedicated servers on win2003 server, as soon as i launch the first lfs dedicated even if i run it in a different remote session as a different user the cpu for gtr2 goes up to as much as it can and rfactor goes up to 1%-2% usage each (this behavior for those servers is usually when users connect to them but its happening even with no connections) and that cpu usage becomes constant until i shut down all lfs servers note that lfs cpu usage is null, i cannot see any network connections from lfs to rfactor or gtr2 or vice versa, anyone has an idea why this is happenning or any clue how to sort it.
this is not occasional, i tested it many times and it happens everytime.

thanks

@ s14 drift
kthanxbai

Getting away from the children hijacking this thread.......


What version of LFSdedi are you running?
What ports do your GTR2/Rfactor hosts use?

Are you running any insim?

SD.

LFS dedi is the latest Z3 version, running on default ports starting with 63392.

gtr2 are also running default ports except for udp and those are:
tcp 34747 --> +5
udp 34697 --> +10

rfactor ports:
tcp 34447 --> +10
udp 34397 --> +10
udp 34297 --> +10


i am running insim but no difference with or without same behaviour.
also note that as i said earlier there are no network connection between any of the game servers, i suspect that lfs is locking resources that are needed by others, or probably making api calls or other kind that is making others go mad or think they have to work.

thanks

Quote from SparkyDave :

Getting away from the children hijacking this thread.......


What version of LFSdedi are you running?
What ports do your GTR2/Rfactor hosts use?

Are you running any insim?

SD.

Internet. Serious buisness.

Shadow let's argue on MSN.

How are you measuring the CPU usage?

I've never heard of anything like that - LFS dedicated host does not interact in any way with other programs, it just opens the TCP and UDP port you specified, and makes a connection to the master server.

Then it sits there using a tiny amount of CPU and a minimal amount of memory, waiting for a connection. It does not make any attempt to know about or interact with any other programs running on your computer.

So I'd like to know what method you are using to measure the CPU usage, and I guess the next question is what the other developers think. There isn't really any way for me to know how another program could start using a lot of CPU when LFS starts.

you dont need more than task manager to see cpu usage for each process, it gives accurate information on cpu, memory and others.

no amount of explaining can be more convincing than testing this for yourself, the easiest and quickest way to get to the bottom of this in my opinion is if you can replicate the environment or just part of it is enough, i would think you have a win2k3 server you can test on, just run a couple instances of gtr2 dedicated servers with no users connecting to them and no need to tick the lobby option and then launch an lfs dedicated and watch cpu usage for gtr2 dedicated, on mine it instantly goes up and if i shut down lfs it instantly goes back down to 0%.

No, we don't have a Win2K3 server.

And I'm sorry to say but I'm not willing at this point to download other simulators dedicated hosts and learn how to use them and run them.

LFS has never had a bug that causes an effect on other programs running on a computer.

I suggest the bug, if there is one, is in the GTR dedicated server. There is no way that I can explain how another program starts to hog CPU usage. I don't have the source code for GTR dedicated server, so even if I ran a test, it would be impossible for me to debug the GTR server.

i just tested it on a fresh installed copy of win2k pro and another xp and its doing that same thing on both of them.

i wasnt asking you to debug gtr2, you could debug lfs and get helpfull answers, but if you are having this attitude i dont think we are going to get anywhere so i'de rather not go into a discussion that is not technical, just one thing though if you havent got win2k3 server and you never tested running lfs with gtr2 or other game servers how can you be so sure to give a definitive answer that lfs has never had a bug that causes an effect on other programs and how can you tell that it can even run with no glitches on win2k3, dont get me wrong am not saying it does have a bug am just saying there is a problem thats only happening when i start lfs thats why i started checking here.

Quote from imad :

i just tested it on a fresh installed copy of win2k pro and another xp and its doing that same thing on both of them.

i wasnt asking you to debug gtr2, you could debug lfs and get helpfull answers, but if you are having this attitude i dont think we are going to get anywhere so i'de rather not go into a discussion that is not technical, just one thing though if you havent got win2k3 server and you never tested running lfs with gtr2 or other game servers how can you be so sure to give a definitive answer that lfs has never had a bug that causes an effect on other programs and how can you tell that it can even run with no glitches on win2k3, dont get me wrong am not saying it does have a bug am just saying there is a problem thats only happening when i start lfs thats why i started checking here.

He can be so sure because he coded the bloody dedicated host! He knows whats going on! He knows what the host is programmed to do, and as he said the host isnt programmed to mess about with other programmes. It just sits their and listens to incoming connections.

I just can't conceive of how LFS could make another program eat up CPU time.

I just don't know where to start. All my programming knowledge tells me the starting point of the investigation is in the GTR (or rFactor) dedicated host.

Have you tried contacting the GTR (or rFactor) developers? I'd be interested to hear what they say. It should be quite easy for them to run a dedicated host in a debugger and start up an LFS dedicated host to see why their host starts using all remaining CPU time.

I programmed a few years, and what I understand from this, is maybe the problem lies in the way winsock handles the 'waiting' loop.. Maybe something is happening there in rFactor.

i have not tried contacting them yet, the reason is if i start gtr2 and then rfactor or vice versa all seems to be normal, but if i start any of them and then i start lfs cpu starts going up, but there has to be a starting point if i need to get to the bottom of this, and am only checking here first because of those reasons, am not here to criticise and have not made my mind up and posted here to put the blame.

i was thinking of getting around this by running lfs in a virtual machine to seperate the applications but i read reviews that people are experiencing lags in this scenario due to synchronizations issues between VM and host so i kinda left this as a last resort.

if you can please run a small test that would really be appreciated, dont debug at first (or until you see the results of that test) just run gtr2 together with lfs on a win2k pro if no win2k3 server is abailable.

i suspect its an RPC issue, if i was to debug i would monitor the windproc for unexpected messages sent or received because its not networking connections TCP nor UDP, i have monitored those and no connections attempts are being made or packets being sent between the applications.

Sorry to disappoint but I am too busy for that. I don't have any more equipment to do that than you do. I am very busy working on things for LFS. I have given you my diagnosis and that is from your description there appears to be a bug in rFactor and GTR dedicated hosts.

If you ask around here you will see I am not one of these programmers who tries to shift the blame elsewhere when it could be a bug in my software. It's a pity you think I have a bad attitude but I am trying to help.

As far as I understand, GTR is based on ISI's engine which is the basis of rFactor. So there is a common factor there and I suggest you write to ISI about it.

If you do want someone else to run a test, I suggest trying people who already run multiple sims on one computer, maybe if you ask in the LFS Hosts forum you will find someone who knows about that.

I once ran LFS and also rF dedi on my PC (not simultaneously though), but i never had such problem, PC usage was around 5% max, and that was in the case of rF dedi, LFS had max 2-3% (1,7 Celeron few years ago). So i guess problem could be in your PC or rather in ISI dedi host. As Scawen already suggested, go on and try to ask someone from ISI support, as i doubt the problem is really on LFS dedi side.

Virtual-Racing.org is running several different simulations, including LfS, rFactor, GTR2, GTL, GPL and NR2003, on a Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition without any Problems.

Even if I dont think it'll make any difference:
We are using a seperate Windows-Userprofile for each simulation.

System is a Dell Server PE1950,
2x Xeon Dualcore 5130
4GB

Quote :

Even if I dont think it'll make any difference:
We are using a seperate Windows-Userprofile for each simulation.

i have already tried that didnt make any difference.

If Scawen says it aint LFS, it aint LFS. Im not trying to be an arselicker, but im pretty sure Scawen wouldnt try and shift blame onto other games dev's, regardless of his opinions on their game... Why make enemies?