I am thinking of setting up a dedicated machine on my home network and I got a question or two.

1) Do I need to unlock the dedicated server or is it capable of hosting S2 by default? If I need to unlock it, how do I do this?

2) I know the machine doesn't have to meet the same specs as a machine running full LFS, but "how low can you go"?

Quote from X-Ter :

I am thinking of setting up a dedicated machine on my home network and I got a question or two.

1) Do I need to unlock the dedicated server or is it capable of hosting S2 by default? If I need to unlock it, how do I do this?

2) I know the machine doesn't have to meet the same specs as a machine running full LFS, but "how low can you go"?

1.) - Nope can be used in any mode. no unlocking needed.

2.) Depends. how many servers you want to run? if just 1 then preety much anything.

Your bandwidth is much more limiting that your machine power. I estimate that something like 333MHz Celeron A with 128MB RAM and WinNT could do the job well. Your upload speed should be over 512kb/s to ensure non-lagging gameplay with more that 6 cars online.

Only thing I wouldnt recommend is usage of Win9x-based OS because of its horrible net code.

Thanks gentlemen
I'll get busy right away!

If it`s any use, I run my (very occasional) online server on our lowest spec machine - 400mhz PII, 512M mem, on a windows xp pro install. It works perfectly fine for 8 players which is all my upload will allow at full "6" connection quality.

Task manager shows around 60-65% resources used with the full 8 players racing.

Cheers.