Game Server Bandwidth Calculator v1.0

I never really knew how much bandwidth it took to host certain game servers. I also see a lot of threads on here with similar questions. I made this program in my spare time to help people who would like to host Game Servers.Features:
Predicts Daily and Monthly Bandwidth Totals
Predicts Bandwidth Throughput NeededGames Supported:
HL2 Based Games
HL Based Games
Call of Duty Series
Battlefield SeriesDownload Links:http://rapidshare.com/files/172857294/GSC.ziphttp://www.mediafire.com/?zw22zygnm3ohttp://www.megaupload.com/?d=T8233MOCVirus Total Scan Results
Hope it helps someone out. Just did this one day when I was bored.













Attached Files


GSC.zip (128.0 KB, 134 views)





Last edited by tj007s13 : 12-12-2008 at 08:24 PM.

Great!! I used to make an auto-calculating spreadsheet for a few dedicated games... and guess what, they give me almost the same results as your little script!
The only difference is that it also calculated packet overhead (about 40 bytes per packet)... since the "rate" alone isn't going to give you a 100% precise number.
Also, you can never precisely predict the server's occupation... just use past statistical values.
Anyways, thumbs up! This is a must for starters!

I will try to measure/calculate the packet overhead for different games... I can try and incorporate it in a v1.1
Yea, right now it's just based off of server rates but they are still pretty accurate.
Feel free to make suggestions or request games to be added.





Last edited by tj007s13 : 12-13-2008 at 03:43 AM.

Kudos to this, this is something a lot of our clients would love to get their hands on.





__________________Brian Farrell | Email: bfarrell@colocrossing.comColoCrossing Internet Services
Dedicated

Dont rely on those calculators btw...take it on the chin as a rough estimate.
sorry ive just used one and it spat out 1.4TB of bandwidth... never used anywhere near that figure of bandwidth for a very well populated source server.

Quote:



Originally Posted by Flumps


Dont rely on those calculators btw...take it on the chin as a rough estimate.
sorry ive just used one and it spat out 1.4TB of bandwidth... never used anywhere near that figure of bandwidth for a very well populated source server.


You used this one or a different one? Don't knock this one based on other calculators. Give this one a shot and see if it's more accurate for you.

Food for thought, it would be more accurate if you include a few more variables such as:
Does the server utilize Fast downloads?
Does the server use any server-to-web based stats
How large is the server motd if its hosted locally
How many average monthly visitors
Thanks for your time with this tool, definately nifty
Hope my comments are useful!





__________________
Adam Piatek - CEO GaloreGameServers.Com
Dedicated Server, Gaming, and Web Services
adam (at) galoregameservers (dot) com

Nice suggestions, thanks, will consider them.

Quote:



Originally Posted by Flumps


Dont rely on those calculators btw...take it on the chin as a rough estimate.
sorry ive just used one and it spat out 1.4TB of bandwidth... never used anywhere near that figure of bandwidth for a very well populated source server.


The problem with most of these tools is that most game-service providers can't determine exactly:How many players have connected,
How long they've played.

If you had these statistics, you could calculate a very accurate percentage of occupation, and use that as a basis for future observations. It should however, just as you stated, taken with a grain of salt, since these would only be PREDICTIONS.
Quote:



Originally Posted by tj007s13


I will try to measure/calculate the packet overhead for different games... I can try and incorporate it in a v1.1
Yea, right now it's just based off of server rates but they are still pretty accurate.
Feel free to make suggestions or request games to be added.


We usually tend to overestimate a server's occupation, and underestimate packet encapsulation, and this can be a MAJOR factor for long-term calculations.
For example, TCP (which is used by HTTP we won't calculate IPv4 and MAC headers since this is usually not taken into account.
My advices for your great utility would be:
Overestimate encapsulation. (Add 200 bytes per packet)
Let's convert it an online PHP app! Nothing fancy, but it would be cool!
Add the Quake3/Quake4 engines... these are used in MANY games.

Maybe we could also develop a separate statistical utility? That's half of the equation there...
Cheers!

Oh! Also, looking at your numbers, I see you're making calculations based on (Rate * Time * Slots * Percentage), and divide it by multiples of 1024 to get the value in MB/GB/TB.
The problem with this method is that you implied that one client will actually receive, say 30KB/s when the rate is set to 30 000.This is over-simplified for a few reasons:Each second, clients receive multiple status packets; sometimes packets are duplicated.
Packets per second are controlled by a server-side variable. Valve calls it "sv_maxupdaterate" ID calls it "snapshots", etc.
The client's max rate might be less than the server's.
"FPS" and "tickrate" also have a minor impact, but let's concentrate on the basics for now.

We calculate the size of packets by doing (Max client rate / Update rate)
A quick example for CS 1.6 :
30 000 Bytes / 100 packets = 300 Bytes.
100 Packets * (300 Bytes + 100 Bytes Overhead) = 40KB, over 1 second.
Add to that the fact that clients ALSO send snapshots, and you can easily double that number.
Hehe, complicated stuff isn't it?





Last edited by AntX : 12-14-2008 at 05:35 PM.

I think anyone with gameserver experience at any level can agree there's no way to pinpoint exactly how much bandwidth a server is going to use. There are just far too many variables to consider (as noted in previous posts by both adamnp and AntX). I don't think the OP was looking to create something to be to the byte precise, but something rather to guesstimate what one might use in a given time period.





__________________Brian Farrell | Email: bfarrell@colocrossing.comColoCrossing Internet Services
Dedicated

I want to host a Jedi Academy server on Roadrunner ... what game is close to that considering the ones you have in this program?

Jedi Academy uses a heavily modified Quake III: Team Arena game engine. Call of Duty uses a modified Quake III Engine. I would say that game is the most similar. I have know idea if the rates and stuff are the same though.

Thank you for fast reply :)

I guess I'll go with that ... I just hope Road Runner isn't happy. I plan on a 12 server one with a modification running.

I think anyone with gameserver experience at any level can agree there's no way to pinpoint exactly how much bandwidth a server is going to use. There are just far too many variables to consider (as noted in previous posts by both adamnp and AntX). I don't think the OP was looking to create something to be to the byte precise, but something rather to guesstimate what one might use in a given time period.





__________________Brian Farrell | Email: bfarrell@colocrossing.comColoCrossing Internet Services
Dedicated

Agreed 100%

This thread was useful, thank you.

thanks! been looking for something like this for a while!

Thanks this would help a lot.

Now I can finally move from our joke of a game server company using colo4dallas to a real dedicated server and for much cheaper.

Nice I do not need as much bandwidth as I though.

Thanks.

With a rough guesstimate from that program, my concerns are somewhat lowered, however I understand it may not be entirely precise.

Regardless, certainly gives me somewhat of an idea of what to expect, thanks :)