Gaming Federation

So much information to share, but I feel the forum is a better spot to relay the news. View the announcement here to learn what's been going on in the past couple of days!

It's been an ongoing problem for too long and with the free time I finally have, I'm working on putting together a new GunGame server on the side to avoid as much downtime on our existing one as possible. Once the new server is ready, it will replace our current DoD:S GunGame server. There will be downtime for as long as 5 minutes (very unlikely, by the way) when adjusting the service settings to make sure the IP information is the same, so you guys won't have to mess with your favorites list in Steam. Here's the information I have for you all on this new server:

To start, a slightly updated version of GunGame will be running on this server (3.4 to 3.5). To be more specific, this updated GunGame isn't really an update. It's actually a "pure" GunGame plugin. That means it has absolutely no mods included, so the black & white GunGame winning results screen, spawn protection (not including grenade spawn protection), rapid fire, laser effects, etc. will not be a part of the GunGame 3.5 installation. That doesn't mean they're not going to be in the server at all, but I'm using this to my advantage by keeping everything separate to allow for better troubleshooting. This also creates the opportunity for using better plugins than what was included in GunGame 3.4.

Also, while this is not a final decision, the server will temporarily be running on a tickrate of 66 instead of 100. You might be thinking one of two things: "Wasn't that option taken away earlier last year?" or "What about my lerp settings?"

To answer the first, yes it was, but a metamod plugin called "Tickrate Enabler" was used to override this. As for lerp settings, you will still have the option to mess with that, but keep in mind that after the Orange Box update for CS:S and other games back in 2010, the calcuation of hit registration has been completely reworked and the option to adjust the tickrate was removed (the tickrate removal did not apply to DoD:S back then). Since then, it has been said that the supposed positive effect of a higher tickrate was just a placebo and, in some cases, make registration worse. Moreover--running a server at 100 tickrate did, as a matter of fact, cause more problems then it did fix anything (or in the case of the new Orange Box update, supposedly fixes nothing). These issues were doors opening slowly, elevators killing players, and other undesirable effects. DoD:S finally got another update in October of 2011, introducing more hit registration improvements and the tickrate flag finally removed. Since Gaming Federation never gave this update a chance, we will finally be putting it to the test. Yes, there is a plugin that supposedly fixes the problems brought by 100 Tickrate, called "zBlock". However, the developers do not support tickrate change any longer due to the Orange Box updates.

So, we'll leave the server at 66 tickrate for now and see how everything runs. I will take any feedback into consideration, and at some point test out 100 tickrate to observe the differences. If the majority happen to testify that 66 tickrate is a much better experience before even testing 100 tickrate, I will probably not test 100 tickrate at all.