TF2 Server #2: Always Arena

**Bommando** · 08-20-2008, 03:55 PM

IP: 64.34.184.54

Linked from the consolidated TF2 servers thread.

Things you need to know about the server:

Max Players: 18 (2 teams of 7, 4 benchwarmers)

Map Cycle:

arena_ravine
arena_badlands
arena_mach
arena_granary
arena_well
arena_lumberyard

Startup Map: arena_lumberyard

config_arena.cfg:

Code:

hostname "FocusedGaming.com #2 - Always Arena"
maxplayers "21"
mapcyclefile "arena_mapcycle.txt"
mp_timelimit "45"
mp_winlimit "5"
mp_maxrounds "20"
tf_arena_preround_time "15"

Other Info:

Please give feedback on server settings, anomalies and the game mode in general in this thread. Your feedback will determine the future of the server and how we end up playing this mode. For more information about the game mode, see the Arena Mode page on Valve's Heavy Update mini site.

Enjoy

**Lyramion** · 08-20-2008, 04:18 PM

Do we rly have to make it 18 player? I mean I do enjoy specing but.... over time... getting to play always is more fun

**Bommando** · 08-20-2008, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lyramion

Do we rly have to make it 18 player? I mean I do enjoy specing but.... over time... getting to play always is more fun

The server divides into 3 teams regardless of the size. At least that's what the cfg file says. If we lower the count, it will still divide by 3. So, 12 players = 3 teams of 4 and so on. 16 = 2 teams of 5 and 6 specs. 18 is the default setting by Valve.

Do you know it to be otherwise?

Random · 08-20-2008, 04:31 PM

I was just on this server earlier and it was great fun, with the heavy update there was surprisingly few heavy rushes (had one or two but no where near the chaos Pyro was).

One thing though, when the server goes down it restarts itself to Dustbowl or something (CP). Not that big of an issue but I thought I should mention it.

**Bommando** · 08-20-2008, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Random

One thing though, when the server goes down it restarts itself to Dustbowl or something (CP). Not that big of an issue but I thought I should mention it.

This has been fixed, it should now be starting on arena_lumberyard

It still seems to be crashing intermittently and the reserved slot seems to be playing up (not hiding itself). Keep reporting problems. We're working on fixing them up as fast as possible.

As usual, everyone should be on TeamSpeak to report problems to the admins and keep posting in this thread.

Random · 08-20-2008, 04:39 PM

I was just on earlier for a couple of hours and it only crashed twice, one of the times was slightly odd, we were changing map, it told everyone we were going on to some map (badlands I think) but then we ended up on Dustbowl (CP), no crash or anything just suddenly ended up on a map it shouldn't go to. My game did crash a couple of times but I presume it was more map than server problems.

**Lyramion** · 08-20-2008, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bommando

The server divides into 3 teams regardless of the size. At least that's what the cfg file says. If we lower the count, it will still divide by 3. So, 12 players = 3 teams of 4 and so on. 16 = 2 teams of 5 and 6 specs. 18 is the default setting by Valve.

Do you know it to be otherwise?

This is definetly not true. I played on a 16 player server where we had constant 8v8 Arenas. So maybe its not "officially" possible but modded? no clue.. but possible it is

**Bommando** · 08-20-2008, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lyramion

This is definetly not true. I played on a 16 player server where we had constant 8v8 Arenas. So maybe its not "officially" possible but modded? no clue.. but possible it is

The config_arena.cfg file says this:

Quote:

Originally Posted by config_arena.cfg

Team sizes are derived from maxplayers. Each arena match has 3 teams, two playing and one waiting in the queue. So maxplayers 18 will give you a max team size of 6 (18/3).

The only way I can imagine they're getting the result you mention is by setting the maxplayers variable to 16 and setting the server +maxplayers to 24. This might divide teams into teams of 8 and allocate spectators last. We can toy with these settings tonight to see how it works.

EDIT: I also lowered the maxplayers variable in config_arena.cfg to 18 to see if the +maxplayers 19 sticks and preserves the reserved slot. We will need to test this on a full server and see if the slot works.

**Tarheel** · 08-20-2008, 05:31 PM

We had at least 8v8 on server 1 last night. One of the admins had changed the config to see if we could get it to play more than 2 rounds, and also have more than 18 players. It played out to the map time limit, and would switch the losing team out with the "spec" team like it should.

Random · 08-20-2008, 05:43 PM

I have been playing on this server earlier and there was never more than 1 person out the game. As long as there is an even number the players per team rises to get them all in. Maybe there was a fault in the update or maybe they changed how it worked but didn't change the config.