Help with network

[Onslaught]

So,

As of late, My friends and myself have become addicted to Unreal 2003 and Halo. I host all the games and we were doing fine until we had more than 5 people on my server at once.

Is there anything I can do to have 8 or more people on my server without people getting really bad lag?
With buckeye-express (my isp - cable) I get 1.5 meg Down and 128kbp/s Up.

I host on a 2.4c 1024mb ram, ati 9500 pro.

Now most of the connections come directly from Buckeye-express which would make sense why they get good pings. But when my friends from something other than buckeye join, it lags teh hell out of the game for the other players.

Would this be resolved if I ran a dedicated server or would it help any?

What would you recommend for my situation?
Any suggestions where I could maybe get a host for these games?

Thanks for any and all help,

Onslaught

 

[tombance]

I think you really ought to consider running a ded server and just trying it out. You wouldnt need a really good comp to serve so if I was you I would just give it a go. if it didnt work, just resort back to your old config.

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[riser]

Keep in mind, you have a 128KB upload. If you're splitting that between 8 people, plus you're hosting, you'll be fine but the guys connecting in have to share that 128kbs. you're limited so you can't host a web server, hosting a game is about the same thing. Either limit the amount of people connecting in to reduce lag, or find someone who is at college on a T1 line or cable without caps on it.
Other than that you probably won't have too much luck with anything you do. Your PC is more than enough to handle what you're asking, its your upload that is killing you. They might be able to pull 10 gig down the pipe, but if you can only put it out at 128kbs divided between 5 people all seeing and sharing the same thing, its going to lag.
I would suggest playing on open servers or finding out if you're able to rent a Halo/Unreal server for use.

Riser

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by riser on 11/04/03 02:18 PM.</EM></FONT></P>