What happens if you never restart the server?

[phred 5]

Hi,

I've been on a server that looks like it hasn't ever been restarted (or very rarely). I've noticed that over time, my time on the server has become more laggy. Is this the reason for the restarts? Theoretically, would the server become unplayable if it is never restarted?

[sturmwaffles 38]

Exactly to the purpose!

[FinalNinja447 129]

Not only would it be very laggy, there would be no more loot available, making it impossible for starters or fresh respawns to get the basic gear they need. 6-8 hour respawn does the job very well.

[tyler@tytanis.com 28]

If you don't restart the server, giant zombie gargoyles will start raping everything.

[SkrooLoose (DayZ) 143]

Not only would it be very laggy, there would be no more loot available, making it impossible for starters or fresh respawns to get the basic gear they need. 6-8 hour respawn does the job very well.

Only the crashed choppers don't respawn loot. Everything else respawns without a restart. Anyone can get the basic supplies anytime they need to without restarting the server.

[phred 5]

I just wonder why frequent restarts are needed. Is it because a restart cleans up your information in the hive? i.e. for servers that don't restart, does the lagginess increase due to the increased bandwidth needed to pull information from the hive?

[woots 82]

memory leaks, thats why they need to be restarted every 3 hours

[phred 5]

memory leaks, thats why they need to be restarted every 3 hours

Aha, thanks!

[SkrooLoose (DayZ) 143]

memory leaks, thats why they need to be restarted every 3 hours

Yeah, was going to mention this.

I run Afterburner and mem usage is one of the items I monitor. I can watch it climb higher and higher in DayZ.

[venthos 605]

I run my DayZ server for days on end without a restart, I do not experience performance problems. The key is to not use a managed $30 "shared" DayZ server and instead throw a proper server at the thing (as well as administer the server itself to ensure all is running well). I end up having to restart the server due to hackers or updates (I keep the latest ARMA2:OA beta server exe in use on my box) versus for performance reasons.

HOWEVER, there are legitimate reasons that necessitate server restarts. These reasons I'm guessing will be negated in the standalone when the engine can be adapted to DayZ's needs.

[1] Crashed helicopters spawn *once* on server start. Their loot is a one-time only thing. Once someone has looted a helicopter crash, no more loot will come from it. It never respawns. Restarting a server generates all new randomized crash locations with new loot.

[2] Player bodies continue to pile up without a restart. Even if you hide them, the fly sound effect persists. This can get annoying.

[3] Loot piles never despawn on their own. Since most players are too lazy (understandably) to clear loot piles for respawns, this means eventually the popular areas will be reduced to loot piles of nearly 100% cans and bottles.

[4] Vehicles only spawn on server restart. While 1.7.2.5 has pooched vehicle saving, the effects on this would be that a crashed/exploded car would never respawn again if the server weren't restarted and you'd only have available what vehicles were "cleared" for your server at the time of its last restart.

So, there are functional reasons that necessitate restarts due to the mod not affecting the ARMA2 engine and having to cope with its limitations.

EDIT: I should add that I do plan to restart my server on a routine schedule (once per 24 hours) for the above 4 reasons once vehicle/tent saving is fixed. Until then, I avoid restarting the server to ensure people have more time to play with vehicles on the server.

Edited September 4, 2012 by Venthos

[ryanparsons7 1]

Chaos, in all levels

[BTK (DayZ) 12]

rocket once told me to restart my servers every 4 hours. I done so ever since. It ensures the highest possible performance, loading/connection times under 1 minute and serves as clean-up.

It's like that with all ArmA missions. Try to join a Domination server that has been running for 2 days straight. It's unbearable.