listen vs dedicated

i run dedicated servers for most of the hl mods out there with no problem, but for some reason ESF lags tremendously in my dedicated server. However if i make a listen server, i can support about 8 people with no lag, am i doing something wrong???

edit......using Steam

Kosmo111 said:

i run dedicated servers for most of the hl mods out there with no problem, but for some reason ESF lags tremendously in my dedicated server. However if i make a listen server, i can support about 8 people with no lag, am i doing something wrong???

edit......using Steam

Click to expand...

You aren't doing anything wrong, and I have experienced the same thing as well. The fact is that Steam just uses up much more system/cpu resources as compared to WON. Firstly, you are running the basic Steam application in the background - fully equipped with taskbar icon, a background process and multiple GUI. And then - you start up the Steam Dedicated Server to host a server, which is another process and also has a GUI with graphs, etc. included.

Compare this to WON's hlds.exe - a DOS interface for running a dedicated server, and very light on your system's resources. My guess is that running a dedicated server on Steam just takes more out of yours system.

But then again, I'm not sure why your normal listen server doesn't lag just like the dedicated one does. :|

I'm thinking that the priority setting is higher for his listen server since he's essentially playing a game as well as running the server. Just a theory.

Perhaps trying to look up the recommended system requirements for a dedicated server on the Steam forums would help. Some systems that were good for a WON server might not be fully capable of running a more complex array of tasks for Steam.