Left 4 Dead - Are there going to be enough servers?

[bloodline76]

I might be completely wrong but when the game gets released are there going to be enough servers to play on?

I mean normal online games have about 10-60 people on but these only have 1-4 on each.

So does that mean that you need extra servers or do they put multiple on each server?

Thanks

 

[FrenchTart]

It'll be up to 8 per server I've have thought - 4 survivors and 4 infected.

Still, as you say, that's far less than you might expect normally. It's quite simple to throw up extra servers on the same machine (though the AI is quite CPU intensive in L4D) so I'd guess it shouldn't be a huge issue.

I'm planning on updating my dedicated server setup to get something more able to deal with a few L4D servers. Ideally I'd like to have 4 of them running.

 

[sharpygsxr]

my understanding is that its only 4 players max, with a server side option for the dead human players to respawn as infected and try to kill their mates

Would make it very cool when theres only oen of the original humans left and his mates are trying to kill him as infected lol

(or maybe im dreaming that bit)

 

[FrenchTart]

Ahh..really? That is quite interesting, but a bit of a shame in terms of getting more people playing it at once.

Hopefully there'll be a mod to allow more players (as infected or survivors, though it'd get a bit cramped with more than 4 survivors).

 

[theo]

Ahh..really? That is quite interesting, but a bit of a shame in terms of getting more people playing it at once.

Hopefully there'll be a mod to allow more players (as infected or survivors, though it'd get a bit cramped with more than 4 survivors).

That's what custom maps are for... expect multiple mall maps soon after release. But i'd have thought the servers are done dynamicly, and with constant advances in virtulisation technology and stupidly powerful quadcore server chips about i bet a single dual slot server can host a handful of l4d games alone. but for release valve is probably going to hire lots of temporary servers to compliment their own untill the rush dies down.

 

[sharpygsxr]

both options seem viable, and it would be fairly easy to have it with 8 players.

Afterall in the current demo you can play as the infected with few console commands

 

[FrenchTart]

That's what custom maps are for... expect multiple mall maps soon after release. But i'd have thought the servers are done dynamicly, and with constant advances in virtulisation technology and stupidly powerful quadcore server chips about i bet a single dual slot server can host a handful of l4d games alone. but for release valve is probably going to hire lots of temporary servers to compliment their own untill the rush dies down.

Indeed, thank god the the mod community.

I've ran 4 dedi servers on my home pc (3.2ghz c2d, 4GB ram) without breaking a sweat so I imagine a decent quadcore with similar ram could easily run double that (and probably more).

 

[hohum]

my understanding is that its only 4 players max, with a server side option for the dead human players to respawn as infected and try to kill their mates

Would make it very cool when theres only oen of the original humans left and his mates are trying to kill him as infected lol

(or maybe im dreaming that bit)

Not quite right. Campaign is 4 player mode only, with you and friends completing a set of maps together versus the game's AI.

The seperate 'versus' mode is 8 players, and doesn't have quite the same setup - 4 players are survivors, 4 are infected boss characters. A single map will consequently have two rounds - the first round will play with a team of four on both sides, and once the survivors are dead (or complete the map by reaching the safe room) then the next round for that map starts... albeit with the teams swapped. So, the survivors are put on the infected team, and vice versa. It's then up to the other team to try and do better than the others did in the previous round. Once the second round is complete then you move onto the next map, and repeat.

 

[JIM_BOB7813]

How many lives do the infected get? Do they all spawn at once at the start? It seems like the game will be over very quickly if it takes just one ambush to decide who wins. Does that gametype integrate normal minion zombies too, controlled by AI?