arma 3 server freeze on startup

[3LGStevo 17]

Hi,

 

We've been heavily editing a map in 3DEN for an Altis Life server. There's a lot of objects here, there and everywhere scattered around all of the NPCs to make them less look like they're just guys standing in the middle of nowhere.

Since we've imported this map, the server startup time takes literally about 15-20 minutes now with a map that's about 80% complete.

 

The mission.sqm file is binarized to speed up processing (as it indicates in the editor) but this still seems to take forever.

While in the editor, going into preview mode has the game input hang for about 1-2 minutes, but on the server (quite a high end one), it hangs for 15-20 minutes.

 

Is there anything we can do to speed this loading up? We didn't seem to have this issue on the 2D editor, but then again, we didn't have anywhere near as many objects placed... The boot time was usually around 20-60 seconds before we converted to the 3DEN editor map. I don't know if this is something to do with the more recent Arma updates, or whether it is because we're now using a 3DEN map.

 

In the RPT logs, the freeze always occurs around this line;

 

Deinitialized shape [Class: "Underwear_F"; Shape: "a3\characters_f\common\basicbody.p3d";]

 

Part from first log (Server start 21:46);

21:47:09 Strange convex component322 in a3\structures_f\research\dome_big_f.p3d:geometryFire
21:47:09 Strange convex component327 in a3\structures_f\research\dome_big_f.p3d:geometryFire
21:47:09 "************** Factory demolition initiliased ***********"
21:47:18 Deinitialized shape [Class: "Underwear_F"; Shape: "a3\characters_f\common\basicbody.p3d";]
21:47:21 "------ resetLifeVehicles task done ------"
22:02:07 "------ deleteDeadVehicles task done ------"
22:02:07 "------ deleteOldHouses task done ------"
22:02:08 "------ banRemove task done ------"
22:02:08 "------ banHandler task done ------"
22:02:08 "------ armyPointsUpdater task done ------"
22:02:08 "------ rebelPointsUpdater task done ------"
22:02:09 "------ copPointsUpdater task done ------"
22:02:09 "------ medPointsUpdater task done ------"
22:02:09 "------ licenseUpdater task done ------"
22:02:09 "------ inactiveRemove task done ------"
22:02:09 "------ inactiveHandler task done ------"
22:02:09 "------ tableReindex task done ------"

 

Total time: 16 minutes

 

Part from second log (Server start 22:02):

22:04:50 "************** Factory demolition initiliased ***********"
22:04:51 Strange convex component322 in a3\structures_f\research\dome_big_f.p3d:geometryFire
22:04:51 Strange convex component327 in a3\structures_f\research\dome_big_f.p3d:geometryFire
22:05:00 "------ resetLifeVehicles task done ------"
22:05:00 Deinitialized shape [Class: "Underwear_F"; Shape: "a3\characters_f\common\basicbody.p3d";]
22:07:34 "------ deleteDeadVehicles task done ------"
22:19:31 "------ deleteOldHouses task done ------"
22:19:32 "------ banRemove task done ------"
22:19:32 "------ banHandler task done ------"
22:19:32 "------ armyPointsUpdater task done ------"
22:19:32 "------ rebelPointsUpdater task done ------"
22:19:32 "------ copPointsUpdater task done ------"
22:19:32 "------ medPointsUpdater task done ------"
22:19:32 "------ licenseUpdater task done ------"
22:19:33 "------ inactiveRemove task done ------"
22:19:33 "------ inactiveHandler task done ------"
22:19:33 "------ tableReindex task done ------"

 

Total time: 19 minutes

 

For arguments sake, I've removed the "deleteDeadVehicles" task as well from the start up processes, and the server init still hangs at the same line:

Deinitialized shape [Class: "Underwear_F"; Shape: "a3\characters_f\common\basicbody.p3d";]

 

EDIT:

 

After further investigation, I've found that as this line appears in the server RPT logs, the memory consumption spikes from 800MB to 2300+MB, and the CPU spikes from 9%, to upto 30% utilisation.

[terox 316]

compare the startup to a standard BIS mission, pure vanilla to compare

 

If there is a massive difference, this is then an editing issue and belongs in a different forum

[3LGStevo 17]

Thanks... I'm not actually sure what I need to host a vanilla map. I'd exported one from the addons library, and moved it over to the missions folder, and configured the server_config.cfg file to run from it, but the server just doesn't start.
Is there something I'm missing?
(also turned the two mods off, and removed any additional files specific to the custom mission).
 

[terox 316]

there are BIS vanilla missions built in, just start arma3server.exe without any mod params and a cleared MpMissions folder and launch one of the missions available on Altis or Stratis

[3LGStevo 17]

The issue seems to be tied directly with server performance.

I tried to boot a vanilla BIS mission, but it wouldn't get passed the voting stage. I'm assuming the other configuration files, and profile files were obstructing it from launching, so never actually managed to test against Vanilla.

I do have two servers though, one being a Intel Xeon E3-1270V2, with 32GB DDR3 memory on an SSD, and the other being an Azure VM with 7GB DDR3 memory, and a 4 core virtualised processor and SSD. Granted, I know that Arma doesn't work well with VMs, but still, the boot time on this was over 50 minutes. I couldn't say what the exact boot time was as I just terminated the start up after the 50 minute mark as it being significantly slower.

 

I have the hosting company looking into the hardware of the server as it seems to have just appeared all of a sudden (at least to the 20 minute mark extent), but we all noticed a rise in server start times as soon as we used the 3DEN map file.

 

I'm also getting an upgraded server to boot to see how that fairs in performance as a comparison. While I still expect there to be some delay on start-up (since the current server doesn't use more than 20% CPU, and 3.3GB memory), I'm hoping the processor speed and memory speed greatly decrease the delay. The new server is to have the Intel Xeon E5-1650V3 processor, with 64GB DDR4 ECC Memory and two SSDs.