Game Tracker: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 04:25, 25 April 2010

The Game Tracker is a central, master server that holds a list of all current multiplayer servers. The tracker works on the UDP protocol and uses port 18444.

Method of operation

Upon starting a server, the server itself contacts the game tracker and sends a short packet. The game tracker detects what IP and port this packet is coming from, marks it as a server, and adds it to the list of currently running servers. When someone at the multiplayer Join Game screen queries the tracker, their game sends a short packet requesting a list of servers. The tracker responds with a packet, or in some cases, a series of packets, containing a list of server IPs and ports. The client acknowledges that it has received each packet.

Game servers stay on the tracker by periodically sending an announce. Due to the fact that the tracker will wait for a short time to pass until it removes a "dead" server (one that hasn't announced recently), the client must send these packets every few minutes.

Servers are removed from the tracker by either of two ways: Closing the server or not announcing for a period of time. Closing the server will send a server removal request packet to the tracker. Just like when a server contacts the tracker to be added to the list, the tracker reads the source IP and port of this packet and removes that server from its list. The second way, not announcing, commonly occurs when a server doesn't cleanly close (crash, etc). Since the server is no longer running, it doesn't send any more announces to the tracker, which will remove that server after a short period of time.

The game tracker does not initiate any connections to clients/servers at any time. All connections are initiated by clients/servers.

What the tracker knows

The Red Faction game tracker protocol is very simple. The tracker software itself only knows the IP and port of each server. Server name, map name, and so on are retrieved from each server individually by the game client.

Tracker lag?

It is not possible for the game tracker to make gameplay laggy.

Backup trackers

Faction Files Backup Game Tracker - [Click for info and instructions] (Note: This tracker is the same as rfgt.nebulamods.com)
Run Masters Backup Game Tracker - [Click for info and instructions] (Note: This tracker is now synchronized with Faction Files.)

Note: The NebulaMods, Faction Files, and Run Masters game trackers are synced with each other. The servers and players are the same on all three trackers.

External links

Faction Files BACKUP Red Faction Game Tracker

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-''This article is regarding [[Red Faction]]''
+The Game Tracker is a central, master server that holds a list of all current multiplayer servers. The tracker works on the UDP protocol and uses port 18444.
-The Game Tracker is a central, master server that holds a list of all current multiplayer servers.
 ==Method of operation==
-Upon starting a server, the server itself contacts the game tracker and sends a short packet.  The game tracker detects what IP and port this packet is coming from, marks it as a server, and adds it to the list of currently running servers.  When someone at the multiplayer Join Game screen queries the tracker, they also send a short packet requesting a list of servers.  The tracker responds with a packet, or in some cases, multiple packets, containing a list of server IPs and ports.  There is one byte for each octet of the IP, and two for the port, resulting in a total of 6 bytes per server.  There is minimal overhead per reply (under 20 bytes).  This is followed by a disconnect "handshake" by the server, and the connection is closed.
+Upon starting a server, the server itself contacts the game tracker and sends a short packet.  The game tracker detects what IP and port this packet is coming from, marks it as a server, and adds it to the list of currently running servers.  When someone at the multiplayer Join Game screen queries the tracker, their game sends a short packet requesting a list of servers.  The tracker responds with a packet, or in some cases, a series of packets, containing a list of server IPs and ports. The client acknowledges that it has received each packet.
-Game servers stay on the tracker by periodically sending a "PING" to the tracker (which replies with PONG).  Due to the fact that the tracker will wait for 256 seconds to pass until it removes a "dead" server (one that hasn't PINGed), the client must send these packets every one to three minutes.
+Game servers stay on the tracker by periodically sending an announce.  Due to the fact that the tracker will wait for a short time to pass until it removes a "dead" server (one that hasn't announced recently), the client must send these packets every few minutes.
-Servers are removed from the tracker by either of two ways: Closing the server or not sending a PING.  Closing the server will send a server removal request packet to the tracker.  Just like when a server contacts the tracker to be added to the list, the tracker reads the source IP and port of this packet and removes that server from its list.  The second way, not sending a PING, commonly occurs when a server crashes.  Since the server is no longer running, it doesn't send any PINGs to the tracker, which will remove that server after a period of several minutes without pings.
+Servers are removed from the tracker by either of two ways: Closing the server or not announcing for a period of time.  Closing the server will send a server removal request packet to the tracker.  Just like when a server contacts the tracker to be added to the list, the tracker reads the source IP and port of this packet and removes that server from its list.  The second way, not announcing, commonly occurs when a server doesn't cleanly close (crash, etc).  Since the server is no longer running, it doesn't send any more announces to the tracker, which will remove that server after a short period of time.
 The game tracker does not initiate any connections to clients/servers at any time.  All connections are initiated by clients/servers.
@@ Line 14: / Line 12: @@
 ==What the tracker knows==
 The Red Faction game tracker protocol is very simple.  The tracker software itself only knows the IP and port of each server.  Server name, map name, and so on are retrieved from each server individually by the game client.
+==Tracker lag?==
+It is '''not possible''' for the game tracker to make gameplay laggy.
 ==Backup trackers==
-Multiple backup trackers have been made.   The most commonly-known ones are as follows:
+*[[Faction Files]] Backup Game Tracker - [http://rfgt.factionfiles.com [Click for info and instructions]] (Note: This tracker is the same as rfgt.nebulamods.com)
-*DigiRFGT - Currently hosted by [TwT] - Written by digital_ruler
+*Run Masters Backup Game Tracker - [http://rm.servehttp.com/news.php?readmore=20#comments [Click for info and instructions]] (Note: This tracker is now synchronized with Faction Files.)
-*RFGT - Currently hosted by RedFactionNet.com - Written by Matmas, used by Mr.H
+'''Note: '''The NebulaMods, Faction Files, and Run Masters game trackers are synced with each other. The servers and players are the same on all three trackers.
-*(No name) - Unknown if ever hosted - Written by +Wub+
-*(No name) - Hosted temporarily - Written by SnipedDragon
-*PanjaTracker - Hosted by PanjaLand - Written by ctrl_freq (Not a true game tracker)
-==Reliability==
-The game tracker hosted by THQ has had minimal downtime.  This is most likely for the best, as the community has expressed strong outrage even when the tracker is only down for extremely short periods of time.  The longest tracker outage was when the tracker's box was moved to a different location and the DNS had to propagate throughout the world.
-The RFGT (located at redfactionnet.com) is generally reliable.  The tracker is usually up at all times, although there have been periods when both the official THQ and backup RFN trackers were down (before DigiRFGT went online).  The RFN main site offers a display of server statistics.  The display automatically loads the serverlist from THQ, but the rate at which the information is refreshed is very slow.  Up to three days can pass until the information is refreshed.
-[[PanjaTracker]], although technically not a game tracker, boasts good reliability.  However, being that PanjaTracker is simply an application that downloads a favlist.adr file each time the game is started, the usefulness of PanjaTracker has been disputed.  The PanjaLand main site offers a display of server statuses, but entry into the list is manual.
-[[DigiRFGT]] (hosted by [TwT]) is very reliable.  This tracker runs 24/7 since its conception in late 2007, and is the only tracker to constantly obtain a list of servers from the official THQ tracker so that the backup is not blank if/when THQ goes down.  This tracker is hosted on the same server as the [TwT] website, and is down very minimally (a few days per year).  The main [TwT] site offers, along with a diagnostics report of the backup tracker, a list of servers from both the official THQ and [TwT] backup trackers.  The server list is refreshed once per minute, and the statistics for individual servers are refreshed each time the page is loaded.
 ==External links==
-* [http://www.nebulamods.com/?section=rf&page=rfsl NebulaMods.com RF Server Browser]
+* [http://rfgt.factionfiles.com Faction Files BACKUP Red Faction Game Tracker]
-* [http://www.panjaland.com PanjaLand PanjaTracker favlist.adr loader]
-* [http://www.redfactionnet.com/rfgt/ Red Faction Network RFGT Backup Tracker]
 [[Category:Red Faction]]