# SDMB Team Fortress 2 server **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 3, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186 "2011-01-03T01:48:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/141 "2011-03-01T20:43:53Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Ok, good news. EC was running our stats server on his spare computer but his bandwidth wasn’t so hot so when people were using the page he’d feel everything else slow down - and they were kinda slow anyway. So I found some webhosting we could use for under $5/month. We moved the stats there, and this also lets us host custom maps, and I’ll put up an image gallery, and whatever other use we can think of for it. > > For the stats go to [stats.senorbeef.net](http://stats.senorbeef.net) - I haven’t created an image gallery yet, but start sending your funny/interesting/whatever screenshots to [screenshots@senorbeef.net](mailto:screenshots@senorbeef.net) so I can build a gallery. Your screenshots are stored in \steam\steamapps\username eam fortress 2 f\screenshots. > > One problem - screenshots by default are in an uncompressed tga format, which can make them fairly big, and lots of e-mail servers reject any e-mails over 20-30mb in size. I don’t know what the size limitation of the mail server is here because my ISP’s mail server won’t let me exceed 26mb to test it. You can convert from tga to jpeg with any image editing software, or there are [free sites](http://www.converthub.com/tgatojpg.php) online that do it. Set the “jpeg quality” to 100 - even at 100% jpeg is still small enough. > > Once we get the gallery set up we may have an easier way to directly upload the pictures, so you can wait for that if you’d like. > > About custom maps - I don’t want to start introducing a ton of custom maps right away. I need to test to see how fast this server serves up the files, and even then, every time you change to a custom map you tend to lose players - a lot of people will just cancel and leave if they have to wait for anything. So I may want to start doing custom map nights just on the locked/private games and see how that goes. But if you have favorite custom maps go ahead and list them and I’ll look them over. > > And if you can figure out any other uses we have for a webserver - even outside tf2 specifically and maybe for SDMB gaming in general, please suggest them. Steams recent update let’s you take screenshots by pressing f12 and host them on your Steam community page. Copying the url then opening it in an internet browser will let you save the image as a jpg. I tried this out and the size for a 1920x1080 picture is 191kb. [Here’s the screenshot](http://i.imgur.com/HxzGT.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/142 "2011-03-02T01:05:32Z")
Yeah, that’s a cool feature. As far as I can tell, though, you can’t import old screenshots from tf2, you can only take new screenshots using that feature, so to get all our current screenshots we need to use a gallery. It’s probably easier too just to have one web based gallery than to look at each individual’s screenshots page. I’m gonna play around a bit tonight in an open game, so join me if you want. Tomorrow (Wednesday) will be the locked sdmb game. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/143 "2011-03-02T06:04:06Z")
I started off the [image gallery](http://www.senorbeef.net/gallery/). I’ll be adding to it. If you have interesting/funny screenshots, e-mail them to me at [screenshots@senorbeef.net](mailto:screenshots@senorbeef.net) - or if for some reason you can’t e-mail them talk to me and I can give you the info to directly upload. They’re in \steam\steamapps\username eam fortress 2 f\screenshots Preferably convert them to jpeg (at 100% quality if possible) first, but if not I’ll do it. Ask me if you have any questions. You can rate or add comments without looking in. There’s a “prev/next” button awkwardly on the right when you’re browsing the gallery, and if you click the image itself you can get it at full size. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/144 "2011-03-02T06:22:45Z")
I’ve also recently received donations to server costs. $20 from Cinn and Phoenix, and $50 from my non-board friend Don/Red13nek. I told him his donation was too big relative to what I’d expect from people but he seemed happy to give it, so tell him thanks sometime. This gives us plenty of money to run the server for quite a while. That brings the full donators list to: red13nek $50 fluiddruid $20 Cinnamon & Dark2Phoenix $20 SenorBeef $15 ElectronicChaos $10 BurntToast $10 ReticulatingSplines $6 I’d also like to recognize the time EC has spent working on the server - he’s done most of the work behind the stats and mods and that stuff. I put a note in our MOTD listing the donations. If for some reason you don’t want to be listed just tell me. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/145 "2011-03-02T19:55:31Z")
I might be late tonight. If so, just organize yourselves - hop on the server around 8pm and invite your friends. One of the other admins should be around to lock it. ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/146 "2011-03-02T22:16:34Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > What’s everyone’s opinion of RTD Add me in with the other guy that’s no fun and hates all that’s good in the world, sorry. RTD is a little irritating, especially when someone just wanders by and his invisible disease cloud (or whatever) instakills you. Lots of people have a problem already with crits in TF2, or the damage spread , and I’m not really one of them, but RTD is about 10x worse. Its fine as long as everyone is just horsing around or checking it out for the novelty, but I’d very much prefer not to have it on any sort of permanent rotation. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/147 "2011-03-02T22:23:14Z")
I don’t mind RTD; I didn’t use it _that_ much because the odds were I’d get something bad. But every once and a while I’ll get invisibility as a heavy and wipe out the entire team, so I can see why people don’t like it. I could take it or leave it. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/148 "2011-03-05T18:05:55Z")
Alright, what we’re going to do with RTD for now is to disable it by default for normal use. But I’m also going to tweak the timers and such so that it has a much lower cooldown so that we can turn it on from time to time and go into full goof off mode. We also installed a script to do classic limits by server population. This is already controversial so let me explain. I like highlander mode, where you can only have one person per class per team. It’s interesting because there’s always a variety of classes, teams are evenly matched, and you don’t end up in situations where 3 engineers, 3 heavies, and a medic are guarding an alley completely grinding the game to a halt. But the downside of highlander mode is that it’s probably too restrictive - if you’re the last person to join a full game, you’re restricted to just one class, and you may hate that class. (I’m fine with this, but a lot of people are not) So what we did was implement a script that has 1 player per class in a 4v4 game or below, and 2 per class in a 5v5 game or above. Since, at max - even if the server is full and you’re the last to join, only 5 classes can be full in this configuration, you’ll never be left picking from less than 4 classes you want to play. And even that scenario occuring is unlikely. It doesn’t completely solve class mix/balance issues either, but it alleviates the situations where there are a bunch of sentry guns covering each other forming a nearly unbreakable barrier or having 5 heavies (much more common) ride the front of the payload cart. Those situations just suck the fun out of it for me, and I know I’m not alone, because people tend to send me steam messages bitching about it when one team has 5/8 heavies bringing the game to a pretty horrible grind. I do have a grudge against the heavy class. I think it’s poorly designed. It’s basically designed to take very little skill and still be powerful. This is exaggerated even further at the low end of the skill curve - the worse the average player is on your game, the less they know how to deal with heavies, and the more powerful heavies become. Heavies can barely move, especially when firing, so the basic movement skill of FPS games is taken out the picture. And it’s not as if they require precise aim like a sniper - their weapon is purposely fired in a spread cone, so good aiming is not required and barely rewarded. Combine these - and you have a class that requires the least movement skill, and the least aiming skill, yet is the most durable class by a long shot and synergizes best with the medic, while still doing pretty good damage. So even badly played heavies are powerful, especially without expert players running around killing them. Because of that, they have a fairly unique relationship with counters. Most classes in TF2 can fight other classes and have a fair shot at winning - they don’t require hard counters. Heavies do - you pretty much need a sniper or spy to kill a heavy. The only relationship in the game similar to this is spy/pyro, but even then non-pyros are quite capable of killing spies. So what this means is - say we’re playing a 4v4 KOTH game, as we often do, and one or two people on the other team go heavy. Now someone - or multiple people - on your team is pretty much forced to go spy or sniper to counter them, whether they like it or not. Or they go heavy to match up with them, and then we get a heavy arms race. I’ve had to do this a bunch of times to just to ensure we had a fighting chance, even when I didn’t want to. But if no one does the hard counters, the heavies run wild, and are almost unstoppable with a medic. The problem alleviates somewhat in bigger games with more people because there will natural be more counters around, but we get into the ridiculous situation (mostly on payload maps were heavies are disproportionately effective, because they can move with the cart while it serves as a medic for several of them) where half or more of the team is heavies. Then it’s not even really fun anymore for me, just a grind, as the enemy team just soaks up absurd amounts of damage while all hitting you with their spray weapon. I point out heavies specifically because they’re almost always the greatest problem - we have a lot of people who aren’t that experienced in FPS games and they tend to gravitate towards heavy for the abovementioned reasons. And I’m not trying to begrudge you that - it’s just that in certain situations it just completely ruins a game. One heavy can ruin a small KOTH game, and a team half full of heavies can ruin a big payload game. Engineers are the second biggest concern and much for the same reasons. If you just build a gun and chain-wrench it, it’s a very low skill way of racking up plenty of kills, and when this happens in numbers that are too great (like 4 guns all covering each other at a choke point) the game becomes tedious. This just hasn’t happened nearly as much on our server as the heavy issue because we don’t have that many people who play engineer a lot. I’m not trying to ban any class from the game. 2 players out of a team of 10 is still plenty - and most of the time it can be 2 out of 6 or 7 or 8 since we’re not always full. This gives us some of the benefits of highlander without ever forcing anyone into one specific class - they’ll always have a choice of at least 4 even in the worst case scenario. I know this already has its detractors, but go ahead and chime in if you hate the idea. And for that matter - those of you who send me messages sometimes when our server gets heavy-crazy, please chime in and back me up on this one so it doesn’t look like I’m just being unilateral here. In keeping with the Wed/Sat scheduled game thing, we’ll have a private locked game at 8pm eastern tonight. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/149 "2011-03-05T21:56:57Z")
As a newcomer, I think it’s a good idea, at least to try it a few times. I’m one of the guilty party when it comes to heavies, but I think it’d be neat to try because our group is very noob friendly, so it’ll force people to play classes they’re not used to. ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/150 "2011-03-05T22:32:23Z")
I think both server changes are probably for the better. While most classes (demo, soldier, scout, sniper, spy, even pyro) can easily take down a lone heavy at high-skill level play, the heavy does get a little OP on most low-to-medium-skill games, which is about 99% of public servers, especially on payload maps or where he has a dedicated medic. ---
**Author:** ![Mekhazzio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b38774/32.png) [@Mekhazzio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mekhazzio)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/151 "2011-03-06T00:59:38Z")
Heh, I’m used to playing on medium-to-high level servers, so it’s kind of a culture shock to see the class limit debate come up and not mention scout, soldier or demoman at all. At the high end, engineers are borderline useless and being anything but an easy target with a heavy requires sneakiness or mastery of the meta-game. 5 heavies on a cart are just freebie notches on simultaneous demoman achievements and exert almost no pressure or zone of control. I think you’re fixing a problem that will fix itself with experience, and if it comes at the cost of sticking people into classes they don’t like, especially the finicky ones that aren’t at all newbie-friendly, then it may be doing more harm than good. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/152 "2011-03-07T16:31:55Z")
I don’t oppose the changes, because two per class seems reasonable, but I don’t agree that it’s a class balance problem so much as it is a map problem. Payload races just have tons of chokepoints…on a map like Badlands the Heavy is useless. He might not require a lot of skill, but neither does the demoman who does nothing but randomly spam grenades out a window or into a control point. Now I’m not denigrating either style of play; it’s effective and I would do it too, but I honestly don’t consider the Heavy that unstoppable. A sniper easily can take several of them down in sequence. As a matter of fact, if any class is too powerful, I think it’s the scout. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/153 "2011-03-09T16:41:48Z")
After reading some of your comments I think I’m in favor of the change, at least for the short-term. Experience is lower than average on our server and it’s true that I’ve been on teams several times where we were utterly dominated by one or two heavy/medic teams, just because our team isn’t as experienced across all classes enough to handle countering. I’m pretty comfortable in any class (with the possible exception of Demo) so if anyone is really unhappy with class selections available when they get on, I volunteer to swap with ya if you want. I normally swap classes around a lot anyway. But, I definitely encourage people to try more of the classes - it makes you a much stronger player on several levels. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/154 "2011-03-09T19:50:40Z")
I’ll try to make it tonight. I’m a true noob, though, so just giving you all a heads-up. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/155 "2011-03-11T02:04:43Z")
The TF2 beta has a new demo recording mode that works like theater mode in BLOPS I think, more or less. You can record a game, free-cam around, observe yourself, whatever you want, and automatically upload clips of it to youtube, so that might be pretty fun to play around with. Not sure when the beta is due to conclude. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/156 "2011-03-16T21:28:25Z")
I forgot to schedule an event but I’ll be running the normal wednesday game tonight. I was actually thinking of trying to make it a tuesday game. Since we usually have pretty big games on friday and saturday, tuesday makes it a little more even - 2 days off between the weekend sessions instead of 1 before then 3 after. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/157 "2011-03-21T21:48:00Z")
I went ahead and scheduled this week’s mid-week game for tomorow, tuesday. That way the games are broken up a little more during the week. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/158 "2011-03-24T02:11:22Z")
Ah, finally some hats being used for good instead of evil. > [@teamfortress.com](#): > > Today, we’d like to offer a chance to help out at a time when that help matters most. To support the relief efforts currently underway in Japan, we’re introducing three limited edition hats and two special noisemakers to the Mann Co. store. The “Humanitarian’s Hachimaki” ($7.99), the “Benefactor’s Kanmuri” ($19.99) and the most prestigious “Magnanimous Monarch” ($99.99) will be available from now through April 6. All proceeds (net of applicable taxes) will go directly towards the Japanese disaster relief fund that the American Red Cross has set up. The hats can be equipped by all classes; however, they cannot be traded or used for crafting. > > After April 6, none of these items will be available in any form. We encourage you to spend as much as you are comfortable with contributing to this good cause. While your Mann Co. store purchases cannot be written off as tax deductions, those who would prefer to donate directly to the American Red Cross fund can do so at their website. > > Thanks. I bet they’ll actually raise a shitload of money that way. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/159 "2011-03-25T17:52:30Z")
I just came in to post about the charity stuff. They have individual items as well as packages. I bought me some swag for a good cause just last night. BTW, I like the idea of TFTuesday - it seemed to work well! ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186/160 "2011-03-27T19:16:16Z")
BTW, Phoenix pointed me to this guy’s work, and it’s amazing. I haven’t downloaded it yet, but it looks really cool. He’s an exceptional artist! [Female Medic](http://www.gamebanana.com/skins/90529) [Female Heavy](http://www.gamebanana.com/skins/90532) [Female Spy](http://www.gamebanana.com/skins/107782) Now where is the (more obviously) female Pyro? Can’t wait to see more models! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-team-fortress-2-server/566186.md?page=9)