Jump to content


Photo
- - - - -
Scheduled

Player And Server Location Via Ip



  • Please log in to reply
28 replies to this topic

#1 VoidWhisperer

VoidWhisperer

    Void

  • Users
  • PipPipPip
  • 683 posts

Steam Profile

Posted 20 March 2014 - 12:09 AM

I was talking to someone about this and came up with an interesting idea that would help out server owners, such as myself, figure out where to base their servers for tf2center and otherwise:

 

It would be interesting to see some sort of map or list of the locations where the most players are visiting from ranked from greatest to least in order to figure out where to base some tf2 servers so that people get the most optimal ping.



#2 R.E.M.

R.E.M.

    Member

  • Users
  • PipPipPip
  • 632 posts

Steam Profile

Posted 20 March 2014 - 04:48 AM

I would be interested to see this purely because I'm curious about where people are connecting from too.

 

I suspect though that the main areas will be US (east coast, west coast, texas), Western Europe (UK, France, Germany, Spain, Scandinavia + Finland), Eastern europe (Russia, Czech republic, Lithuania, Poland etc), South America (Brazil, Chile mostly) and Australia as this is pretty much the only ones I ever see. I very occasionaly see lobbies from the african continent e.g. Tunisia but extremely rarely.


Former TF2C Moderator
Former head of suggestions and bug reports.

"Ze healing is not as revarding as ze hurting." - The Medic.

#3 Some_Thing

Some_Thing

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 419 posts
  • LocationPerth Australia

Steam Profile


           

Posted 20 March 2014 - 09:03 AM

This has been discussed on the dev team before. An idea that the server operator could specify (a text box likely) where their server is located. So an lobby creator could type in saying their server is in Las Vegas, Sydney, East Coast US or whatever they feel identifies their server location. We don't have a GEO-IP database as such and can't auto detect exact location based on IP. We currently detect region, so EU, AU, NA etc



#4 VoidWhisperer

VoidWhisperer

    Void

  • Users
  • PipPipPip
  • 683 posts

Steam Profile

Posted 20 March 2014 - 10:35 AM

I would be interested to see this purely because I'm curious about where people are connecting from too.

 

I suspect though that the main areas will be US (east coast, west coast, texas), Western Europe (UK, France, Germany, Spain, Scandinavia + Finland), Eastern europe (Russia, Czech republic, Lithuania, Poland etc), South America (Brazil, Chile mostly) and Australia as this is pretty much the only ones I ever see. I very occasionaly see lobbies from the african continent e.g. Tunisia but extremely rarely.

 

According to what I've heard for the US it's currently Cali -> NY -> Texas as the 3 biggest

 

 

 

This has been discussed on the dev team before. An idea that the server operator could specify (a text box likely) where their server is located. So an lobby creator could type in saying their server is in Las Vegas, Sydney, East Coast US or whatever they feel identifies their server location. We don't have a GEO-IP database as such and can't auto detect exact location based on IP. We currently detect region, so EU, AU, NA etc

 

Not sure if they actually have an api for this, but doesn't google analytics pull more specific locations?



#5 Mother Tereza

Mother Tereza

    Developer

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 1714 posts
  • LocationRussia, Moscow

Steam Profile

Posted 20 March 2014 - 12:31 PM

Instead of detecting user's location we have a plans to detect players pings. Can't promise nothing about visualization. Right now I see this suggestion as a cherry on a cake's top. But our current development still far away from reaching the top. Therefore is too early to discuss cherries.



#6 VoidWhisperer

VoidWhisperer

    Void

  • Users
  • PipPipPip
  • 683 posts

Steam Profile

Posted 20 March 2014 - 08:14 PM

Instead of detecting user's location we have a plans to detect players pings. Can't promise nothing about visualization. Right now I see this suggestion as a cherry on a cake's top. But our current development still far away from reaching the top. Therefore is too early to discuss cherries.

 

It wasn't so much player pings for this. I was looking at this from a server owner perspective: It would be nice to know where the most tf2center players are coming from :P



#7 R.E.M.

R.E.M.

    Member

  • Users
  • PipPipPip
  • 632 posts

Steam Profile

Posted 20 March 2014 - 08:44 PM

This has been discussed on the dev team before. An idea that the server operator could specify (a text box likely) where their server is located. So an lobby creator could type in saying their server is in Las Vegas, Sydney, East Coast US or whatever they feel identifies their server location. We don't have a GEO-IP database as such and can't auto detect exact location based on IP. We currently detect region, so EU, AU, NA etc

 

Geo-IP server information integration into the lobbies page is the most voted for idea on the old site (193 votes if I recall correctly) so if you guys can find a way of finding the server's country or at least narrow it down to east/west europe/NA/australia etc.


Former TF2C Moderator
Former head of suggestions and bug reports.

"Ze healing is not as revarding as ze hurting." - The Medic.

#8 Kenneth

Kenneth

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 519 posts

Steam Profile

Posted 20 March 2014 - 09:28 PM

 

This has been discussed on the dev team before. An idea that the server operator could specify (a text box likely) where their server is located. So an lobby creator could type in saying their server is in Las Vegas, Sydney, East Coast US or whatever they feel identifies their server location. We don't have a GEO-IP database as such and can't auto detect exact location based on IP. We currently detect region, so EU, AU, NA etc

 

Geo-IP server information integration into the lobbies page is the most voted for idea on the old site (193 votes if I recall correctly) so if you guys can find a way of finding the server's country or at least narrow it down to east/west europe/NA/australia etc.

 

 

Honestly for Australia even being able to see the hostname before you join the lobby would be better. I don't  know of many servers hosted in Perth, most are in Sydney Melbourne or Canberra so it's all kind of small hop type stuff. It's usually more a matter of routing which varies per provider and people know what servers they can/can't play on. God routing over here is so bad. 



#9 R.E.M.

R.E.M.

    Member

  • Users
  • PipPipPip
  • 632 posts

Steam Profile

Posted 20 March 2014 - 10:15 PM

Honestly for Australia even being able to see the hostname before you join the lobby would be better. I don't  know of many servers hosted in Perth, most are in Sydney Melbourne or Canberra so it's all kind of small hop type stuff. It's usually more a matter of routing which varies per provider and people know what servers they can/can't play on. God routing over here is so bad.

 

I think for people who aren't familiar with the names of the servers it might be useful to know where they are. I don't know what the ping is like between say Sydney and Canberra but I know your internet is pretty shit.


Former TF2C Moderator
Former head of suggestions and bug reports.

"Ze healing is not as revarding as ze hurting." - The Medic.

#10 VoidWhisperer

VoidWhisperer

    Void

  • Users
  • PipPipPip
  • 683 posts

Steam Profile

Posted 21 March 2014 - 12:49 AM



This has been discussed on the dev team before. An idea that the server operator could specify (a text box likely) where their server is located. So an lobby creator could type in saying their server is in Las Vegas, Sydney, East Coast US or whatever they feel identifies their server location. We don't have a GEO-IP database as such and can't auto detect exact location based on IP. We currently detect region, so EU, AU, NA etc


Geo-IP server information integration into the lobbies page is the most voted for idea on the old site (193 votes if I recall correctly) so if you guys can find a way of finding the server's country or at least narrow it down to east/west europe/NA/australia etc.

Honestly for Australia even being able to see the hostname before you join the lobby would be better. I don't know of many servers hosted in Perth, most are in Sydney Melbourne or Canberra so it's all kind of small hop type stuff. It's usually more a matter of routing which varies per provider and people know what servers they can/can't play on. God routing over here is so bad.
Edit: I was wrong. Lol

Edited by VoidWhisperer, 21 March 2014 - 03:03 PM.


#11 jayserp

jayserp

    former staff

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 532 posts

Steam Profile

Posted 21 March 2014 - 12:08 PM

function ping(host, port, pong) {
 
  var started = new Date().getTime();
 
  var http = new XMLHttpRequest();
 
  http.open("GET", "http://" + host + ":" + port, /*async*/true);
  http.onreadystatechange = function() {
    if (http.readyState == 4) {
      var ended = new Date().getTime();
 
      var milliseconds = ended - started;
 
      if (pong != null) {
        pong(milliseconds);
      }
    }
  };
  try {
    http.send(null);
  } catch(exception) {
    // this is expected
  }
 
}
 
ping('95.154.193.26', 27025, function(ms) {
    console.log(ms);
});

Works for me in Chrome anyway!


jayserp | steam


#12 VoidWhisperer

VoidWhisperer

    Void

  • Users
  • PipPipPip
  • 683 posts

Steam Profile

Posted 21 March 2014 - 03:00 PM

Works for me in Chrome anyway!


Well I knew I was wrong haha. People's ping in tf2 could be different by a bit due to how tf2 measures ping

Edited by VoidWhisperer, 21 March 2014 - 03:04 PM.


#13 VoidWhisperer

VoidWhisperer

    Void

  • Users
  • PipPipPip
  • 683 posts

Steam Profile

Posted 21 March 2014 - 08:36 PM

function ping(host, port, pong) {
 
  var started = new Date().getTime();
 
  var http = new XMLHttpRequest();
 
  http.open("GET", "http://" + host + ":" + port, /*async*/true);
  http.onreadystatechange = function() {
    if (http.readyState == 4) {
      var ended = new Date().getTime();
 
      var milliseconds = ended - started;
 
      if (pong != null) {
        pong(milliseconds);
      }
    }
  };
  try {
    http.send(null);
  } catch(exception) {
    // this is expected
  }
 
}
 
ping('95.154.193.26', 27025, function(ms) {
    console.log(ms);
});

Works for me in Chrome anyway!

 

 

Ran a test - this does not work in firefox. It's running between 80 and 110ms for a server I get 35-50ms ping to



#14 Foxy

Foxy

    former dev

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 995 posts

Steam Profile

Posted 22 March 2014 - 11:33 AM

This is what I tried weeks ago (there's still a development branch with it on). The issue is that this isn't a true ping, its a HTTP request. So what that means is:

 

  • If you just do it to the host IP, it will hit port 80. If there is a webserver there, the time will also encompass the response time transfer time for that web page, which can be 10s of ms and lead to a significantly incorrect reading.
  • If you do it to the host IP and port, it's counted as an RCON attempt but with no password. More than 3 (i think) of these causes the server to ban you for too many bad RCON password attempts.

If there's a solution around this then I'm all for it.



#15 Kenneth

Kenneth

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 519 posts

Steam Profile

Posted 22 March 2014 - 11:42 AM

You could unset the rcon autoban while the lobby is setting up. Once it launches, put it back, you don't really need it once everyone is there anyway. 

 

But that's probably a really bad idea. 



#16 VoidWhisperer

VoidWhisperer

    Void

  • Users
  • PipPipPip
  • 683 posts

Steam Profile

Posted 22 March 2014 - 12:21 PM

You could unset the rcon autoban while the lobby is setting up. Once it launches, put it back, you don't really need it once everyone is there anyway. 

 

But that's probably a really bad idea. 

 

That could inadvertently unban people that are banned for a good reason.

 

Also, what foxy said is correct: If you try to use the excerpt that jay posted enough times it will get you IP banned from the server for failed rcon attempts.


Edited by VoidWhisperer, 22 March 2014 - 01:13 PM.


#17 Intoxx

Intoxx

    Newbie

  • Users
  • Pip
  • 7 posts

Steam Profile

Posted 22 March 2014 - 11:41 PM

So I did a center yesterday and I was so confused why I was lagging. Apparently the server was in Atlanta where I pretty much never get good ping living on the west coast in Canada. So I was wondering if when you join the lobby there is a better more specific version of server info such as server title and location like how in tf2lobby(when it existed) showed you a map and location where the server is located.

 

 

Also I've been creating a few lobbies and I was wondering why it did not redirect you to the lobby page once the lobby is created? It says server fully initialized and sometimes I do not notice it and wait a bit. So could the window close automatically or redirect you to the lobby that you just created?

 

Thank-you! :)



#18 R.E.M.

R.E.M.

    Member

  • Users
  • PipPipPip
  • 632 posts

Steam Profile

Posted 23 March 2014 - 01:42 AM

This is kind of a similar topic to this thread and we normally don't allow duplicates but to be honest that thread was about another idea originally and this is an extremely popular idea so I let it slide. In fact it's the most upvoted idea on our forum (not so fun fact of the day).

 

I would support this if it's possible. Maybe we could somehow integrate with an existing site e.g. http://www.geoiptool.com/ to give us more specific information on a server's location (even if it's just something like east coast/west coast/texas)

 

Also would you mind making a seperate thread for your other idea? The system we use is much easier to handle if you post one idea per thread as it allows easier discussion, tagging and processing if ideas are kept seperate.

 

I have added both ideas to the suggestions list but please PM me with the link to your other thread when you have made it.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

Edit: Oh and just for future reference here's the list of current suggestionsa post you should read before posting a suggestions topic and a guide on how to write good suggestions.


Former TF2C Moderator
Former head of suggestions and bug reports.

"Ze healing is not as revarding as ze hurting." - The Medic.

#19 VoidWhisperer

VoidWhisperer

    Void

  • Users
  • PipPipPip
  • 683 posts

Steam Profile

Posted 23 March 2014 - 02:47 AM

One issue I've noticed.

- IPs are not always geolocated correctly. I have servers in Chicago that have their IPs geolocated to new jersey. Some ips also aren't geolocated period. This would present a bit of an issue. For example, geolcate my server: chi1.voksul.net. It's in chicago but shows up as in NJ.

 

I'm not saying that the geolocation is a bad idea. I'm just saying that people will need to take the locations with a pinch of salt because they might not always be correct.


Edited by VoidWhisperer, 23 March 2014 - 02:52 AM.


#20 Mother Tereza

Mother Tereza

    Developer

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 1714 posts
  • LocationRussia, Moscow

Steam Profile

Posted 23 March 2014 - 07:36 AM

This is kind of a similar topic to this thread and we normally don't allow duplicates but to be honest that thread was about another idea originally and this is an extremely popular idea so I let it slide. In fact it's the most upvoted idea on our forum (not so fun fact of the day).

 

This is exactly same idea. Need to be merged together. Better keep all similar ideas in one thread. All those small differences is a questions to be discussed in a single thread.

 

Also I've been creating a few lobbies and I was wondering why it did not redirect you to the lobby page once the lobby is created? It says server fully initialized and sometimes I do not notice it and wait a bit. So could the window close automatically or redirect you to the lobby that you just created?

 

Please, report all different suggestions and issues in the separate topics. This one is a known bug that is already fixed and will be implemented in the next release very soon.







Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: Scheduled