what are and who are the "servers"

[bruvs-mcfc]

Never been gifted with a natural ability to understand the tech side of gaming online , but am trying to sus out all these connection and time out issues that seem to plague Xbox 1 , I keep reading it's a server problem , am struggling to get my head round who they are , what they do and why they are not able to deliver what is required for the smooth running of the game , if it's a company who do this and rockstar use them, unless they are the only one , why are they using them .thanks in advance for any help

[Johan]

Servers are what companies use to give you access to their games, whether it's signing onto their consoles or playing their multiplayer games.

 

In this case, it's tough having smooth sessions on GTA V including on current-gen due to Rockstar's servers acting up on a daily basis.. the game has sold over 45 million times around the world and despite not all of them playing Online, it's still a huge number of players trying to access Online at the same time which messes things up a bit for other players.

 

That's pretty much the situation going on here, if there's anything else you want to know that I didn't mention then let me know.

[RedDagger]

To add on to what Johan said, servers are computers that handle the data sent to them from a console (i.e. you playing) and sending it to the other players in your session - things like position, what weapon you have and if you're firing.

 

All the data from each person has to be sent to everyone else in your lobby, so that you can play together. Servers also have to handle matchmaking and things like updating leaderboards and stats for Social Club.

 

Rockstar only have a limited amount of computing power, so when the amount of data sent/received by players exceeds the computing power they have available, things start messing up - like connection issues, as the server can't properly handle you.

 

Time out errors are when you spend too long on the server trying to do a single thing, often finding other players; this is waste of computing power for the server since it could be using that time to service other players, so it kicks you off.

Edited February 12, 2015 by RedDagger

[bruvs-mcfc]

Thanks Johan , so are they a part of the company's that obviously cannot function without them , or are they independent companies themselves who offer it as a service , if rockstar use there own servers surly they have known all along that they wouldn't be able to cope , and is it as simple as just using more of them to spread the load , so to speak .

[RedDagger]

Hm, I can't answer that for certain, but it's highly likely that they use their own servers since something the scale of GTA:Online shouldn't really be reliant on servers run by an independant company.

 

Either way, they weren't able to predict the huge amount of traffic they'd have, so that wasn't a great start. However, it isn't as easy as just adding more - they have to buy them and set them up initially, and be able to cope with the physical demands of the extra servers (more space for server racks, more cooling as servers generate massive amounts of heat, lots more electricity and wiring - things that can't be made quickly), as well as setting them up to work fine with the rest of the servers in terms of software.

Then there's the case of being able to transmit all the extra data the server will create, which can affect the servers already there.

 

Once that's done though, they are able to spread the load, as you say. Why there hasn't been any noticeable server upgrade after this long is a mystery, to be honest.

 

Oh, and if they do rent the servers from an independant company, it's as easy as buying more servers for their use with a few software updates to recognise the servers.

[bruvs-mcfc]

Hm, I can't answer that for certain, but it's highly likely that they use their own servers since something the scale of GTA:Online shouldn't really be reliant on servers run by an independant company.

 

Either way, they weren't able to predict the huge amount of traffic they'd have, so that wasn't a great start. However, it isn't as easy as just adding more - they have to buy them and set them up initially, and be able to cope with the physical demands of the extra servers (more space for server racks, more cooling as servers generate massive amounts of heat, lots more electricity and wiring - things that can't be made quickly), as well as setting them up to work fine with the rest of the servers in terms of software.

Then there's the case of being able to transmit all the extra data the server will create, which can affect the servers already there.

 

Once that's done though, they are able to spread the load, as you say. Why there hasn't been any noticeable server upgrade after this long is a mystery, to be honest.

 

Oh, and if they do rent the servers from an independant company, it's as easy as buying more servers for their use with a few software updates to recognise the servers.

Thanks red dagger really appreciate your help ..

Jesus sounds like a nightmare to do , but you'd think if they were struggling to cope releasing it on next gen was only going to make it worse