static zones from batchfile

[Rhodan]

Ok, after searching the Wiki and the forum several times, I never did find anything saying how to start static zones - either in a batch file or from the database. In addition, it seems that none of the 7.0.xxx version http manager's work properly (cannot find package EQW). So, having finally seen what was right in front of my eyes and luckily spotting a post with an example of launching one zone as static, I figure I should post an example for other forum searchers.

Launching a static zone is danged simple (which is probably why it took me so long to figure it out). Zone.exe is used along with the short name of the zone you want launched. As far as I can tell, Zone.exe takes no arguments either - so there isn't much to remember.

At the end of your start.bat or in a stand alone batchfile, write the following

start zone.exe gfaydark

When that is run, a new dos window will open and gfaydark will be loaded as a static zone.

the word "start" is important. This tells DOS to launch the command in a new window and not wait for the new window to finish before carrying on. If you omit start, the batch file will simply sit there until you shut down gfaydark by closing its window.

Loading up zones takes CPU time and resources so simply putting in

start zone <a zone>
start zone <another zone>
start zone <yet another zone>
...100 more zones.

Would likely bring your computer to its knees. On my P4 3.4Gig it takes about 5 seconds to load up a zone so I add a slightly longer delay between each zone command.

start zone gfaydark
sleep 7
start zone crushbone
sleep 7
start zone runnyeye
...

Thats all there is to it!

P.S. I run a second batch file for static zones. That way I can wait until the dynamic zones are finished doing their stuff before I start all the static zones.

If anyone knows other ways of starting static zones, please let us know!

[Damilis]

I want to be the first to e-shake this man's hand. This must be one of the very few threads where the Title is a perfect summary of what's in the post... plus intuitive enough to easily be found in a search. Outstanding!

Rhodan, do you happen to have the cpu & memory footprints for:
-static zone sitting idle
-dynamic zone sitting idle
-static zone with 1-5 players
-dynamic zone with 1-5 players

I personally think it would be good to start collecting the various server's stats so as to get a good feel as to what any specific hardware can handle... at least approximately.

[Rhodan]

Actually, I think I should probably have posted this to the windows server forum since it is a dos batch file...

Now I just have to figure out how to NOT have a dos window open for every zone or, if thats not possible, have the zone not output its debug information to the dos window (it goes like mad with sense-heading checks etc at times).

Although text output is a minor load on the cpu - I can't imagine that 15-20 zones all spamming their individual windows with debug info would have no impact on server performance - particularly if the server isn't the most powerful machine.

Someone else also mentioned that you can use the start_zones table to start static zones but, I think they were confused - start_zones seems to be for something completely different.

[Damilis]

Originally Posted by Rhodan

Now I just have to figure out how to NOT have a dos window open for every zone or, if thats not possible, have the zone not output its debug information to the dos window (it goes like mad with sense-heading checks etc at times).

Maybe try redirecting stderr/stdout to an error log file or something of the like. This is actually something I should try when I get home...

If you are looking to minimize performance hit on spam like that, just minimize the window(s). Data I/O is super fast on any machine <6 years old, its just getting that data down through the video pipeline to your monitor that sucks up time/CPU cycles.

[Rhodan]

Originally Posted by Damilis

Rhodan, do you happen to have the cpu & memory footprints for:
-static zone sitting idle
-dynamic zone sitting idle
-static zone with 1-5 players
-dynamic zone with 1-5 players

I personally think it would be good to start collecting the various server's stats so as to get a good feel as to what any specific hardware can handle... at least approximately.

Well, I haven't really noted specifics but I currently have 20 static zones and 5 dynamic loaded with nobody logged in. Memory usage is miniscule, the pagefile usage is up about 100mb and CPU usage is at 0%.

Once I log in from another machine and hit a static zone, memory usage increases by about 1 meg. CPU load hits 28-33% for about a second then drops down to 0-1% as I load the zone in my client.

I then went down into Runnyeye and made the biggest train I could - no noticeable effect on ram or CPU use but the network traffic runs fairly consistantly at 0.1% (100MB lancard).

I then started up ekarana to see the impact and it seems to use roughly 3MB ram. CPU use spiked up to 2% for about 1/4 second then dropped back to zero.

Oh yes, myserver is a P4 3.4 gig (single core) with 1gig of memory.

I'm thinking you can load a LOT of static zones even on just a 1 gig machine.

[Rhodan]

Oops! Oversight.

the SLEEP command is not included with dos or windows. The one I use came as part of the Windows 2003 server kit - I just installed the kit and it did the rest, including adding to my path for immediate use.

Go to microsoft and just search for sleep.exe - it'll likely show the resource kit page as the very first link.

I would provide a link but microsoft tends to move things around and who knows when MS is going to put out a newer and better kit with sleep.exe it in - searching would show the newer one first I would think.

[bufferofnewbies]

Originally Posted by Rhodan

If anyone knows other ways of starting static zones, please let us know!

Inside your database itself, there are 2 tables:
launcher controls the number of dynamic zones you start with
launcher_zones control which zones you start as static

Inside launcher_zones there are 3 fields:
launcher is the name of the launcher you wish to open with it, if you put zones in this field it will load them in the same window as your dynamics
zone is the shortname of the zone you wish to launch
port is the port you wish to assign the zone launched

Hope that was some help. no web interface required as this is all database.
You can use mysql CC ( or if you have 5.0, use the query browser)

[Rhodan]

YAY!

Thanks for that - I tried putting zone names in that table but I couldn't figure out what was supposed to go into launcher.

[sdabbs65]

if you don''twant to dig up that silly sleep command
theres work arounds for it.
Windows XP does not come with such a command, there are tricks to emulate it, such as a 'ping' command trick to emulate the sleep command

For DOS, Windows 95, and Windows 98 machines

Create the following batch file and name it WAIT.BAT.

@CHOICE /T:N,%1% > NUL

Now, in order to wait 10 seconds in a batch file, just call the WAIT.BAT batch file as follows:

CALL WAIT 10

For Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows 2003 machines

You can use the following WAIT.BAT, as the CHOICE command is not included in the default install on Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows 2003:

@ping 127.0.0.1 -n 2 -w 1000 > nul
@ping 127.0.0.1 -n %1% -w 1000> nul

[unknownerrors]

i couldn't find this anywhere either, but for the sake of explore.exe's already mem hogging ways you can drop multi zones into a launcher and only get one window. open your DB with a Gui viewer editer, and find the launcher table add a table here with your new launcher name, then move over to launcher_zones the add in the zones you want your new launcher to handle, format should be
launcher name | short zone name


now that this is all done edit start.bat

@echo off 
start world.exe
echo Waiting for World to finish before starting Zone...
sleep 20
start eqlaunch.exe zones
sleep 60 <!--gives your dynamic zones one minute to start before moving on ----> 
start eqlaunch.exe #*#new launcher name#*#

just replace #*#new launcher name#*# with your launcher's name..