Starhub plans to pull plug on TF2 public servers

By on - 61 Comments

UPDATE: The Starhub TF2 servers went down at 6am this morning, along with the Mumble voice communications server that Starhub was hosting. GG.

UPDATE 2: We’ve managed to contact Starhub through Twitter. They’ll get back to GameSync.

UPDATE 3: We’ve posted a list of alternative servers you can play TF2 at. Check it out. If you’re looking for TF2 forums to chat with our TF2 players all across Asia, we’ve got them here too.

UPDATE 4: The StarHub servers are now back online.

Starhub is planning to take down their Team Fortress 2 public servers “really soon”, according to the server administrator in charge of the servers.

The server admin, who wishes only to be known as “Hammifer”, told GameSync that keeping the servers up and running smoothly are taking up too much resources for something that does not generate any revenue for the company.

“The only thing for certain is that (the TF2 servers) will most likely go really soon if the current lag issue doesnt get fixed by this Wednesday,” Hammifer said.

Recently, the Starhub servers have been plagued with lag and latency issues due to a combination of the latest Sniper/Spy update being buggy and network connectivity issues, especially between the Singnet and Starhub service providers. A source who works closely with Starhub told GameSync that the ISP is currently not interested in fixing the network issues.

Starhub currently operates eight Team Fortress 2 public servers that are popular all across Asia, with players from Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and India using the servers on a daily basis. Should the servers go down, the impact on the Asia-Pacific Team Fortress 2 community could be severe with little alternatives in place to meet demand.

Singapore-based players who experience latency issues while playing can try calling Starhub’s customer service line at 1633 for help.

More on No Game No Talk right now

Have your say. Add your comments:

  • DomeJr

    we’re fucked.

  • Matafleur

    Seems like they’re bent on shutting the servers down.

    Just had a session on SH2, the latency looks ok but there’s a lot of choke and loss. Lag compensation is a bitch.

  • rishimetawala

    this is almost gonna kill tf2, any1 having a word with him? like request him to put up 2/ 3 starhub pug servers up atleast

  • shady2020

    Waaaaugh, it is sad day

  • Neth

    Well, I’m pretty sure he won’t change his mind on shutting down the servers. Oh well :(

  • Audi0

    damn :(

    wish we could have some alternatives. I’m hoping our community can rise up and contribute to get some servers up. Otherwise TF2 is almost dead here …

  • Glimmerous.Fop

    The servers just went down. There goes 1.5 years of good memories.

    I’m interested in setting up a couple of dedicated servers for TF2 using sgWarGames. The GameSync scrim server is powered by SGW, and I also have my own SGW-powered L4D server. They have very good service and their servers have almost zero lag problems.

    Now of course the question is: $$$. The current fee for renting an SGW server is $16 per month. Anybody willing to pool together some donations so that we can get some servers up? 😉

  • BeaRZ

    All good times have to end someday LoL. We did enjoy while it lasted.

    Getting a couple, your couple meaning how many server?
    i dun mind donating for a server LoL.

  • thelousy

    I wouldn’t mind chipping in. 16 per month inclusive of unlimited bandwidth and all? If that’s the case I’ll donate 16 for a server myself.

  • Matafleur

    I highly doubt it’s $16 per month for a TF2 server. The typical TF2 server is 24 slot as compared to 8 slot for L4D.

  • thelousy

    Maybe you get a price plan out then the community will chip in?

  • Matafleur

    I’ll try asking SGWarGames and see what they can offer. Their servers are hosted on Starhub too though, not sure if they will be hit by the same network problems.

  • Glimmerous.Fop

    Ok, I just got into contact with the SGWarGames person. It’s not 16 dollars per month, that is only the cost for an 8-slot L4D server (my bad).

    A 24-slot TF2 rented server, similar to the Starhub ones, would cost about 130 dollars per month. Yikes.

    The person did mention however, that sgWarGames might be opening a free public TF2 server soon. Probably a 32-slot server (gasp!) or something, details are sketchy at the moment. Stay tuned.

  • Roflnova

    It is a sad day, but hopefully teh merry tf lulz won’t stop.

  • Dark-Master

    It’s sad to hear that because I play CS and TF2 on Starhub…

    I don’t know if this is called as spam-ads. But I just want to let you guys know that I’m trying to support Valve’s game which lacks of server amount. Now I can open only 1 of TF2 Server and server address is 210.1.31.204:27071, if it’s stable and if I have more resource later I will open more TF2 server.

  • Sooty

    Thanks so much Dark-Master. I’ve added it to my favorites list. Lets see if we can spread the word about the server!

  • Makanator

    Now isn’t that a bad move to pull the plug when many people are not in the know?
    But seriously, a latency issue = total removal of servers?

  • Glimmerous.Fop

    These are the current SG servers that exist for the moment:

    http://www.game-monitor.com/search.php?game=tf2&location=SG

    Anyone tried playing on the Eternals servers before? Honestly never heard of them until I saw them in the SG list above.

    Found a (supposedly) Hong Kong TF2 server. It has decent ping and is always populated with players. I also noticed quite a few SG players playing inside as well. The IP is: 116.49.125.19:27016

  • Sooty

    The HK server has 200+ ping for me.

    I really hope the loss of Starhub servers won’t affect the playerbase too adversely over time. Spread the word about these presumably SG public servers:

    203.116.28.6:27016 – Eternal Gamers (/24) [All cp+ctf maps]
    203.116.41.170:27015 – e-club (/24) [hlstatsx + pl_ + alltalk]
    203.116.41.170:27017 – e-club (/24) [hlstatsx + orangex]
    203.116.28.6:27017 – Eternal Gamers Arena(/18) [quick map rotation]
    203.116.28.6:27017 – Eternal Gamers (/24) [pl_ + alltalk]
    203.142.1.59:27015 – Agentcy (/24) [fast respawn + alltalk]
    210.1.31.204:27071 – XGN (/24)

    May I suggest that Gamesync post a blog post with alternatives which have “starhub tf2” squarely in the title, so that when googled for players who are less savvy with game-monitor or who don’t add friends could find replacements more easily? 😀

  • Matafleur

    That’s a good idea. I’ll do one up later in the day.

    Come post on our [url=http://gamesync.net/forums/f1000087]TF2 forums[/url] in the meanwhile! Lots of people read, but I’m not sure why they don’t actually post.

    EDIT: Posted the article with server alternatives [url=http://gamesync.net/article/1020171/alternatives-to-starhub-tf2-servers]here[/url]. Thanks Sooty!

  • Sooty

    Not that I’m fit to judge, since whoever owns a server should feel fit to do whatever he may please… but for some reason the Eternal Gamers #3 Arena server is running achievement_idle at this moment.

    When all the other SG servers are filled up, and I’m really wondering if we need an SG idle server when idling works just as well in other servers. Well… maybe the weapons+hats bug occur on it constantly or something.

    This is making me indrectly loathe the current drop system even more.

  • RaTsYc|-

    XGN is a thai server

    Taiwan server, ping range from 60+ to 100+, depends on connection and timing.
    219.87.68.238:27015 – [T.M.台灣玩家]排名機
    219.87.68.241:27015 – [T.M.台灣玩家]歡樂機
    113.61.169.87:26015 – [台灣]-D.C.東春車隊TF2伺服器
    211.75.83.13:27016 – M01 | TF2 LAOHAN Server

  • JohnyG

    Hi Guys.

    Earlier in this thread There was talk of starting some community funded Team Fortress 2 severs.

    In this interest of keeping TF2 alive and well in Singapore I sent emails to both SGWarGames and Fragnetics to see what prices they would offer If a number of severs similar to the amount Starhub once had were leased.

    Of the two SGWarGames offered the best rates.

    Below is the quote they sent me:

    “Since you are going for one year advance payment, there will be an upfront 20% off, here is the price quote.
    1) 6 x 24 man = $8294/year
    2) 1 x 18 man = $864/year
    Total = $9158/year

    We will throw in sourcemod for free and if you are serious on this, we will definitely give you further discount (at least another $1000 off). And we will be hosting you on a dedicated server”

    If every member of the community were to chip in just a little we could easily raise the cash to get these severs up and running.

    Let me know if you would be willing to chip in and we can pursue this further.

    Please also let me know if you have any previous sever admining or web development experience as people with both will likely be required to run these severs.

    Thanks

    JohnyG

  • Audi0

    First of all I don’t think we need 6 pub servers. Most of the time Eclub and Eternal servers were hardly used. After SH going down these servers have become quite popular.

    So I’m thinking 3 X 24 man and 2 X 18 man would be great.

  • DomeJr

    I have no comments about the public servers.

    But along with bearz, I am willing to contribute and chip if the community does decide to run the servers, though I honestly prefer just 18 man servers strictly for PUG purposes and the like (lest gamesync server be overcrowded).

    Leave the 24-man servers and pubbing to E-club servers.

  • zyml

    “A source who works closely with Starhub told GameSync that the ISP is currently not interested in fixing the network issues.”

    It’s ok if they bring down their own servers, but if they are not going to fix the network issues for their network then it’s not a good idea.

    Remember that other server providers (Fragnetics, SGWarGames) are using their connection to host their servers.

  • spammah

    HOLY CRAP! That’s an insanely low price quote! Just $9158 for a whole year??????? WHERE DO I DONATE?

    No seriousy though, 7 high volume, high traffic, high cpu load gameservers on ONE dedicated server?? That’s an amazing feat. What required Starhub SEVERAL boxes to run only just about TEN TF2 servers, SGwargames can do it with just one or two! Pray do tell us how you manage to accomplish this SGW!

    Anyway, doing this is just pouring good money down the shithole. You guys should really complain to your Starhub ISP first which seems to be the root cause of all the lag issues with SH, SGW, E-club, Fragnetics, Eternal gamers svrs etc. Then, if you’re really willing to go through with this (which I doubt you guys will), look for other sources of hosting for just one or two TF2 public servers.

  • Audi0

    omg, didn’t read that it was one dedicated server …. which is not suitable at all.

  • DomeJr

    Audi0 care to clarify?

  • Matafleur

    @JohnyG What currency are those prices in?

  • DomeJr

    we’re fucked.

  • Matafleur

    Seems like they’re bent on shutting the servers down.

    Just had a session on SH2, the latency looks ok but there’s a lot of choke and loss. Lag compensation is a bitch.

  • rishimetawala

    this is almost gonna kill tf2, any1 having a word with him? like request him to put up 2/ 3 starhub pug servers up atleast

  • shady2020

    Waaaaugh, it is sad day

  • Neth

    Well, I’m pretty sure he won’t change his mind on shutting down the servers. Oh well :(

  • Audi0

    damn :(

    wish we could have some alternatives. I’m hoping our community can rise up and contribute to get some servers up. Otherwise TF2 is almost dead here …

  • Glimmerous.Fop

    The servers just went down. There goes 1.5 years of good memories.

    I’m interested in setting up a couple of dedicated servers for TF2 using sgWarGames. The GameSync scrim server is powered by SGW, and I also have my own SGW-powered L4D server. They have very good service and their servers have almost zero lag problems.

    Now of course the question is: $$$. The current fee for renting an SGW server is $16 per month. Anybody willing to pool together some donations so that we can get some servers up? 😉

  • BeaRZ

    All good times have to end someday LoL. We did enjoy while it lasted.

    Getting a couple, your couple meaning how many server?
    i dun mind donating for a server LoL.

  • thelousy

    I wouldn’t mind chipping in. 16 per month inclusive of unlimited bandwidth and all? If that’s the case I’ll donate 16 for a server myself.

  • Matafleur

    I highly doubt it’s $16 per month for a TF2 server. The typical TF2 server is 24 slot as compared to 8 slot for L4D.

  • thelousy

    Maybe you get a price plan out then the community will chip in?

  • Matafleur

    I’ll try asking SGWarGames and see what they can offer. Their servers are hosted on Starhub too though, not sure if they will be hit by the same network problems.

  • Glimmerous.Fop

    Ok, I just got into contact with the SGWarGames person. It’s not 16 dollars per month, that is only the cost for an 8-slot L4D server (my bad).

    A 24-slot TF2 rented server, similar to the Starhub ones, would cost about 130 dollars per month. Yikes.

    The person did mention however, that sgWarGames might be opening a free public TF2 server soon. Probably a 32-slot server (gasp!) or something, details are sketchy at the moment. Stay tuned.

  • Roflnova

    It is a sad day, but hopefully teh merry tf lulz won’t stop.

  • Dark-Master

    It’s sad to hear that because I play CS and TF2 on Starhub…

    I don’t know if this is called as spam-ads. But I just want to let you guys know that I’m trying to support Valve’s game which lacks of server amount. Now I can open only 1 of TF2 Server and server address is 210.1.31.204:27071, if it’s stable and if I have more resource later I will open more TF2 server.

  • Sooty

    Thanks so much Dark-Master. I’ve added it to my favorites list. Lets see if we can spread the word about the server!

  • Makanator

    Now isn’t that a bad move to pull the plug when many people are not in the know?
    But seriously, a latency issue = total removal of servers?

  • Glimmerous.Fop

    These are the current SG servers that exist for the moment:

    http://www.game-monitor.com/search.php?game=tf2&location=SG

    Anyone tried playing on the Eternals servers before? Honestly never heard of them until I saw them in the SG list above.

    Found a (supposedly) Hong Kong TF2 server. It has decent ping and is always populated with players. I also noticed quite a few SG players playing inside as well. The IP is: 116.49.125.19:27016

  • Sooty

    The HK server has 200+ ping for me.

    I really hope the loss of Starhub servers won’t affect the playerbase too adversely over time. Spread the word about these presumably SG public servers:

    203.116.28.6:27016 – Eternal Gamers (/24) [All cp+ctf maps]
    203.116.41.170:27015 – e-club (/24) [hlstatsx + pl_ + alltalk]
    203.116.41.170:27017 – e-club (/24) [hlstatsx + orangex]
    203.116.28.6:27017 – Eternal Gamers Arena(/18) [quick map rotation]
    203.116.28.6:27017 – Eternal Gamers (/24) [pl_ + alltalk]
    203.142.1.59:27015 – Agentcy (/24) [fast respawn + alltalk]
    210.1.31.204:27071 – XGN (/24)

    May I suggest that Gamesync post a blog post with alternatives which have “starhub tf2” squarely in the title, so that when googled for players who are less savvy with game-monitor or who don’t add friends could find replacements more easily? 😀

  • Matafleur

    That’s a good idea. I’ll do one up later in the day.

    Come post on our [url=http://gamesync.net/forums/f1000087]TF2 forums[/url] in the meanwhile! Lots of people read, but I’m not sure why they don’t actually post.

    EDIT: Posted the article with server alternatives [url=http://gamesync.net/article/1020171/alternatives-to-starhub-tf2-servers]here[/url]. Thanks Sooty!

  • Sooty

    Not that I’m fit to judge, since whoever owns a server should feel fit to do whatever he may please… but for some reason the Eternal Gamers #3 Arena server is running achievement_idle at this moment.

    When all the other SG servers are filled up, and I’m really wondering if we need an SG idle server when idling works just as well in other servers. Well… maybe the weapons+hats bug occur on it constantly or something.

    This is making me indrectly loathe the current drop system even more.

  • RaTsYc|-

    XGN is a thai server

    Taiwan server, ping range from 60+ to 100+, depends on connection and timing.
    219.87.68.238:27015 – [T.M.台灣玩家]排名機
    219.87.68.241:27015 – [T.M.台灣玩家]歡樂機
    113.61.169.87:26015 – [台灣]-D.C.東春車隊TF2伺服器
    211.75.83.13:27016 – M01 | TF2 LAOHAN Server

  • JohnyG

    Hi Guys.

    Earlier in this thread There was talk of starting some community funded Team Fortress 2 severs.

    In this interest of keeping TF2 alive and well in Singapore I sent emails to both SGWarGames and Fragnetics to see what prices they would offer If a number of severs similar to the amount Starhub once had were leased.

    Of the two SGWarGames offered the best rates.

    Below is the quote they sent me:

    “Since you are going for one year advance payment, there will be an upfront 20% off, here is the price quote.
    1) 6 x 24 man = $8294/year
    2) 1 x 18 man = $864/year
    Total = $9158/year

    We will throw in sourcemod for free and if you are serious on this, we will definitely give you further discount (at least another $1000 off). And we will be hosting you on a dedicated server”

    If every member of the community were to chip in just a little we could easily raise the cash to get these severs up and running.

    Let me know if you would be willing to chip in and we can pursue this further.

    Please also let me know if you have any previous sever admining or web development experience as people with both will likely be required to run these severs.

    Thanks

    JohnyG

  • Audi0

    First of all I don’t think we need 6 pub servers. Most of the time Eclub and Eternal servers were hardly used. After SH going down these servers have become quite popular.

    So I’m thinking 3 X 24 man and 2 X 18 man would be great.

  • DomeJr

    I have no comments about the public servers.

    But along with bearz, I am willing to contribute and chip if the community does decide to run the servers, though I honestly prefer just 18 man servers strictly for PUG purposes and the like (lest gamesync server be overcrowded).

    Leave the 24-man servers and pubbing to E-club servers.

  • zyml

    “A source who works closely with Starhub told GameSync that the ISP is currently not interested in fixing the network issues.”

    It’s ok if they bring down their own servers, but if they are not going to fix the network issues for their network then it’s not a good idea.

    Remember that other server providers (Fragnetics, SGWarGames) are using their connection to host their servers.

  • spammah

    HOLY CRAP! That’s an insanely low price quote! Just $9158 for a whole year??????? WHERE DO I DONATE?

    No seriousy though, 7 high volume, high traffic, high cpu load gameservers on ONE dedicated server?? That’s an amazing feat. What required Starhub SEVERAL boxes to run only just about TEN TF2 servers, SGwargames can do it with just one or two! Pray do tell us how you manage to accomplish this SGW!

    Anyway, doing this is just pouring good money down the shithole. You guys should really complain to your Starhub ISP first which seems to be the root cause of all the lag issues with SH, SGW, E-club, Fragnetics, Eternal gamers svrs etc. Then, if you’re really willing to go through with this (which I doubt you guys will), look for other sources of hosting for just one or two TF2 public servers.

  • Audi0

    omg, didn’t read that it was one dedicated server …. which is not suitable at all.

  • DomeJr

    Audi0 care to clarify?

  • Matafleur

    @JohnyG What currency are those prices in?

  • Vish

     OH MAN I REPLY ON THEM SO MUCH!!!!:(:(