Server patch 2011-12-22

[Henrik Nystrom]

Hi all,

Server is right now down for a server update. And will be up again shortly.

This update handles a few minor bugs,
* guild members have a temp cap on 180 members.
* Keep control radius reverting down when nodes going down has been fixed
* Node lines have got an update that should remove pretty much all related issues with node changes, making it a lot more smooth when changing nodes.
We are interested to hear your feedback on node changes.



We from Star Vault wish you all a merry christmas!

[Tizio]

nodelines!!

Merry Christmas!

[psychobilly]

Guild Cap? But we have more than 200 character members...

[Sharpeye]

It sure will be merry if this works as written.

[Henrik Nystrom]

Originally Posted by psychobilly

Guild Cap? But we have more than 200 character members...

200 active members?
It's capped on 180 untill we have rebuilt a small part of that system since it makes guild information go unstable. If you want to invite active new players you need to remove some inactive players, until we have updates this area.

Thanks for understanding.

[Sirsancho]

Nodes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[NineOneSix]

Interesting

[ForsakenRankor]

May the Force Be With You! Oh wait....

Merry Christmas All!

[Alfie]

Originally Posted by Henrik Nystrom

200 active members?
It's capped on 180 untill we have rebuilt a small part of that system since it makes guild information go unstable. If you want to invite active new players you need to remove some inactive players, until we have updates this area.

No but over 200 active characters. That's only like 66 accounts worth. Considering AQ has about 30 - 40 active members (spread across all timezones) then it's not an unrealistic amount when most have two accounts.

Keep in mind when in GK if you have no tag you die. That's actually an incentive to make sure you are tagged.

Guess we'll be setting up another guild stone till it's sorted.

[sunshiner]

if this works... holy shit.

[Raknar]

Originally Posted by sunshiner

if this works... holy shit.

Indeed, it sounds like a great christmas present for us all

[Henrik Nystrom]

Tested and verified, it works, you do notice a small hickup when passing a node line, but you wont crash or freeze on them anymore

We have one thing left with node lines, in some rare cases you wont get/give damage when running on a ghost zone, we may have a fix for this a bit later. It shouldnt affect you much since its only a delay on the intrest list untill you can pass damage again.

So it seems like a good update on the nodes!

[Kuka]

so after nodeline u fix prediction?

[Daryn]

prediction, is my pet peeve.

[Fatcamp]

Originally Posted by Henrik Nystrom

Tested and verified, it works, you do notice a small hickup when passing a node line, but you wont crash or freeze on them anymore

We have one thing left with node lines, in some rare cases you wont get/give damage when running on a ghost zone, we may have a fix for this a bit later. It shouldnt affect you much since its only a delay on the intrest list untill you can pass damage again.

So it seems like a good update on the nodes!

[Dsn]

Spoiler for tears of joy:

[Afterlife]

Originally Posted by Henrik Nystrom

Tested and verified, it works, you do notice a small hickup when passing a node line, but you wont crash or freeze on them anymore

We have one thing left with node lines, in some rare cases you wont get/give damage when running on a ghost zone, we may have a fix for this a bit later. It shouldnt affect you much since its only a delay on the intrest list untill you can pass damage again.

So it seems like a good update on the nodes!

Its a shame that I'm out of town till 27th, so I guess I'll have to wait till I get back to see how this works.

However, this sounds to me like a workaround and not an actual or proper fix to the core issue, am I right? The last time I talked to you, on focus group TS, you said it was the Level Designer's fault that couldn't do his job as he should, and that is what is causing the node lines to malfunction.
When you mention 'a small hick up', what does this mean? You said on Twitter that you are 'saving' 400 packages between server =/= client, does this affect the players in anyway? Like, can we see houses that are 'on the other side of the node', or the trees, etc.?
Shouldn't there be a smooth transmission when crossing from one node to another?

Anyways, thank you for taking this annoyance which is node lines seriously. And thank you for trying to fix them, but please let this not be a workaround, but a proper fix in the core code. Because, if this isn't a proper fix, future patches etc. will mess up the workaround, for sure.

Merry Christmas!

[princereaper]

Originally Posted by Afterlife

Its a shame that I'm out of town till 27th, so I guess I'll have to wait till I get back to see how this works.

However, this sounds to me like a workaround and not an actual or proper fix to the core issue, am I right? The last time I talked to you, on focus group TS, you said it was the Level Designer's fault that couldn't do his job as he should, and that is what is causing the node lines to malfunction.
When you mention 'a small hick up', what does this mean? You said on Twitter that you are 'saving' 400 packages between server =/= client, does this affect the players in anyway? Like, can we see houses that are 'on the other side of the node', or the trees, etc.?
Shouldn't there be a smooth transmission when crossing from one node to another?

Anyways, thank you for taking this annoyance which is node lines seriously. And thank you for trying to fix them, but please let this not be a workaround, but a proper fix in the core code. Because, if this isn't a proper fix, future patches etc. will mess up the workaround, for sure.

Merry Christmas!

There is still a slight fps drop when going over a nodeline, but instead of it being 5-10 seconds or whatever of you freezing or something, its instantaneous now, you just feel a little "hic cup" on your fps going over them.

[Fatcamp]

Originally Posted by princereaper

There is still a slight fps drop when going over a nodeline, but instead of it being 5-10 seconds or whatever of you freezing or something, its instantaneous now, you just feel a little "hic cup" on your fps going over them.

The thing is other games then you go to a new server you get up a loading screen instead. I like the way mortal have it alot more then.

[Henrik Nystrom]

Yea, I mean the nodes do change the players position to another computer, which means theres some data being transfered, and just notice a small "hic up" by doing this step, Is pretty damn good I think. The other option would be like Fatcamp says, a loading screen, image that instead in a pvp hunt

400 times better (could be around 20-25s to 0.5-1s in avrg case), what I was refering to was that we have an avrage of that many packages updating items on each character changing node, which means theres a lot of data being updated and refreshed in your inventory slot if you have it opend (hence many crashes while having inventory open) And in the background verifuing all your items do cause your client to take a pause to "crunch" that many ticks in short time. The more players and items in the world, the worse this got for the main server, nodes you are on, and each player, so you can see this was bad, and it makes sence now when you said it was a lot better before, and got worse over time. This is why it got worse over time, amount of chars and items been increasing all the time since start.

Now with a new way of refreshing the system when changing nodes there is no packages nor refresh ticks on the client, therefore the node and server dont have to work like crazy anymore.

So its one of the biggest optimization we done for a long time, affecting all players and overall server performance. Some other features was tied to this system that made it even heavier which now also is optimized.

We do also have many levels in similar places as a node line, which means in a few case it is the level streaming you are noticing as a "hic up", and doesnt have to be the node change you are experiencing. We are going to work more on the level optimization later on when we have time for that to improve this in the entire world to make transition in areas even more smooth.

But I have to say we are very very happy right now with the progression of both nodes, overall server performance, and it should be even better for you when pvping across the nodes.

Thanks all for the great feedback, helping us to pinpoint these issues.

And again, Merry Christmas!

[Mycke]

Its a vast improvement!!!

Rode out of bakti with a few guys and no one disappeared or froze or anything.

Very very well done SV!!!

[ThaBadMan]

Seems good, hope it works as intended and wont be an issue later.

Now we need alittle update on the prediction id say huh ?

Merry christmas yall.

[leosuth]

Me noob and probably stupid with it
What's a node and why is this update good? Pref in words of one syllable

[Mycke]

Originally Posted by leosuth

Me noob and probably stupid with it
What's a node and why is this update good? Pref in words of one syllable

The world is on a cluster of servers each hosting an area of the map. A node is a particular server area and a node line is the transition between. Use to be large lag and other problems when traveling between nodes. This patch vastly improved it.

[ravagerx]

I like!

[leosuth]

Oh I see - thanks
How big an area per node - ie how often do you need to cross a nodeline?

[sunshiner]

fairly big, but small enough to be a problem earlier

[slyy]

Awesome job, huge improvement!

[delvhar]

Spoiler for Henriks post:

Originally Posted by Henrik Nystrom

Yea, I mean the nodes do change the players position to another computer, which means theres some data being transfered, and just notice a small "hic up" by doing this step, Is pretty damn good I think. The other option would be like Fatcamp says, a loading screen, image that instead in a pvp hunt

400 times better (could be around 20-25s to 0.5-1s in avrg case), what I was refering to was that we have an avrage of that many packages updating items on each character changing node, which means theres a lot of data being updated and refreshed in your inventory slot if you have it opend (hence many crashes while having inventory open) And in the background verifuing all your items do cause your client to take a pause to "crunch" that many ticks in short time. The more players and items in the world, the worse this got for the main server, nodes you are on, and each player, so you can see this was bad, and it makes sence now when you said it was a lot better before, and got worse over time. This is why it got worse over time, amount of chars and items been increasing all the time since start.

Now with a new way of refreshing the system when changing nodes there is no packages nor refresh ticks on the client, therefore the node and server dont have to work like crazy anymore.

So its one of the biggest optimization we done for a long time, affecting all players and overall server performance. Some other features was tied to this system that made it even heavier which now also is optimized.

We do also have many levels in similar places as a node line, which means in a few case it is the level streaming you are noticing as a "hic up", and doesnt have to be the node change you are experiencing. We are going to work more on the level optimization later on when we have time for that to improve this in the entire world to make transition in areas even more smooth.

But I have to say we are very very happy right now with the progression of both nodes, overall server performance, and it should be even better for you when pvping across the nodes.

Thanks all for the great feedback, helping us to pinpoint these issues.

And again, Merry Christmas!

Thanks for the explanation Henrik, I can't wait to get on and see how it goes!

[Ameliorant]

Originally Posted by Henrik Nystrom

Hi all,

Server is right now down for a server update. And will be up again shortly.

This update handles a few minor bugs,
* guild members have a temp cap on 180 members.
* Keep control radius reverting down when nodes going down has been fixed
* Node lines have got an update that should remove pretty much all related issues with node changes, making it a lot more smooth when changing nodes.
We are interested to hear your feedback on node changes.



We from Star Vault wish you all a merry christmas!

*Pins medal on Henrik and the rest of the team's chest.

Merry christmas indeed.

[Hydras]

I can't even tell I'm crossing one now.

[slydur]

Ahh something about Nodes.
Beautiful.

[Dimossa]

So any feedback on that patch? Did any new problems surfaced?

[sk_tark]

Originally Posted by Dimossa

So any feedback on that patch? Did any new problems surfaced?

i didnt see a single problem, nice improvement on nodes.

[OlthoiSlayer]

Originally Posted by Dimossa

So any feedback on that patch? Did any new problems surfaced?

Last night, about 10 of us were fighting on the north west side of Bakti, right where the well known node line is. But for a VERY large area everyone inside was immortal. no damage would register though it would say: you hit, you are hit, and so on. about 10 of us standing there hitting one another and no damage. I know that this has happened before the fix, so I'm not sure if the problem was made worse or more common by the server patch, but there are certainly bad stuff going on with the node lines still.

[Tizio]

dec 2011. Who are you?

[xzxDJxzx]

Originally Posted by Afterlife

Its a shame that I'm out of town till 27th, so I guess I'll have to wait till I get back to see how this works.

However, this sounds to me like a workaround and not an actual or proper fix to the core issue, am I right? The last time I talked to you, on focus group TS, you said it was the Level Designer's fault that couldn't do his job as he should, and that is what is causing the node lines to malfunction.
When you mention 'a small hick up', what does this mean? You said on Twitter that you are 'saving' 400 packages between server =/= client, does this affect the players in anyway? Like, can we see houses that are 'on the other side of the node', or the trees, etc.?
Shouldn't there be a smooth transmission when crossing from one node to another?

Anyways, thank you for taking this annoyance which is node lines seriously. And thank you for trying to fix them, but please let this not be a workaround, but a proper fix in the core code. Because, if this isn't a proper fix, future patches etc. will mess up the workaround, for sure.

Merry Christmas!

This is very good considering on Darkfall you get "HEAVY" lag also FPS lag when you cross nodelines and they have MANY nodelines such small squares!

So good job Henrik!

[Volrain]

Originally Posted by psychobilly

Guild Cap? But we have more than 200 character members...

There are more than 200 people playing the game? No. So you have a guild with more than 200? I doubt it!

[ThaBadMan]

Originally Posted by Volrain

There are more than 200 people playing the game? No. So you have a guild with more than 200? I doubt it!

Character members, every player has 3 chars, most if not all AQs have 2 or more accounts with there chars in there guild, so.......

[Darkelfv]

Kutos, I have been waiting for this sort of patch for a long time now :P

Thanks