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Post by DM Justicar - Creator of FRC on Jul 6, 2006 21:58:21 GMT -5
After some deliberation it has been decided that in order to finally slay the lag beast FRC will indeed become two (or more) modules.
I (and the DM team) have been thinking on this for about two weeks and it is the only truly logical way to ensure that we bring you a module that can take over 20 players and as little lag as possible. I have been quietly laying the groundwork and discussing the logistics with the DM team and I am now ready to act.
There are still several details that will need to be hammered out. I will probably only be able to imagine the way certain issues will work by trying to put them into practice. The greatest difficulties have been decided upon and now it is just a matter of turning the two products out and raising them simultaneously onto the server.
I am going to start out small and try placing some of the more intensive dungeons onto a second server where they can then become as intense as they wanna be given the extra load that could be handled. Also, certain interiors that are likewise intensive will also be joining the dungeons on the secondary server.
The main module will remain largely unchanged as far as the player is concerned. What will generally happen is this: when you reach a point where you will need to enter the secondary server, it will be posted and map noted that this is the case. Then you will touch an object in game (a door or a portal most likely) and will be transported after a brief period of a grey screen with no added log-in or consequence. You may then continue your adventures as planned.
I should have the first of this transition up and running sometime next week, possibly as early as Wednesday.
If you should have any questions, please post them here and I will do my best to answer them.
Cheers!
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Post by Talus on Jul 6, 2006 22:07:37 GMT -5
Sounds great to me. Less lag, little interference in overall game play....um....yeah sounds good. Only downside I see is more work for Justi.
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Post by Quadhund/Greenhouse on Jul 7, 2006 0:38:21 GMT -5
Good luck justi, and may the force be with you.
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Post by DM Justicar - Creator of FRC on Jul 7, 2006 1:04:15 GMT -5
I finished more this evening than I had anticipated. I think I might try running live tests on this tommorow evening. The good news is almost no-one will notice the difference, I bet. Now that I am doing the task, it is actually easier than I thought and somewhat liberating to eliminate areas and resources from the main FRC module knowing they are safe and secure on the secondary server anyway. I have so far eliminated over 2 megs of content on the FRC server and can't wait until we get through 20 mb or so. I am hoping this is the shot in the arm FRC needs to start getting more toward lag free. I guess we will see.  |
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Sarah
Old School
Son'ya the pure hearted one
Posts: 398
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Post by Sarah on Jul 7, 2006 3:34:26 GMT -5
(sara)
this is going to been fun ^_^
this means FRC going to bigger right but smaller in away
free cheers for Justicar! ^_^
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Post by Pookey on Jul 7, 2006 6:46:13 GMT -5
It will be awesome. The true compliment is that everyone still logs on even though there is lag.
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Post by quendros on Jul 7, 2006 8:57:09 GMT -5
As always Justi...thanks for the dedication to FRC and us players!
We truly appreciate all the DM's hard work...
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Post by Dachshund on Jul 7, 2006 9:51:30 GMT -5
I sincerely hope it helps and if it does you have my thanks. I was wondering, however, if it would be better to make the split geographical instead? Somewhere in the middle of the Kings Forest perhaps? North/South. That way you wouldn't have that many module switches... only once or twice depending on where your preferred location is. Merely a suggestion. |
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Post by DM Justicar - Creator of FRC on Jul 7, 2006 10:03:14 GMT -5
I sincerely hope it helps and if it does you have my thanks. I was wondering, however, if it would be better to make the split geographical instead? Somewhere in the middle of the Kings Forest perhaps? North/South. That way you wouldn't have that many module switches... only once or twice depending on where your preferred location is. Merely a suggestion. With the number of transition points and the nature of the way FRC is set-up this really wasn't an option. There are too many places that criss-cross and portal back to one another and with the caravan system this would have presented a real nightmare. There were other concerns as well with splitting the module geographically that I won't go into, but I did think of all these possibilities before acting. The way it is being done will have the least impact on your ability to travel around the realm while hopefully giving the desired effect. Trust me when I say I thought on this for a good while before acting. |
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Post by DM Justicar - Creator of FRC on Jul 7, 2006 11:54:50 GMT -5
Live tests are up and running now. There are currently two modules. No-one will probably notice as the second server is carrying very remote locations in FRC. It is more for DM testing and some minor playtesting but I am pretty certain most everything will work as planned. Anyway, I hope to shrink the main module to under 100 mb and have the secondary module around 40-50 mb's. Then we can finally finish the module...  |
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Post by Booze Hound on Jul 7, 2006 12:27:49 GMT -5
This sounds super cool amigo. Now it will make it so that those of us who like to explore the surface of Cormyr and who rarely venture into the "dungeon" areas can do so and the dungeon delvers can do their thing without everyone getting snarky at each other. yay! I have to say that I am eagerly looking forward to seeing my beloved Cormyr again in the fall. though living it out over here is pretty damn cool as well!  Thanks bud! |
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Panros
Old School
Sneak Attack - Reach out and touch someone.
Posts: 479
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Post by Panros on Jul 7, 2006 15:44:50 GMT -5
Hey this is really good news! I hope you and the other DM's do not become too stressed over this and I look foward to a less laggier server. And as walthingham mentioned earlier, we would have and still would log on even if it meant we had to suffer a little lag.  |
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Post by DM Justicar - Creator of FRC on Jul 7, 2006 21:00:33 GMT -5
Made some more refinements today that are loading up as I write, and hope to have the overall module load reduced significantly over the weekend. Truly this should have been done long ago but with the volume of material that is FRC I guess priorities must be chosen. OK, actually, everything has happened in just about perfect order considering the module size. I am seeing lots of opportunity to break the module into adventuring regions and by the time I am done we will have two nicely sized equal servers running FRC and at that point I will raise the player base to 64 and call it a day. Give you something nice to play while we develop NWN2, hehe. |
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Post by DM the Usurper on Jul 8, 2006 11:46:56 GMT -5
Lets give the boy a hand *bravo* *bravo* |
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Post by Pookey on Jul 8, 2006 16:16:14 GMT -5
Huzaah!
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