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Demigod: First week anniversary status report

By on April 22, 2009 9:35:48 PM from JoeUser Forums JoeUser Forums

Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001
+1469

Well I hope you guys aren’t getting sick of these status reports.  As I type this the build from last night is going up. Here’s what’s new:

  • Added check in Pantheon and Skirmish games to detect if host has cancelled or all the other human players quit, and pops up a message if this happens so that you can cancel instead of being stuck.  GPG is working on the other side of this fix to make it so that you won't have to cancel and the remaining human players can continue to the game.
  • Tweaked NAT punchthrough settings to try and make success more likely
  • Put in a proper error message for the case when the player quits rather than generic “Disconnected from NAT”
  • Put in a proper error message for the case when someone who started a pantheon game quits before others get in (should largely take care of the staring at the connecting thing forever).
  • Added additional check in the connection code to make sure that both players have connection data for each other before handing off the connection data to Demigod, which may prevent unidirectional
  • Fixed the connection dialog to refresh the players connecting more aggressively.
  • Optimized Friends list code for people with no friends
  • Messages for Disconnected from NAT facilitator now contain more useful information (disconnected because game was cancelled, game has already started, etc)
  • Reduced delay before allowing people in the lobby, which may cause more people to get in the lobby without being connected to all players.
  • Fixed an incompatibility between Direct3D and the Overlay which would cause players to crash, particularly on alt-esc.
  • Ground work for UDP Proxy, you should notice connections being faster and better if you’re in Europe.

This update should hit Impulse later tonight.  As you can tell by the change log, this is really an interim update.  We have a much more significant update in testing but we didn’t want to wait until that build was ready to get a new build out there that improves things. 

A preview of what’s next:

I can’t promise that we’ll have another update tomorrow. There’s a lot of coordination that has to take place between GPG and Stardock and we’re 3 hours apart time-zone wise.  But let me give you a head’s up on things we’re pretty close on:

  1. Taking care of the timing problem where player says they’re connected to everyone but they don’t get into the game. It’s a timing issue that’s hard to replicate but it doesn’t happen for us under normal circumstances. But it is probably the #1 issue for those who don’t have NAT issues. This really shows up in pantheon and skirmish games in particular (a player has left the game – right at the start).
  2. Custom Game player queuing. You set up a game, someone joins, another person joins but they have a yellow ping. That’s because they didn’t know about the other player. This is something that if we had another few hours would have been in tonight’s update.
  3. Experienced players not getting AI players in skirmish/pantheon.  This has been a lot trickier to do than it might seem because we really are trying to keep expert players from just reaping havoc on relatively inexperienced players.  The consensus seems that people would rather have the touch players against them than AI so we’re going to broaden things.

So those are the 3 things we are hoping to deliver tomorrow.  You may have noticed there aren’t a lot of “bug fixes” here.  That’s been the most challenging thing here. Like I say in the video below, launching Demigod has been practically like launching an ISP for us in terms of infrastructure.  What once seemed like a simple matter of tossing up a NAT negotiator that puts people into games has really become a lot more than that.  Our fault of course, we couldn’t leave good enough alone and had to have the Pantheon and the smart Skirmish mode and such but I think in the long run it’ll be worth it.

In defense of Peer to Peer

One thing I really want to stress here is that there is nothing inherently wrong with peer-to-peer.  Supreme Commander is peer-to-peer and it works fine.  The difference, of course, is how they were released.  Digital distribution is a godsend in most ways but having people from around the world playing together immediately has created a lot of the challenges that we must overcome.  That’s an over simplification here I just don’t want to see people bashing Gas Powered Games for choosing to make Demigod P2P.  They’ve had great success with it in the past and Demigod will soon be up to speed as well.

My point is, GPG has a lot of experience in this area with a proven game (Supreme Commander) that demonstrates that this works. They know their stuff.


 

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April 22, 2009 9:46:45 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

"Well I hope you guys aren’t getting sick of these status reports"

These reports are the many reason people are still playing the game and believe you will get it fixed

 


Advertisement: https://forums.demigodthegame.com/347834

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April 22, 2009 9:51:40 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Good stuff, Good stuff.. And as answer to your first line, hell no, got to love the constant information you are bringing us and your concern for us

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April 22, 2009 9:55:31 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Yeah, if anyone is sick of these status reports then they don't deserve to be alive...(jk[kinda])...

And keep it coming!!! (that's what she said)

So is it safe to play multiplayer? Or should I stick to single player for a little longer?

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April 22, 2009 9:57:27 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Thanks for the reports

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April 22, 2009 9:58:14 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Thank for the update, you guys have been busy! I hope my friends and I can set up a successful game on Impulse now. If not we might at least know more about the problem. Good night, cya tomorrow!

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April 22, 2009 10:02:31 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Thanks for the update.

One thing I didnt notice a comment on with your typed update....

My son and I have been holding off playing online much because of the Favor points reset bug (i.e. if we play multiplayer we lose our single player points and items) and then we hear people lose the online points etc as well. Just wondering if this was addressed in this patch or not?

 

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April 22, 2009 10:02:57 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Are you able to elaborate more on the UDP Proxy ground work?

Are the proxies actually up yet? Will the connections improve at least USA people as well and not just Europe?

 

Thanks for the update. I await them every evening.

Thanks a bunch Stardock!

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April 22, 2009 10:03:50 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Keep up the great work

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April 22, 2009 10:06:09 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

You have to remember, the last big game I was so excited about (Colonization) had all sorts of bugs, game breaking imbalences, and broken UI.  After SIX Months, we got our first (and only) contact from the company via a forum.  Then you come along and give us 7 updates in the seven first days.  THEN, a video of you/the team and whats happening?!?!

Stop it, stop it, stop it!  I feel like one of those starving asian kids you see on the Christain childrens network, who suddenly got teleported to a Home Town Buffet.  Your spoiling us!  How are we supposed to be impatient or complain if you keep this up?  Your completely ruining the amount of ammo Trolls can use, and what will they have to do then?

And you DO know that hundreds of fanboys are going to freeze-frame the bulliton board for Elemental, and compair each and every sentence to the actual game on release. 

Also, was that a women in the video?  A women? Female? Non-male gender?  Around computer games???  I thought Sorceress was the only women licenced to like computer games. . .

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April 22, 2009 10:13:15 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Also, was that a women in the video? A women? Female? Non-male gender? Around computer games??? I thought Sorceress was the only women licenced to like computer games. . .

You need to get layed(laid?)....haha jk jk jk

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April 22, 2009 10:14:38 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Thanks guys, keep up the good work

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April 22, 2009 10:17:43 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Yea, I took down the video for the night. Want to do some editing to shorten it.  30 minutes is probably a bit longer than people want.

 

I'll put it up again for tomorrow's update.

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April 22, 2009 10:20:52 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

How are things looking for the fix to the sound compability issue?  The issue that the /nosound workaround fixes?

I'm not too concerned with playing online, at the moment, because I can't play the game at all.

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April 22, 2009 10:23:35 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

We live in an age where people twitter about what they had for lunch and a large following of people read it.

Given this context do we really need to discuss the merit of these informative updates? Keep them coming!

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April 22, 2009 10:25:18 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

I'll put it up again for tomorrow's update.

Ok at least I wasn't seeing things...was wondering where it went haha...

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April 22, 2009 10:27:10 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

How are things looking for the fix to the sound compability issue?  The issue that the /nosound workaround fixes?

I'm not too concerned with playing online, at the moment, because I can't play the game at all.

GPG and Fmod (The sound library company they use) are working on it.

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April 22, 2009 10:30:46 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting ,

Optimized Friends list code for people with no friends

 

lol

 

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April 22, 2009 10:38:56 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Thanks for the update Frogboy. This is my first stardock game and I am already in awe of the constant stream of information released to the customers. I think everybody really appreciates this communication between company and client. Keep up the great work! that being said:


I still cannot play any sort of game online. I have tried everything, I am now connected as raw and unprotected as I can be to the internet and the game still hangs on "a match is attempting to be made" indefinitely.

 

Is work still being done to address these issues?

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April 22, 2009 10:39:10 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Grabbed the video before you took it off at 22 minutes at the moment. I'm liking that nothing is behind doors.

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April 22, 2009 10:39:23 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums
  • Optimized Friends list code for people with no friends

Why does that make me laugh?

 

One week huh? seems like it's been longer.  Owel.. Keep it up.

 

We're just now seeing over 1000 DGs per side... Though Darkness is shattering Light and it looks like it'll be that way until Pantheon resets.

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April 22, 2009 10:41:20 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

How about the fix for ADSL users? I know that most DSL users can't seem to play online however Gameranger works.

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April 22, 2009 10:42:05 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

these day to day updates are awesome...

Considering the state of PC game releases these days you cannot put enough stock into interfacing with the communities that you create by releasing something like this

hope to continue to reading updates even beyond the point when the game is uber stable (which I hope will come soon)!

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April 22, 2009 10:43:42 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

I really appritiate the feed back. The amount of communication is amazing, and videos on top of all of it. Keep up the good work.

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April 22, 2009 10:54:41 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Thank you, The update`s are greatly appreciated.

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April 22, 2009 11:01:05 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Glad people can connect faster now.

 

 

Now just fix the disconnecting issue!!!  Was happy as ever to last a full game, about the last 2 minutes to win of a 3v3, the game gets a little spike and boom I am gone again.

 

Honestly, I hope you get the proxy up before the weekend.  If you do not, can you at least TELL us?

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