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We’re still up

By on May 7, 2009 11:15:54 AM from JoeUser Forums JoeUser Forums

Well, it’s apparently Thursday at 9:18am.  The dev team here is still here working on “Wednesdays” beta update.  As some of you know, while there have been updated to Demigod, we have not released any connectivity updates to the game yet because once we realized the architecture for the MP was inadequate, we concluded we needed to redo it.  We’re pretty close (that’s why we’re still here, it’s like a game in itself – one more turn…one more compile and then it’ll be ready). 

We’ll keep you posted.

Update 10:54am, Thursday

So as you know, we’re working on improving the included MP match making. What we have now is a night and day difference for most users. 

So what’s the issue?

Early on, a design decision was made that didn’t seem like a big deal at the time but is making getting this new system harder to debug. That is, the Raknet library connects a player to another player and then hands over the socket to Demigod itself. Once in the game, they are connected using a different port (that’s why Demigod uses more than one port currently). The problem is, the server is still trying to connect to the user on the old port and when it can’t it disconnects them after a time out.  Seems pretty trivial to fix (or at least it did to us) but that’s where we’ve been stuck for the past several hours is trying to figure out why it’s not removing the old record from its database. 

So we’re pretty spent at this point so we’re going to hand it off to the next crew and pick it up after we get some sleep.  It’s frustrating because it’s so close and it’s such a major improvement both in terms of speed (you get into the lobby in less than a couple seconds), reliability, and scalability (this should be able to handle huge numbers of connections).  But we can’t seem to get the bloody thing to remove the outdated record with the host’s old port address.

Example:

Joe on 10.1.1.10:6112 hosts a game.

Alice on 192.168.1.10:6112 joins.

The two connect and the socket is handed to Demigod and we’re connected to each other on port 6112 inside of Demigod.

Now, we start listening for more people to join and the port becomes 6114 for both of us.  But server still has a record of Joe on 10:1.1.10:6112, can’t ping it, declares him dead and no longer sees the user at all.

Like I said, it seems trivial to solve. At 3am, we were certain it we’d solve it in a few minutes. And at 11:05am (now) we are still there.

Now, a network savvy person (someone not me) will likely say how silly it is that it hands off the socket.  Both Stardock and GPG agree. It was one of those decisions made long ago that is annoying and is being addressed in parallel.

Which is something else I should point out: Think of the support of Demigod occurring in 4 parallel mini-teams.

You have team 1 which I’m directing which is focused on making the MP matchmaking in Demigod work well very very soon as in, by this weekend. BTW, favor points are fixed here now. This update will allow lots of people who can’t currently connect to connect (i.e. we had a lot of success with people who have never been able to connect).

You have team 2 which is headed by our chief architect (the Impulse team) that is working on better solutions but ones that will take longer (>a few days but < a month) which include things like the proxy servers, a more robust skirmish/pantheon match making system that takes ping into account rather than geographic location, supports larger teams, eliminates bots from experienced player matches, eliminates the multiple ports, and a ton of other things.

You have team 3 which is headed up by the lead engineer at Gas Powered Games. He’s working on things like making performance better for low end systems, adding modes so we can do Demigod: Clan Wars (free DLC for this Summer), implementing more robust rules for competitive play, bug fixes, etc.

And then you have team 4 which is headed up at GPG to work on new content and balance changes. New items, new Demigods, game rule changes, updated abilities, new maps, and so on.

Since I write most of the blogs, you mostly hear about Team 1.

Anyway, stay tuned.   In the meantime, have fun!

+912 Karma | 84 Replies
May 7, 2009 11:32:03 AM from Stardock Forums Stardock Forums

Mauxe: That's very interesting to hear.  I'll pass it on to the GPG team.

May 7, 2009 11:33:47 AM from Stardock Forums Stardock Forums

heading out.

May 7, 2009 11:39:20 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

I had the same problem I was able to play 1 game, then all subsequent games had no text under the game type, and would sit at the loading screen forever, we had to ctrl-alt-delete out of the game to exit.  This all happened last night.

May 7, 2009 11:44:43 AM from JoeUser Forums JoeUser Forums

This sounds exactly like my current situation - a bug that everyone was confident we'd fix in a couple minutes - and now it's still "one more build and it's done."

May 7, 2009 11:46:20 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Finally an acknowledgement that you were not giving any updates about the other 3 teams, rather than endlessly arguing with me.

May 7, 2009 11:59:26 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

^ wut?

May 7, 2009 12:02:09 PM from Stardock Forums Stardock Forums

Quoting comanoodle,
Finally an acknowledgement that you were not giving any updates about the other 3 teams, rather than endlessly arguing with me.

You be quiet and take your nap!

May 7, 2009 12:06:48 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Nice!! Thanks!!

May 7, 2009 12:17:12 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting comanoodle,
Finally an acknowledgement that you were not giving any updates about the other 3 teams, rather than endlessly arguing with me.
What?

May 7, 2009 12:19:41 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Did froboy mean one more day untill the (wednesday beta patch) or one more day untill the thursday normal patch?

May 7, 2009 12:28:30 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

You guys should take the the day off and go watch Star Trek! Then come back the next day all jazzed and ready to tackle the issues at hand.

May 7, 2009 12:37:01 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Ha!  Problems creating new sockets?  I had the exact same problem with the last networking program I worked on.  Concurrent programming.  Not fun at all.  I totally understand where you're coming from, but it'll feel so good (and you'll likely feel equally stupid) once you've figured it out.  Good luck, and I hope you can get some sleep!

May 7, 2009 1:17:18 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Any updates on the /nosound thing, yet?

I've more or less shelved the game until I can actually hear it when I try to play it

May 7, 2009 2:20:54 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting Frogboy,
Mauxe: That's very interesting to hear.  I'll pass it on to the GPG team.

Well, there is a thread about this in the Technical Support, posted here: https://forums.demigodthegame.com/350625

Nice to hear about the other teams, too bad Team 3 and 4 don't post around here...

May 7, 2009 3:50:58 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting Ino209,
Any updates on the /nosound thing, yet?

I've more or less shelved the game until I can actually hear it when I try to play it

I'd also be interested to hear about this.  I believe it is a more widespread problem than the amount of forum posts in technical lead onto.  Some people may just not be aware this is a potential lock-up, and it is the difference between a variable 0-5 simspeed and a constant 5 for me.  I know some people from GPG have been coming in to test and give updates, but obviously not to the degree we'v heard from Stardock.

Thanks

May 7, 2009 3:53:30 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

other teams? didnt we already know about at keast 3 of them

so other team, maybe?

May 7, 2009 3:54:05 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Great and hopeful news FB.  Hey FB, have you ever thought about having a Journal/Update or link/sticky for each of the 4 "groups".  They would not have to give updates every day (like you do usually) but it sure seems that would take 75% of the pressure off of you in these forums.  For example, people could check your updates for online/MP info, but check out the posts of the bugs or balance team to see how things like that are going.  Then when they ask stuff like "UB is OP, when are you going to fix!", you can just say "Not my station".

May 7, 2009 4:01:14 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Frogboy would just say "No one is OP, only the person who beat you last"

May 7, 2009 4:05:26 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

So we’re pretty spent at this point so we’re going to hand it off to the next crew and pick it up after we get some sleep.
You have team 1 which I’m directing which is focused on making the MP matchmaking in Demigod work well very very soon as in, by this weekend.

Ah, I was hoping for that patch this evening. Maybe that "next crew" will have a break thru and they'll be uploading it soon...

May 7, 2009 4:58:34 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

quoteing myself from another thread before i saw this one:

 

I hope they go get some sleep, and come back to this fresh.  Too many impatient people around here.

Bottom line:  It's just a game.  It has some problems.  It'll get fixed.  Most people will be happy.

Stardock:  Take your time, get it right.

May 7, 2009 5:30:35 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Lets get that coupon 50% off out. I got friends that could use a copy of this game

May 7, 2009 5:51:30 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

I had that "no text" loading bug where my game would hang on the loading screen forever. Just go to my documents > my games > GPG > Demigod > and delete/move all the files there.

When you load Demigod up next time you will have the graphics settings reset and your offline profile but game should work...did for me at least

May 7, 2009 6:01:40 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Thank you Brad, really appreciate the updates and hard work you guys have been putting forth. I know I've said this a lot lately, but that's because I mean it. Keep it up, you guys are doing great and have already (from what I've seen) made considerable progress on the multiplayer front. I can now get in and out of games fairly fast and am having no problems connecting or handshaking with anyone. Thanks.

I know a lot of people have shunned both Stardock and GPG because of the whole fiasco, but once things gets fixed I'm sure the haters will come right back and say how Demigod is such a great game.

May 7, 2009 7:02:18 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

go team 4!

May 7, 2009 7:04:08 PM from Stardock Forums Stardock Forums

Brad,

Glad to hear that you guys are working these issues so diligently. Enjoy your break, dream of exotic code efficiencies, and see you on the other side of the patch.

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