Upgrades Reset & Competition Information!

[HOOT-(UK)]

Heard a rumour that the upgrades are being reset again because they are causing the lag problems on <03> redqueen, is this true or just humbug?

Cheers guys

p.s. yes i realise i spelt upgrades wrong in the subject title! :-p serves me right for being up this late :-)

[Edited for you - ssmmdd :)]

[Cmndr0]

Due to the staggeringly high number of visitors to the server the upgrades player data file has grown so large that the server is having trouble keeping up, everytime a player joins there is a small lag spike caused by the server checking the upgrades file for that players data and then updating everyone else, this has happened once before and the solution is quite simple... We're going to reset upgrades.

Upgrades will be reset on server 03 just before midnight on saturday so that there is as little disruption as possible, once it's done there will be a noticeable drop in server lag.

This is more of a challenge to all our level 10 regulars, can you get back up to the top before the others?

I'll also take this as an oppertunity to announce something new, on saturday BEFORE the upgrades are reset we will have a little competition to decide group player of the week, it's pretty simple really, players must be on the server between 9pm and 10pm, the highest scoring player at 10pm whether zm or survivor will be the winner "what do they win?" I hear you say, They win 30 upgrade points to spend as they like and become wpzm group player of the week.

That's all for now, see you saturday!

[Kimbo]

That is funny,see you guys on saturday.
Hope i win :bump:

[testor]

I do not find it funny. It was fun to get it once and then its fun playing with them, not getting them again.

I will most probably leave this server this night then. It was nice to play with you all. I see you preffer new players that usually plays for 2-3 days than people that has been weeks or months here.

See ya everyone.

[Cmndr0]

Testor we MUST reset upgrades or the server will not function properly and nobody will get to enjoy the game, we are not favouring either the regulars or the new players, we encourage both to play on our servers as much as they like.

Quite honestly i find it strange that someone who has spent so much time reporting rule breakers and helping make the server better has decided to leave over something so small, but it is your choice.

I encourage all players to see this as more of a challenge and to realise that if we DON'T reset the upgrades then server 03 will become so lagged you won't be able to enjoy the game.

[testor]

The server must really have a BAD implementation cause its not normal to lag with status of... 100 players? 200? 500?, I've seen servers with the W3C mod that had private status of THOUSANDS of users and never lagged.

What has that to do? When I do play I like having fun and reporting rulebreakers, but that doesn't mean i'm going to beling here forever.

If you are lagging for the stats, find anything, get a new server or something, make HARDWARE or SOFTWARE upgrades, but dont keep reseting the stats. Cause on 1 month you will be doing the same and people will leave, if they don't do this time, the next... Whats the point of having 5 servers if you can't mantain them properly?

So please, don't bother my saying "a player that has spent lot of hours here". Yes I DID, I HAD A LOT OF FUN, A LOT. This was a GREAT SERVER. But the fun its to get it 1 time, not N times. I will be starting on another server to have new experiences instead of repeating the same here.

I desire you the best, I'm not posting again. Please as my topic say, delete my account. Farewell, have fun, I hope you make upgrades so stats doesn't need to be reset and "old players" may return again.

See you people.

[ssmmdd]

First of all, testor, if you want to go and buy us a nice Quad Core Server with a decent Motherboard (an expensive top-of-the-range Acer'll do), 2 SATA II HDDs in a RAID 0 Array, at least 4GB of decent if not top-of-the-range DDR3 RAM & a decent Gig LAN Card, please do so. Otherwise, grow up. The Upgrades File has in excess of 1,200 STEAM IDs on it - each one of those IDs has its own Upgrades information. As Cmndr0 said, when a player joins, the Server has to frantically search through the whole file for their STEAM ID, then get the Upgrades info, work out what Upgrades they get, and implement them. I'd love and pay to see you do all that in less than a second.

Second of all, the time of the Upgrades Reset on Server 03 has changed, to go hand in hand with...

I'll also take this as an oppertunity to announce something new, on saturday BEFORE the upgrades are reset we will have a little competition to decide group player of the week, it's pretty simple really, players must be on the server between 9pm and 10pm, the highest scoring player at 10pm whether zm or survivor will be the winner "what do they win?" I hear you say, They win 30 upgrade points to spend as they like and become wpzm group player of the week.
Right, ladies & gentlemen, Cmndr0, in all his wisdom & glory, has decided it was a great idea to set this on the same day as his missis' birthday ... retard. :P

So therefore I'm be in charge of this. The score is now that to keep the competition fair, the Upgrades Reset on 03 will take place at the same time that this Competition starts so that everyone has a fair shot at winning.

So, rules & info :deal: :


YOU MUST BE ON SERVER 03 *BEFORE* 9PM UK TIME! IF YOU ARE NOT ON THE SERVER BY 9PM, YOU ARE *NOT* IN THE COMPETITION!! I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH!!11
Connection Screw-ups do happen, and I will take this into consideration. I am going to record the whole event and show the current scores every minute or so, so that if your Connection decides it's a great idea to drop dead, your score is kept. If your connection dies, someone not in the competition joins & the Server then becomes full, the joining non-competition player will be kicked to allow you to rejoin. No offence to the people not in the competition, but Wireplay Zombie Master do have 4 other Servers you can play on & putting a Password on the Server would be far too much hassle to make it of any use.
However, leaving the Server of your own accord will *VOID* your place in the competition and will render you no longer in it. The same goes for Idling - anyone caught idling during the Competition will be kicked & will no longer be a part of the Competition.
The Map will be 'reset' at just before 9PM. When I say reset, the Map will be restarted so that ALL scores are reset & so the Map runs for the full hour without interruptions ... hopefully. Once the Map has loaded, I will wait for no longer than 3 mins before restarting the Server and officially starting the competition.
Anyone who joins afterwards is asked to respect that everyone else is playing for the competition. If you annoy them, you will be kicked without warning. Do it again, and you're Banned for an hour regardless. That's the rule, like it or lump it.
Once the competition has been completed, the Video of the game will be reviewed by the Wireplay Zombie Master Staff Team to check that no rules were broken & to make sure all scores are correct. Notification of the Winner will be placed on these Forums later on in the evening. The points will be applied to the STEAM ID of the Winner on Server 03 AFTER the Upgrades Reset.
I will be on the Server, but I won't be playing. Since I'm Staff, I'm not eligible to win the prize & will be too busy keeping an eye on things & keeping tabs on the scores.
*ALL* current Wireplay Zombie Master Rules apply. Anyone breaking these *WILL* be Kicked or Banned as required. I will be on there, and I don't take rule breaking lightly - you have been warned.

Keep an eye on these rules, as they may change before tonight.

Depending on how this Competition goes, we may run another one. Also please note that this will be the first time I've ever done this, so mistakes may happen. Please bare with me, I will try to get everything working as soon & best I can.

Also, any questions or suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

[testor]

... when a player joins, the Server has to frantically search through the whole file for their STEAM ID, then get the Upgrades info, work out what Upgrades they get, and implement them. I'd love and pay to see you do all that in less than a second...

I said I wouldn't post again, but this deserves a post.

Dude, searching one between 1200 entries for a decent cpu is just nano/milliseconds, for example, storing the steamID entrys on a database with a B+ tree format, or even a BST would fit perfectly here. Don't make me laught telling me searching 1/1200 entrys has to lag anything. I know "a little" of this and... its ridiculous.

[Cmndr0]

And still you fail to realise testor

We're talking about an online games server here, that means pings, lots of em and when the server checks the files it must also verify with the client that it has the proper setup, this information is then sent to the rest of the server and updated in real time to the players, so lets go over the whole process

player joins ----> server checks file for existing steamid, do they have upgrades? yes/no, if yes what level of upgrades? which upgrades? how many points remaining?, when this player spawns how much health will they get, what speed?, what health regen, what ammo regen? ---> server applies these values to the individual player while also keeping track of the same stats on other players ---> server updates players on the stats of every other player ---> server waits for the next player to join and round to restart.

Now on an isolated network a computer running through 1200 ids will take mere nanoseconds but with upgrades all these thing must be done IN REAL TIME, the server must send out the info of each player to ALL PLAYERS and then recieve confirmation back from those players that they have the right info, players with a high ping slow this down considerably.


On the note of file systems, we can't change them, put them into a B+ format or a BST or any other form of compression because if we did then upgrades wouldn't work.
But hey you seem to be the guy "in the know" and since you seem to know "a little" about running a server why don't you come on down to wireplay and tell the guys how to run their servers? better yet, go to the creator of the upgrades plugin and give him a good clap for not using a B+ tree, hell go angrylawyer and tell him zm sucks but for gods sakes STOP COMPLAINING.

We know the cause, we know the solution, this is all we can do about it so either shut up, or leave... oh wait, didn't you already do that?

[ssmmdd]

Also remember that the BOX that's running our 5 Zombie Master Games is exactly that: ONE BOX, ONE SERVER. So while it's doing all that, it has to run the other 4 games as well!

[HOOT-(UK)]

Hey guys. Will the upgrade resets be a monthly thing from now on??

Cheers

[JamesBPK]

We have yet to dertermine a timetable. we will try and avoid reseting the upgrades for as long as possible, but to avoid miserable amounts of lag, thats what we will have to do.

[ssmmdd]

Due to problems in Real Life (Evil!) The Competiton is delayed an hour. Sorry guys, but sometimes life deals a bad card.

Also, rules edited. Please read them again.

[ssmmdd]

It's done! We will confirm the winner on THIS Thread later!

[PuLSE]

When will the winner be confirmed? :o

[JamesBPK]

When we feel like it :)

[Cmndr0]

After viewing the recordings and doing a little maths i can tell now announce the player of the week!
*open envelope*
And the winner is... *drumroll*

[PuLSE]

Who's the winner? :o

[ssmmdd]

Sorry guys, my Vista has been playing up for a while & my Vista DVD was fooked so I've had to go and get a replacement. Last night it died for good, luckily I'd just got the replacement disc that day so I've Re-Installed Vista & am in the process of Re-Installing everything!

[Cmndr0]

*drumroll finishes, drummer passes out*

... Pulse!

congrats! I'd make you player of the week on our steam group but i can't find you in the player list :P

your 30 points will be added today on server 03

[PuLSE]

I just joined to the WPZM Group

[ssmmdd]

What's your Steam Name? Can't find it in the Members List.

[HOOT-(UK)]

Anything for silver and bronze place?? :-)

[ssmmdd]

Erm ... I'll speak to Cmndr0 about it. I can't see why not, but he is the Lord and Master...

[Cmndr0]

It's early days for the competition but i believe we can improve it over the next few weeks.

When more descisions are made i'll post them on this thread

[ssmmdd]

It's probably easier to make a new Thread, Cmndr0. :)