Blue1 Server - Dedicated Teetime Warfare [reworked]

[gecco69 10]

Hi Blue1

Try to join your great Server today but always connecting failed... Is that a reason for?

[Blue1 10]

Hi Guys,

fixed some errors today and ADDED VEHICLE LIFTING (thx to BTC for that awesome script!).

- known Issue: if the Vehicle is empty / no Passengers, it can happen that the "CleanUp"-Scripts detect it as "abandonned" and will despawn it.

-> HOTFIX/WORKAROUND for the moment: let someone enter the vehicle for the journey. AI also possible!

if you cannot join, i needed to LOCK the server due to much "come and go" of players / Join-in-Progress Lag - sadly. (Also looking how to prevent that - any ideas!?)

At the moment, it seems the gameengine always getting massive Perfomancedrops and crashes at around 2000MB Memory-Usage on the Arma3Server.exe-Thread,... :(

Hope BIS will fix that soon :( ....especially as Altis consumes around 1000MB right from the start..............

cya, have fun!

Blue1

[xXMultivitaminXx 10]

if you cannot join, i needed to LOCK the server due to much "come and go" of players / Join-in-Progress Lag - sadly. (Also looking how to prevent that - any ideas!?)

so mainly it is because of the transfer from the mission file right at the beginning so why do you dont set the players in a queue so only one can download at a time and limit the download of the data?

[tortuosit 486]

Hmm, teatime warfare: I think I played on your server yesterday. 40 slots were used, pretty good. I wish it has crosshairs and 3rd person off. Though I must say probably most people won't play it then, regrettably. If there was an option to have 3rdP on only in vehicles, this would probably help, because 1st person in vehicles is pretty difficult (view out of hunter sucks for instance).

[WhoLetTheDogsOut 10]

w.w.w.youtube.c.o.m/watch?v=v7zoVIsIT2A

[Blue1 10]

so mainly it is because of the transfer from the mission file right at the beginning so why do you dont set the players in a queue so only one can download at a time and limit the download of the data?

Hi,

...well, the problem isn't that it only occurs if too many Players connect / join at the same time - but on every player that joins.

And then - if more players connect / leave / reconnect the Server-FPS-drop occurs for 1 or 2 seconds (see picture grey lines showing Minimum-FPS, 1 second interval) at the same time -this leads to expotentially bigger server-fps-drops. I will add another picture how this looks like on a Graph.

As everything else (gamerelated) is loaded AFTER the player is already connected/spawned - the main performance issue at the moment, i guess, is the validation of the client files and battleye verification.

And i have no idea to workaround that (and no i'm not going to turn off securitystuff ;) ).

---------- Post added at 17:15 ---------- Previous post was at 17:07 ----------

Hmm, teatime warfare: I think I played on your server yesterday. 40 slots were used, pretty good. I wish it has crosshairs and 3rd person off. Though I must say probably most people won't play it then, regrettably. If there was an option to have 3rdP on only in vehicles, this would probably help, because 1st person in vehicles is pretty difficult (view out of hunter sucks for instance).

Hi,

you didn't read some of the older posts, right? =)

The time will come - somewhen, someday, later ... if i think, the mission is in a "officially releasable version", has all features & stuff in it, is close to completely bugfixed ,..... then i will add another Serverinstance / Version with "Veteran"-settings.

This will also be the day when everybody is allowed to just download & host it with their preferred settings.

But for now, so many ongoing changes are incoming - i haven't enough time...AND, to be honest, i don't want to maintain 2 versions/servers etc.

Best regards,

Blue1

[mariodu62 5]

so mainly it is because of the transfer from the mission file right at the beginning so why do you dont set the players in a queue so only one can download at a time and limit the download of the data?

In arma2 B.E.C. could stop flood connection... but i don't know with arma 3

[DarkGenesis 10]

Hallo @ll

ich bin für:

3rd Person OFF <-- On nur in Auto/Heli & Co

Removed Crosshairs

More AI enemys

noch ne frage ist es möglich den server addon kompatibel zu machen?

z.b.:

ShackTac Fireteam HUD [ALPHA]

Helmetcam liveFeed [ALPHA]

Tao Folding Map [ALPHA]

Advanced Vehicle Interaction [ALPHA]

A.C.R.E. - Advanced Combat Radio Environment A3 [bETA]

JSRS2.0 [bETA]

Edited September 3, 2013 by DarkGenesis
Blue Is The Best!!!

[ricki122 10]

Blue1, great server and pretty good FPS so far. The only BIG problem now, is the massive desync i got some times when I fly on the heli with other people... But anyway great server! Hope Bohemia will optimize more and more the game so we can completly enjoy this awesome game :)

Bye!

[spanishsurfer 58]

Blue, played your mission pretty extensively for the past 3 days. Overall, not bad! The biggest issue I noticed (as did everyone else on the server) was the MASSIVE desync the server would put out occasionally. This occurred with high player counts and the only fix was to restart it.

Other issues I saw:

1) Attack heli (Kajman/Blackfoot) purchase amount needs to rise. The rounds are plagued with attack heli pilots all over the map. They need to be a rare thing, so maybe raising their price to $80-$100k? IMO, the Blackfoot should be more expensive then the Kajman because of its tactical advantage. Just like the Armed Orca should be more expensive then the Armed littlebird (AH9).

2) The camera feature on helis is bugged, it spins in circles rendering it useless.

3) Laser designators are not available for purchase from the store.

4) Vehicles can be airlifted with troops inside. Result, you can effectively tow an APC and put an ai gunner inside and have him target things while you airlift him.

5) If you airlift a team owned empty vehicle and drop it a few minutes later, it disappears.

6) Resistance/Team defense AI in towns are always near the flag pole and hardly engage. Making taking towns very easy, it would be better if you disabled them rather then taking up CPU resources for worthless AI.

7) I can airlift flagpoles and move them.

8) The hummingbird can airlift vehicles, I know its for balance but this is not realistic.

9) There is no clear "commander" of each team and 1 needs to be identified. When you have a high amount of players a command structure needs to be in place. In order for a commander to have real weight he needs significant amount of power in the team...such as controlling the income a team gets or a script that gives cash bonuses for following orders.

10) The check vehicle function doesn't seem to do anything? If it does I could not find it in the Briefing readme.

11) When more then 2 players join my group, I can't purchase my 2 AI anymore.

12) The only way to rearm armed vehicles is to drive back to base, can you include an ammo truck for purchase that can rearm vehicles. Or have crates that spawn at base and can be airlifted by helis and dropped next to vehicles (good for one rearm).

13) The current capture style when a round first begins is not a fav of mine. Its a rush for the airport or powerplant. This is often ruined by inexperienced players who target the closest capture point. Sure you can try and communicate the plan to your team but there are language barriers that prevent this. Maybe this could be fixed with a command & control system.

14) If you lock a team spawned vehicle with no one inside, you can't unlock it.

15) To prevent lonewolfs from taking helis for their own personal use we need a PILOT class. Pilots should only be able to carry a pistol and a few mags. No ability to purchase things like AT, AA, machineguns, sniper rifles, etc. But how are pilots going to make enough cash to buy an attack heli if they can't kill and take towns? Well, if there is a commander he can purchase these things for his pilots via money transfer. Another idea, give pilots points/cash every time they drop someone off or airlift a vehicle (and put some sort of check on this so people don't abuse it: IE having a buddy jump in/out to give his bud cash).

16) How much cash each player has is lost if he/she disconnects and reconnects. I know it's possible to implement it so that the dollar amount is saved regardless if you disconnect.

17) Ability to transfer money between players would be a very valuable tool.

Blue, just giving you ideas; hope they help.

[Blue1 10]

@Mariodu

In arma2 B.E.C. could stop flood connection... but i don't know with arma 3

I need to take a look on that, thank you. But i am not sure if it is helping if even 1 joining player is causing a sfps-drop due to BE/verification process :(

@DarkGenesis:

read again ;)

2 posts earlier

The time will come - somewhen, someday, later ... if i think, the mission is in a "officially releasable version", has all features & stuff in it, is close to completely bugfixed ,..... then i will add another Serverinstance / Version with "Veteran"-settings.

This will also be the day when everybody is allowed to just download & host it with their preferred settings.

But for now, so many ongoing changes are incoming - i haven't enough time...AND, to be honest, i don't want to maintain 2 versions/servers etc.

At the Addons- i am not sure if i want that at the current state of development of my Mission.

But as same as for the Veteran Mode for that Hardcore-Guys, i will try some of that out - if the Mission is somewhat "final".

@SpanishSurfer

thank you very much - again - for your Feedback!

1) Attack heli (Kajman/Blackfoot) purchase amount needs to rise. The rounds are plagued with attack heli pilots all over the map. They need to be a rare thing, so maybe raising their price to $80-$100k? IMO, the Blackfoot should be more expensive then the Kajman because of its tactical advantage. Just like the Armed Orca should be more expensive then the Armed littlebird (AH9).

I already decreased income to 150% instead of 200% - but you are right. Firtst of all i will remove 2 Helis on every side - and also rebalance Heli-Prices.

2) The camera feature on helis is bugged, it spins in circles rendering it useless.

For me it is working just fine - but i rarely use it, to be honest - i have flightsticks where i do adjust 3rd person-view as needed for the Lift.

3) Laser designators are not available for purchase from the store.

Could you please you tell me the itemclass (editor names like O_designator_01_F or something) ? then i dont need to search for it and just can add it to the arrays.

4) Vehicles can be airlifted with troops inside. Result, you can effectively tow an APC and put an ai gunner inside and have him target things while you airlift him.

i know - not sure how to avoid that within this script. But on the To-Do-List

5) If you airlift a team owned empty vehicle and drop it a few minutes later, it disappears.

exactly, as the vehicle-spawn-script checks for "abandonned free spawning-vehicles" to respawn (2minutes) ... also the cleanup checks for empty and/or damaged vehicles (every 5 minutes or something).

I was thinking about changing that anyhow - but i like the idea to enforce TEAMPLAY (lets get a buddy in that lifted vehicle.)

6) Resistance/Team defense AI in towns are always near the flag pole and hardly engage. Making taking towns very easy, it would be better if you disabled them rather then taking up CPU resources for worthless AI.

- disabling the AI completly is already on my Mind, for many reasons - i think i will test that soon - but this needs changes to strategic mode-array and the whole gameplay/communication of all players (splitting in attackers / defenders...)

7) I can airlift flagpoles and move them.

- known issue, already on list to fix.

8) The hummingbird can airlift vehicles, I know its for balance but this is not realistic.

-sad but necessary. But he can lift Quads, Jeeps and Hunter only (needed, as yoi said - for balancing. think about all that whining if it couldn't... )

9) There is no clear "commander" of each team and 1 needs to be identified. When you have a high amount of players a command structure needs to be in place. In order for a commander to have real weight he needs significant amount of power in the team...such as controlling the income a team gets or a script that gives cash bonuses for following orders.

- Automatic Grouping- / Squad-System or something else is on to-do list (but not a priority atm).

10) The check vehicle function doesn't seem to do anything? If it does I could not find it in the Briefing readme.

-Works also fine for me. Should show you (top right corner) how many passengers are in and items in cargo and stuff like that.

11) When more then 2 players join my group, I can't purchase my 2 AI anymore.

-known issue, on to-do list. Workauround will be (if i disable the "independent AI", to raise Playerscontroleld AI count to 4 or higher.)

12) The only way to rearm armed vehicles is to drive back to base, can you include an ammo truck for purchase that can rearm vehicles. Or have crates that spawn at base and can be airlifted by helis and dropped next to vehicles (good for one rearm).

- yes, due to the size of Altis i already had some ideas. I think it will be a very $expensive "Rearm Vehicle"-Function at the Town-Flagpoles.

13) The current capture style when a round first begins is not a fav of mine. Its a rush for the airport or powerplant. This is often ruined by inexperienced players who target the closest capture point. Sure you can try and communicate the plan to your team but there are language barriers that prevent this. Maybe this could be fixed with a command & control system.

- will be kept in mind when rearranging the strategicmode array (or maybe i find a solution which prevents capturing airport as first town)

14) If you lock a team spawned vehicle with no one inside, you can't unlock it.

-Do not lock it, don't even leave it - it will despawn soon ;)

15) To prevent lonewolfs from taking helis for their own personal use we need a PILOT class. Pilots should only be able to carry a pistol and a few mags. No ability to purchase things like AT, AA, machineguns, sniper rifles, etc. But how are pilots going to make enough cash to buy an attack heli if they can't kill and take towns? Well, if there is a commander he can purchase these things for his pilots via money transfer. Another idea, give pilots points/cash every time they drop someone off or airlift a vehicle (and put some sort of check on this so people don't abuse it: IE having a buddy jump in/out to give his bud cash).

- this requires too many things .... i want to see you playing airtaxi and the commander doesn't know what he has to do,...for example ;)

But yes - a "Transportation-Bonus" is something i had in my mind. Like a small "Fee" passengers have to pay if they join a helicopter. but no idea how to script that "easily".

16) How much cash each player has is lost if he/she disconnects and reconnects. I know it's possible to implement it so that the dollar amount is saved regardless if you disconnect.

-Sure it is possible. It is on the List too - but, i have to prevent / avoid AT ANY COST - that a player could take his money from the last round, to the next round (and buys a attack-heli right at start, for example)

17) Ability to transfer money between players would be a very valuable tool.

- i want that too... but as so often, no idea how to script that quick&easy.

So if anyone has any Scripts or want to support with codesnippets that can do some of the "wanted features" above - i would really appreciate, as i already said, i sadly don't have so much time anymore -to code/script/test everything "wanted" all on my own.

thanks, have fun and best regards,

Blue1

[progamer 14]

Cloud you have extended armor off on the server by default?

[ric 1]

Hi Guys,

fixed some errors today and ADDED VEHICLE LIFTING (thx to BTC for that awesome script!).

- known Issue: if the Vehicle is empty / no Passengers, it can happen that the "CleanUp"-Scripts detect it as "abandonned" and will despawn it.

-> HOTFIX/WORKAROUND for the moment: let someone enter the vehicle for the journey. AI also possible!

if you cannot join, i needed to LOCK the server due to much "come and go" of players / Join-in-Progress Lag - sadly. (Also looking how to prevent that - any ideas!?)

At the moment, it seems the gameengine always getting massive Perfomancedrops and crashes at around 2000MB Memory-Usage on the Arma3Server.exe-Thread,... :(

Hope BIS will fix that soon :( ....especially as Altis consumes around 1000MB right from the start..............

cya, have fun!

Blue1

I was on your server but had to leave the dsyncs made it unplayable :( during my tests with my own server I have noted that as memory usage increases my FPS goes down even when i am the only one playing, I started a CTI mission and the mem was at 450 and my FPS was 55 by the time the mem had doubled to almost 900 my FPS had dropped to 22 :( there was an issue with another game i had that had a memory leak...if i left it running for 24 hours when i came back all mem was maxed and FPS was 1-2 until restart .

one thing i am pretty sure will help you is if you set a max of 100 ping (at least experiment with it) and the other thing is I think we need to figure how to see if some has the band width...i does not matter if you ping is 22 if you only have a synchronous band of 200 and the server is sending out 480 plus.

here is a post from another site about dsyncs

Perhaps this can shine some light on why Desync happens for those who don't know:

‘Sync Errors’ occur in multi-player games because they are attempting to run an identical simulation on multiple machines. That means that a centralized server is not running the simulation, but instead with enforced latency and a queue of all user inputs, multiple clients are running an identical simulation all at the same time. A lot of games do this because it removes the overhead of server-side simulation and upkeep, and it also makes implementing instant-replay pretty easy.

Ever notice how you can't get a terminal (crashes the game entirely) sync error in games that have dedicated servers? You can just reconnect and get right back in the action.

The downside is that if either of the clients' simulation no longer matches up with the others, the simulation is undefined and cannot continue.

"So which version of reality is the right one?"

Here's a few reasons that a game can go out of sync:

- Random number generation that is not properly deterministic

- Floating point representation and math that is not properly standardized

- An error in the transport of input information between the clients

- ANY case where doing the same thing twice can produce two different results (critical hits?)

More than not, you'll notice there is virtually nothing you (players) can do about this. It is the job of the game developers to ensure sync errors do not occur. Unfortunately, this is a hard problem to solve! Upgrading your internet and computer can help, but in the end, if the software were written well enough, Sync Errors would never happen even with sub-par hardware.

However, we can list the things which can make those Desync happen more or less often:

Your computer can't keep up with the global simulation: It can be because your computer is too slow, or because your ping to the Server is high. In any case, you can't exchange data fast enough with the Server to keep up with the current state.

Your connection bandwidth is insufficient: Some games exchange far too much data to keep the clients in sync. If you can't send or receive enough to keep up with all the data necessary, you will Desync.

Your connection's quality is poor, and you lose a lot of Packets: If you play on WiFi with a bad range, you are likely to lose Packets. You will lose information the Server sent, or the Server won't get your changes. If the game doesn't handle this correctly, it can lead to Desync. Note that lost Packets can happen even if you have a great connection. It can just happen anywhere between you and the Server.

untile there is a way to offload the mission download to another source perhaps there is a way to lock the server to those who dont have it with a description of where it can be downloaded in the browser description

[Blue1 10]

Hi,

sorry, a lot of work to do this evenig. ..so ...not much time, answer kept as short as possible.

Sure - somehow the playabilty of everything depends on overall connection and distribution to the clients PC.

But, if the client PC is too slow for the rest of the game,..just him desyncing/lagging - and other plyer see him jumping (example, if one enters a heli and you see his soldier/playermodel "fly around/behind " the helicopter.

of course this is affecting the gameworld (in mentioned example before, it can cause mainrotordamage and heli-crash if things run really bad.)

one thing i am pretty sure will help you is if you set a max of 100 ping (at least experiment with it) and the other thing is I think we need to figure how to see if some has the band width...i does not matter if you ping is 22 if you only have a synchronous band of 200 and the server is sending out 480 plus.

Yes, i will set a max.ping soon - and of course, as said above - if your PC is at the far low-end and you run a crappy 3G or whatever bullshit connection... well, lets say, i had some funny situation when someone was complaining and told me his Specs... i asked him if he is kidding me.

But for the majority of Arma3 Players we have somewhat Midrange to Highend Hardware - and most of the people that want to enjoy MULTIplayer (not counterstrike, not minecraft, not browsergames -BUT 60 OR MORE ALIVE PLAYERS - remember: actually, every f*cking dumb console can handle this already^^) , they know that an 9.99€ 512/256 connection isn't enough. If not - let them form a line for facepalming each others.......

only way to "work against" desync, on Serverside, is trying out some other setup / adapt these values for the particular mission and the maximum Playercount of it:

MaxMsgSend = ***;

MaxSizeGuaranteed = ***;

MaxSizeNonguaranteed = ***;

MinErrorToSend = 0.00**;

MinErrorToSendNear=0.00***;

damn, its late - gotta go.

But there are dozens of threads regarding this settings/ issues.... don't want to repeat it on a daily base.

*EDIT: forgot something: to outsource the "download of the mapwhile a new player joins" ...from the server to an external source - will change nothing.

Read eralier posts, i tried on Ramdisk already = no difference except in loading speed - ...and my conenction at the server (100Mbit up & down synch!!) isn't anyhow more used than around,...20-25% (at 80 players heavily fighting!)!

best regards,

CYA & try to have fun with what we are given for now.....

Blue1

Edited September 4, 2013 by Blue1

[ric 1]

I think Steam Workshop might be the answer to the downloading mission problem, disable lo cal download on the server , host a mission at Steamworks shopping whenever but it turns on Steam automatically gets updated. of course you will have to direct people

to steam works out to subscribe to your mission

[Blue1 10]

@Ric: Steamworks: please read some of my ongoing statements before - the mission is NOT finalized and therefore not ready for Steamworks and absolutely NOT "free for all to host nor to do whatever u want with it" !

I will make it downloadable when i am satisfied with it. period.

So long - check out v8.1:

new stuff, statitics, jets & tanks added, some balancing,..some new prices, UAV stuff at weaponshop, fixed "liftable flagpoles"

AND MINIMIZED (edited) AI-TOWN DEFENDERS COUNT (for more performance and making teamplay / communicaions neccessary ;)

have fun - going online next few minutes

Edited September 4, 2013 by Blue1

[spanishsurfer 58]

Blue, I've made a thread on essential mods for servers (only effecting the client). Take a look and see if you like any of em.

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?163207-Essential-Mod-Keys-for-Servers

Edited September 6, 2013 by SpanishSurfer

[markocro 66]

add option for unflip vehicles, this was available on almost every warfare server back on arma 2,

please :)

[sEi 10]

Blue, I've made a thread on essential mods for servers (only effecting the client). Take a look and see if you like any of em.

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthrea...23#post2490623

LINK is not working

/sEi

[Blue1 10]

IF YOU WANT TO HOST MY / OUR MISSION - ASK ME BEFORE YOU GET IT ONLINE!!![/color][/b]

Reason: Because some funny Guys with no clue about hosting - and of course no respect for the work of others - didn't ask!

And i had to answer a dozen PM's "why is your server is so crappy" ...and then i found out some jerks where hosting it on some useless Home-/ or cheap VMbullshit-Servers...

And there are my contactdatas in the Briefing, usually referring to MY official servers ... but many, mostly newer Players, didn't recognized that they aren't on the "official" server or even on the newest version.

So - to avoid scaring new players away from this game mode / mission due to playing an older version which could contain certain bugs, i have to say it again, sadly:

THIS MISSION ISN'T FREE TO TAKE - IT IS STILL IN DEVELOPMENT - AND I'D LIKE TO BE ASKED BEFORE USING IT

(for many, also technical reasons) AND AS IT IS "MY PROJECT", I DECIDE WHEN I "RELEASE" IT!

NO -YOU CAN'T JUST TAKE IT! - otherwise i'd have published a link to download or added it to Steamworks.

YES, YOU CAN ASK ME IF IT IS OKAY, IF YOU WANT TO HOST IT ON A PUBLIC SERVER!

I even will provide you with a special version, just for you and your server (with removed contact datas regarding me and my servers, for example...)

Sure, i do not have any "copyright" or something - but a little respect for the people who invested endless hours, some money for the servers and whatever... wouldn't be wrong, don't you think?!

Or is it already time for "take what you need, steamguy, it s only a bunch of 0's and 1's ...so nobody needs to care..."!??!?

[spanishsurfer 58]

LINK is not working

/sEi

Link fixed

[garisat 1]

today Dev update : Removed animals from target list

i think from now the AI stop hunting rabbits and fish XD

[sEi 10]

Nice with the vegan AI.

BTW: Last night i could not buy any REPAIR truck as OPFOR. I tried many times. Money spend but no truck appear. - Was i just unlucky or...?

/sEi

[garisat 1]

Hi sEi thanks for your mail CC,

I will bring your list in our balance and troubleshooting.

The repair truck from the OPFOR has a simple typo in the classname, but we will not change the version for each error.

greetings garisat

[sEi 10]

Super Garisat

Im also wondering how to rearm the vehicles when not in main, since it seems the ammo trucks are (by default) carrying to little ammunition to rearm 'anything'?

And also: How to rearm the ammo truck? :) (main base!!!)

(Just a heads up!)

Cheers

/sEi

Edited September 6, 2013 by sEi
typos