OA has ruined the multiplayer browsing screen

[rexehuk 16]

So with Arma 2 we had a simple system:

RED Icon = Cannot join (Files dont match / Signed server)

Orange Icon = Can connect (passworded)

Green Icon = Good to go

But now in OA has come many problems for those running certain mods such as ZEUSAI or GL4 serverside, our players are shown a RED icon with a questionmark.

Now if I was coming from Arma 2, I would say "I can't join that server so I wont bother" which has cut down on the number of publics we see...

Not sure why it was changed for OA, but it has damaged the ability for servers to run serverside addons that help a players experience.

Rgds,

Rob

[terox 316]

I made a post about gamespy on another thread about addon management, but this thread is an ideal thread to reiterate it

Approach the issue as a newbie who visits the gamespy browser for the first time, not as an OFP vet who should be very familiar with it by now.

Comments about the readability of the gamespy browser have also been made in other threads, so to reiterate it here

GAMESPY BROWSER ISSUES

There is a need to be able to distinguish the various reasons why one may not be able to play on an individual server

1) Passworded

2) Locked

3) Equalmodrequired

4) Signature verification enabled and

• You are running addons that the server does not run a key for

5) Addons loaded by the server that you are not running

6) Game version Mismatch between client and server

There are currently only 2 colour buttons in use Red and Green

and also 3 icons used

X, ? and a "key"

Red should define that the client cannot play on the server. At the moment this is not necessarily the case. If the client has loaded the same addons as the server but used a different -mod param, then dependant on serverside config settings, the server may have a red dot next to it.

Alternatively a green dot does not necessarily indicate that the client can play on that server. This can be very confusing and should be idiot proof

Possibly display a number code inside the red button to define any issues that the client may have when trying to connect to the server

Also have a small popup window when the mouse hovers over these buttons, which explains the issue in more detail

The "key" icon doesn't distinguish between a temporarily locked server and a passworded one

For some reason many clients never read the detailed information field at the bottom, so possibly when a server is highlighted, have a pop up window display detailing the specific server info or make the area set aside for this info more prominent. I know some will still not see it even if the biggest most glowing arrow pointed to it, but more would

Basically redesign the gamespy browser to be more self intuitive and not misleading

To add to this should be the ability to set aside a server only addon, which does not create an addon requirement for the client and therefore shouldnt show up as a Red NoGo icon

Edited July 20, 2010 by Terox

[Dwarden 1125]

it will be improved for next update ...

[rexehuk 16]

Cheers Dwarden, and yeah Terox I thought I read something along the same lines.

BIS does it again and listens to their customers , one of the few companies who do these days :).

[Dwarden 1125]

actually the orange color will be back ...

[rexehuk 16]

The main concern for me and many other server admins I imagine is when our servers display a red icon when running serverside addons.

Can I confirm this will be fixed somehow? Even adding a new config line serverSideOnly and allowing a list of server addons would be useful. The arma 2 system was quite good though, 3 simple icons with 3 clear purposes.

[UiiN 10]

I can't think of anywhere better to ask this and i'm not making a new post for such a small question.

When looking at the server side "Expansions" can anyone tell me what "CA" is? Seems half (If not more) of my servers on the list are red due to this. I can't find out what it means because it's such a stupid little word to google lol.

Any help is appreciated.

Euan.

[qwertz 10]

This problem has cut our server population by 50%. Very few non-regulars join, seems like a lot of people use the filter function and don't even see the server or think that red=non playable.

Urgent problem for us - any any other public server I can only guess.

Edited July 21, 2010 by qwertz

[rexehuk 16]

I can't think of anywhere better to ask this and i'm not making a new post for such a small question.

When looking at the server side "Expansions" can anyone tell me what "CA" is? Seems half (If not more) of my servers on the list are red due to this. I can't find out what it means because it's such a stupid little word to google lol.

Any help is appreciated.

Euan.

CA = Arma 2 basically

Expansion = OA

CA;Expansion = Combined Ops :p

[oktane 0]

actually the orange color will be back ...

Will you have a solution for servers that need to run server side addons? Addons such as CBA, GroupLink, ACRE, JayArma2lib which are not required clientside... As was mentioned, enabling anything causes people to get confused by the icon.

I think this is all due to the technical limitations of the method used to populate the icon. If the base technology was improved (ie, start over without using OFP GS stuff as a base) I think it would actually work as you would expect. This essentially means:

Importantly, a completely DIFFERENT way of checking, with these essential features:

• Class dependencies based on in-use MISSION addOns={} data, not server startup modline. This also solves the server-side mod issue, as those serverside class parents aren't going to ever be present in a mission.sqm. Why auto-require addons that aren't in use? (but you can manually, see below)
  
• Admin definable requirements in server.cfg (ie: requiredClassesOnJoin=["ace_main","acex_main"]; etc)
  
• Admin definable exemptions in server.cfg (ie exemptedClassesOnJoin=["some_base_class", "acre_main"];, this is the counterpart to above, exempting requirements for known addons determined to be OPTIONAL)
  

The last two above things would directly affect the data provided to client server browser. Hypothetical situation:

Server runs ACE and ACRE radio mod. However, they are currently playing a non-ACE mission. As a twist, the mission includes an ACRE radio pack, so that class (acre_main) is in the mission.sqm. (this is unlikely, but please grasp the general concept here)

addons[]={

ca_wheeled, (some stock class)

acre_main (mission editor classifies as required, but admin overrides that since he knows better)

};

Now, at mission runtime:

Without required type override, Users without ACE could join, this is undesired.

With required override, only users with ACE may join, this is desired.

Without exempt type override, User with ACE yet without ACRE gets kicked.

With exempt override, same user is allowed in. This is desired, since ACRE is known to be essentially optional.

You can see it's up to the admin, and it's very flexible. You may scratch your head at my suggestion, but try to see it as if you were creating something from scratch to solve the issue and disregarding any current implementation. :p

I've never seen the code of course, but from observation it seems pretty clear that there are large limitations to working with the depreciated structure that was created back in the OFP days, when the data was so simple and we didn't have some of these issues. And in the past there has been some resistance to change.

Edited July 29, 2010 by oktane

[Zipper5 74]

The new system changes give a lot more useful information to the player, therefore I think it's improved on the original concept. ;)