Forums » Bugs

BS is nerfed a lot of the time...

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Nov 11, 2008 vardonx link
So today the 2200 BS was lagged out so bad that it literally takes minutes for the sector to load.

After that no ships fire for minutes at a time and then updates are made in a burst.

This has happened at least 3 times in the last 10 days...
Nov 12, 2008 momerath42 link
Thanks for the report. Were there any other players there at the time to confirm that they were seeing the same behavior? What you describe could be either a network or server issue.
Nov 12, 2008 vardonx link
Yesterday's BS got a bit better after about 15 minutes. iry popped in though and was having lag issues...

A few days ago there were several players getting stuck at the sector loading screen, can't remember who -- hopefully they speak up here.

When this happens I have a normal ping and other sectors load just fine. Even if I just sit in GR you can see the casualty counter stop counting for several minutes and no group messages come through. After a few minutes the group messages come all at once and the counter updates.

If you are patient (or lucky) to get into the sector you can fire your weapons like normal and the missiles fly to the target, but you don't get hits until the sector as a whole updates. You cannot dock (until the sector updates) and you can't jump out (until the sector updates). If you log off in the sector and then log back on you are stuck at Entering Universe.

Definitely seems like a server/cluster issue rather than a network issue....
Nov 12, 2008 slime73 link
A lot of the time in BS and HS, your shots will hit a capship but won't register, which makes taking out shields extremely frustrating.
Nov 13, 2008 vardonx link
It's tanked right now...30+ seconds to enter the sector, shots not counting, and ship positions update in batches. Of a fully armed rag maybe 1/3 of the rockets were actually causing damage.

My ping was 84.

20-30 seconds to jump out of the sector as well.

Had just fought a couple fights in B-12 prior and everything was normal.
Nov 13, 2008 momerath42 link
Good timing, vardonx. I was able to capture some info that might help us figure out what's going on.
Nov 13, 2008 vardonx link
Last night's 2200 BS seemed ok, BTW.
Nov 14, 2008 iry link
For some reason the 0600 skirmish was really laggy, ships would coast then teleport hundreds of meters, hits wouldn't count and capital ships would not fire. The 0200 and 2200 skirmishes had very little lag and were playable all the way through, however the 0600 was VERY laggy at the start and just as laggy at the end. It appeared to be linked to the presence of the connies...
Nov 15, 2008 krilliner link
I can atest to issues with HS missions and lag. I have jumped into a few central Hive Skirmishes and was never fired on (none that I saw/heard, anyways), but my ship would explode.

I've had queens in Central missions fly THROUGH a roid when I opened fire on them.

These times, my FPS is usually around 25-30, and my ping was running at around 80-90.
Nov 16, 2008 vardonx link
BS is lagging a TON right now....I pummeled Smittens valk with AGT with no effect. Rockets explode and then you take damage 5 seconds later...etc, etc
Nov 20, 2008 Breazle link
i scan read this post so if this is already here or elsewhere, then apologies, but in bs ship repair/refill is only free in tridents and stations, hac's and connies cost money still
Dec 01, 2008 vardonx link
Another example of nerfdom....

During the last BS (right before this post) the Itani cap ship respawns were much shorter in period than the Serco ones.

For example, at one point the Itani and Serco terradons were both destoryed within a minute or two of each other -- however the Itani side spawned two more terradons between that point and the end, while the Serco side spawned none.

During the same time the Itani side spawned at least 6 different tridents, while the serco side spawned at most 4.

I'd be surprised if this behavior was one sided, perhaps someone that plays the Itani side can comment as well?

I realize the importance of fixing stuff for the rush of new players, but given that a lot of new players try this mission, and it's the ONLY one in the VO verse with cap ship fleets, can some resources be put to fixing the larger picture issues?

Thanks guys!
Dec 06, 2008 vardonx link
And BS is broken AGAIN! Same symptoms, lag, can't dock, ships aren't firing, missiles don't hit

Same crap that has been going on for weeks now....
Dec 06, 2008 incarnate link
Yes, we are working on it. Thanks for the report.
Dec 09, 2008 momerath42 link
I released several fixes tonight that have bearing on BS, and we are currently running that sector on its own machine to eliminate a range of possible causes for the 'lag' issues.

There was a bug in the (rather complex but powerful) group-targeting code that caused the intended bump in base priority for enemy players not to be applied. The upshot of fixing it is that you'll be attacked by npc fighters much more readily.

I also bumped the priority of fighters to respond to damage, though that's still not what I'd like it to be. There is a trade-off between making them respond to damage and guaranteeing that at least one npc will attack each enemy player; if they respond to damage strongly they all get diverted.

I added a possibly significant optimization in sector to kourier communication. I say possibly, because it's not a bottleneck whenever I run BS on a development box, and we still can't replicate the lag problem outside production and therefore profile it, but it does cut out a big source of traffic from the sector to kourier.

It's not really ideal from a development perspective to release more than one fix at the same time for a problem you can't replicate in a test environment, because we won't know exactly what worked if something does. But we know these bugs are frustrating, so here's hoping one of these steps helps.

Please let us know of any further issues discussed in this thread as soon as possible. Especially if the major lag thing happens (most shots not registering, ships jumping and not firing), say my name (momerath or momerath42) in 100, and if I'm awake, I'll hopefully be able to learn something from the running process. If I don't respond in game, post in this forum and I promise you, I will be working on a solution.

I'm sorry I wasn't more communicative in this forum- I have been working on these problems (among others), but hadn't made much headway on BS/HS until this weekend and tonight.
Dec 09, 2008 ingoguy15 link
I got stuck in the Sednia Hive, due to lag. I barely made it out.
Dec 09, 2008 momerath42 link
Please at indicate the sector and time if you experience lag somewhere other than the BS sector (and definitely time in that case). Also, please describe the 'lag'; that word is used to describe a number of different symptoms. Knowing exactly which happened to who, where and when are all vital to us getting anywhere based on your reports.
Dec 20, 2008 vardonx link
Border Battle lagged tonight....tight groups of rockets taking 5+ seconds to hit...shot and kills not registering for several seconds after shot/killed.

Approximately 20:39 EST

Oh yeah, fights in B-12 were lagging a bit as well...
Dec 21, 2008 Daare link
21 December 0620 GMT (or thereabouts)

More lag than usual for BS. Just watched an Itani Constellation solo a Serco Teradon and two Tridents. Second time I've seen this recently. Meanwhile, Itani Teradon showed up on schedule at 25m after mission start and killed the Serco HAC in five minutes. Missile fire only partially effective whereas before I've had no trouble.
Dec 21, 2008 vardonx link
Daare had another report on 12/18 detailed here:

http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/2/20309