Update from Rocket

[ftee 58]

Some info from reddit for you

 

Source: http://www.reddit.com/r/DayZBulletin/comments/1q7ly1/latest_update_by_rocket/

http://www.reddit.com/r/dayz/comments/1q7bcs/teased_tormented_abusedcome_on_rocket_and_co_give/

 

 

Rocket's initial post:

 

We finished up for the day here just now. It was a good day, the focus has been:

Finalizing the flow into game

Not holding up release

All the basic stuff like, creating your character, joining a server, etc... Then some steam integration so you know which servers your friends are on, and such. We're using steams API, which while is it great being free of gamespy we're not sure whether external apps (like six or dayzcommander) are able to poll steam's servers. So we want to make sure our browser provides some improved functionality.

 

Optimizing/Bugfixing Dedicated server.

This is why we are not out. We need performance

We think we need a minimum of 15 FPS will 50 players, 2000 zombies, and 25000 loot items. Our latest tests have all shown some runaway systems in the code we have to tidy up. The variable synchronization system that was developed for work with the network bubble, is checking the variables very often. We're optimizing this. Also, there are many string comparisons. These have been refactored so references are used (lookup numbers) to speed up the process. things like animations etc... are generally recorded as strings - ArmA wasn't build to handle very large numbers of things so this has been a large area of optimization.

We also have a bug where sounds (which are temporary vehicles) are being queued up and sent to all JIP players. This causes us a steady loss of performance on the server.

The synchronized variables are also checked for each player, this is inefficient and we are refactoring that. It is our biggest obstacle to releasing the alpha right now. We know what needs to be done with it so we're working on that, then we will again reassess the performance.

 

Why not just say its not out on xxx day?

If I start saying "oh it won't be out then" people start asking me about the day after, and the day after. So it just encourages people to keep asking me when it is, and the "announced date" would be when I go "yeah, it could be out then".

 

What we have now

We have now something that provides basic functionality for 10-20 players. The new zombies are in, they provide excellent pathfinding outdoors, and improved pathing indoors. They are capable of breadcrumb navigation or line of sight. At low server FPS they will start to rubberband and glitch through walls much more often. They are very much a work in progress.

Client performance out of the cities is very, very smooth. We still have a bug in the cities that occurs (and shouldn't) that causes lower framerates. This will eventually be solved, but for now it is noticable when looking at center of cities. Overall, the feedback from the testers is that performance is much smoother than with the mod.

The inventory is a bit of a mixed bag. There are some mistakes we have made that, unless we delayed the standalone, we can't fix until later. But overall, I think it is a huge step up. Stacked items, wetness, damage, crafting, containers, clothing, weapons, pistol holsters, bags, melee weapons, chainsaws, masks, gloves, boots... you name it.

 

So, what next?

We keep optimizing the build. In the meantime, I would encourage everyone to checkout Project Zomboid which is now available on steam. This has been a massive design inspiration and I recommend it to everyone interested in DayZ.

 

 

I will post the rest in the comments.

[ftee 58]

Questions from redditiors in bold answers from Rocket in italics:

 

So once optimization has been completed and changes have been fully tested, you will then release? A while back you said that the actual release of the game (steam and such) was much more complex than anticipated, has that changed?

 

Yes. We don't foresee any delay in release once performance has been achieved.

 

Do you guys know what needs to be changed to fix the performance issues, or are you still trying to figure out what's causing them?

1. the sound queue.
2. the state checking of "slow vehicles" array. This contains loot items. instead of checking 30000 items each frame (50 FPS on server), we want to have them in two arrays. a "clean" array that is never checked (because they are stationary, waiting to be picked up) and a "dirty" array that contains objects that are on a player - we would check these regularly.

optimization has already occurred but its work has not been finished.

 

Updates are good. Screenshots are good. Just please make it clear that there will be no "hints" or suggestions in those images about when the release is going to be. Ones like the three bullets, no shit there's going to be bullets in the game. I think to EVERYONE it meant that there were only three days until release.

 

People will read into anything. And actually, I'm not saying it will definitely be weeks. Today it almost looked like we had reached the performance target, but the bug we fixed had a more subtle bug hiding behind it. I don't do clues and I never have, if I post a picture take it at face value. It's a picture of three bullets. There's no game in how we release this, we'll just release it.

 

Don't you think 15 FPS is low ?

 

Player simulation occurs 20 times per second Zombie simulation occurs 10 times per second Anything below 20 FPS will affect player simulation. Anything below 10 FPS will affect zombie simulation. Above that, you probably don't notice a great benefit so much as not notice any bad things. A couple of weeks ago the server was running constantly at about 5 FPS, and still functioning with the only main problem being rubberbanding zombies.

 

can't just throw a release date out there, but do you have an idea how much more time we have to wait ?

 

Yes I do but I'm not going to share that as it is subject to change and could setup disappointment.

 

I personally 100% understand why you want these issues ironing out however they sound minimal when compared to the mod and that didn't exactly go down bad did it?

 

To quote Marek (our CEO), "really this is a new engine". While the rendering may look similar to how it was, under the hood it is entirely different. The netcode, the inventory, the AI, everything is touched there. Because of this, we have to be very careful because all sorts of things can go wrong.

We have been discovering all these little problems. Small problems that you wouldn't see with 100, 1000, even 5000 objects become very noticeable when you have 25000 objects.

This isn't about perfection - its about function. And also, the mod was a freebee alongside a functioning game. DayZ SA will require people to pay, many of those people feel they have already invested not just money (buying ArmA2), but time and support. Therefore there is a certain expectation of function that will prove the viability of the project.

I believe that a well functioning multiplayer system demonstrates the viability of the project, even if the game design might be a bit lacking.

[Wolfensteinsaurus 2252]

No point of the thread, it's official form is in the DayZ announcements section.

Your topic will be taken down.

Oh god, your from Reddit aren't you...

We don't really want to see what reddit says on here either.

Edited November 9, 2013 by Wolfensteinsaurus

[ftee 58]

Quite a bit more if you follow the initial links, I can put it all here if it's wanted

[OfficerRaymond 2064]

Quite a bit more if you follow the initial links, I can put it all here if it's wanted

No thanks.

[ftee 58]

No point of the thread, it's official form is in the DayZ announcements section.

Your topic will be taken down.

Oh god, your from Reddit aren't you...

We don't really want to see what reddit says on here either.

 

The announcements section is kinda dead, and the fuck it's what Rocket is saying about the current state of the build. I would've thought it very important and only put the post up here so that those that haven't been on reddit can get informed.

[Wolfensteinsaurus 2252]

The announcements section is kinda dead, and the fuck it's what Rocket is saying about the current state of the build. I would've thought it very important and only put the post up here so that those that haven't been on reddit can get informed.

There's still no point, what makes you think that people will post here instead of the actual thing, it's not dead either.

We don't want to know about Reddit too.

Edited November 9, 2013 by Wolfensteinsaurus

[ftee 58]

There's still no point, what makes you think that people will post here instead of the actual thing, it's not dead either.

We don't want to know about Reddit too.

 

Aha, I now see. My mistake, I hadn't noticed that Rocket had posted this in the Announcement section even though I did look :o

 

That said he replied twice on that thread there's a whole raft of information (20 responses) on reddit you are missing out on with your rather blinkered approach.

 

And try not to generalise, whilst you might not want to know what reddit does don't assume that's the case for one and all.

[Inception. 9443]

http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/151552-quick-status-update-for-week-8-november/