DayZ Mod 1.8.2

[geryon 180]

I was on a 4 hour restart.  Had no issues with it when the server population was around 20-30 players.  I know they recommend 3 hour restarts but I made the tactical decision to do 4 hours to allow players to continue playing (secret secret admin Jedi mind tricks).  The 3 hour restart tends to break continuity and is usually a point where players log out for the night.  

 

However I've switched over to 3 hour restarts like yourself.

[vinyljunkie 165]

I was on a 4 hour restart.  Had no issues with it when the server population was around 20-30 players.  I know they recommend 3 hour restarts but I made the tactical decision to do 4 hours to allow players to continue playing (secret secret admin Jedi mind tricks).  The 3 hour restart tends to break continuity and is usually a point where players log out for the night.  

 

However I've switched over to 3 hour restarts like yourself.

Had the same problem but started announcing the restarts just 10, 5 and 1 minute prior to restart instead of 30 and that helped, Seemed alot of players logged off when the 30 minute warning came up,

 

Mind trix :)

[BC_Hawke 276]

As a player observing population on various servers, I've noticed one of THE most important things with server restarts on a vanilla server is to space them as far as possible on either side of sunset.  Often times servers have a restart right as the sun goes down.  The population will TANK at this point because people are often looking for any excuse to hop off because it's getting dark, and a reset provides them just that.  

[r4z0r49 4761]

I've been told we should see a new development branch under beta's on steam by tomorrow.

 

Please make sure to report issues here https://github.com/DayZMod/DayZ/issues

[BC_Hawke 276]

I've been told we should see a new development branch under beta's on steam by tomorrow.

 

Please make sure to report issues here https://github.com/DayZMod/DayZ/issues

DotJosh sent me a message a while back stating that he fixed a feature in DZC that should now allow you guys to push the update to DZC immediately.  Can we assume that 1.8.3 will be available on DZC as soon as it pushes to Steam?  Both of the moves from 1.8.0-1.8.1 and 1.8.1-1.8.2 absolutely KILLED player population for several weeks and in the end killed a couple of really good servers.  The move from GameSpy to Steam only made these transitions worse.

 

The release of 1.8.2 made it absolutely clear that a large amount of the DayZ mod community still relies on DZC to update DayZ mod.  Player population is low enough these days that it would be crippling if the community gets fractured again due to DZC not having the latest patch available.

[kichilron 8550]

DotJosh sent me a message a while back stating that he fixed a feature in DZC that should now allow you guys to push the update to DZC immediately.  Can we assume that 1.8.3 will be available on DZC as soon as it pushes to Steam?  Both of the moves from 1.8.0-1.8.1 and 1.8.1-1.8.2 absolutely KILLED player population for several weeks and in the end killed a couple of really good servers.  The move from GameSpy to Steam only made these transitions worse.

 

The release of 1.8.2 made it absolutely clear that a large amount of the DayZ mod community still relies on DZC to update DayZ mod.  Player population is low enough these days that it would be crippling if the community gets fractured again due to DZC not having the latest patch available.

 

 

I don't know what you're trying to say here, but assuming the Dev-Branch will only be for the unstable testing branch of DayZ Mod I don't think the DayzCommander integration will be necessary.

 

If someone doesn't know how to click three buttons to opt in to the Dev-Branch for DayZ Mod and join a server we're not really looking for them to test new features.

[BC_Hawke 276]

I don't know what you're trying to say here, but assuming the Dev-Branch will only be for the unstable testing branch of DayZ Mod I don't think the DayzCommander integration will be necessary.

 

If someone doesn't know how to click three buttons to opt in to the Dev-Branch for DayZ Mod and join a server we're not really looking for them to test new features.

My mistake I misread R4Z0R's post.  Will 1.8.3 will be available on DZC as soon as it pushes to Steam as an official release?

Edited October 15, 2014 by Bullet_Catcher

[r4z0r49 4761]

My mistake I misread R4Z0R's post.  Will 1.8.3 will be available on DZC as soon as it pushes to Steam as an official release?

Once its moved to stable yes it will be on dzc but during the dev branch testing it will only be on steam.

[r4z0r49 4761]

Ok so when we get the development branch on steam this is how you change to it

 

in Steam

1. Right click properties on dayzMod.
2. Goto tab betas.
3. Swap the drop down to development.
4. Wait for game to update
5. Load and play the beta
6. Report issues too https://github.com/DayZMod/DayZ/issues
7. Make sure to highlight the version your running within the issue this can always be found in the bottom right side of the menu screen.

When joining a server make sure you look out for the development servers.

[Detoeni (DayZ) 6]

Development change log for 1.8.3
[New] loot spawn: Add lootpos in new POI (trains/ruins mainly).

 

Where do these ruins spawn, in woods like the infected camps or out in the wildness at the edge of the map? I know the ruins at Kamyrna, and the odd one at Petrovka, but did not find much there, or does the "new POI" just refer to the trains where I've been finding lots of bits for building?

[kichilron 8550]

Where do these ruins spawn, in woods like the infected camps or out in the wildness at the edge of the map? I know the ruins at Kamyrna, and the odd one at Petrovka, but did not find much there, or does the "new POI" just refer to the trains where I've been finding lots of bits for building?

 

Up northwest there is a place, just off the road to the lone Barn. It's a new area / POI where nothing used to spawn, as it was different / ruined models of the normal barn-building. This has changed now and it actually spawns loot.

[Skydive (DayZ) 71]

I was on a 4 hour restart.  Had no issues with it when the server population was around 20-30 players.  I know they recommend 3 hour restarts but I made the tactical decision to do 4 hours to allow players to continue playing (secret secret admin Jedi mind tricks).  The 3 hour restart tends to break continuity and is usually a point where players log out for the night.  

 

However I've switched over to 3 hour restarts like yourself.

I also run mine on a 4 hour restart.  3 hours would be optimal for a 50 slot server, but you certainly notice load in times once you get over 3 hours start getting slow.  I went to 3 hour restarts at one point, but my regular players started to say the restarts were too often, so they went back to 4 hours.

 

I'm also running on a server I custom built running at 4.5GHz, 2100MHz memory and SSD drives and you still end up getting laggy after 3 hours.

 

More importantly, I'd like to compare notes on Geryon's basic.cfg on his servers.

Edited October 21, 2014 by Skydive

[geryon 180]

Skydive,

 

Here's what I use.  I'm not saying it's perfect but it follows form with Dave from MGT who has experience with high population servers.  Server FPS does drop but lately I've had very few complaints about zombies and loot not spawning.  Primary complaints are lag with new menu items and blood bagging.  

 

Question to anyone is there a way to simulate server load without having to have 50 actual real players log in?  :-)  i.e. player simulation load tool.   Anyways it's probably not even the recent changes to the mod.  So many things have changed such as the patch level of the executable and battleye.  

 

MaxCustomFileSize=0;

Windowed=0;

adapter=-1;

3D_Performance=1;

Resolution_Bpp=32;

Resolution_W=800;

Resolution_H=600;

MinBandwidth=1097152;

MaxBandwidth=2147483647;

MaxMsgSend=256;

MaxSizeGuranteed=512;

MaxSizeNonguaranteed=192;

MinErrorToSendNear=0.050000001;

MinErrorToSend=0.0040000002;

serverLatitude=45;

serverLongitude=73;

[geryon 180]

A bit of rambling...

 

A few smoke and mirror tricks I've used over the weekend as a test:

• Removed all the debris from the server.  Most players hate it when it spawns in right when they are driving over one.
• Disabled dynamic weather

These don't affect server fps but it does give the impression to the players client that things are smoother.

 

I've noticed a few other servers who have removed all the grass.  This also helps with client fps.  In some ways I agree with this because beyond a certain distance grass doesn't render anyways.  It's a false sense of security to have some poor sod thinking he is hidden when he actually isn't.

 

Another possible smoke and mirror trick is to remove spawn selection.  With it enabled literally everyone spawns in Cherno, Electro or Balota.  What that means is that these become choke points for zombies and other players on the screen.  If players were randomly distributed along the coast the amount of activity rendered on their screens would be less.  I guess if I had to provide feed back on the mod it would be that the spawn locations be more neutral (with respect to loot) then the cities mentioned.  Even with 50 players on about 5 people might be off the coast.  The rest are mostly in Cherno, Electro and Balota with a handful in Berezino.

[BC_Hawke 276]

I'm curious, with how much trouble that regular DayZ mod servers have maintaining performance with a full 50 slot server, how on earth do all those Epoch/Overwatch/etc servers with 1,000+ vehicles, 100+ choppers, AI missions, player built bases, and 75 players even run at all?  Or how about the regular DayZ mod private hives that have radically changed the server by adding 1,000's of vehicles, choppers, buildings, etc?

[geryon 180]

I'm curious, with how much trouble that regular DayZ mod servers have maintaining performance with a full 50 slot server, how on earth do all those Epoch/Overwatch/etc servers with 1,000+ vehicles, 100+ choppers, AI missions, player built bases, and 75 players even run at all?  Or how about the regular DayZ mod private hives that have radically changed the server by adding 1,000's of vehicles, choppers, buildings, etc?

 

I've taken a look at one of those highly modified servers and their mission file is almost 3 megs large.  It's basically a complete change of the mod.  When we had an Epoch server it ran with 6000+ objects at 5 fps with 50 players.  It was definitely playable.  As to why I'm not entirely sure.  Epoch does allow more control over zombie and loot spawns.  Also with Epoch hardly any one is on the coast which is the opposite of the mod.  Player distribution is much more distributed around the map.

[kichilron 8550]

how on earth do all those Epoch/Overwatch/etc servers even run at all? 

 

They don't. Most are constantly desync'd, lag like hell and have horrible FPS.

[vinyljunkie 165]

They don't. Most are constantly desync'd, lag like hell and have horrible FPS.

 

Preach.

[kernalpanic 35]

any updates on when this is happening?

 

Once its moved to stable yes it will be on dzc but during the dev branch testing it will only be on steam.

 

Ok so when we get the development branch on steam this is how you change to it

 

in Steam

1. Right click properties on dayzMod.
2. Goto tab betas.
3. Swap the drop down to development.
4. Wait for game to update
5. Load and play the beta
6. Report issues too https://github.com/DayZMod/DayZ/issues
7. Make sure to highlight the version your running within the issue this can always be found in the bottom right side of the menu screen.

When joining a server make sure you look out for the development servers.

[BC_Hawke 276]

They don't. Most are constantly desync'd, lag like hell and have horrible FPS.

I'm sure that's the case for a lot of them, but I've seen plenty of videos where people fight, drive around, fly, kill players, kill zombies, interact with loot, and use items in their inventory while without major desync/lag problems.  I'm not a fan of Epoch and I'm not trying to say it's better, I'm just mind-blown that people can play on those servers when they have literally THOUSANDS more objects present and additional AI, scripts, features, etc.  I don't understand how it's possible given how poorly the vanilla mod runs when 50 player servers get maxed out.  Fewer zombies, maybe?  I rarely see zombies at all when I watch Epoch videos.

[geryon 180]

I'm sure that's the case for a lot of them, but I've seen plenty of videos where people fight, drive around, fly, kill players, kill zombies, interact with loot, and use items in their inventory while without major desync/lag problems.  I'm not a fan of Epoch and I'm not trying to say it's better, I'm just mind-blown that people can play on those servers when they have literally THOUSANDS more objects present and additional AI, scripts, features, etc.  I don't understand how it's possible given how poorly the vanilla mod runs when 50 player servers get maxed out.  Fewer zombies, maybe?  I rarely see zombies at all when I watch Epoch videos.

 

You rarely see zombies because of the following:  In Epoch zombies can be throttled on individual spawns per player as well as total count.  Also loot spawn radius can be configured as well.  Also in Epoch where are most of the players?  In trader cities or in middle of nowhere building a base or competing for a mission (these areas don't spawn zombies).  With the atrocious build-a-bear (bike) no one stops in the big coastal cities.  Hence zombies spawns are minimal or none most of the time for players.  

 

The Epoch servers we hosted tended to focus on PVE with mission AI or PVP combat in non-zombie spawning areas.  Zombie load was rarely a factor.  Nobody but someone completely new to the server even bothered to go to town and loot.  Missions provided the gold and anyone with any investment to the server would get what they needed in a trader city.  

 

This does not mean that I'm insinuating any root cause of the server lag.  I can't even comment on most other servers when full since I haven't had the opportunity to try other vanilla servers near max capacity.  Most are in Europe and I'm usually at work during their peak hours.  I have played on FR34 with 20+ players and it behaved similar to US 434 with that level of load (performed well).  I've played on another 1.8.2 (highly modified) and it was laggy with 25 players so probably not a good comparison. 

 

Unfortunately I don't have the luxury to do any radical experimenting on a server that's nearly full with active players nor the knowledge/ability to make a conclusion as to why(s).  If anyone active in the community who is capable and wish to take a look (devs  :)) I'm more than willing to give access and do your debugging and investigations.

[0x539 0]

Okay, sorry but this is getting ridiculous.

I've posted on 3 different forums, posted the issue on github, tried everything I could, and I either ended up getting no answer or getting my issue closed on github when it's still not fixed. It's been like a whole week since I actively began to search for a solution.

I wanted to make a 1.8.2 vanilla server for my community, and I used the files on the main page of this topic (stable branch on github seems outdated). The thing is there is no fall damage at all on the server, which of course completly ruins how my players play. I tried pwnoz0r's 1.8.2 repack aswell, with the exact same problem, and everyone telling me it's been fixed or that they don't have this issue on their server when in fact they didn't even bother to try.

I would be deeply grateful if someone finally comes with a solution to this, since you can't seriously host a server with files that don't even support fall damage.

Edited October 25, 2014 by 0x539

[kichilron 8550]

it's been fixed 

 

 

Yes, it has. But just to make sure you're understanding how the system works:

 

We're fixing something internally in our Development-Builds and you will not see the fixes until the new patch is released.

 

Patch 1.8.2 was released on August 4th - 1.8.3 will not be released just yet (but hopefully soon) - obviously you will not see any changes if you only had this problem for a week.

[0x539 0]

Thank you very much for your answer. I see now. Still, I'm wondering why the 1.8.2 vanilla servers I played on don't have this bug ? Did they manage to get their hands on updated files ? I understand if they're not made public yet for testing purposes, but I'd really like to avoid this glitch for my players until 1.8.3 is out :)

[r4z0r49 4761]

any updates on when this is happening?

 

hum 2 weeks ago. Working to find out whats going on