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Also, leave Tarkuul as it is.

Dead wrote:

Also, leave Tarkuul as it is.

LetumLux wrote:

Only 500?

Let me tell you about the time a certain character of mine would crash DMs just by opening her inventory, due to the sheer size of it all, and jealousy of her hoarding expertise. The worst part was that she actually had a use for most of it, which made it even harder to prune down.

And she wasn't even the worst of the huge file size culprits.

There definitely was one certain item that didn't belong there. One rapier sized item!

Maias227 wrote:

There definitely was one certain item that didn't belong there. One rapier sized item!

It's sitting in a very special place with a note that reads: "For the day Karleron comes to his senses."

Awww. My Crystal Caves died.

Good riddance fey hut.

Y'know, with the smaller server size it might actually be worthwhile to move hubs like Tarkuul to B for its own good. Think about it - if the server is almost full and like half of your Tarkbuddies are online, but you can't get in... wouldn't it be better if you had the near emptiness of B to fill up? Especially for events and such, when the Tark playerbase can get fairly big. It would be a shame to miss out because you're on the busy server. This doesn't apply to the Triumvir so much because it doesn't have an active playerbase and as a hub all it does is connect locations.

There is the argument of Tarkuul being close to Amia but I'm pretty sure it buggered off halfway around the world at one point (even if it went back to where it was), so. Sure it could go back I guess. But it's still separate enough from the island to be worth considering.

The other main argument is that it would kill your player count. I'm not too sure about this - Wiltun used to be fairly busy and it's always been on B. And with all the war knights hanging out on Ostland the server even /looks/ busier (even though realistically you prolly won't run into anyone). Being able to clearly see that all your Tark buddies are chilling in the one place and what's more, being able to join them due to non-full server might work out. It may at least be worth giving a try but it doesn't really affect me either way so, just food for thought I guess.

Nobody liked the Crystal Caves, not even its creator. Don't lie to yourself.

I ran them...once

I went there once, too! Don't remember if I finished it, haha.

The Gulags like them Sune, that's who!

Even the Gulags didn't like them. That's why they were so mean.

I went there like 3 times. Died horribly each time.

I never understood them myself. Just seemed extraneous and a bit random.

Yeah I recall them being overly powerful, haha.

I think they guarded a diamond golem for some reason. Clearly eccentrics, and they wore the same utilitarian belt straps over their chests and short shorts. Probably had a union agreement with the Bloodmoons.

The server is always full at peak NA times anymore. :cry:

RIP crystal caves i went there all the time

Bini wrote:

The server is always full at peak NA times anymore. :cry:

Does it sound excessively bitchy to say that I'd way rather be able to log into a mostly stable server pretty much whenever I want to, than not be able to log into an almost completely stable server?

Maybe 60 is a happy medium? Maybe.

Has B been full also?

Nope Glim, pretty much the same, when there are over 20 players on B I consider it very full.

Glim wrote:

Has B been full also?

When A was full, I went to B. And came across no one at all. Though 20 people or so where on the server.

I think B needs a better hub area, if A is expected to be full. As it is, I rarely run into people on it, exploration/travel and getting around solely on B is a bit disjointed... And this might be my lack of knowledge being a newer player but if I can't find anyone, especially at lower levels, I'm sorta just stuck idling somewhere hoping some people come by. After an hour or so I gave up and logged out.

Not on topic really, just a tip to Casvenx: I spend 90% of my time on Bmia and at least in my experience if you want to come accross people, your best bet is staying by Wiltun Fortress. Many people cross that area to go somewhere else, and if they are into RPing and not in a hurry, they will stop. Just dont wait inside the fortress or up the elevator, the trick is staying down there, set a shop, anything to get attention and RP will come. If all else fails, and you see me online, chances are there is ale, hot porridge, fire and RP to be had inside Barak Runedar.

Last edited by Liz on Sat, Mar 30 2013, 9:51 AM, edited 1 time in total.

Glim, it's not useful to for the team say that the server won't be moving significant population centers to B, and then give us "have you tried logging in to B instead" as a solution. There's usually just nothing on B for my characters, and I think I'm not alone in that. If "log on to B instead" is going to be the answer, then B is going to have to actually acquire some more places that people want to log into for RP, consistently and in significant numbers. Is it possible for you to let us know whether that's being considered?

I think you're all reading way too much into his question. Glim isn't the sort to be facetious. It was an honest question.

I guess that's possible. So, sure, I'll give a straight answer: yep, I've tried logging into B, with my character who has reason to hang around Ft Wiltun. I found myself alone there, and likewise everywhere else on B that she'd have reason to go. So I logged her out, and instead I spent a while trying to log in to A once every thirty seconds or so. After about ten minutes, I finally got in, and found people to RP with pretty much instantly.

I know it's possible to read some snarky tone into that story, but I don't mean for there to be. I just mean it to be an objective recounting of what I experienced.

For the record please do not read anything in my reply that is not an approximate player count. I understood Glim's question as a concern about server performance, being it full or not, and answered accordingly in my view.

Last edited by linlan on Sat, Mar 30 2013, 10:33 AM, edited 1 time in total.

Should Captain Guston make his first stop (read: change the default B entry point) in Osthavn rather than Wiltun ?

IIRC, Wiltun once was a pleasant hub, until both the monolith went kaboom AND Lord Arsant took a more severe stance on trade activity / publications.

Free Trade for Ruathym!

Probably would cause IC problems for new druids/mage types who may not know they can be legally burned for casting a cantrip =)

What if we donate a SHITLOAD of money and buy a CRAZY server
Can we combine server A and B into one server then?

please?

It has nothing to do with hardware. NWN itself just can't handle it.

Should it be made so that server A is for low-level characters, and B for high-level characters? It sort of is allready this way, but not entirely. Moving hunting grounds from A to B may be decent. The average character is always going to fall on the lower end of the spectrum due to not every character becoming level 30, so if B had the hunting grounds for everything above maybe level 12, that would make things even out in terms of the number of players on each server...assuming there would also be an equal number of hubs on both servers.

Also, what is the reason for not moving Tarkuul to B?

May be only me, but the biggest separation in players is due to cliques (which I find normal and expected, if I complained about the "dwarven clique" instead of inserting my character into it it would be my loss, not anyone else's) and not due to levels. Making one Amia the "leet level" one, and the other the "newbie level" one would cause people to just want to grind grind grind until they can be with the "cool guys". Also for the regulars it would change nothing, as Amia A is where the majority spends their time anyway, low or high level.

As for Tarkuul, being completely ignorant of their player base (meaning I have never willingly interacted with one) I think the biggest problem with the idea of change is the reputation of Amia B being the empty server, and the player base thinks they can only maintain it by staying on Amia A. This is JUST my opinion, and it can be wrong, it is just the impression I got from the replies.

exquisitelyme wrote:

...one would cause people to just want to grind grind grind until they can be with the "cool guys". Also for the regulars it would change nothing, as Amia A is where the majority spends their time anyway, low or high level.

Not every character becomes level 30, and anyone can log to B as a lowbie just to rp anyways. I get that everyone wants to be on A, and the question is how to change it.

linlan wrote:

IIRC, Wiltun once was a pleasant hub, until both the monolith went kaboom AND Lord Arsant took a more severe stance on trade activity / publications.

Yeah, and sadly it was the fault of PCs. People constantly kept causing shenanigans and stuff there so they cracked down

Murex wrote:

exquisitelyme wrote:

...one would cause people to just want to grind grind grind until they can be with the "cool guys". Also for the regulars it would change nothing, as Amia A is where the majority spends their time anyway, low or high level.

Not every character becomes level 30, and anyone can log to B as a lowbie just to rp anyways. I get that everyone wants to be on A, and the question is how to change it.

I wont argue that some characters will not see lvl 30, and since the server doesnt display classes/levels, I can only guess on the average. I would guess that anyone who doesnt abhor combat can reach epic levels fairly easily with their characters even if they take their time.

As a player I dont really see how the server can be developed to motivate people to play B more often. The DMs can surely "cheat" it, by running more events on B than A (anyone who plays B knows that as soon as the Dm shouts *something is amiss in Wiltun!*, there will be at least some 10 players joining instantly) but that wouldnt be logical, seeing as most people are on A anyway, and thus it is only logical that DMs spend more time on A than B (again, this is in no way a criticism, just my view of things)

If Tarkuul is to remain on A, shouldn't Zanshabon be the evil hub on B? As it is, I barely see anyone there but for a brief moment to buy something real quick. Maybe a portal option can be made from places like Tarkuul, or something? I don't really know what would bring it more traffic, but I think it should have more.

It was an honest and simple question about the status of B, yes, since I haven't been around to see if it has been filling up since the change or not. I assure you there was nothing facetious about the question.

Tarkuul isn't moving to server B (yet) for IC reasons. Later down the line as the plot develops, those IC reasons might precipitate a move, but not at present.

We have several things on the go for B (or at least I know I do) to try and ramp up the interest in that server. The Underdark is getting a major workover, Khem is going to see some radical changes in the wake of the Red Hand plot (hopefully this weekend) and I'm hoping it may become the new "good" hub on B.

So no, I wasn't saying, "Well if A's full, just go to B and quit whining." I was asking to see where things are at, and how much further we still have to go

Also dropping the server count to 55 is not necessarily a permanent thing. If we find that even at max capacity of 55 and with the removal of extra bits we've done, the server stays stable? Well then we might bump it back up to 60 and try that for awhile. Etc. We're just trying different things to try and make for the best experience for you, and nothing is set in stone.

From experience I know that our (players') inventories cause the most stress in the server, two questions if I may:

-To DMs/Developers: If you could suggest a limit of items carried, what would it be? Do you guys think a general decrease in items stored would help?

-To players: Would you trade a bit of freedom in your inventory for a better server performance? (and in case someone from the Amia team suggests a number, do you think you could live and enjoy the server with it?)

Not sure how controversial the topic can be, hopefully not much. But in my time playing NWN I remember a number of servers without any kinds of Bags of Holding (or a limit like, 2 per player) and the reasoning was always server performance.

As I understand, item descriptions make up a lot of the character file size. Stripping things like mythal and blank wand descriptions to a minimum would probably help a bit? I really need to ditch the books in Joon's inventory myself, because they're obviously large files.

I seem to recall that items put in the inventory, removing them doesn't fully solve the problem. I think the descriptions may stay in the .bic from each item, could be wrong but I did read of something along those lines some time back.

Liz wrote:

Does it sound excessively bitchy to say that I'd way rather be able to log into a mostly stable server pretty much whenever I want to, than not be able to log into an almost completely stable server?

It wasn't "Mostly stable" at all. If it was mostly stable, then this wouldn't have been done. We are aware this is an inconvenience after all, and wouldn't rush into it without thinking of the consequences. But it's got the point where it's crashed, repeatedly, several times in a row some days. The recent Saturdays was not made through without at least a crash, usually two or more. The only time when this stopped is when players got too fed up of logging back in and the player count decreased.

I know it's a pain, but it's something you'll have to get used to for the moment, or perhaps even longer. For reference, since the changes to Amia A and the playercount, it hasn't crashed once... which seems a good start.

PaladinOfSune wrote:

Liz wrote:

Does it sound excessively bitchy to say that I'd way rather be able to log into a mostly stable server pretty much whenever I want to, than not be able to log into an almost completely stable server?

It wasn't "Mostly stable" at all. If it was mostly stable, then this wouldn't have been done. We are aware this is an inconvenience after all, and wouldn't rush into it without thinking of the consequences. But it's got the point where it's crashed, repeatedly, several times in a row some days. The recent Saturdays was not made through without at least a crash, usually two or more. The only time when this stopped is when players got too fed up of logging back in and the player count decreased.

I know it's a pain, but it's something you'll have to get used to for the moment, or perhaps even longer. For reference, since the changes to Amia A and the playercount, it hasn't crashed once... which seems a good start.

To back up what Paladin is saying, there was one time I was really excited because there were few characters I don't get to RP very often. Then the sever crashed total of 4 times in 15 minutes. The people I was looking forward to RPing with? Well. They never came back. They did the first few times. But not after the 4th. I couldn't blame them, really, but that's just one (of many) examples where the server was extremely unstable.

Could it have anything to do with the 8 hour resets?

A lot have people I have partied with have remarked on the lagginess seen when it gets close to the reset time.

Nope, not at all.

The only people that generally go to B are close nit cliques involved in some plot, if your not involved there is almost nothing else to do there but epic loot farm.

Even if it was partly the new length between resets, there's something else causing it too, on a few times it has crashed recently, it has crashed again not too long after starting up again, which I imagine is not really any different to a reset, since all items temporarily placed are removed and such and would reduce lag of PLC's, loot bags that have been missed, etc.

But I did notice that some people after a crash are casting, using aura's, Bard songing and other abilities in the Entry.

Aura's are known to cause lag as it is, but in the start area, when around 15+ (And all are counted as friendly so some of the KC aura's will affect everyone within it) people are logging in consecutively and others are doing all the casting (It doesn't make it easy maneuvering to the mirror when so many are in the entry + people using abilities, drops my own FPS a major amount, and clicking the mirror, well if you happen to walk to through the tile of the caster, it may stop you with so many others in the way too), it's bound to have a negative punch on the server, so not doing that would definitely reduce chances of crashing too, for any one who may not have known already, so being mindful of what you do in the brief time you're in the entry would be ideal.

Yes, the module size and high amount of players, as I described in my first post.

I've already ran logger programs on the server and collected a fair amount of data on this.

But, no, the people finding it hilarious to use KC auras and Bard Song in the entry doesn't help either. I need to disable that sometime.

Sune. Is it like Iron says? That it's due to the old engine, and not because we have a poor server to store Amia in?

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