*sam* Posted May 18, 2009, 5:28 pm	* Some efficiency-related tweaks to AI pathfinding, so the delays/lag some people have reported during combats on certain maps should be improved/removed * Some miscellaneous client/GUI fixes * You can now right-click a tyre in the pre-combat deployment stage, to switch tyres with those in cargo. It’s currently only possible to switch for the same type of tyre (the code is a bit messy). * Spectators’ flags are now visible to everyone, and in events without teams (e.g. races) all flags are visible. This was a request from several marshals who want the facility to help new players, but I figured it would be useful to everyone. In team-based combats of any type (i.e. where there’s 2 teams) your flags will continue to be visible only to teammates.
*Tinker* Posted May 19, 2009, 7:48 am	Awesome Sam!
*Lugal* Posted May 19, 2009, 4:25 pm	Huzzah!
*sam* Posted May 19, 2009, 8:25 pm	Has anyone noticed the shooting-time lag diminished/removed, BTW? I believe gates of Badlands was the worst map for it.
Mad Mike Posted May 20, 2009, 1:04 am	was a bit of lag when a heavy rocket was shot. the npc gunner had the highest speed so it was the first shot
Mad Mike Posted May 20, 2009, 1:13 am	just had a travel. client crashed when loading it... then had 3 spots of lag
The Paranoid Tourist Posted May 20, 2009, 3:38 am	I had some horrible lag in a deathrace at the Elmsfield Lake running deathflashes. It got so bad that I just gave up. Everything ran smoothly during the orders phase, but action and shooting slowed down a bit more most every turn. At first it was just choppy animation, but at the end it was to the point where it took 20 seconds after the orders were given and all that I got to see was the result: no animation in between. I've never seen this before and I don't know if it's related or not, but it was miserable. . .
*sam* Posted May 20, 2009, 9:21 am	Do you have an event ID, PT?
PieMonster Posted May 20, 2009, 10:22 am	Dunno if it was my client (i did have a couple of torrents coming down chewing maybe 10% of bandwidth) but things were choppier than i have ever experienced last night... Had to reload events several times etc, plus crashed 3-4 times in about an hour. Very unusual in my experience, and unclear as to cause. Different events same experience too. Pie
The Paranoid Tourist Posted May 20, 2009, 11:24 am	The marvelously powerful sam said: Do you have an event ID, PT? Sure: 54471 Hope it helps.
Mad Mike Posted May 20, 2009, 2:37 pm	had some lag in a travel, seemed to get worse had many spots of lag.
*sam* Posted May 20, 2009, 4:00 pm	paranoid tourist said: I had some horrible lag in a deathrace at the Elmsfield Lake running deathflashes. It got so bad that I just gave up. Everything ran smoothly during the orders phase, but action and shooting slowed down a bit more most every turn. At first it was just choppy animation, but at the end it was to the point where it took 20 seconds after the orders were given and all that I got to see was the result: no animation in between. 54471 Checked: 1. physics simulation. No more took more than 0.012 secs, so definitely not the issue. 2. move data acknowledgements. There was just one instance (move#7) where your client didn't acknowledge receipt of the data within the alloted maximum time of 7 seconds. The rest of the time it acknowledged in less then 1.5 seconds, typically less than 1 sec. So a general problem with the network connection seems unlikely. This seems like a client-side problem. How long did you spend in actually taking your moves - were any quite lengthy on purpose? The only significant gaps in activity as logged on the server seem to be while waiting for your moves (some 15-20 secs). I'm wondering whether the space/tab keypress is not being sent. Were you sending moves before the previous firing phase was complete? (this processes in a slightly different way, I can check for a bug). Were you trying multiple times to press tab/space when it was failing to respond? I assume you saw lots of weaponsfire being reported? (I guess mostly minedroppers)
*sam* Posted May 20, 2009, 4:03 pm	mike: next time, any chance you could say some specific chat into the game when you have the issue again, e.g. "Lag here!" - that way it will be very easy for me to check a game log at the correct place and see if there's any hints.
Mad Mike Posted May 20, 2009, 5:06 pm	will do. if this isnt a player wide problem I suspect my side unless there are multiple comments on lag.
The Paranoid Tourist Posted May 20, 2009, 7:31 pm	Quote: How long did you spend in actually taking your moves - were any quite lengthy on purpose? The only significant gaps in activity as logged on the server seem to be while waiting for your moves (some 15-20 secs). I'm wondering whether the space/tab keypress is not being sent. I don't think that I delayed any turns. I normally play pretty quickly. Quote: Were you sending moves before the previous firing phase was complete? (this processes in a slightly different way, I can check for a bug). It's possible but I doubt it. When the lag began I had to wait some time to find out where my car was going to be, so I didn't accept another turn until the last one finally played out. Quote: Were you trying multiple times to press tab/space when it was failing to respond? I don't think so. I recognized that the game realized I submitted my turn because my name turned green, the "Move Done" button changed to "Not Ready", and the timer paused. The client also slowed everything way down as soon as I submitted a turn, even panning the camera, for instance. This happened while the turn was processing. When the turn was processed and the orders phase was up again it ran very smoothly. The problem repeated with every turn starting about when I was on the bridge. . . it only got worse, never better after it started. Quote: I assume you saw lots of weaponsfire being reported? (I guess mostly minedroppers) I think that I saw everything in the chat window that I should've. By the time the lag got bad, though, most NPC shooting was over with.
*sam* Posted May 20, 2009, 9:15 pm	I'm definitely thinking it has to be something going wonky with the move scheduling on the client. I'm making a few timing tweaks. Did you notice if the 'Firing Phase' icon was stuck on the screen during the lags?
The Paranoid Tourist Posted May 20, 2009, 9:23 pm	sam said: Did you notice if the 'Firing Phase' icon was stuck on the screen during the lags? Didn't notice. As a Mac user I can hardly see the thing since I run fullscreen and the menu bar is across most of it. . . still. . .
*sam* Posted May 20, 2009, 10:06 pm	I have a few timing tweaks ready to try, but I have learned not to do anything silly at the busy times.. I'll run some events on the tweaked code in the morning when it's quiet.