Zeus Community

latest version uploaded PO4 BETA 1.1

Changes are
Poor performance issue is the main update.
A different method of caching the AI is now in use
The civilians are now agents (Use less resources) This is still w.i.p., more work needs to be done with these but they should be functional

The starting location has been changed to the main airport
I have added the usual array of respawning vehicles and the orbat

You should fingers crossed be able to play this now.

It really needs to be stress test so ideally we need a lot of players on, at least 30. I'll try and arrange something for over the weekend

looking forward to the server being up again

Thanks for the feedback and helkp so far folks....

TUESDAY 15th AUGUST 19:00 UK Time No.1 Server, passworded with "zeus"
I need to do a load test on the latest PO4 update. This is to test if the latest tweaks have fixed the low performance we have been seeing.

Ideally I need around 40 players for this and 1 hour of your time
Zclient allowed.

Thanks

Terox

Not usually home till 7 / 8pm but will endeavour to be here for this.

Despite the fact that there seemed to be no combat near a town, the civilian locals still decide to run between their waypoints every now and then. Not only does this random running break immersion but it also makes talking with them more tedious and results in more accidental road-kills. I would expect that all civilians should be set to limited movement speed but it does not seem to be the case from what I experienced.

For those interested in the data I collected yesterday

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

what is shows is an improvement in a reduction of data transfer betwwen the server and the clients and a more steady server fps.
Still a way to go but defintely in the right direction

Average No. of players: 30
Average numberr of AI: 55
Average cps: 35 ((Big improvement)
Average (Minimum cps recorded) 27
Average mem used: 1039Mb
Average Data out: 4821 Kbps (Massive improvement)
Average data in : 173 Kbps

i noticed in the end when the server player base is low, the AI stayed in high numbers, if there is a script that limit that for low number operations, wouldn't this reduce the server memory usage ? specially for example, Players played that mission over night then the server was empty, next day when people going to join the server, will the AI stay in "Large Numbers" as they were before all players left the server ?

no, if you look at the graph, the ai numbers were slowly increasing the entire period of the test, this is as a direct result of gathering intel and searching areas, which will have caused more AI to spawn. It has nothing to do with players disconnecting at the end.

Roy is well aware of the low ai numbers at present and they will be increased as the mission becomes mnore and more optimised. He mentioned adding the respawn and revive functionality in the next patch. I believe the revive system is going to be something he wrote himself, will have to wait and see.

Date: Friday 18 August
Version: BETA 1.2 Terox V02 Load Test

Bugs

1. Initial spawn for units (Alpha 4. Grenadier, Bravo 4. Grenadier, CAS pilot tested) at Aircraft carrier starts in the water - respawning gives option to choose Carrier (watery again) or Safe Base Charlie. As the player starts in the water under the eaves of the runway maybe this can be fixed by raising the height of the spawn point?

2. Civvies spawning in base (not game breaking, but a tragic accident waiting to happen if one walks onto the air strip)

3. Pawnee copilot seat does not have access to weapons on taking controls (not sure if this is normal)

4. Once airborne with a fighter plane (AAF Griphon) - Game chat 'Base' Channel (same channel that sends 'a chill is in the air' whenever you're close to an enemy patrol) says: "AWACS picking up hostiles inbound" - but nothing comes to intercept you.

5. CAS group marker does not work (all markers look to be stuck 100m off the coast near the airfield)

6. Intel 'hitbox' still seems to be very small - almost that you have one or two pixels to nail to successfully pick up

Monday 21 August
Version: BETA 1.2 Terox V02 Load Test

Same mission version name - different outcomes.

1. FIXED Spawning at Base consistently - on option to spawn on carrier -

2. ? Wasn't messing about in base long enough to see any civvies in there...

3. ?

4. FIXED - OPFOR jets do arrive on station and they're very angry - also target ejected pilots - is this allowed by the Laws of War?

5. No CAS marker - (@Terox is this a because of the distance covered by the CAS jets/heli in a small amount of time making it a possible stuttering mess)?

6. Found an A4 manilla folder of Intel - was easy to pick up (comment above it was under a dead body and impossible to pick up)

I have the latest iteration of Po4, beta 1.4.
Changes are:
Added Group Icons (Nato markers)
Added respawn and revive (Not mention of any further optimisation tweaks)
I don't know if there will be enough interest to try this en mass, so I haven't uploaded it. (Will need server passwording if we do)
The next iteration is supposed to have the following....

HC is already implemented. Just need to place the unit on the map and it should be automatic
I'll make sure to add it in the next update as it will be important to test

---------

The next update will be the last closed update. It will contain the full encounter -> operation dynamic and if all goes well, I will green light you guys to start hosting open servers.

Looking forward to seeing how the Laws of War DLC is incorporated into Patrol Ops - what with Eagle and Thunder shitting cluster munitions about the place and leaving large areas of Altis unsafe to navigate without mine detection equipment, it should make for more interesting patrols

*EDIT* - ok, I just popped onto server one and spawned in the cluster munitions equipped A-10. UXO is automatically a thing (not all munitions from the cluster explode) and they are automatically tied into mine detection equipment by default.

Only issue is that a player unit MUST have a toolkit AND EOD flag checked to be able to disarm/deactivate UXO (shooting and walking over it works fine too)

TurokGMT wrote: ↑Sat Sep 09, 2017 10:22 am Only issue is that a player unit MUST have a toolkit AND EOD flag checked to be able to disarm/deactivate UXO (shooting and walking over it works fine too)

Also, even if you are EOD qualified, you now need to manually "reveal" the mines/UXOs before you are able to de-activate them. You do this by aiming directly at the mine/UXO you want to de-activate and then press whatever key you have bound to the "reveal" key binding (the default is "T").

Just reading the Admin meeting minutes - is the PO4 test tomorrow?

Jim wrote: ↑Sat Oct 21, 2017 12:00 pm Just reading the Admin meeting minutes - is the PO4 test tomorrow?

Yes. PO4 test will replace usual Sunday gamenight tomorrow since we need good numbers for it. We may revert back to playing regular gamenight missions later in the night however.