Dev Meeting 2014-12-21
Talad says: Hi and welcome to the “meet the developers” event
Talad says: this event is OOC
Talad says: and meant as a way for you to ask questions and get the latest news on our work on the game
Aearthas says: we want update we want update we want update
Talad says: if you want to ask a quetsion just walk to the stand in front of us
Waesed joins the chant
Damola chimes in “Update, update, update is soooo nice.”
Talad says: and queue there if there are more people
Talad says: one question at a time please
Talad says: HI Gonger
Jemima scratches her head “An update… or ‘the’ update..?”
Gonger says: Greetings to all! I have made it a habit to visit the Welcome Area every now and then to see if there is some newbie in trouble. I have very often noticed that new characters never move away from the spawn point, and also do not communicate. They seem “dead” from the start. Which makes me wonder whether there is something wrong there…
Talad says: today on stage we have Mordaan from setting team
Gonger says: Oh, sorry, I was a bit fast maybe…
Talad says: Tuatanach from rules team
Talad says: Eredin from engine team, and myself as project leader
Talad says: it may be they crash
Talad says: so you see their character for a bit
Talad says: but then they timeout
Gonger says: Yes, but always exactly at the spawn point? That is worrysome, because we risk to lose those players because they are frustrated.
Shkirr says: Some people stopped trying to come to PS due to crashes on startup…
Jemima nods “A crash isn’t the best welcome ever…”
Shkirr says: Windows users mostly, I think
Gonger says: Yes. They do a long download, a not so easy installation, create the character, and BOOM! I fear that many then stop trying.
Talad says: we have the crash reporter
Talad says: and in many cases it’s startup crashes
Talad says: consider startup means also graphics
Talad says: as that’s the first time you load the world in 3D
Gag says: First time building e.g. shaders?
Talad says: yes
Gonger says: I do not remember exactly the graphics default settings after installation. Maybe they need to be lowered?
Talad says: so if their system doesn’t have opengl, or not latest drivers, they will be stuck at spawn point
Gonger says: I really see a lot of those “dead” characters in the Welcome area.
Jemima nods “The 3D engine doesn’t like modern graphics cards… it seems… I had to turn down everything to minimal to be able to log in…”
Eonwindd says: I run a GTX 770 and I don’t have problems
Ridwan says: I have the impression it help to enable VBO, although I have a AMD graphics card (it suggests actually it produces crashes)
Eredin says: I wonder if there’s a way to detect the missing libraries or graphics card problems and warn about it earlier?
Eonwindd says: on a linux system
Jemima says: I’m on hte last AMD cards… and windows 7…
Ridwan says: I’m also on a linux system
Gonger says: Or lower the default graphics settings.
Talad says: Jemima, should be the opposite
Talad says: new cards support very well the engine
Talad says: but old cards may have issues with drivers
Talad says: as not easy to find on newer systems, like win 7
Jemima says: I nkow tabei… but I had to turn down everything to minimal or off to be able to stay in-game…
Eredin says: wow, that’s certainly not a good way to view the game.
Talad says: Jemima : when did you last updated your video drivers?
Jemima says: Well… no… but at least… I can log in now…
Talad says: and what card you have?
Jemima says: Err… few days ago tabei…
Eredin says: did it work before the update?
Damola says: Sorry, will leave for IC Xiosia event.
Jemima says: Err… system says AMD Radeon R9 200 series…
Jemima shakes her head “No tabei… a crash by loading graphics…”
Eredin says: 🙁
Graid says: Have amd a4-5000 w/radeon HD; no problems
Damela says: Intel Sandybridge, no issues either (expect slowness with too high settings, but thats to be expected)
Talad says: we can probably make a list of all cards we know are supported
Talad says: when you enter the game the client sends the information of the operating system and video cards to the server
Talad says: and we actually store it
Graid says: A good post surely
Talad says: for statistics purposes
Talad says: now we may probably check how many hours of gameplay a certain account has
Talad says: to ensure it’s really working
Eredin says: is there any way to associate the os 7 card with number or frequency of crashes?
Eredin says: os & card…
Talad says: only with the crash reporter
Talad says: not just in the db
Eredin says: ok
Talad says: as we do not have the crash data in the ps db
Gonger says: Can you see how many characters never move away from the spawn point in the Welcome Area?
Talad says: we can see all characters with less than 1 hour gameplay
Talad says: not the ones who do not move
Kiaerulf says: It probably not quiet as simple as just comparing cards vs. os. The driver version may also have an impact on the stability.
Kiaerulf says: also comparing that to the various video settings
Jemima scratches her head “I’ll try to change graphis settings soon… I know how to change things if it doesn’t work…”
Xola says: may be memory manage cause crash not graphic itself , i usualy can enter and leave gh if not touch item but if i drop something in ful gh i have to relog
Talad says: Is there any Mac user here?
Lumi says: O.O.. no MAC user ?
Talad says: ok, I guess not
Lumi says: :3
Talad says: they are not many
Kiaerulf says: I know Anysu uses mac
Kiaerulf says: But she never attend dev meetings
Vandru says: As does giterin
Waesed says: And Tuon
Graid says: I was, missed the question
Talad says: as you know the Mac release was holding our release
Graid says: Yes
Talad says: but Tulic is helping us and managed to compile it
Jemima purrs “Sweet!!”
Gonger says: Three Cheers to Tulic! 🙂
Mordaan says: yes, well done!
Graid says: Excellent news, any game builds yet ?
Talad says: now we are doing some tests as it’s not yet compatible with all versions
Talad says: but on most recent ones it works
Gonger says: [Sorry, wrong focus 🙂 ]
Mordaan says: meaning we’re soooo close
Talad says: it has some issues with older systems
Graid says: Is a good step forward
Graid says: Had 10.5.8 before
Talad says: so we are thinking to release in the next few days with what we have
Jemima says: Nice.!!
Talad says: we are preparing the change log
Kiaerulf says: How many active players actually use MacOS versions not compatible with the client as it is now?
Kabitar says: Update under the tree?
Lumi says: o/ Kia
Talad says: yes, it will be our Christmas gift 🙂
Graid says: Might as well, needs of the many as they say…
Mordaan says: \o/
Kabitar cheers for Santa Talad.
Kiaerulf says: hmm, you didn’t answer when Talad asked if any Mac users were present, Lumi ;-p
Mordaan says: the reason we asked is it would help to have additional testing with mac users.
Lumi says: because he know for me 🙁 i tested tulic client
Mordaan says: Lumi has been helping tremendously!
Eredin says: We are already working with Lumi and Tuon.
Graid says: No access to the mac; will not boot
Eredin says: I can try to contact Anysu and Giterin to see if they’re willing to test it?
Kiaerulf says: I don’t know if Anysu would be interested in helping you test stuff on her mac. But I can ask her if you like
Talad says: I guess at this point they will test as we release
Graid says: Been there 😉
Talad says: if there are no other questions we can go through a small update on our sude
Talad says: Mordaan can you summarize latest in setting?
Graid says: Cheers for update repair team !!!
Lumi nods: ” Cheers indeed”
Mordaan says: sure..
Mordaan says: I think it’s been repeated serveral times but to summarize…
Mordaan says: We’ve quite a few new quests including ones to introduce new bow making books.
Mordaan says: and new shield books that replace all those diagrams.
Damela cheers for Tulic and Lumi and the update repair team
Mordaan says: as well as an improvement to the travel system, with all cities <=> all cities
Damela claps to the new ptero “Nice!!”
Mordaan says: and for you gamblers..
Mordaan says: Darven will now offer an assortment of card games.
Jemima looks at Mordaan with kitty eyes “Can you tell us who the questgivers of those crafting-books are… Not everyone loves to run around like a mad cub to find the quests…”
Gonger says: Lazy kitty…
Jemima nods vigrously “Lazy…”
Talad says: Eonwindd : can you add something for rules?
Gonger chuckles softly.
Talad says: and then we can wrap up, so we leave the people to the Xiosia event
Mordaan says: for bow making, look for a new NPC in the arena.
Eonwindd says: sure
Gonger says: May I ask one more question?
Eonwindd says: if Gonger want to ask his question before
Gonger says: While crafting Chain Mail, the combining of open and closed rings does not yield any exp. This is particularly annoying because this step implies a lot of clicking, even with macros. Is this a bug or a feature?
Eonwindd says: a feature definetely 🙂
Eonwindd says: we know combining are time expensive
Gonger says: ARGL… I was afraid you would say so 🙂
Jemima droops her ears “Combining is alwais a pain in the mew.!!”
Lumi says: lol
Tuathanach says: one of the things crafting gui will help with in future
Mordaan says: EXP is not worth what it once was, anyway.
Eonwindd says: but exp is awarded only for process which consume “server” time
Gonger says: Well, but it does not create progress in armour making, either…
Mordaan says: yeah, it’s the practice points which is worth something.
Eonwindd says: but in the crafting UI Eredin is developing there will be features to speed up the combining parts
Eonwindd says: so in the future combining will be, hopefully, faster and require less clicks
Eonwindd says: Now going back to new features…
Gonger says: Ok, then. Thanks to all who are working on improving PlaneShift. Remember, we players have all been very good this year, and deserve a nice big Christmas present in the form of the next update!!!
Eredin says: I believe the crafting interface will be very welcome to that community.
Eonwindd says: 😀
Eonwindd says: I will briefly enlist the changelog titles 🙂
Eonwindd says: so you can go to the event earlier 😉
Damela smiles
Eonwindd says: there is a PvP area in Oja, in the oarena of course, along a few training dummies
Jemima looks hopefull “Can you add a feature to that new crafting gui… so you can stack goods with an quality difference of about 5..?”
Aearthas says: what mac versions are known to be not compatable???????
Talad says: 10.5.8 is the one we are having trouble with atm
Aearthas says: thank you
Eonwindd says: Crafting: the list is long… shield making has been redesigned (less books + new shields)
Talad says: ok, if there is nothing else, we can wrap up
Talad says: so you can go to the Xiosia event
Eonwindd says: bow making + a lot of improvement to other existing crapting
Mordaan says: the changelog is extensive. Will be a Christmas gift of it’s own.
Mordaan says: 🙂
Aearthas says: sweet
Eonwindd says: 5 new spells … and much more 😀
Mordaan says: heh, way to summarize. 😀
Talad says: ok, thanks for participating