lol -_- V8 val day delay?

[Solemn]

Hi. It's Solemn. In case, well for no real reason but I wanted to know if V8 val test was being delayed til Sunday cause of the Saturday break and the server not being on today. Since it would be going off pretty soon I doubt it's coming up tonight. Anyway This is my first time using the forums and I've played this game since I think Version 4. I know Matt-gen was hosting back then but can't really be sure what version. Thought it would be a good idea to try it out and since I had a question it worked out. Anyway see y'all later. (Server's down.... )

[Manboy]

Ragnaros yells: Hey Mettool, host FF:THG or I'll wipe your raid!

(good luck with MC)

I'm pretty sure the other topic said that he will host tomorrow for the testing, so he'll probably end up taking Sunday off.

[U. Dye]

It wasn't delayed, per se. Actually, there were some... serious bugs with Val, and the game had to be taken down for the day because Mett didn't test and implement the fixes that Kija sent him.

[Solemn]

Aw that sucks. Wonder if it will be back tommorrow. Can you put your name on the game too? I don't know who is telling what.

[Kija]

I am not sure when Mettool will be bringing back the server, but for those who are curious, I will explain the problems that occured.

The first problem happened when the server just came up. There was a lot of lag, and those in battle, their positions are off. The leader was on the grass area, and anyone else would be one tile forward. This was because Mettool's map was glitched. I am not sure when this occured; he was not sent any map files, and should have had the same map as he always had since before the Vallatio test. For some reason, the area where people would usually stand was replaced with a mob. Because of this, there was a density error causing the mobs that tried to walk there to get stuck around the edges, causing a lot of lag as they constantly kept trying to move to the space that was blocked. The mob tile there was the base mob type, called "players", which there also happened to be an old turf called "players" in the same area, but it was erased a few updates ago. A turf that was erased completly off the map somehow appearing back a mob of the same path name is rather strange. Mettool may know more if he did for some reason received or was using another map.

The second problem occured when the Vallatio scene began. The guards did not appear. This was because Mettool's character icon file did not contain the Vampire Guard icon. It seems that someone had sent him another icon file without first checking if it was too old. I hope this does not happen again because everyone was already warned before when the same thing happened to Draggoroth. So any Brotherhood members, please check your character icon file. If it is not the correct one, make sure to get an updated version and do not send any files without first checking.

The third problem appeared during the battle. Vallatio appeared as his character icon and the guards did not appear. This is because when Mettool was copy and pasting the new Vallatio stat text, he had accidently overwritten the icon setting for the Vallatio boss. This caused the icon to use its default file, which is the character icon file.

The fourth problem occured during the second part of the Vallatio battle. Vallatio was not talking or moving like he usually would. This was caused from a recent update on how boss values were checked. They were normally checked from a different variable, but it caused problems to constantly worry about a different variable to use, so the boss valaue was then moved over to a another variable that was already passed, making much easier to use and keep track of. However, this boss value was not set for the second battle because the part where these values are normally set was bypassed, since it is in the proc that sets up for normal battles, which the second part is done differently. Without the boss value set, the game did not know it was a boss battle and so did not run the boss procs that would have caused him to talk and move.

The fifth problem occured afterwards where some people were unable to party with the others, where the game thought they have beaten Vallatio. This problem was also caused by the boss value update. The boss values were not being reset from previous battles, so the variable keeping track of the boss numbers would still be there in a normal battle. So after the first Vallatio fight, anyone who appeared in the same area would have been updated with the boss value. This problem was not just with Vallatio and could have easily occured with the other bosses, but fortunately there were few people on for it to have happened.

For those that are wondering why this was not tested first to make sure nothing like this would have happened; it was tested, but these problems were not going to show up. I had did three tests on my own server. By using my server, I had to assume no one had sent Mettool an old character file, nor that Mettool was going to overwrite the icon setting. The fourth and fifth problem did not occur as well because the same battle area was used from the first part of the battle as the second, so Vallatio did speak and move after the initial setting of the boss value. Since there was no one else to party with and because I had defeated Vallatio, the fifth problem was left unknown, as everything seemed to work as intended.

Those that were affected by the fifth problem will be reset. I already have a list of people that most likely were, but if you have and are not on the list, you can message me, and I will fix you as well. It would be a good idea not to lie though, because if we ever find out that you did, you will be banned forever or for a very long time.

So far the list contains these people:

Son of Milenko
Renjoro
Thyger II
Thy
Arrolm
Destar
Sokar
Daemon Lord V8
Daemon Guard V8


If there any more questions, I will do my best to answer them. We apologize for the inconvenience caused.

[Mettool]

Despite most of these are probably my fault, It should all be back to normal tommorow (Saturday), and I'll bring the game up.

[Kija]

One that would be your fault is when you overwrote the Vallatio icon file setting. The character icon file not having a guard would the fault of whoever sent it to you. The map problem, I am not sure who is fault at that. The problem with the boss value, causing Vallatio not to more or talk and causing others to have their boss completion set without fighting a boss was my fault.

[U. Dye]

I'm gonna be blunt... Who gives a damn whose fault anything was? Fact is, some stuff is broken, and now it's gotta be fixed. Or left alone, and Val left pathetic.

Well, anyway... After seeing that laundry list of problems that occurred, I guess y'all are gonna be EXTRA careful when it comes time to implement V8, huh?

Well, if nothing else, at least this stuff will give you a few more things to check on and make sure they're in order when it comes time.

[Kija]

The fault does not matter, but some times people are curious about what happened, and a person's name may come up then.

Well only one problem on list is actually partly related to the implementation of the version eight Vallatio, which even then was because of a change made to the normal battle system.

The other problems were already there and were not related, except perhaps the icon setting incident, but that is a bit different problem to be considered an error of implementation of the actual boss battle.

When version eight does come; we will be doing a lot of testing. By doing a Vallatio public test though, it helps us learn more about different possible bugs or problems that may occur when dealing with multiple parties and a larger server that we are unable to test on our own.

[Solemn]

Fault is no issue as long as no one was harmed in the process, now if this we're a matter for attorney's than it would be relevant. Other than that, no one lost anything but time. Mettool lost Saturday break, but it was by choice i'm fairly sure. I am mostly posting for my last post to next rank. It was like having little exp before leveling. It is really annoying to have to wait for that last little bit. Anyway hope someone comes on soon, I want someone to talk to.

[Kyou]

You know what would be fun, if for one day, you reset the boss values of people who put themselves on a list so they could go back and re-fight all the bosses starting Vall on up to where there level actually gives them a chance of winning, you might have to make it where they can't party with anyone so people don't get dragged, and maybe the boss battles would be the same as if it were an 8 person party.

ex: 1 Vall 8 Vampires vs. Lvl 63 Rose.

The next day you just reset the values.

[Solemn]

Anyone know bout what time he wakes up on Saturday? He was up at 12:30 my time which is Central. So would he be getting up soon?

[Kija]

I asked Mettool last night around what time he would be waking up. He said most likely 10:00 - 11:00 Eastern time.

[Solemn]

That is soon! YAY!!

[Solemn]

I am not trying to be impatient, but isn't it like 1:30 Eastern time? That is some powerful underestimation.

[Kija]

The server is up. After Mettool did wake up, we still needed to fix everything and test. Finding the affected savefiles without knowing the key takes awhile when you have a lot of files.

[Kyou]

And now to update, The server is once again down because of a bug with Vallatio. Peace.