Problems and their possible solutions

[surak]

Hi! I'll share with you a brief text to clarify some of the most common doubts you may have:

Crashes

There are several possible causes for crashes, for instance:

1. Programming errors.
   This is an exclusive responsibility of NGD. We are constantly finding and fixing this problems but as this game is a complex one, there are very strange situations that could cause a crash and they are so hard to reproduce that fixing them takes longer than we would like.
   The files (dumps) that the game generates and you send when you relog are the most useful tool we have to trace and fix this problems.
2. Old/obsolete drivers with errors.
   Regnum (specially after the graphics engine update) uses all of the techniques and resources of your video cards as possible. In certain ocasions the video driver isn't the latest and can or not have this features, have them untested or with errors. That is why it's important to have the lastest driver version.
3. Virus/Malware interfering with the correct execution of the game.
   We've seen cases in which virus/malware software inducing unexpected problems (given that this programs do not go through and extensive "quality control", they tend to cause several problems besides the ones that they are programmed to do). There is not much to say about this except keeping your PC clean, which will make everything work better.
4. Programas pesados abiertos durante la ejecución del juego.
   Regnum uses a lot of memory. If you have Firefox open (for instance) with 20 youtube videos loaded, the game will have a hard time getting memory from the system to work properly. And if the system happens to say to the game "I don't have any memory left for you", the game explodes and crashes.

Server crashes

This error causes the disconnection of all players and the possibility of data loss of the last moments of each game sessions (commonly causes the loss of the last earned experience points). This information is lost because the server doesn't close tidily (it directly explodes and can't do anything more) and because of this can't save the last information to the database.

NGD has the procedures to analyze and fix this cases and, I don't know if anyone noticed, but the server crashes tend to be more weird each new time. The most common symptom of the server crashing is that the server/gameplay ping shoots to the sky and leaves the player standing still without a chance to move, fight, chat, etc, until the disconnection dialog appears.

It mustn't be confused with this the occasional connectivity problems that cause a massive disconnection.

Massive disconnection without the server crashing

In certain occasions at some point, the Internet's infrastructure has an inconvenience and a group of users ceases to have access to the servers (this happened in christmas, for example).

If the problem is located in the datacenter where the servers are running, ALL players get disconnected, despite the server is still working, without users. In this case there is no data loss for anyone, just an iterruption of whathever it is you were doing.

Lag

LAG is an excessive delay between sending a message from the client and the answer of the server. It can have many causes, for instance:

1. Overloaded server.
   The server runs in a very powerful machine, with several CPUs and some GBs of RAM. Because of design problems / bad implementation it has a hard time handling populated battles as the ones that happen in an invasion, in which we've seen at most 300 players fighting at the same place. We're tracking and rewriting the most sensitive and heavy parts of the server for it to handle even more users. This isn't a simple thing to do and requires exhaustive tests (as we perform from time to time in Amun) but generally the real results aren't noticed until we test it in the official servers.
   The only thing I can clarify here is that we are still working on this and we hope to raise the capacity of the processing power of the server as much as needed for it to work properly in any kind of situation.
2. Saturated connection.
   This is obvious, if you're downloading music or videos (or uploading), or you have a shared internet connection and other PC is using all of the available bandwidth, it's obvious that the game will not work as it should.
3. Insufficient bandwidth.
   We've seen (and experimented) that most of the Internet providers apply a traffic limitation (traffic shaping) for non common ports (as the ones Regnum uses). I can expose an example, for instance there was a time when in NGD we had an ISP called Fibertel and even we couldn't get into the game as the resource downloads took HOURS.
   To put it in numbers, if the provider doesn't allow you to receive less than 10kb/s and the server is trying to send you 20kb/s, you will have lag.

Low FPS

Low FPS (miscalled as LAG by most users) are due to the PC in which Regnum is being run, being it unable to process and render a scene in an acceptable speed. It can be caused by:

1. Non efficient graphics engine implementation.
   This was the main reason of the new technology. The idea was to rewrite the graphics engine having in mind to make the most of the newest video cards. This also should (theoretically) have helped older cards. Due to the impossibility (because of lack of resources) of testing it in all the possible hardware, we're still fixing problems.
   Some may say “but before, it worked great on my onboard Intel and now it doesn't!!”. Sadly, we have to look forward and not backwards. Although it is important that all the possible users can enjoy the game, we will not sacrifice technical or quality related graphical features for it to run properly on 10 year old cards.
2. Slow CPU.
   If the processor is slow, obviously it will not be able to process all the gameplay in an efficient way, and don't even mention the scene processing part that the CPU has to do. There's nothing else to say here: if you have a slow processor, the game will run slow.
3. Slow GPU (video card).
   The same as in the Slow CPU. Although there are cards that support Shader Model 4, there are low, medium and high end cards. A GeForce 6150 and a GeForce 6800 are similar in features, but their processing power goes from sad to powerful. The same goes for the 7300 and the 7900, 8200 y 8800, etc. (And with ATI too, but I'm not well aware about the numeration).
   The solution is to lower the Shader Model, the texture quality, turn off the effects, lower the resolution... or change the video card.

[DemonMonger]

+1 Most of us have been here and seen the progress as it has happened.
Good luck with the lag crash reductions!

[NotScias]

Indeed, very nice post, but what about memory leaks ?

When I start RO, it consumes average 550 MB of memory and is constantly growing.
Few hours after, it consumes 1.3GB and usually crashes near 1.4GB :/

[surak]

Originally Posted by Shining-Scias

Indeed, very nice post, but what about memory leaks ?

When I start RO, it consumes average 550 MB of memory and is constantly growing.
Few hours after, it consumes 1.3GB and usually crashes near 1.4GB :/

A memory leak is a programming error :P We are tracking those too.

[Znurre]

Nice post.

As for network lags, having torrents downloading with a hundreds of connections to each torrent while playing is devastating for your gameplay.
So even if you limit the speed of your torrent downloads, you're likely to get high ping with lag spikes.
Direct downloads usually are no problems even if you max out your connection.

[Vroek]

Position bug is nasty when it happens, but it seems significantly better most of the time now.

The most annoying issue now is that difference in duration, any combo requiring some timing to work is just futile.
Its rather boring not knowing if a lvl 4 knock down will last 7 seconds or 5.
In extreme cases i seen knocks last 30 seconds and that happens in relatively good conditions otherwise, if duration is x4 shouldnt also attack speed be effected in similar way?

Also the duration/cooldown ratio, how is it possible that duration is shorter than the cooldown 20/30 on 30/30 spell?
How can just duration be effected by server overload? It makes no sense to me.

[OpperVaagheid]

Originally Posted by surak

I don't know if anyone noticed, but the server crashes tend to be more weird each new time.

Eeeh, isnt this something we all should be affraid of? I mean, if its always the same problem it's not a big deal. You know how to handle it. But if the server keeps crashing at random things isn't it time to monitor the server better? Till now you where able to solve all the problems. But what if there appears a new error and you have no clue what it is?

Why not plan a monthly server check or something? It brings the server down for a couple of hours a month but prolly the crashes will get less?

[Knekelvoeste]

My game only crashes when i press ALT+TAB to often like after 20 times the game stops running. Anyone else having the same problem?

[blood-raven]

i have FPS drops when i'm on my horse or in battle.
It's annoying realy cause when i'm riding my horse it freezes (FPS pike) then teleports me to an older position and my char stops (this happens a lot and is extremely annoying).

I played in safe mode so idk what else i can do, normally both the computer and the internet should be able to handle RO even on full detail (cause i tested this comp on a different internet and the internet with a different computer.)

Any idea's?

ty

[Warlock_Style]

Originally Posted by Knekelvoeste

My game only crashes when i press ALT+TAB to often like after 20 times the game stops running. Anyone else having the same problem?

Yes, i have the same problem (but usually after 5-10 times). I just always blame my pc with only 1.75 GB of RAM and an bad videocard :P

But I can play RO with about 30 fps. As long as the game is running, I'll be fine