Archived updates are stored here...
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Archived updates are stored here...
I've sent out a new patch and the patch and game servers are up.
Here is a list of some changes:
Sever stability issues fixed (hopefully! We'll keep testing.)
Launcher fixed to correctly patch only required portions of the large data files.
Crashes while logging / destroying stumps fixed.
Logpiles appearing temporarily near other players fixed.
Pressing enter should allow correct login.
Key bindings should be effective right after setting them.
Actions saved in the action bar should work correctly.
Actions saved in the action bar should clear out with new characters after a wipe and when deleting a character.
Deleted character names should be available.
H key interrupts actions (I need to set this in the keybinds still).
Escape / Jump / Combat mode interrupts actions.
Combat movement speed (left, right, backwards) increased.
Combat parry and dodge should respond immediately (it did before, but there was a glitch in some animations).
Empty messages can no longer be sent in chat.
'Naked character' after crashing should not happen.
Missing scavenged item icons etc. fixed.
Patch Update April 9:
Fixed server issues with timing out players and not allowing them to log back in.
Fixed client stability issues while logging in.
Actions while jumping prevented.
Running out of energy interrupts actions.
Bundles go to back bundle slot only.
Blocked non-physical mesh objects from hand slots and from being dropped to the ground. This was a major source of bugs and crashes.
Fixed problems with gathering resources and picking up bundles exceeding encumbrance limits.
Adjusted selected object interaction distances.
Interaction menu clears when selected object is removed or destroyed.
Crafting ready 90%. Players can start to test grass crafting (grass crafters start with a few basic tools).
I want to patch out some more changes tomorrow. It's late night in Siberia right now so most of the team is hitting the sack and I'll take a little break (I'm usually on Siberian time too!).
I'd like to check server stability for a while today. If it all looks good I will give more players access tonight. I'll probably do so even if the server still has some issues.
Update April 10:
It's a hectic weekend so far!
The server is a lot more stable than last week. It ran without problems for the past 24 hours. There are still a few potential server issues that we think we've fixed and are testing internally today. The server will be updated again tomorrow.
I set a few more players to enter last night and a bunch more today. If your account is set to enter you should have received an email from me.
Now that our major problems (server instability and client loading problems after many terraforming / land surfaces changes within one world zone) are fixed, we should have more time to focus on bug fixe and requested improvements.
There will be a server update tomorrow and a client update by Monday.
If you're just getting in to the game today, I welcome all feedback and criticism. Enjoy!
Update April 11:
A quick update.
Players trying to get in with old versions of the client were causing server problems while logging in. We're working on completely blocking this today.
I need to finish up a few things I was working on last week and left hanging a bit as I see people are messing with crafts and a few things that aren't 100% ready yet. ;)
Players were talking about not being about to pick up logs. You can carry only 1 major resource in your 'bundle' slot at a time (1 big log, bundles of grass, bundles of twigs, etc.). You should be able to pick up logs if this slot is free.
Also, I'd appreciate it if bug reports were sent through the support form (so I can get system specs) or directly to the support email (support@notorious-games.com) so I'm not barraged with PMs here.
Thanks!
Update April 13:
A quick update.
We have a new installer ready, but we will be testing this installer internally all day to make sure it's working correctly. (We'll be testing the full download from various machines and operating systems, so it will take a while).
I've left the server running for those that want to mess around. We're testing many fixes for known issues on our second server. Things are looking good so far.
I'm going to bury my head in the code today so we can get a new full patch out as soon as possible. Once that's out I will come here to read posts and answer questions.
Thanks!
Update April 23:
We're recovering from the loss of forum posts. This has not affected our player database in any way.
The server and client were updated today. The focus has been on stabilizing the server and preventing bad incoming packets from causing the server to freeze up.
A large portion of the bug list has been fixed and we've incorporated some player suggested changes.
A full list of bug fixes and current improvements will be posted soon, thanks to Edaw who is working on this.
Our focus this week will be:
Continued combat and movement improvements.
Changes to female armors.
Turning on additional actions and skills.
Continued bug fixing and tweaks based on player suggestions.
I apologize for these unexpected delays. Things such as hackers messing with the game server and the forum problems tonight are a real headache to deal with and have certainly slowed us down a bit.
We'll continue working as hard as possible and listening to your input!
Update April 24:
A new wave of invites went out despite the problems with the forums. I look forward to all the feedback.
I'm not sure why the patcher had issues for some players this evening as the patcher hasn't changed, but we'll work on this over the weekend.
The server does look stable now. As usual, please report problems through our bugs form or to our bugs@notorious-games.com email.
Thanks!
just a note, the above email address can be accessed by submitting a bug report using the support form and selecting any of the game problem related topics.
Update April 24:
We're working again on the patcher and blocking bad traffic on the server. The same IP caused the server to freeze up, this time after many attempts of sending different packets of information.
Thanks for your patience as we work out these problems.
Update April 24:
We're preparing another patch for the server and the installer for this evening. Please sit tight. I will send an email to everyone with game access when this is ready.
The new installer will override the current one but won't require a full download of the data files.
Update April 25:
I took down the installer link as we're still working on an improved installer. We decided to work all night (for me at least) to get an installer that solves as many issues as possible.
As soon as it's ready I will send all active players an email and post here.
Update April 25:
A new installer is ready for download. I'm in the process of sending emails in batches to all active players.
This installer selects a more appropriate default installation directory for Windows 7 / Vista users as recommended by Microsoft. We highly recommend that you do not install the game to Program Files. Microsoft's UAC (User Account Control) causes problems with patch programs when installed in the Program Files or other restricted directories.
This installer also includes DirectX files for users that do not have the correct DirectX version to run the game.
We've improved the patching system to prevent time outs and slow updating when patching portions of the larger data files.
We've also been running the server while blocking unwanted traffic which has continued to attempt to connect to the server throughout the weekend. The server finally seems solidly unaffected by this type of traffic.
Now that we're comfortable that this type of unwanted traffic is prevented, we will take further action against this IP.
Now that these issues are hopefully sorted out, we can continue with turning on features and improving the actual game!
Update April 26:
The server and client have been updated.
This update is primarily a server update to hopefully fix several problems:
Time outs and player disconnects, not being able to log back in.
Inventory items disappearing or becoming corrupted due to a time out or crash.
Additional minor updates:
Incorrect female sidestep animations were fixed.
Xsyon.ini which is for offline mode use was removed.
A new patch will be coming out at some point this morning
Update April 28:
I took the server down and will keep it down until we can deliver a new patch and improved patcher.
A few problems have been solved:
The hacker intrusion and unwanted connections is no longer an issues. That has been fully blocked and intrusions of this type have no effect on the server.
We discovered the problem with some players having the launcher hang on downloading small files. This has been fixed, but the programmer working on this sees a few other things that should be improved and optimized. I will wait until these are finished to send out a new installer.
We found an error in reading / loading files from packed files that could cause a client to crash. This wasn't detected earlier as we mostly run the game without packed up piles.
More bugs have been fixed and will be ready for the next patch.
We still have problems with:
The server freezing up. We fixed many potential causes for this, but it's still happening. We have a few days of logs to sort through and will continue working on this as a priority. We do see reasons for this, but rather than patch one fix at a time we want the next patch to include all of the changes we are working on.
There are a few client crashes that we will eliminate thanks to bug reports. We also want the next patch to include all of these fixes rather than upload a few fixes at a time.
The plan is to let in a more players as soon as we can get a solid patch up.
Thanks!
Jordi Grau Davis
Update April 29:
The programmer working on the server problems requested that I keep the server up today with a debugging update he prepared so that we can gather more information while he continues to work on what he thinks is causing problems.
For now the server is up.
We expect it to freeze up (actually we hope that it does) so that we can gather additional information from the server logs. Play at your own risk. ;)
We're continuing work on a more substantial update which will include the intaller, server and client.
Quick Update May 1:
I had to wipe the player and terrain data as bad data was building up and causing the server to lock up.
Our server logs from the past 16 hours or so show the exact same problem causing the server to freeze and we've implemented a fix for this. It will be part of the next update. At the moment we can't patch out this change until the rest of the update is ready.
Update May 1:
Hello everyone!
We’re going to have to push the planned final character wipe until the server is completely stable and we have a decent amount of time to fully test and improve the Prelude features with players in the game.
The recent problems we’ve had with the server and patch downloader have taken too much of our time this past month and we haven’t been able to turn on as many features as we originally planned.
We have made a lot of recent progress fixing bugs and improving some of the currently implemented features based on player feedback.
We’ve also completely blocked unwanted incoming traffic on the server and we’ve tracked down and fixed some obscure problems that only a few players were having. These things were unexpected, but in the long the run, it’s better to take care of these things now rather than down the road.
Player feedback so far has been very positive. Suggestions for improvements are in line with my vision for the game and how it will evolve. I think we’re building a great community and though these unexpected problems are causing a delay, things in general are looking very good!
Our tentative plan now is for a final character wipe on June 15th. We are not going to push a release deadline until the game is ready, stable and with the planned Prelude features working well.
We will continue to let in pre-order players on a first come, first serve basis. We have been letting in larger groups and will continue to do so, hoping to get all current subscribers in the game by the middle of May.
Pre-order players will have access to the current early testing phase and two months of game time starting once the game is ready. If the planned features are still being tweaked by June 15th, we will push this start date forward another month.
Our next update to the patcher, client and server will be in a few days. This update has many changes that we need to bring together and test before releasing it to the public. We’ve fixed a few more problems with the server and hopefully we’ll reach full stability soon.
For now we’re going to leave the server up as much as possible so that players can mess around with the Xsyon world over the weekend while we continue to gather debug information. We will probably take the server down for a day or two early this week so that we can concentrate on preparing the next update.
In conclusion, we will continue to do our best to bring you a great game!
Quick Update May 1:
Virtus and Celestial Fury will be monitoring the server through tonight. I plan to take down the server for a few days starting early tomorrow unless the other programmers request that it stays up for gathering more information.
This will let us focus on the upcoming patch. A lot of changes are coming together right now!
Update May 3:
The server will be down for a few days while we prepare the upcoming patch. My estimate is late Wednesday or Thursday for this new patch.
This update will include major changes to terraforming, continued improvement to the combat system, further optimization of the patcher system, fixes for all the current determined causes of server instability and many bug fixes.
If we bring up the server for some tests I will announce it, but the test server will not include our upcoming changes.
Update May 6:
It's going to be a while longer before the new update and server are up.
I've been running some test installs over the past 2 hours and something's not right with the launcher / patcher. I need to wait for the launcher programmer to make sure he sent me the correct latest build.
I'll post again when I have more news.
Quick Update May 7:
After running many tests yesterday I found there are still situations that could cause a the patcher to run a bit slow, so I wasn't satisfied with releasing this update yet.
The patcher programmer has been working on it. Right now I'm just waiting as you all are.
I'll be back with another update as soon as I have more news.
Another Quick Update May 7:
I've just received the updated patcher. We're going to test downloads on various machines for some hours and check for problems.
Once this looks solid to me, I'll be back with another update.
It's looking good! The patcher is much better now.
This build will go out after I get some sleep. The other programmers and I want to be up and alert to monitor the server when it goes back up.
Update May 8:
Hello everyone!
A new update for Xsyon is ready and the servers are up.
This update includes many changes to the installer, launcher, server and client. Changes include:
1) New Installer. The installer is more flexible and includes a better DirectX install that will check to make sure that you have the latest DirectX files. We will be using this installer from now on. Much thanks to Thiago Fagundes for creating this installer for us!
2) Optimized launcher. The updating and patching process has been revised for better and faster downloads and updates.
3) Server stability. We've fixed all causes of server instability that we could determine from our recent tests. These were mainly issues with bad data that was being compounded with every server freeze. We've added additional checks and logging to both the client and the server so that if we continue having problems we will be able to track them down faster. The client currently records logs that we will ask players to submit in case they crash.
4) Terraforming. Terraforming has been revised to be more accurate and predictable. Terraforming on water has been completely redone. Restrictions on slopes have been added. There are still issues with terraforming on waterfalls. Please don't terraform waterfalls, this will be blocked in the future.
The terrain, which was set to a tighter grid a few weeks ago for better terraforming, has now been smoothed over.
5) Combat. Combat changes are still in progress. So far we've improved: positioning and updates between characters, combat timing, movement, damage and animations. Animations will reflect your cursored target (high, low and medium attacks). Combat is still being worked on, so expect more changes and updates to this over the course of this week.
6) Movement. We've completely revised jumps and fixed problems with players getting stuck. The jump animations to fit the new system are in progress and will be patched out as soon as they are ready.
7) Graphic options. You can now select display mode, instead of simply resolution, from the options menu. This includes selecting your refresh rate. You can also turn VSync on and off. This should resolve problems a few players have had trying to set different resolutions or running monitors that require VSync on.
8) Bug Fixes: A large portion of current bugs have been fixed. A full list of fixes is posted here: http://www.xsyon.com/forums/30-prelu...n-latest-build
9) This build includes many other small tweaks, including the availability of selecting different character heads / faces and server side improvements to inventory and trade.
As usual, please report any bugs through our support form, or email bugs@notorious-games.com directly. If you experience a crash, please find the Log subfolder in your Xsyon directories and attach the most recent log file to your bug report.
We're hoping these fixes will let us focus now on rolling out the rest of the features while we continue improving the current systems!
Enjoy!
Jordi Grau Davis
Notorious Games
Quick Update:
When you start a new character you will have most basic skills, but you get a skill bonus and items based on the skills you choose.
Update May 9:
A small patch went up to fix some crashes on the client side.
That's it for now. We are focused on the server again as there are still unresolved problems.
Quick Update:
A small client and server patch was just updated. The server patch is mostly for debugging.
Please try to do whatever you think is freezing the server and we will be monitoring it.
Thanks!
Quick Update:
Another client and server patch is up. We will keep monitoring and making changes.
Quick Update:
Another server update has been patched out. We're going to keep at this around the clock with small updates as we find potential problems and fix them.
Quick Update:
Another server update was patched out with some definite fixes. We'll keep monitoring....
Quick Update:
The server is up and we are monitoring our latest changes. We will continue to focus only on stability today.
I plan to send out some more invites today as the server is looking more stable.
Please email me if:
You have problems with your inventory.
You crash (not just timed out to the login).
You crash or time out and the server seems to have gone down.
I don't need any more client logs, just specific details regarding what you were doing if you crashed or were timed out.
Thanks!
Quick Update:
The server has been updated again. We'll keep checking.
Update May 10:
The server and client were updated again just now with some minor bug fixes.
The server has been running completely stable the entire day but we will continue to monitor it closely.
Hopefully we can get back on track now!
Update May 11:
The server is much more stable now but we are not 100% satisfied that it is perfectly stable.
Several updates were patched out over the course of the day and we will continue with more minor updates tonight is we find any other potential problems.
We let in a group of new players last night, another group tonight and we'll continue letting in players daily if the server continues to run solidly.
Our focus right now is to make sure the server is 100% stable, to eliminate client crashes and fix critical bugs.
If you experience a client crash please email me at bug@notorious-games.com. I've been getting very few crash reports, so I hope that's a good sign. If you're crashing (not timing out) make sure to let me know.
Thanks!
Update May 12:
Just a quick update for now. The server has been completely stable today aside from one issue that was being deliberately tested.
I am currently preparing a build that will allow players to choose between the main server and the test server. The test server will be updated and wiped more frequently and will be up and down as we deliberately try to break things.
The main server will be intended for players who want to get a feel for the game so far without our tests and interruptions.
New players have been let in daily this week. We will continue to do so and we're catching up with the list.
We have a lot going on right now. I wil post a more detailed update tomorrow.
Update May 14:
I've updated the game client and the server.
1) You can now connect to a test server. This will be up and down while the main server will stay online.
If you want to help test, please log on to the test server and create new characters. Right now I'd like players to test chopping trees and chopping felled trees into logs. I will be monitoring and debugging any problems that are caused by this.
2) We discovered and fixed the problem with players getting stuck at the character screen. We can all thank Microsoft for this one! We recently updated the game to use Microsoft's new DirectX libraries from February 2010. It turns out that the new and improved effect compiler runs about 20 times slower than the older version and was causing the game to stall during the initial loading process.
After some research, this is a known issue and other developers are dealing with it by rolling back to use older DirectX libraries. We did the same and the problem has been alleviated.
If you had this problem before, please log in and confirm that you no longer get stuck before the character screen.
Argh.
We're going to have to test more to build with the correct DirectX libraries now as some of our shaders were updated for the latest version, but in general we need an earlier version for faster compilation.
All servers are back up now with a temporary build until we correct the DirectX situation.
The servers will be running but I will ask for more specific testing this evening.
Quick Update:
The servers were taken down for a 10 minute update and are currently back up.
This includes a correct DirectX version built into the client and should alleviate problems with slow loading characters. If you had slow loading character and were sometiems stuck at the character screen before, please let me know if this update solves the problem.
It should!
The test server will also been running. I would like players to come to the test server and chop trees and logs so we can pinpoint a potential remaining problem with this.
A note about the world loading taking a while:
We've let terraforming changes pile up so we can test the effect. This is causing loading to take a while, but it's not causing other problems.
When the game is official, terraforming changes will be 'baked' into the terrain daily and will not be allowed to pile up. There will also be more realistic restrictions in place.