Xsyon Updates Archive

[Xsyon]

Update February 14

Hello Xsyon Citizens!

The server and client have been updated. This is a bit of an emergeny update as the server crashed with the same cause that we had fixed and were testing. I've wiped all data as this recent problem was causing too many issues with data not properly saved, and we need to press forward rather than clean this up.

Regarding the European Servers, these will be prepared but only used in the future if they become necessary.
Regarding tribes and homesteads, we are working on a solution by implementing a timer between totem spawns.

With this update:

Features and Revisions

- ToolTips on crafted items. These display quality and durability as well as the crafter's name. More information on items will be turned on soon. There are still some crafting revisions in progress.

- Improved data saving and backups.

Fixes

- Server crash and data loss problems fixed.
- Objects getting stuck busy have been fixed.
- Minor issues with tool revisions fixed.

If you find an object that is stuck 'busy' please report this directly to bugs@notorious-games.com.

[Xsyon]

Update February 16

EDIT: There is one problem left over from the last build. A glitch caused scheme data to save multiple times and this is causing some players to time out during loading. The server has been fixed, however I would need to wipe the database to clear out the duplicated data. If you are getting stuck, deleting your character fixes this problem.

The server and client have been updated.

Features and Revisions

- /unstuck command Yes, it's about time! You can now /unstuck yourself to teleport 5 meters ahead if you're trapped in a tight spot. This command can be used only once every 3 minutes and the timer is set if you are at all in combat.

- Tribes and Homesteads. The separation of Tribes and Homesteads is set up. Homesteads require only one player but do not expand. They can be placed close together. Tribes require 5 members and require a maximum space between tribes.

- Tribe timers. There is now a time limit of 6 hours between creating tribes. There is a 30 minute tribe limit between joining tribes. So think carefully after the final wipe before you select and place your totems!

- Safe starting locations. The starting locations (including the new Founder's Isle location) are now small safe zones to prevent griefing these spots right after the final wipe. These will be removed after tribes settle in and once we add a feature where tribes can select themselves as starting locations for new players.

- Display for who hunted, gathered, scavenged items (as long as they are not merged). This will be used for the quest system in the near future to ensure the questor actually hunts and gathers the required items.

Fixes

- Merging of objects corrected for merging quality and durability.

- Twigs can be properly used in crafting now.

That's all for now!

[Xsyon]

Update February 16

The server has been updated. I've reset old homesteads to function as homestead and fixed some incorrect distance calculations between tribes and homesteads. Tribe growth has been adjusted slightly.

I've also temporarily removed the tribe timers so that we can test tribe radii better today.

That's all for now! (Server is resetting, will be up in 5 minutes).

[Xsyon]

Update February 16

Hello Xsyon Citizens!

- I will shut off the game server at Midnight PST on February 17

- The server will come on with the final wipe at 3:00 PM PST February 18


Enjoy!

[Xsyon]

Update February 18

Thanks for all the reports regarding tribe problems and exploits. We're going to work through tonight and all weekend on this, with the first priority being to block further exploiting of placing totems.

Multiple totems are not being saved properly so they will have to be removed.

When all the problems have been sorted out there will be an immediate update. It might take a while.
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First of all we've set up a torrent where you can download and share the large data files:
http://www.xsyon.com/install/Xsyon.torrent

If you've already downloaded the large files and want to help seed the torrent, you can start the torrent download, then copy files from the Xsyon/Data directory to your Download/Data directory where the torrent stores downloaded files.

If you want to use this as an alternate download, once you've downloaded the data files, copy them to your Xsyon/Data directory and then run the launcher.

Although the server has settled down a bit, it is possible that we'll have to wipe again. Players have been reporting many issues with tribes not forming correctly. We will examine the logs and database tonight to see exactly what the problem is and we will decide the next step after we completely understand the problem.

Thanks again for your patience. We are doing our best to deal with these problems.
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Things are settling down a bit. The main problem we're having is not the number of players online, but the number of players downloading. I was hoping that more players would have the game downloaded ready for this, but it appears that many players waited until now to start patching.

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Please bear with folks. We're having trouble handling so many logins and downloads at once.


Our bandwidth is limited until we can move to a new server location. As soon as I saw the recent influx of new players we put in an order to move to new servers, but unfortunately our hosts have not been able to move us yet. This will happen before the official launch.

Today's early start for pre-orders is not going well and I apologize. There's not much we can do at this very moment, just bear through it.

It would help for players to get in and set up their totems and come back when things settle down.

Thanks for you patience!

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Hello Xsyon Citizens!

The Final Wipe is here!

A new launcher is out. The launcher has been improved for faster patching and now displays game information and updates.

The server and client have been patched out. We are working on setting up new servers that can handle additional bandwidth. Please be patient this week as we move to a new location.

Our current server location will undergo some maintenence this weekend between 10:00 PM Central US February 19 and 2:00 AM Central US February 20. I will announce when the servers are down for this.

Features and Revisions

- Special starter weapons are now available. These are bound to your character.

- Guides have been equipped with a few new commands.

Fixes

- Graphics have been optmized in order to reduce overheating of graphics cards.

- A few causes of client crashes have been tracked an fixed.

- Additonal blocking has been implemented for terraforming into rock.

Here are our plans for the next few weeks:

- Over the next few weeks we will focus on fixing and improving current game systems and review suggested changes.

- On March 1st we will reset the creatures with all current creatures in game. Other changes will be patched out over the next few weeks as they become ready.

- We are in the process of setting up new servers which should be ready by March 1st. This is an upgrade to our current servers to handle more traffic better. A trial server will be added as soon as possible.

- We have a new and exprienced coder joining us who will focus on combat and AI improvements. I look forward to expanding the team!

Enjoy!

[Xsyon]

Update February 19

Hello everyone!

In order to validate that the bandwidth bottleneck is the cause of all the lag, I shut down our download server for a few minutes and the lag completely subsided. That's good news!

We're working on a few major issues:

The server freezes. These definitely surfaced because of the lag, but they point to problems in the code that need to be fixed. Before yesterday we didn't have any server lockups for 2 months (with the exception of some guide commands that were used with incorrect parameters). We're examining all the server logs. This takes time but we'll keep on it until it's resolved.

Data corruption. This was caused by the server freezing up during the save process. We have a redundant saving process partially implemented. It will be finished this week and this should keep additional backups in case a save process is interrupted in the future. For those that will say why didn't we implement this before... good question. I should have thought of this system before, but I didn't. I'm not perfect. ;-)

Tribe exploits. These also surfaced because of the lag. Thanks to the exploiters that sent me full reports on this I am working to completely block these from happening again. If anyone was able to place an actual Tribe with one player, I need to know the exact details. Please report this directly to bugs@notorious-games.com.

There is a lot of speculation about what could have been done to prevent this. I did try to get our bandwidth upgraded and servers moved two weeks ago, but as various options were offered, changed and delayed, we ended up stuck with the current configuration.

Ultimately it's my responsiblity so here's what we're going to do:

We're going to need to wipe because of the data loss and multiple totems. I apologize, but that's the best solution.
The wipe will happen when the upgraded servers / server location is ready.

I've backed up the database and if possible we will restore tribes to their current locations. I will post details about how we will deal with this when I'm positive that we can. Any tribes / homesteads placed after this announcement will not be restored, so if you are joining us now, check out any enjoy the game and plan to situate yourself after the next wipe.

All players will get two weeks additional free play time. Effectively that makes March 15th our 'official launch' start. The actual start and final wipe will be as soon as possible once we have the new servers set up.

Again, I apologize for this rough start. We'll get over this bump soon!

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Quick update: We currently have about 1/3 of yesterday's peak population online and lag has subsided a lot. The main difference is, as expected, the number of simultaneous downloads.

We still need to wait on new servers but are working furiously on the server freezing up, data corruption and tribe exploit issues. As soon as I can confirm whether or not we will need to wipe, I will. If we do, I will see what can be done about restoring current tribe positions for those that suffered through the lag yesterday to place a legitimate totem.

[Xsyon]

Update February 20

Hello everyone!

A quick update about the current lag. This sever lag will be gone once our new download server is ready. The download server will be ready before our actual game server move, which will further improve performance.

Some have suggested allowing only download through the torrent files right now. Downloading through the torrents help, however we can't block the patcher itself. It's required to verify files before a player enters the game.

Ok, here's the painful part. :-)

I actually want this lag to continue for today and tomorrow. The lag has brought out a few problems that did not show up before. They won't happen without lag, but in the future they could happen during a lag spike so we need to fix these now. The current lag, although it's not fun, is helping us find and quickly fix some problems.

Thankfully these have been easy to fix with a couple of server side safety checks. I've been working frantically on these and will patch out a new build as soon as possible. We'll then test under the current lag conditions.

Rest assured we are not taking a moment's break right now!

[Xsyon]

Update February 20

The server and client have been updated.

This patch deals with tribe and quest exploits that were possible during severe lag. Exploits that allowed players to place multiple totems should now be blocked.

If you are able to reproduce these exploits, please report it.

Thanks!

[Xsyon]

Update February 21

Hello everyone!

A quick heads up for today. I do plan an intermediate wipe with the next update tonight or tomorrow to make sure that improvements we've made are working 100% with a clean slate. We will also test this week with some forced server 'crashes'. I will announce these in game before I do it.

I know these things sound like a pain, but the few problems that surfaced due to the severe lag must and will be corrected before we do the final wipe.

Back to the code for me!

[Xsyon]

Update February 21 : Regarding recent discussions

Hello everyone!

I don't have time to read through all the recent discussions, but I want to clarify things as I see a lot of incorrect speculation.

The pending launch is for the Prelude, which is intended to last at least 6-9 months as originally planned. The Prelude is meant to be as described in the Features section. During the Prelude the game will evolve based on the community. The vision is and always has been to do this.

As those of you that have been around for a while already know, I've been paying attention to feedback and features have already changed based on what the community asks for. The tribe and rank system has changed from it's initial implementation. Combat was completely revised, though I admit it needs work and that's why we're bringing on another specialist this coming month.

The main discussion seems to be regarding safe zones. Some players are imagining 'safe switches' that can be turned on and off. That's not part of any plan. I am considering allowing tribes that want to war sooner than others to remove their safe zone if they so desire. A separate zone (as the mist clears) or server with no safe zones at all is also under consideration depending on the world's population. My goal is not to impose new limits as solutions but to give more choices.

I hope this clears things up. The game plan is to continually evolve and improve the game to listen to feedback and accomodate many types of players, and we're sticking to that.