Monthly Development Update – Nov 5th 2012

[Mastablasta]

They should really make player prefs server storage. Its not like its hard to make a new database table. You see every mmorpg stores player pref not only on client. This would save allot of work for players. With some smart programming this doesn't have to stress the server.

Actually it wouldn't be all good, since prefs also saves position of everything, and positions are not done via % but pixels, meaning when I log in on this work machine or on my laptop or at home, or somewhere else, I might have 1920x1080, 1920x1200, 1440x1050 or 2560x1440 or 1024x768 resolution.. and they all require different prefs. So there'd be a bunch of extra work entailing whether or not to allow multiple prefs, or an option to disable/enable prefs, or change the whole gui...

So, I'd prefer they either do something to get it working locally, or I'll just do a backup of my prefs first, check my old charids, then check my new charid and copy in the old charids prefs.

[Kahava]

I can’t give you a set date, but it will be this year. We’re shooting for end of this month, but that’s assuming that our very rigorous internal tests all pass without incident. Believe me when I say this isn’t something you want us to rush. We have to get it right the first time.

If your rigorous *giggles* internal testing highlights problems that push it to a time later than early December then postpone it to January.
What players remain are already pi$$ed off, ruining Christmas gaming will be close to terminal for the game.

[Tilli]

When can we expect to transfer toons between accounts again? Not want the money or what?

and my post

ask?
Why was the character transfer and turned off when it is again switched freely between 2 accounts?
binding info until 11.11.2012 please otherwise they would be useless, and you get no money from me: p

Da ich wie Fc ja auch mit googelübersetzern arbeitet hier mal das orginal
hi hab da mal ne frage.
Warum wurde der Charakter transfer abgeschalten und wann wird er wieder frei geschalten zwischen 2 accounts?
verbindliche info bis zum 11.11.2012 bitte sonst wäre sie nutzlos und ihr bekommt kein geld von mir
ps schreibe hier weil bei uns leider kaum einer ließt
gruss

is the same and the same question in the up from 10.2012 but Fc have not a answer

FC what wrong

[ByLogic]

Actually it wouldn't be all good, since prefs also saves position of everything, and positions are not done via % but pixels, meaning when I log in on this work machine or on my laptop or at home, or somewhere else, I might have 1920x1080, 1920x1200, 1440x1050 or 2560x1440 or 1024x768 resolution.. and they all require different prefs. So there'd be a bunch of extra work entailing whether or not to allow multiple prefs, or an option to disable/enable prefs, or change the whole gui...

So, I'd prefer they either do something to get it working locally, or I'll just do a backup of my prefs first, check my old charids, then check my new charid and copy in the old charids prefs.

Hehe, you think limitation not solutions, this xml files are easy to modify from a server. You let the server save does settings that you last used on your char. Detecting your screen resolution is also possible if your last data had different value than current. You cud have it as a option.
Lets say you got a new laptop, and you bring it to your office, you have to setup everything again, witch can be annoying if you had
a perfect setup. If does settings cud be "loaded" from the server it would save you allot of work. I understand your point with position on the screen for smaller screen size, is better to just adjust it than starting from scratch.

WM_DISPLAYCHANGE
CALLBACK WindowProcedure(HWND hwnd, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)

How you think other games handle this perfect? I cud infact program a small program that connected
to a database and sync xml pref to the client (since this files are not hidden).

Matter of fact i am working on a small parser program atm for AO, i cud probably extend it to your preference as well. Maybe make a profile designer where people cud share profile setup templets.

When your a developer you dont work with limitation..

Any ways great update news. great job you guys doing.

[Vhab]

Question about the new server coming up, there will be some that will place there toons at certain locations such as high level tower sites or unique mob spawns. Is there anything in place to deal with this?

Nope, players that do the preparations and have the patience to do this deserve the rewards.
We already allow this to happen after every other patch.

[cbus97]

Nope, players that do the preparations and have the patience to do this deserve the rewards.
We already allow this to happen after every other patch.

Yess! I'm finally gonna get that Blackshirt of Zuwadza!

[Warhead]

Server merge inbound! Awesome!

But

I still havent found a clear answer to the questions revolving around duplicate names of characters and organizations - is it really going to go down on a first come first served base or is it going to happen in the same awful fashion as with the RK3 merge? Or possibly in a way where everybody gets to keep his/her name with some flag that discriminates the former servers?

Earlier this year, the authorities said, there will be plenty of open discussion to make sure everybody is on the same page and all concerns have been heard, it was even said that there would likely be a special forum topic for it. Besides bits of information here and there, I havent seen anything of that.

But as of this dev update, it sounds that things are set in stone, but still havent been explained in detail: all the scenarios of what could happen to your toons and orgs names.

Please, lift the fog of fear & doubt. Many people who end up on the short end of the stick due to lack of information arent likely to stick around after they get something like a ~1 to their name or are forced to rename.

[JustinSane4]

Actually it wouldn't be all good, since prefs also saves position of everything, and positions are not done via % but pixels, meaning when I log in on this work machine or on my laptop or at home, or somewhere else, I might have 1920x1080, 1920x1200, 1440x1050 or 2560x1440 or 1024x768 resolution.. and they all require different prefs. So there'd be a bunch of extra work entailing whether or not to allow multiple prefs, or an option to disable/enable prefs, or change the whole gui...

So, I'd prefer they either do something to get it working locally, or I'll just do a backup of my prefs first, check my old charids, then check my new charid and copy in the old charids prefs.

Would you mind explaining how to do that for the technically incompetent? The back up I've got, the rest, not so much.

[Otansaanpas]

Actually it wouldn't be all good, since prefs also saves position of everything, and positions are not done via % but pixels, meaning when I log in on this work machine or on my laptop or at home, or somewhere else, I might have 1920x1080, 1920x1200, 1440x1050 or 2560x1440 or 1024x768 resolution.. and they all require different prefs. So there'd be a bunch of extra work entailing whether or not to allow multiple prefs, or an option to disable/enable prefs, or change the whole gui...

So, I'd prefer they either do something to get it working locally, or I'll just do a backup of my prefs first, check my old charids, then check my new charid and copy in the old charids prefs.

there could be a way to compromise, resolution, gui related stuff to local machine and bank content to server?

and why are we given charID folders in first place? would be easier for users if the folders were actual character names :/

[Mastablasta]

Would you mind explaining how to do that for the technically incompetent? The back up I've got, the rest, not so much.

Shift F9 ingame gives you your charid, it's a string of numbers, and you can find that corresponding ID in the prefs folder, so you can back that up, in this case, I'd move all my old prefs out. This way, when you log back in on the new server, the game will create a new folder with your new ID under prefs, and you can just overwrite the contents of that with the content of your old prefs. I can put up a more detailed guide at some point...

[Freor]

Server merge inbound! Awesome!

But

I still havent found a clear answer to the questions revolving around duplicate names of characters and organizations - is it really going to go down on a first come first served base or is it going to happen in the same awful fashion as with the RK3 merge? Or possibly in a way where everybody gets to keep his/her name with some flag that discriminates the former servers?

Earlier this year, the authorities said, there will be plenty of open discussion to make sure everybody is on the same page and all concerns have been heard, it was even said that there would likely be a special forum topic for it. Besides bits of information here and there, I havent seen anything of that.

But as of this dev update, it sounds that things are set in stone, but still havent been explained in detail: all the scenarios of what could happen to your toons and orgs names.

Please, lift the fog of fear & doubt. Many people who end up on the short end of the stick due to lack of information arent likely to stick around after they get something like a ~1 to their name or are forced to rename.

Clearest answer I remember hearing is that they aren't gonna give us the details - I'd assume this is to avoid players trying to find ways to bybass/abuse the process. Which itself sounds a bit odd, but maybe their process determining who keeps their name is bit more complicated than "who started with that name first". /played, /played during last year, etc etc are my guesses.

[Cratertina]

Question. What about towers? There will probably be a brief time when presidents might jump in and plant some ninja style?

Or will there be a period of says 2 weeks when all notum fields are disabled?

[Ekarona]

Question. What about towers? There will probably be a brief time when presidents might jump in and plant some ninja style?

Or will there be a period of says 2 weeks when all notum fields are disabled?

Why not have first come first serve? Huge fights for short time and it levels out.

[Traderjill]

Also looking for a response regarding the following from Lindelu's Feb 2012 monthly update. Being the person that she quoted in her statement I was happy when she confirmed that there would be a forum area set up for dialog on the topic.

Is this no longer happening? Are any concrete details on the topics she listed being provided to the players? I know you guys aren't always happy to document things but I think a FAQ on the Server Migration would be a nice start. That would allow the players to see the information in one spot regarding how things will happen and also allow people to post any concerns/potential issues that might have been missed or not even considered.

Server Migration

Many of you have questions about the server merge. The only thing that I can confirm is that it will not be a transfer from one server to another, but moving characters to a completely new server. AO is an old game now, and I'm told that it will benefit greatly from starting on a fresh server to ensure that it can keep running smoothly for another ten years.

Some of you suggested starting a new forum section to discuss this, and I think that's a good idea. To quote one of you: “I know you guys do your best to think through issues, but quite often players are able to contribute some meaningful feedback that may cover concerns you guys have missed.”
I think this sums it up nicely.

When I have confirmation on how a server migration can be done, we will set up a forum section to further discuss this. We're already taking into consideration some of the issues that you've brought up so far, and we're hoping to address these as part of the migration.

1) What will happen to GMS/Player Shops? 2) Character names? 3) Organization Names and Members 4) Organization Cities 6) Notum Towers 7) Maximum Character Slots 8) Performance Issues 9) Camped Monsters

On an unrelated note, I know that Char ID's are duplicated between the 3 servers so new ones will be assigned (or at least that's my understanding). How does that translate to item/asset ID's? I might be using the wrong lingo here but I always had the impression that, for instance, that small backpack that I labeled as "Heals" in my inventory actually had a unique item ID that was generated by AO's servers. If that is the case, will those be changed as well? I guess I'm wondering if what is being suggested (just copy/paste of your old prefs to the new folder with the new char ID) is going to be enough of a fix for players or if the item ID's are changing as well.

[Tiralee]

On an unrelated note, I know that Char ID's are duplicated between the 3 servers so new ones will be assigned (or at least that's my understanding). How does that translate to item/asset ID's? I might be using the wrong lingo here but I always had the impression that, for instance, that small backpack that I labeled as "Heals" in my inventory actually had a unique item ID that was generated by AO's servers. If that is the case, will those be changed as well? I guess I'm wondering if what is being suggested (just copy/paste of your old prefs to the new folder with the new char ID) is going to be enough of a fix for players or if the item ID's are changing as well.

I have the same question.

I've heard that yes it will work, and I've heard that it won't work for everything in the folder but may work for some things in the folder.

If copy/paste will work for everything in a character folder, I'll plan on that. But if won't work at all, or only for some things, I'm going to need to start writing down what I have where (hotbars, for example) to make it easier to replace things after the migration.

[ByLogic]

If copy/paste will work for everything in a character folder, I'll plan on that. But if won't work at all, or only for some things, I'm going to need to start writing down what I have where (hotbars, for example) to make it easier to replace things after the migration.

Yes it will work. Just make sure your overwrite the correct charid folder. You can also make a standard template for new charID.

[lainbr]

Yes it will work. Just make sure your overwrite the correct charid folder. You can also make a standard template for new charID.

You mean: It work now. We dont know if it will work in future cause they may do changes in prefs we dont know. Or they will just rename all the folders during transfer.

[ByLogic]

Nah they probably wont rename it (to much work for the dev :P) it will work because like Masta said you get a new charID folder . just overwrite it

[Traderjill]

it will work because like Masta said you get a new charID folder . just overwrite it

What about the unique ID's assigned to items (like backpacks)? When I look at /Prefs/Username/CharID/Containers/ folder, every backpack has its on container ID/label. An example (not exact, inserted #'s to mask because no idea what this information is) is Container_#####x617###043.xml. Is that Container number/ID something that was generated server side that is also potentially existing right now on RK1/old RK3 like the character ID's or is it unique to my char/server/whatever?

[Mastablasta]

Probably bound to a character, but who knows