Minkata Shard Updates

[rarified]

The shard was updated tonight. The game client is unchanged at build #65; this update only affected the MOSS server.

Changes in this update:

• Fix to server to eliminate Net 6 errors on linking
• Fix to server to disallow avatars with identically spelled names but that have capitalization changes
• Fix to server to properly clean up marker games (no player-visible impact)

New or fixed features that need testing:

• Players that have encountered Net 6 errors when linking from one age to another, please try linking between ages. File or update your bug reports if you still encounter Net 6 errors when linking.
• Please verify that avatar names with the same spelling as existing avatars but different capitalization ("Rarified" and "rarified") cannot be created. KI commands that refer to avatar names are still case sensitive.
• Please define and play some new marker games. The bug will not affect marker game play, but the server logs will show if the bug is fixed or not.

Thanks for your help.

[Christian Walther]

• Players that have encountered Net 6 errors when linking from one age to another, please try linking between ages. File or update your bug reports if you still encounter Net 6 errors when linking.

To expand on that: Please include some of the following information with your report so that it can be correlated to the server logs:

• the time at which it happened (don’t forget to specify the time zone)
• your IP address (visit http://www.whatismyip.com/ to find out)
• your KI number
• the ages you were attempting to link from and to.

Please test independently of whether you previously experienced such Net 6 errors. It should not matter which ages you link from and to either. The bug happened randomly for everyone on any link with a probability of about 1/256.

I played for a while on the updated shard this morning and found no problems related to the changed python.pak. Surprisingly, the Python/SDL download only took about 25 seconds (faster than on MOULa), compared to my previous 7–10 minutes. Did anything change on your end, or was that just because I came in the middle of your night?

I was still able to create an avatar whose name only differed in capitalization from an existing one. Details in a comment on MOSS-14.

I have not tested marker games as none of my avatars has completed their green/red markers yet.

[rarified]

Thanks, Christian. Unfortunately the updated python.pak didn't work on my first test (initial link to relto stayed black), so I backed it out right away. May have chosen the wrong encryption key, client logs weren't much help

The server itself was rebooted after adding 8Gb more memory, although the extra memory isn't likely to have impacted your network performance. Only thing I can think of is that routing got reset at reboot and cleared out something non-optimal that was losing traffic to you.

I'll double check the SQL function was updated for the avatar names, but CJ will likely see your comments. Thanks for checking.

_R

[rarified]

After looking I found that the SQL code I used as a reference copy to redefine the functions wasn't updated by the MOSS rebuild, so I just installed the original functions again.

I've updated the functions (properly this time) and they should be operating as fixed now. Please try again.

FYI, the server logs don't show any protocol errors on the Net 6 fix since the restart.

_R

[Christian Walther]

I've updated the functions (properly this time) and they should be operating as fixed now. Please try again.

Confirmed, it properly refuses my attempts to create avatars differing only in capitalization to existing ones now.

FYI, the server logs don't show any protocol errors on the Net 6 fix since the restart.

That’s good, although I guess it doesn’t tell a lot unless you already got several thousand linking operations.

[rarified]

Another game update tonight...

Changes in this update:

• A new file (the python.pak archive of Python scripts) has been installed.

New or fixed features that need testing

• The new file contains instructions that govern the behavior of almost any movable object in the game. While the new file was generated from the same code that MOULa has, this is the first time the file has been generated for Minkata. Please simply continue normal gameplay and note any crashes or significantly different behavior between Minkata and MOULa as bugs in our support ticket system.

As always, thanks for the help!

[D'Lanor]

OK, now I'm curious. How on earth does Python code govern the behavior of almost any movable object?

[Marten]

By "movable objects", I expect rarified meant primarily "objects you interact with via the cursor" and not "kickables."

Though that might not exclude special cases like kicking rocks onto pressure plates. I'm not sure.

[JWPlatt]

Door switches are not movable?

Remember, we're talking to users and testers here, not so much to Python and physics masters.

[Dot]

Speaking as a user and tester, I would refer to doors, windows, switches etc as "clickables", not "movables".

"Movables" makes me think of rocks, sticks, firemarbles, beachballs, cones, baskets -- the things players can kick around.