Hey Uber! server mods need a better loading mechanism

Discussion in 'PA: TITANS: General Discussion' started by killerkiwijuice, December 30, 2015.

  1. killerkiwijuice

    killerkiwijuice Post Master General

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    @bgolus @jables @masterdigital @Scathis @idk @anyone_else

    The faction mod is getting to the point where lobby loading times are a big problem. The host needs to upload the mod then the server sends the mod to everyone in the lobby... and when it's over 150MB that is a huge issue. Sometimes you'll be frozen for more than 5 minutes depending on your internet connection.

    We are currently forced to split textures to a client mod, which is unfortunate and not desired but it's the only option. THis means "randoms" will not see the textures in game unless they have the client mod (obviously).

    So I am requesting that the loading mechanism be redesigned to allow large mods. Suggestions:
    • index the finished faction mod on the main servers so they don't need to be uploaded
    • fix the terrible UI lag when downloading data in the lobby
    • if a player has the client mod enabled, they should not need to download the server data (redundant). (This would only be an issue if we actually left all data on the server)
    Worth a shot ;)
    warrenkc, Nicb1, huangth and 3 others like this.
  2. FSN1977

    FSN1977 Active Member

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    Is the mod on PAMM? :)
  3. killerkiwijuice

    killerkiwijuice Post Master General

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    not yet
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  4. g0hstreaper

    g0hstreaper Well-Known Member

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    Well there's your issue
    [​IMG]
    Maybe use less...
  5. killerkiwijuice

    killerkiwijuice Post Master General

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    pls
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  6. huangth

    huangth Active Member

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    I think we need a mod to display the download speed and progress in lobby.
    Thus, the players can decide to quit or not.
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  7. Nicb1

    Nicb1 Post Master General

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    Yeah half the time when loading you don't know if the game has crashed or if its actually doing something.
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  8. wondible

    wondible Post Master General

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    Transfers are handled by the engine, I don't see how such a mod would be possible.
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  9. huangth

    huangth Active Member

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    It is so sad.
    And we still need the help of Uber.
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  10. cola_colin

    cola_colin Moderator Alumni

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    Yep and afaik the mod transfer is done via some hacky thing that basically just knows "there is a 150mb data something" and transfers that in one request. A system not meant for large files basically. I am doubtful Uber will be able to change much about it now. The whole system isn't really finished and just a temporary hack that became ... not temporary.
    Your best chance probably is to use smaller textures somehow. I wonder: Could you provide super low res texture inside the server mod and higher res textures inside a client mod? Such that the client mod, when installed, overshadows the server mod textures, but a player without client mod has at least some textures?
  11. killerkiwijuice

    killerkiwijuice Post Master General

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    yeah that's my plan, but the mobile unit textures are already 256x256
  12. exterminans

    exterminans Post Master General

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    You would actually want to be able to sideload resources to the client...

    Now if PA had at least a mod manager included, you could just declare the client mod as a dependency, have it downloaded by the client from the repo (and NEVER distributed by the gameserver itself), but that was never implemented.

    Similar thing on the server, you would preferably only need to specify an upstream location for the mod (and its dependencies), and not upload it all yourself. Only a meta descriptor file.


    Uhm, can PAMM sideload new mods into a running lobby so that they become active when the match starts, even if they had not been active when the client booted? If so, clients could be instructed to download and activate the matching client mod to a server mod.

    That's not helping non-PAMM-users, but then again, that can't be helped at all.
    Last edited: December 31, 2015
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  13. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    Well, even though the method is a hack, surely it would be fairly simple for Uber to add a popup that simply stated *downloading mod data*. That would at least *inform the player* why on earth the game is hanging (rather than them assuming it's just 'crashed').
  14. cola_colin

    cola_colin Moderator Alumni

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    maybe even consider making them 1x1. One colored sides > all sides are white
  15. exterminans

    exterminans Post Master General

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    Still insufficient as it solves only half the issues. It still means a full re-download of the mod, and the full mod needs to be uploaded every time, including all assets solely relevant for the client. It's not solving the issue that mods should be cached on the client (and the server) per default, and server side mods should also be compared to the local cache prior to issuing an unrequired download.
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