Server crashes and sadness

Ahhh... how all these frequent crashes remind me of the days when Daggerdale under Doly used to crash a lot, especially near the end of its run. This is not nostalgia, mind you, but frustration. I love playing here, and all the crashes make it difficult to get things going sometimes.

Now, I understand that there are things that may be out of your hands, admins, developers, and builders, but what is the problem? Is it a technical thing, like you need some new hardware? If that is the case, perhaps you could put out a call for some donations from players to help you upgrade. I would be more than willing to send a few bucks to you to help ensure the smooth maintenance of the server. If 10-20 players put $10 (Euros, Pesos, whatever the hell other currency is floating out there) in an envelope and sent it out, would that help?

This is not a "complaint" as much as it is a concern and an offer. I know you all put in TONS of time doing what you need to do to run the server, and you do it all for free. The players reap the reward by being able to play this wonderful server... for free! Since I am unable to help with the technical side of things, I would like to help with the financial side, if help is needed. I would be willing to bet that there are others who would do the same. Would a few anonymous donations, with no preferential treatment given to those who donate and no negative repercussions for those who do not, help?

A long winded post, I know. My way of saying thanks, and can I help.

See ya in game!

In all honesty, we don't have a nailed down problem. The server computer has plenty of RAM. We already went out and upgraded it. And the only thing that computer does is run the server. From what I've been able to glean from others, its the NWServer program itself that is unreliable. There are times when the server is up for days, magic spells and all. And then there are times when it just goes ka-blooey for no reason whatsoever.

If the players wished to do that, I wouldn't argue with them. I would say, however, that the computer was put together by someone who knows the stupid things well and deals with them for a living. (No, I am NOT talking about me ) I understand your frustration as well.

There are two issues being looked at: OnExit Cleanup Scripts losing their mind, and unhandled OnExit Events (i.e. do the events stack up when people leave areas that do not need to be "cleaned up" and then explode into server crashes when they do get handled).

These will be addressed AFTER the BIG update...hopefully 1-2 weeks.

Sorry guys. It happened when Thorgrim was trying to pull his steel boot out of a Hillie Warriors butt after he finished kicking it.

Bear_Den wrote:

Sorry guys. It happened when Thorgrim was trying to pull his steel boot out of a Hillie Warriors butt after he finished kicking it.

What area were you in, and what area had you last left before it vapor-locked??

And do you know about how long it was between you leaving the last area and the vapor-lock??

Thanks.
Kurt.

I was just about to kick the hillie chieftans butts. So that would be in the last chamber in the lower level.

About 20 minutes since I transitioned down there.

Could it be that multiple creatures are trying to spawn on top of each other in the same waypoint pin? Just a thought.

I have been noticing a lot of monster corpses lying around with things like bullets, arrows, and maybe a gold piece or two. How long do corpses remain if they have a loot drop? And, could that also clutter up the server and make it work harder?

sack blabbith wrote:

I have been noticing a lot of monster corpses lying around with things like bullets, arrows, and maybe a gold piece or two. How long do corpses remain if they have a loot drop? And, could that also clutter up the server and make it work harder?

I noticed that too when I was "testing" in the Kobold Lair...every object takes memory. If everyone leaves an area and there are corpses with gear, the gear (and corpses) need to go away.

Thanks!

It might also happen more due to the 50-100 placeables and such we keep adding to DF in order to display the 'destruction' there, yet another load of objects that take memory. So far I have not been experimenting with timestops and such.....yet

Didnt I already raise this point? :p

Venerate One wrote:

Didnt I already raise this point? :p

And yet we keep raising the rubble.... lame pun, oh I know I know.. it's the best I can do though

But before sidetracking......! I am sure that will be fixed in recent updates.

One other question to whodatis;

"Is the machine running the server Linux? Or Windows? Or mac? Cause if it was windows, and it isn't used for anything else, linux might just be the solution, about 100x more stable in things like this"

Q-2 wrote:

Venerate One wrote:

Didnt I already raise this point? :p

"Is the machine running the server Linux? Or Windows? Or mac? Cause if it was windows, and it isn't used for anything else, linux might just be the solution, about 100x more stable in things like this"

I moved my reply to this "Test Server" forum.

The ogres crashed the server!

It's a conspiracy!

*sulks* Two times now I have tried to play and both times I find I log onto a screen of infinite blackness as the server has yet again went kaplooey! Seems lately it's down more then it's up lol...WE MUST FIND THE CURE!

*Offers his shoulders for all to cry on, letting a few tears escape his own eyes* Alas, the server was slain once again, i shall summon ye ole x-box 360, till the server can be raised yet once again!

*cough* Hooker... *cough* Up and down... *cough cough then clears his throat.* No doubt when there's a will, there's a way.

Shaikahn wrote:

*Offers his shoulders for all to cry on, letting a few tears escape his own eyes* Alas, the server was slain once again, i shall summon ye ole x-box 360, till the server can be raised yet once again!

LOL Indeed..PS2 for me.

Make that three times now lol.

oddly enough the server even crashes when nobody is doing anything but sitting around talking...SOMEBODY NEEDS TO STOP TALKING SO LOUD MAYBE!?!?!?

yea the server has been down all morning, if any dm's are on scanning the forums can you bring it up?

Just kick them...works better sometimes :p

put my metal-clad boot in a server module? sounds fun

sunday night/ early monday morning.. its down.. epic sadness .. wanted to play tonight.. maybe its back up now! *checks*