Character Vault expirations

[Warlock]

Hi All!
Been a bit since I've been on. Since the advent of summer it appears that signing onto the server is like nigh to impossible. Just now, I tried getting on 6 times in a row and each time N.Cear appears to be almost done and it crashes.

I can get on a few other choice servers just fine and they do have over 30+ players (though my heart is with Dassaria) and I can sign on and play with little to no crashes.

Reason I'm asking is there an "expiration" on characters? I tried signing on with all my characters this week to keep them "live" but like I stated, I have yet to succeed to actually getting on. I was hoping my characters wouldn't fall idle and get erased out of attrition do to no fault of my own, the gods of Dassaria know I've tried, and hopefully one day I can get on again (my schedule has changed a bit to daytime for now used to be AM play).

Anyway, are my characters in jeopardy if I can't literally set foot on Cearian soil with my virtual characters feet?

[DM Sabre]

No, we are not in the habit of deleting charcters if you do not sign in, so you are safe. And to ask a stupid question, but you are using PWC v10?

[Warlock]

thats a viable question. Yes I have PWC v10.

Its just this one other server has a log in cave, then it goes to a temple/re-spawn point, with a door to main town like N.Cear, from there it has an outside market area, THEN there is a gate to the outside.

So there are 4 transition areas before you ever step foot into fighting territory, when you do there are 3 ways to leave that map and each of the other areas have another 2-3 areas they branch into.

So the 40-50 plus PC'ers are split up all over the place, they aren't in all one area. I did notice whenever I did make it on and made it to Thralls gate, I didn't have any crash at all till I signed off.

I personally think (now that I've seen it with my own eyes) you guys have too much programmed into a very small area.

Glad to hear they are safe, I really like RP'ing on Dassaria. But when I can sign on would be int he AM with like 4 people, there is really nothing to RP then. I'll keep trying to sign on perodically. Thanks again!

[Torquil Lamond]

I personally think (now that I've seen it with my own eyes) you guys have too much programmed into a very small area.

I think they realize this, as they have already split up North Cear into two areas from one large one. Splitting it up further would prove to be a logistical nightmare, no doubt. Same with Trades and Commons.

Rather than force the Development Team to spend hours upon hours splitting up an area correctly, seamlessly, or rebuilding the area in question, I would much rather have Obsidian fix their game.

[blackheart]

I think blaming the contents of the mod is a bit of a red herring. After all, single-player does not suffer this particular problem and some of the maps are quite complicated.

One thing I have noticed is that one can complete, 'phase 1 updates,' actually hear the ambient music start up (or even be killed by a trained monster) before the freeze and/or crash to desktop.

I have also noticed party members enter into an area, their icons come up in the party list, and indicators come up on the area map, but never materialize in the area. Often they are proceeded by their buff animation as well, though no figure of the character ever appears.

Personally I suspect code the quality on the game client of some secondary piece logic that loads very late in the process -- perhaps the music, or updates to others player's locations (though it may not be that, as I have certainly crashed into areas which I was entering alone). Maybe it's even a third-party library for the sound or networking, who knows.

I do wonder why memory dumps from the client side (I know I generate many, heh) wouldn't tell someone exactly what is choking on the client. Perhaps my understanding of such things is naive, but never have I seen anyone discussing such a thing on the official forums.

I also wonder why the app could not be hardened to die somewhat more gracefully when it runs into trouble during a transition. The 'video freeze' that forces a cold boot is the worst.

Is there no debug version of the client? I would be happy to run it for some weeks, even if it thrashed performance.

[Warlock]

Oh yeah, where everything loads but the people. One thing that helps against cold boot if you get a chance, is to notice the characteristics of a freeze for your computer (as I am sure all act a bit differently), I notice everyone is going along fine, we pause to discuss or something and suddenly "everyone is quiet" and just standing there, and what I type doesn't go on screen. Thats when I immedaitly hit the window key, then CTRL/ALT/Delete and shut that puppy down BEFORE it crashes.
Even on screen loading, you get used to how long it takes to go through its routine, then you notice its taking slightly longer than normal, I don't even wait I shut it down pronto.
Normaly if I can shut it down before the computer itself notices, 9/10 times I can save my computer from the hard reboot.

[Torquil Lamond]

Some useful tricks. I run everything in windowed mode, so when transition crashes start, I just close it down and reload. It minimizes the time spent struggling with a crash.

[kikkelipoika]

Some useful tricks. I run everything in windowed mode, so when transition crashes start, I just close it down and reload. It minimizes the time spent struggling with a crash.

It seems to crash more often if not in fullscreen. Alt-tab is almost as quick.

[ChikenKannon]

Some useful tricks. I run everything in windowed mode, so when transition crashes start, I just close it down and reload. It minimizes the time spent struggling with a crash.

It seems to crash more often if not in fullscreen. Alt-tab is almost as quick.

Not if the game freezes and you're stuck looking at that loading screen for 3 minutes. Like it does for me.

[kikkelipoika]

Not if the game freezes and you're stuck looking at that loading screen for 3 minutes. Like it does for me.

Ouch