Wonder if it would just be where both systems run on 2 separate servers instead of what we go during the test preview.
If they can have static zones perhaps they will do server for universe and some station or planet combinations? Definitely more than 2 imo
Yeah, I doubt they'll do only 2 servers per shard. My guess is, if everything goes relatively smooth, one server per landing zone; one per planet; and one that encompasses all the moons around that planet.
It's gonna be funny when there are multiple servers per system and people use global chat to warn others to not go near Microtech because it's about to crash or something lol
"Guys, don't go near microtech, it's currently having a fucking melt down"
While you sip some tea, waiting for your Hull-C, microtech bound, to be loaded
No biggie. Drop out of quantum half way. Bed log.
Go do real life stuff and come back later.
I think he's saying he would lie to the chat to get a safe takeoff.
Nah, I want to see them push this to the absolute breaking limit! Like try hit some kind of crazy world record for most number of players in a single game shard ever... that would make for some incredibly good headlines in the gaming industry... and you know CiG loves a good marketing angle! :D
Evo testing got op to 6 servers. They already have the tech to break up an area into non-contiguous spaces such as putting microtech and area18 on one server, crusader and hurston on another, etc.
Did the AI actually work when they did this test?
We had solid 30 server fps with 200 players. Yeah, things like AI were fine. What actually surprised me a lot was the motion of objects like the tram. With faster positional updates everything seemed to move so much smoother that it was crazy. Other people on the shard I was on agreed that the motion improvements were striking. And yes, there was in-game chat about people getting splattered by FPS AI, but I was trying to break other aspects like bouncing around the asteroid belts in attempt to drive up entity counts.
Friday night, I ended up in 23 server FPS server. Would you equate it to that? Because that might have been the best night I've ever had in SC: Everything worked like a dream.
it should yeah. splitting up a star system into multiple servers should spread the simulation load for AI, entities, physics interactions etc etc. So each server has less to do.
Ofcourse meshing itself will probably introduce 100 new issues :)
I am not normally the super-optimist when it comes to SC tech. The reason for all the rainbows and sunshine I am spouting in this thread is that I went into the server mesh test thinking that if performance at its best part approached normal server performance then it would be considered a success. Seeing it immediately blast past normal PU maximum performance was a shock. just getting to the spaceports was a different experience; everything felt so fluid and I have never seen the trams/shuttles move so smoothly.
From my perspective, the actual meshing tech was much better than I was expecting the best case scenario to be. It will be getting all of the other tech to play nice in a meshed environment that will bring forth the 100 new issues, both in terms of new bugs as well as exposing previously unreached bottlenecks.
why ar u so sure 4.0 will be more than 2 server per shard, if it was thy will say it
Because multiple servers per shard already happened?
true but thy are not saying this in th roadmap ?
Yeah, high server fps makes a vast difference, and a lot of bugs we often see in PU were gone or not visible (of course, we had meshing related bugs in stead). This will give you a better idea for comparison:
30 server FPS was like nothing I have seen before or since in PU. Fluctuations from 27-30 were still better than could be seen in PU, but not as jaw dropping. 23-27 fps was like what you would see when you are the only person on a freshly spun-up server. Below that, performance degrades pretty rapidly as the fps go down.
During the first part of the testing, we had a rock-solid 30 server fps up to about 180-200 players. Then it started dipping to 27 fps at about 200, and decreased further after that. It is hard to really give straight numbers, as they had two different shards with different server boundaries going.
I was on a server that had roughly 30 server fps and I was absolutely astounded. I am very excited for proper server meshing to be implemented, because I think a ton of the overwhelming gameplay issues will be mostly resolved with it.
I agree. The experience was so different from what I expected that it was amazing.
Unless you saw it yourself it is hard to believe given the history of CIG's prior performance and bug profiles, in addition to people who say things are great often being unconditional CR worshipers. The huge difference we saw is just crazy good.
Thinking about it another way: All of this time we have been testing in low-memory and low-performance conditions as far as the server software is concerned. All of this time CIG has been optimizing, troubleshooting and otherwise hardening against such conditions, which are traditionally the funky states that cause unexpected crashes/failures in new-ish software. Things consistently (kinda) run at 1/10 target server fps right now. When we get to the point of dynamic server meshing it is unlikely that a single server will get to such a tortured state, and if one gets close it will not immediately fail as a result. It is kind of like War of the Worlds; all the pain and suffering we have experienced so far is about to pay off big.
how was the fps performance with 200 players in total and the 6 server?
I was on a 4 server shard up to the ~200 player count. I do not know exactly when it was changed to 6 servers, so I would just be giving my best guess and I would like to avoid doing that.
We won't know until they tell us outright or it's released, but they've already done tests of multiple severs per system that apparently went fairly well, so I wouldn't be suprised if there's multiple static servers per system. I expect any server transition boundaries to be in space and away from anything important for the time being.
They are talking about server meshing working between metro lines (so from Commons in NB to Spaceport would be a server hop) so it seems like it's the real thing.
What's likely the reason why they have a delivery item in the release view which is to make public transport ready for server meshing. Why would this be necessary, if not because the trams will be crossing server borders? 👌🙂
I believe they've said that V1 will be only one Stanton server and one Pyro server.
However, they were also testing multiple servers within Stanton, so i suppose it depends how well that turns out.
I believe due to the success of the previous meshing tests they have decided to move beyond the 1 server per system. I'm sure there will be more tests before 4.0 hits the ptu. Given with 3.23 the replication layer split is active in live some of the data they get from that running under full player load will hopefully help improve those tests.
I assume something along the lines of what they tested already. They had multiple servers hosting various groups of moons and planets. I forget the exact layout but around 8 servers in total for both systems
We know from the tests that they can split different regions into a server within a system, so while it may only be two servers, I think its more likely that we'll see Stanton split into 5 servers, one for each planet influence plus space, and Pyro split into similar zones, though probably not one per planet, since their planets seemed a bit smaller in their scope.
I think it will greatly depends on how they can achieve their rework of transit and mission system.
Hope they'll succeed. Would bring multiple server per system and smooth load per zone.
I would imagine it will allow them to run Pyro, but also be the initial framework needed to run additional systems (servers and servers within servers).
My guess (unfounded) is it will be more like the test with a server per planet + one for the system. Just since Chris plans on getting some kind of dynamic mesh out this year
Even if (when) that doesn't happen, it would make sense for them to go for a full static mesh
It looks like it'll be a combination of both. Multiple servers per star system
If i remember correctly, itll be multiple per server. I saw a video somewhere where evocati test players were showing the "server hop" when leaving a certain distance away from Crusader. Im assuming it'll be 1 or 2 servers per planetary system.
Real question is, with server meshing, when will we start to see 1000+ players and such? When will the verse become "unified"?
Considering the initial tests with multiple servers running Stanton they will likely deploy something similar for the initial rollout of SM. 1 server per system at this point doesn't provide them with any meaningful data to further iterate and improve the technology.
1 server per system was ther plan for initial release. They've tested multiple servers per system on a weekend test run but so far nothing has been said about changing their plan.
Ok, yeah, that's what I was thinking. I heard the planet server tests went really well, so I hope it's multiple per system.
Why would they do only one per system? Doesnt make sense when we have better tech than that already
Just because they tested it doesn't mean it will be ready in 3-4 months.
Like don't get me wrong, I hope it is, it would be great.
Just reminding that their official release plan they talked about was 1 DGS per solar system, then DGS per planet, then DGS per smaller zones and finally dynamic DGS creation and allocation per demand. And so far we didn't get any confirmation that this was changed.
If it does and they skip steps, great. But it's also good idea to temper expectation because CIG is not really known for underpromising and overdelivering. And a lot of people are super hyping for 4.0 server meshing, when it's possible that initially it won't be what people expect.
The back-end services and missions will need to be restructured to get even two systems with one server each working right. That is the bulk of where the missing functionality was in the test.
Contiguous and non-contiguous static boundaries worked well in the test. A solar system can be split into static chunks already with tech they have implemented, so long as the stuff above is adapted to meshing.
Rotating boundaries are the big gotcha for static meshing. Rotating boundaries worked until a server at a rotating border crashed; it would come online with the rotation desynced. A volume on the surface of a planet (like an individual city) would need this fixed. Placing a volume as a sphere that rotates with the pre-existing planetary physics grid border would also need to be fixed. All of this could be side-stepped by putting a big volume around a given planet that is larger than that rotating physics volume, but the limitation would be that there could be no city / outpost / distribution center volumes within it.
IOW, even without messing with the static meshing tech itself, they can split up a system a fair bit without problems. Again, this is assuming that the other services are updated for meshing as that has to happen even for one server per system.
This is awesome!
It's funny that only some ships are going to be flammable at first. It'll be a weird in-between. The "meta" will be non flammable ships, lol.
It would be really funny if it was only drake first
I see no problem.
To be fair, my drake ships look like they're on the brink of bursting into flames already, so it'd work out just fine lol
Nah, Drake ships will leak so fast there won't be enough oxygen for the fire.
Corsair ready to burn sir!
Well this is supposed to be an immersive simulation.
The MSR already has flames and red alert lights when damaged enough. I took a couple missile hits and one right up the back door and got away. The internal results were way cool.
The flames currently in-game are just VFX tied to damage states.
The flames coming in will damage players, propagate on their own, consume oxygen, and require extinguishers to put out.
It's good gameplay to introduce but it's definitely a weakness being added to ships. It's going to be a weird transition where "gold standard" ships are going to feel nerfed with the addition.
"Require extinguishers"
laughs in big red "VENT" button
And THIS is the right answer...!
I really hope CIG implements this, and doesn't force us to use stupid fire extinguishers in a tight, enclosed space(ship), when you just could vent the complete area...
The 'rooms' system which was supposed to model presurization of compartments versus open/closed doors and bulkheads is still missing in action. We still just have the magic lines of 'air is on one side, suffocation on the other'. I hope that even if they're still not able to implement the rooms system as described they will still allow purging atmo to fight fires.
"Life Support" is among the deliverables for 4.0, and it specifically mentions managing the atmosphere inside the ship. Certainly seems like they want to enable that control of pressurization using the doors from an Engineering console or otherwise.
Hopefully that's what the life support mechanics on the release view do.
Actually I think moving atmo between zones has been a thing since 2.0, just not used.
Although ships should (eventually anyway) have limited oxygen tanks, so sure you can vent but then have to refill the rooms later to be habitable. Bigger ship, more oxygen/air mixture to have to refill for that section, draining them even more.
Oxygen tanks should also explode if hit dead on or damaged enough, and cause auxiliary effects by causing nearby fires or explosions to enflame further (because oxygen).
Would be cool if a ship was functional but totally ran out of O2, then the crew could only walk around and operate it in spacesuits since it would be vacuum inside.
Fire? Vent. Boarders? Vent. Your buddy made a bad joke? You guessed it, vent.
Proceed to vent and flush everything in the ship instead of taking 30s to clear the fire
I suspect that it will be more of a "ships with hp" vs "ships with engineering" affair, where ships with engineering will work like the A2 in the AC Engineering Test. If my guess is right, ships with hp won't suffer effects until hull explodes, whereas ships with engineering will degrade as components get shot up and fuses blow, but the hull will last longer (so long as you keep the fires out).
It's speculation, though.
We had an amazing experience with a burning Carrack yesterday. We were doing one of the xenothreat missions in a bunker and the turrets completely shot our Corsair to pieces so we made the call to land out of range and walk on over.
There was an abandoned Carrack next to the bunker and out of curiosity and maaaybe because we took away some injuries from falling down mountains, we entered it and found this burning wreck of a ship. Red lights were flashing and thick smoke covered the hallways.
The thing is - she was still functional. Half broken but functional and so when the bunker mission was done, I decided "yeah, I'm not hiking back to the corsair. Screw it, I'm nicking the Carrack".
The second we entered, the bunker turrets started shooting. My squad decided to bail while I made a mad dash for the bridge through smoke covered corridors and emergency lighting. Shields were already half gone, the ship was more red than anything and when I turned on the engines, it flew with the grace of a drunken whale - but it flew.
I boosted away over the hills, laughing maniacally and half crashed it near our Corsair. Then I kicked back and mocked my cowardly friends for jumping out of what was OBVIOUSLY a sound plan.
I can't wait for more moments like this to occur naturally.
Did they explain why there are no sprinkler systems on ships?
Maybe they want it to be like FTL, where we put out fires by venting out all the atmosphere of the ship.
This is planned yeah
Yeah they should put these on the ISS too!
They could put sprinklers on certain ships but giving it to them all seems dumb
Hopefully they update the rest of the ships quickly. I'm assuming they need to nail the mechanics doen on more complex ships first before passing it down to simpler ships; at least that's how I'm perceiving it.
Quasi Grazer (cows)
I wonder if there are any gambling sites where you could bet on CIG meeting deadlines. I'm betting this gets pushed to Q4 and the new deadline being IAE in November.
Thats wildly optimistic
I mean brother you can bet on anything if you have the money, just unlikely that other people will pool in on either side of the bet to make it worth anything for the bookie
Might as well just aim for citcon atp
yeah that's where I'm setting expectations, or just a longer patch cycle in general.
Fifty bucks says outpost mechanics get delayed a bunch of updates. Giving me salvage vibes.
Gambling mechanics are tied to Server Meshing, though.
oh my!!! This has more to it than I expected. So if you factor in the same thing that happened with 3.23, basically getting pushed back almost into the end of the next quarter, we are still getting Pyro by the end of the year.
The only constant in game development is pyro by the end of the year
3.23 was always aimed at q2. Initial aim was April they missed that by like a week or two. They actually did pretty great with 3.23.
But 3.23 wasn't even pushed back to the middle of Q2.
we are still getting Pyro by the end of the year.
They just proved they will happily cut things to the next patch, there is no reason to believe they couldn't cut it again.
Between pyro and the hangars, the players haven't touched hangars, the players have touched server meshing.
Pyro was in the test channel last fall. Many of us have "touched" pyro in the same ways we "touched" meshing. No hangars though yet 😕
Yea that was the intent of the text, I probably should have swapped Pyro with meshing... Or maybe use both.
4.0 is Pyro. No Pyro, no 4.0.
If Pyro suddenly gets delayed, 4.0 will be delayed with it.
"they just proved" my dude, I've been here since kickstarter, they have cut things from every single patch. That said... if 4.0 is the intention for the next patch that is a go/no go feature or it wouldn't be 4.0. As I said, I expect a delay, but even with that delay I think there is a very good chance we get it by the end of the year. This is just two servers with a jump point in between, the tech isn't that crazy. We are not talking about dynamic server meshing yet.
They definitely could cut it again, but cockteasing is with Pyro at this point just to think it away again will bring with it a lot of long time players finally leaving for good (or for a while at least)
I wonder why they don't release Nyx with 4.0 and server meshing. Delamar was already done
My guess is they want to release a full system all at once and as far as we know Delamar is the only one implemented and not even with the new planetary tech. Pretty good chance they'll remake Delamar from almost scratch when we see it again.
There was some images not too long ago of a completely reworked levski
I see why they wouldn't drop nyx but I also feel like it's closer than people expect
I mean it's pretty obvious Nyx is going to be the next system to drop, but it's hard to say how far along it actually is when we've seen so little over it. Maybe that'll be something they show off at CitCon this year and we can look forward to it sometime next year. I think the big drops we're getting this year are going to be 4.0 (server meshing and Pyro) and SQ42 will probably have a targeted launch this year, but we'll see.
Please God someone elaborate on "solar bursts" am I gonna have to dodge punches from the sun now!?
Also moo cows :)
Basically yes. It was in the Pyro preview. There are periodic CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) that does several things. If you are in a ship it will temp disable a ship. If you are on surface of planet outside of any shelter, you will see a blinding flash of light and start to die. It can kill you. Not sure what armor rating you need to shrug it off.
cool as fuck!
Yes, the solar bursts work as EMPs and will disable your ship.
From what I saw during the pyro play test they'll also flashbang and blind you
Yep, definitely that too. They're also supposed to give you radiation poisoning.
You also can die/get absolutely cooked if you don't have a high enough armor rating to withstand the CME's
Oh goody
yup from citcon, you'll get a warning, and you can go to the opposite side of a planet to avoid it
Only in Pyro
Go on YouTube and search for the Pyro playground. You'll know what to expect, then 😉
Also moooooooo
Mildly disappointed that they're only listing one variant of the Zeus.
Agree. They did the same with the Spirit last year though, so hopefully we'll get the other variants for IAE.
That leaves the remaining variants for IAE
Don't worry, the listed version isn't coming either.
Did "Pyro" really need 7 separate bullet points? It's like 1/3 of the entire list. A sad way to make it look bigger than it is.
I just want my messy personal hangar
Correct
It’s going to be released at citizen con
I heard the polaris was coming November?
Very disappointing but I was thinking the same thing.
I was doing some thinking about this, and it's possible that a ship like the Polaris can't come out until they have more ship balance and features like Maelstrom in the game. That's just speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. The ship itself might be nearing completion, but it might be too early to release it now. It'd be the only desirable capital ship right now and the most powerful, until additional military ships like the Perseus and other capitals are in the game. Not that it needs to be held off until later, but I can see their reasoning if it were to happen.
Holy Quasi Grazer ! Can't wait
Quarter 3 For CIG is October - November - December
So q1 2025
No I'm optimistic. I'm saying it'll be rushed to barely release just before the holidays, with 1/3 of the content missing
When are the physical animations coming to starcitizen from squadron42
Though I hope everything goes as planned as always I'll expect nothing so that I'm pleasantly surprised.
Still good luck to the Devs to hopefully meet predictions. I'm well aware of just how much things can deviate from predictions in most every business
Are they able to update all ship MFDs? Seems impossible right?
they have been at it for a while I think, there is a video out there of a drake ship with a rinky dink MFD update and the galdius had a fully new MFD UI during cit con I think they need 15 more assuming misc and mirai share similar MFDs.
Please tell me mfds will actually be useful now and taken design inspiration from fighter jets....
That's the plan
Q3??? This year???
CIG is taking high copium dosis apparently
4.0 in 2024 was already planned and confirmed last citizen con. Now the question is will it actually happen ?
Will there be space cows in Pyro? I mean, I like my beef medium well but I think it might dry out the meat with all those solar flares.
Spacecows are everywhere humans have terraformed a planet because the cows were integrated into the terraforming process.
I'm betting expo halls will be a server unto themselves.
That's awesome. I am hoping that all players in 1 region will be on the same game instance so it will feel more like an mmo.
Where polairs
Ask the bmm people.
...and there it is. There's the big good will-generating announcement immediately before the ship sale to help increase sales. Not saying that 4.0 won't happen in Q3. Just saying that there's always stuff like this before the sales.
Nothing wrong with that imo.
They need to make money and as long as they dont give wildly unrealistic estimations (which did happen to be fair) I dont mind some hype before a big event.
༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ gib Polaris.
Wow finally!!
Waiting since 2018 for that. About time.
Nice, the ES. Exactly the one I pledged.
CAN'T WAIT
Yeah fuck Pyro, gimme ES!
Exciting! I might just wait for that patch. Pretty unplayable at the moment :(
If you think this is unplayable, imagine what all those new systems in 4.0 will break. I think you might be waiting a while.
Realistically, see you in 2025
For me this patch have been, definitely difficult but very stable. The sync is what's my problem, NPC bounce around but I can complete missions, I can chain like 8 of them no problem.
Damn. I have not hit that at all, even delivery missions I got bugs, last one was getting into the pilot seat I got f nothing happened and I was just stuck and had to relog.
For me this patch lowered my FPS from a fairly stable 50-60 or 30s at the lows to a unplayable 10 in the middle of space
I've had some issues, but been able to have a good time so far. Def not in a state for most casual players though
damn, i have have put a decent amount of hours in could not complete any missions, delivery, boarding, bunker. Just issues over and over.
I've been able to do a few smaller missions, but def not easy.
Personal hangars first please CIG. We're in Q2 already- and Q3 end isnt terribly far...
Personal hangars are part of this current patch cycle. So sometime between now and whenever 4.0 releases. So we’re getting it first.
3.23 was scheduled for Q2 no? Q2 has still 45 days to end and we already got the patch, waiting for the .x to drop
So I’m dumb what does Q3 mean?
Third Quadrimester!
AKA July, August and September.
Will the Zeus CL release next to the ES?
No.
Ah when is Cl hitting if I may ask
Which year again? Just joking. Looking forward to riding on space cows.
\o/ nice
Thought this was gonna happen
3.23 felt like so much was being added that the next focus was gonna be 4.0 and getting that working. For which I am all for
So if they run one server on stanton and one on pyro to start with for server meshing, does that mean really we won't see any benefit as it will still be one server running the whole of stanton?
Chris said they plan for a version of dynamic to be in this year, it's likely there will be more than one server each
That would be cool!
Yerp
Planned for Q3? That means it will be released in Q4, lol.
Dang. No Apollo before release?! 😭😭😭
Maelstrom when ?
All that looks great, but what about more gameplay? The gameplay loops that do exist seem broken.
Got a feeling there will be more server meshing tech previews coming very soon. Probably to test changes various teams have made.
Just before the sales week :):):)
It'll be in EPTU Q3 and we'll get it sometime Q4, probably right before IAE is my guess.
Fix fps then we can talk
Bring us the arresting and detaining system so we can turn in bounties. Also to use jails
The only thing not on here I was really hoping for was the quantum jump reworks.
pog
Any info on what the jump points (are they the portals located at the edge of starmap?), solar bursts (flares from sun causing damage to your ship?), charge/drain, and MFD rework (what does it stand for?)
jump points are those portals that take you to other star systems.
solar bursts are flares that happen in pyro
charge/drain is new mechanic to take energy / refill energy, i guess?
MFD is the ship UI which hasn't been shown off yet. MFD stands for multi function displays.
https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/s/38s4SA2EWu Here’s the new MFD shown at citizencon
oh wow i totally remember seeing that and just... forgot lmao
MFDs = Multi Functional Displays
- Yes 2. Yes 3. Ship screens (MFD)
I was just on the site too. Not getting exited yet....!
where bounty hunting etc?
I just want my merchantmen.
This year is just a wild ride! Just insane!
That's cool. Oh hey by the way the current patch is pretty much unplayable guys thanks.
What am i missing? What is the difference between what we have now and server meshing?
As of right now, we have the "replication layer" implemented, allowing for server crash recovery (transfer of game server states between servers / one server crashes and a new one spins up to takeover and take on the state of the crashed server). Though the replication layer opens the door to allow for the use of multiple game servers per star system, we still only use one game server at this time; as CIG is polishing this tech up before moving onto server meshing.
Server meshing will allow star systems to be made up of many separate game servers per shard, each server serving a separate area in a star system (reducing the tremendous processing load of the current one server model, to instead use many servers to disburse the processing load amongst many). Server meshing is designed to use the replication layer to recover the state and transfer that state between the multiple game servers serving each star system.
The first stage of server meshing is called "static server meshing." This means that there will be a fixed/predefined amount of multiple game servers serving each system; instead of just one that is used today. However, static server meshing will not spin up more servers than what's defined beyond a star system's original cluster amount upon startup. This is a proactive model. Server costs could initially be higher because CIG might not initially be able to spin up and down servers real-time when demand requires it. So, server costs will be higher in an attempt to make an educated guess on the future server loads (likely leaning on the side of more resources allocated, to account for activity spikes) and build their clusters and activity zones accordingly. This year, CIG hopes to achieve some limited version of static server meshing.
Then, after static server meshing, there will finally be "dynamic server meshing." This is when many game servers in a system will spin up/down and/or scale up/down (potentially resource tiers as well) based on real-time activity and demand, and is the technology backbone required for the end goal grand scale dynamic systems gameplay for SC. This is a reactive model. Server cost savings would also be a target here. An example of why this would be needed is for allowing massive player counts to flow in and out of an area and system (far above counts that have been tested thus far) due to events being triggered "dynamically" because of economic factors (commodity booms/busts), reputational factors (faction invasions/retreats), etc. For those wanting the game to feel more fluid and ever changing/evolving on the regular (big and small multi-system change), this is what will be the backbone for that to be a reality. CIG strives to get started on this work sometime after static server meshing is implemented and when that's working as intended.
What we have now is one server for every one. Static meshing can be 1 server per 1 or 2 planets + their moons, as well as letting extra-system travel become a thing(which means more star systems, Pyro for example).
I thought server meshing was already in 3.23
not in the sense we think of it.. replication layer is along with server recovery.. server recovery is essentially a form of server meshing but used for a different purpose.
"Is this an out of season April-fool's joke...?"
(I believe it, when I see it...on my harddrive...)
What would server meshing v1 look like? Is it just the minimal to get Pyro and Stanton connected or are they going to run several servers per system.