Performance => Drawde's DB

[Whistle]

Hi,

im using Drawde's databases v.06 on a local server, and im getting disconnects at pings from 1600.. there are several stucks and lags too.
My System is a P4 1800, 512 mb, 64 megs Geforce3 - running WinXp.
The DB is made very fine though, almost all zone are mobbed

Are you guys experiencing same probs on bigger databases?

What should i do to make the game more enjoyable?

/wave
Whistle

[Shawn319]

logging into or zoning into a zone with spawns will cause lots of lag at first, if u can get over the hump it evens out. most of the time (depending on connection) you will disconnect first though.

[ScotchTape]

You know, I can't but help to think that this is related to the problem that i'm talking about in the '%bug process%' thread.

What would it take to spawn the npc objects into memory and to keep them there, and then after a person logs in, to move them about? hrm.

I need to go look at how that's handled.

[morpheus014]

Could someone post a copy of that DB or tell me where i can DL it?

Thx!

[ibleet]

Ya, I have mad lag recently. Almost to the point where it becomes annoying gameplay. Many of the zones seem to lump all the mobs into a single area, making latency much worse...even to the point where you cannot move. There also seems to be a few mobs either under the earth or flying high in the sky in most zones. I'm not complaining mind you. It is much easier for me to fix the few than to spawn the entire db on my own. I am thankful for that. I have also noticed major slowdown with EqAdmin with fully spawned zones. I just thought this may be contributing to the lag situation. I'm gonna dump my db and start fresh to see if that helps. Anyone else experiencing this?

[ScotchTape]

Actually, yes, I noticed this last night while working on some pathing related code. Some zones, like soldungb, were hugely problematic as now (unless I manually remove the spawnlist) force a disconnect on me.

I'm just guessing that there is a connection between having a large number of mobs in one place and causing lag. I'd have to wager that it has to be one of the LL iteration loops in the code, but I"m just wagering -- I don't know for sure.

I have noticed too that if you attempt to load the zone config file from the zone files themselves and not the config files that ship that it resolves a form of the disconnect problem. My bets here, too, are that when you don't have the config files that it lumps all the mobs into one place, and then just reinforces the problem some more. But, I haven't checked what actually loads with the config file. For all I know, it just loads the zone name and whether to serve a latte or a mocha.

Maybe a check that 'warped' NPCs away from one another (say by rand()%10 and in a circle?) if they all occupy the same x,y coordinates in the zone, might at least enough to spread them out. Or perhaps even depop the mob, as a way to test out whether the problem is there.

I plan on taking a peak at it later tonight (here in about 8 or so hours), but maybe someone has a quick and dirty answer for us? :)

[Whistle]

The database or SQL seams to refresh everything every second.
I think thats why mobs in outdoor places seam to fall from the sky or are jumping up and down. Same when you fight them, this looks kinda funny when you view from 3rd person.
Dungeons are just unplayable when you go deeper in, because 10 monsters are hitting, you can't see.

I hope there will be any solutions in future.
I wish i could help, but im not yet involved in database administration.

[ScotchTape]

Originally Posted by Whistle

The database or SQL seams to refresh everything every second.

I think you are talking about the ping that is setup to keep the mysql connection alive. I don't think the code rebuffers in all that data, each time. It should only buffer once the zone is loaded, and then a periodic refresh when the spawn timer goes off (which should be internalized from/in the zone boot).

I think thats why mobs in outdoor places seam to fall from the sky or are jumping up and down. Same when you fight them, this looks kinda funny when you view from 3rd person.
Dungeons are just unplayable when you go deeper in, because 10 monsters are hitting, you can't see.

I am pretty sure this has to do with the movement code after a mob has been agro (its in ->Process(), about halfway down) and is something that someone said they are messing around with. If the mob has to follow the player, then it utilizes the SendTo() method. Otherwise, it puts itself right on top of the player's foot (unless you are halfling, then its on your head ;o).

Come to think of it, SendTo() only has an x and y coordinate, but no z. This could be why dungeons aren't working right, because the combat engine is sending the mob to x,y, no z and I *think* that the engine only checks right now if mob_is_near_player(x,y). Putting an overload in would likely be a good first step.