Star Citizen - Development Updates

Erillion

Here are some news collected from various sources about the Star Citizen Development.

For previous years you will find many pages of updates here:
http://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/440887/star-citizen-development-update/p1


A lot of people are currently testing the Alpha 2.2 build on the PTU (Public Test Universe) servers. Some of them encounter frequent crashes, which are caused by custom system.cfg/user.cfg files modified by the players. CIG suggested that deleting those files usually helps.

https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/320476/psa-if-you-are-crashing-frequently-delete-your-custom-cfg-files#latest


Have fun

Erillion

Beginning of May 2016 Update

Transcript:
http://imperialnews.network/2016/05/around-the-verse-episode-2-30/

"TLDR(Too Long;Didn’t Read)

Intro

• Current Version is Star Citizen Alpha 2.3.1. with Star Citizen Alpha 2.4 looking to go to PTU soon, not necessarily today or tomorrow.
• Ben and Alexis are on Bereavement leave, the studios and communities thoughts are with them at this time.
• MISC Prospector was very popular and the “prospect”(ayy) of more small career ships is definite.
• A reminder to check if you have a 5% coupon in your account from April Fools as it expires at the end of May.

News From Around The Verse

Los Angeles

• L.A. have a new hire: Josh Herman. He is the new Art Director in the L.A. office
• Only 3rd day in the role and still wrapping head around everything!
• Will be working on all the characters from Sq. 42 to the PU including aliens

Austin

• Ongoing work fixing blockers for 2.4
• Work started on being able to modify ship ports in Crusader on the landing pads
• First release is being worked on now
• Only want the owner of the ship to be able to modify the ship
• Should be able to swap out weapons and components but only if the ship is in a landed state.
• Design work on kiosk and terminal shopping.
• This is for large items that can’t physically fit in a store i.e. a ship
• Want the terminals to be different as in real life each shopping experience is different from the last
• A Technical Animator has joined the team and will integrate with the Animation team and assist with new animations to be implemented.

Foundry 42 UK

• A lot of focus on the capital ships. The Javelin, Idris and Bengal have all been looked at
• The Argo, Reliant and Starfarer have been given attention to get flight ready
• Concentrating on bug fixing shopping systems
• Will soon be able to earn cash at Comm Array’s and spend it on clothes, armour, weaponry, components etc
• Squadron 42 shoots going on right now
• Tuning FPS and AI work

Foundry 42 Frankfurt

• Greg has a name we probably couldn’t pronounce
• He has been working on ‘Inner Thought’
• The system is to replace the intrusive, huge ‘USE’ button.
• It seems at this current stage it will work roughly like so: If you approach a door you will have the option to open it, at a window you can look, with loot you can pick up, and use it in conversation choice
• It’s a unifying system as it will be the same for AI and player
• Early prototype of some of the system might make it into 2.4
• Greg’s System Design Department has a huge amount of detailed documentation

ATV Interview: Cheyne Hessler

• Cheyne Hessler is an associate character artist currently working on the RSI jetpack.
• He used to do freelance work for toys and scanned data cleanup.
• He grew up with consoles. Plays PC a lot now, HearthStone, Overwatch, Street Fighter V.
• He’ll work on the BDU engineer for Squadron 42 next.
• Hennessy uses Waze.

Loremakers Guide To The Galaxy

• Adam Wieser talks about a UEE system which the UEE doesn’t have complete control of: Nexus
• Nexus is a five planet system with a bluish-white Type A main sequence star and an asteroid belt
• Nexus II is a terrestrial smog planet with an atmosphere that will glow due to aerosols
• Kellar’s Run in 2930 revealed to the UEE how big a problem the pirates were
• Dean Kellar shot an undercover UEE agent in Cathcart, was chased by the Advocacy through 5 systems to Nexus where the UEE were confronted by the pirates and Kellar was finally killed by Anna Flynn
• Nexus has four “all-access” (i.e. large) jump points: three of which are to unclaimed systems
• Nexus was discovered in 2445 by UNE Navy pilot, Dominic Thapa, but the first jump point was from Cathcart which at the time was classified so for 20 years it was known as UDS-2445-3-09
• The military established operations on Nexus III and then attempted to terraform Nexus II and Nexus IV (Lagos) but racked up huge budgetary deficits instead so sold the entire system to a corporation
• In 2468 the Hather Group based their operations on Nexus III (Lago) to mine the Elcibre Asteroid Belt and stripmine Lago without civilian infrastructure investment and was infiltrated by pirates over the next 200 years from the Cathcart System.
• In 2672 the Hather Group reassessed the bottom line and pulled out after getting what they needed and left Nexus to the pirates, resulting in it being named after becoming a jump point nexus for pirates.
• Nexus I is a charred rocky protoplanet close to the star without resources to mine. Nexus II is a smog planet that is also uninhabitable. Nexus III is habitable and the historical base of control in the system.
• In 2930 the UEE decided to retake the system, pushed the pirates off Nexus III and make it a military classified planet where proper clearances are encouraged.
• Greed has been suggested by conspiracy proponents as a motive more than pirate annihilation for the UEE sudden resurgence.
• This is also the location of the famous Dean Keller Run where he hid in an within an asteroid for repairs and stealthily EVAed out to steal his pursuer’s ship, turn it upon his enemies and to make his getaway.
• Nexus IV (Lago – derived from a 26th century Pirate Paradise vid) was stripmined out by the Hather Group and remains a pirate stronghold despite UEE’s efforts to this day.
• Small basic civilian encampments from sweetheart military vet deals provide possible good sources of profit with accompanying risk.
• And finally there is The Red God, a gas giant, named by The Sang Guestos, a cryptic pirate group that actually worship it.

MVP w/Tyler Witkin

Anarckos, Jeff Craig, and Wakapedia for their video “Journey to Voltron”

ATV Fast Forward: Aegis Javelin Destroyer

• Interior and exterior shots of a troop drop pod."

Have fun

Erillion

10 for the Developers: Episode 11

This time the topic is bugs. My personal highlight .... why spaceships are underwater ;-)  (second question)


https://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/15347-10-For-The-Developers

Transcript

http://imperialnews.network/2016/05/10-for-the-developers-episode-11/

TLDR(Too Long;Didn’t Read)

[1:22] Q: Do bugs ever turn cyclical?

A: Yes, all the time, fixing one issue will cause another issue to reappear and fixing that will cause the first bug to reappear. You just need to go back and fix it. QA is helpful. This happened in some cases with 2.4.

[3:56] Q: There was a story about spaceship movement being bugged which no one could figure it out until finally someone said something about CryEngine simulating everything as if underwater. Are are any similar stories nightmare bugs that were actually easy to fix if you just knew a particular oddity of the engine?

A: Roughly two years ago, John Pritchett had flown out from Kansas and everyone was working to get Arena Commander out but the ships just started acting weird. John spent two or three days trying to figure out what was going on. Finally he walked up to the other engineers and said “Our ships are underwater”. Turns out that by default CryEngine has water under every level so anything that goes below 0 on the z-axis is considered to be underwater even when you’re in space! After that it was a simple fix.

[7:24] Q: What are some of the pros and cons between closed development and Bugsmasher’s open development models?

A: Closed development allows more detailed feature work without being interrupted by the debugging process, but lacks the numbers to test thoroughly. Open development often has more numbers to test, but can often distract development from the tasks at hand.

[9:58] Q: Do you get assigned to fix your own bugs? Does CIG have a system in place to fix design ‘bugs’? How do fixing code bugs and design errors compare?

A: Every team works closely with all the other departments. If there’s an issue with one thing you might have to go speak to someone in another team to get it fixed. Every department has their own processes for handling a bug. When implementing a new system, they’ll often consult with the departments that’ll use that system to get their opinion on workflow. Everyone has their own process and needs.

[12:51] Q: Do you ever have it where you find bugs and fix them, but then later find the source and have to fix it again?

A: Yes! There’s many times where a bug is found and fixed, but the actual source is discovered later on, sometimes months down the road when it finally appears after adding a feature or changing some other pieces of code.

[16:30] Q: How much of the company would you say is devoted to getting the release out? How much of the company isn’t impacted by the release cycle and simply continues to make content?

A: It depends for each release. Everyone is working on a different thing towards a common goal for any given release. Sometimes you’ll get pulled off new features to help with bug fixing a release. It’s different for every release – different resources are required.

[20:13] Q: Tools you have developed internally and are in usage?

A: Goal based tuning which helps designers input information into a database designed by John Pritchett. DataForge, will start cleaning up from having to do hand XML or hand scripting. Item port editor, move/remove stuff in game.

[25:22] Q: How was the transition from developer to producer?

A: It’s still ongoing.

[31:43] Q: Do patches with fundamental changes make the Live team do anything special in preparation or is the hand-off from the PTU and Q&A the same?

A: There isn’t really a live team. Resources are pulled from the entire company where required for a release – typically the people leading the features that are in the goals for that release. There is a handoff everyday between UK and the US – the UK handles Frankfurt stuff too. Sometimes they need to push releases to PTU they know are broken because they need more debug information. Sometimes certain features are disabled to focus testing on a specific area. Nerf guns hurt.

[35:27] Q: With PTU patches and live, do our bug reports really make a difference?

A: Yes, the team can’t thank the community enough for their hard work and dedication on testing and playing the game. Without the community’s support, they couldn’t come close to the amount of QA they need to track down and hunt bugs. Even if they don’t reply to your submissions, chances are they’ve used that information and passed it along, but don’t have enough time to reply to each individual person that has helped them.

Have fun

Erillion

>>>Alpha Patch 2.4.0l has been released to the PTU, and is now available for players to test! During this initial testing phase, PTU access will be restricted to a small group of players that we will expand on over time as required.

Your launcher should show “2.4.0-359569” as the client version. It is strongly recommended that players delete their USER folder for the Test client after patching, particularly if you start encountering any odd character graphical issues or crash on loading. The USER folder can be found (in default installations) at C:\Program Files\Cloud Imperium Games\StarCitizen\Test.

The full 2.4.0 Patch Notes are located here. Please take full advantage of our Issue Council area of the Community site to report any bugs you encounter, as well as contribute to other players submissions.

Important Callouts:

• Please note that Battle Royale seems to be experiencing a frequent crash during initializing.

• Persistence between builds 2.4.0k to 2.4.0l has been enabled.

Contents:

• Updates and Fixes

• Star Systems

• Game Systems

• Ships

• User Interface

• Technical

• Updates and Fixes

Star Systems:

• Added additional dialogue for Pirate and Security ships when they spawn in Crusader.

• Made additional tweaks to lighting in Port Olisar based on player feedback.

• Removed cardboard boxes in front of Casaba Outlet in Port Olisar.

• Fixed an issue where Port Modification ports were visible, while ship was on a landing pad in Kareah.

• Fixed an issue where Flair items could not be placed in item display cases.

Game Systems:

• Fixed an issue where players would briefly see ‘insufficient funds’ text even though they had enough funds to respawn their ship.

• Added an aiming reticle to the Port Mod App for easier usability.

• Fixed an issue where audio dialogue would continue even after player died and respawned.

Ships:

• Made additional balance tweaks to the PyroBurst.

• Fixed an issue where you could not attach the Flashfire specialty mount to the Hornet series or Cutlass via the Port Modification App.

• Disabled the players ability to modify weapon and missile loadouts for the Scythe and Glaive ships.

User Interface:

• Fixed an issue where the chat window and mobiGlas could not be open at the same time.

• Enabling Persistence between builds (2.4.0k and 2.4.0l)

Technical:

• Fixed several client crash issues.

• Fixed several server crash issues.

>>>

Have fun

Erillion

>>>Alpha Patch 2.4.0k has been released to the PTU, and is now available for players to test!

Star Systems:

Tweaked the look of Live Wire in Port Olisar.

Fixed an issue where ships could not be respawned in Crusader if the player left and reentered the game.

Made some additional fixes for duplicate characters appearing in players EZ Hab.

Fixed an issue in the ICC Probe Mission 2 where players objectives were completing even though the player was outside the active area.

Removed the quest marker from players attempting to fix the Comms Arrays, during the mission “Keep the Comm Arrays Offline”.

Fixed an issue preventing the Freelancers from appearing in the correct Port Mod spawn node.

Fixed an issue in Selfland Hangar where placing a small ship would cause an extra ship port to appear.

Fixed an issue where Flair items could not be placed inside of Display Cases.

Game Systems:

We have made some updates to ship respawn costs!

The time to respawn and cost to bypass the respawn timer will now differ from ship to ship.

The timer will continue to countdown, even while player is logged out of Crusader.

Ships:

Fixed an issue where the Mustang Delta Rockets were not animating correctly when fired.

First Person:

Fixed an issue where the Marine and Outlaw flight suits and armor were missing EVA thrusters.

Fixed an issue where the players hair was clipping through their cap.

Fixed an issue where purchasable items were lacking shadows while on display in the store.

User Interface:

Fixed several gamepad legacy mapping bugs, particularly involving the left stick.

Fixed an issue to stop the Eject function from being mapped as double tap on the X55 joystick.

Fixed an issue where the CryAstro Repair/Refuel/Restock UI were overlapping the chat window.

Added a “LiveWorks AR” logo to the Port Modification UI window.

Made some additional tweaks to the formatting of text in and around the Port Modification reticle.

Tweaked the usability and visibility of ship component mod ports.

Technical:

Fixed several client crash issues.

Fixed an infinite load screen when attempting to load into the Tutorial.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Have fun

Erillion

10 for the developers Episode 12

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/15357-10-For-The-Developers

01:10 – Updated Writer’s Guide
03:01 – Whisperer in the Dark
05:31 – Fascinating Parts about Writing
06:48 – Star Citizen Novella
08:52 – Community Influence and Plot Holes
14:59 – Background Ships
17:30 – Endeavor
18:53 – Citizen vs. Civilian
21:12 – Wing Commander or Star Citizen
23:22 – Ship Release Pipeline

Transcript

http://imperialnews.network/2016/05/10-for-the-developers-episode-12/

The Star Citizen novella is something i am looking forward to. I enjoyed the Elite novellas  and i am VERY much looking forward to the Battletech novel from MICHAEL STACKPOLE - Lord of all things Battletechish - as part of my Kickstarter support of "Battletech".

Have fun

Abbreviated Transcript: TLDR(Too Long;Didn’t Read)

[1:08] Q: Will the Writer’s Guide get an update?

A: We do want to update it, it’s just on the backburner at the moment with the list of things going on such as the PU history and Squadron 42 development.

[3:01] Q: What were the influences and intentions of the story ‘Whisperer in the Dark’?

A: Wanted something different than Cal Mason and Kid Crimson. Decided to go Lovecraftian horror.

[5:31] Q: Which do you enjoy writing about more? Large scale lore or individual characters?

A: While I really like writing about characters, the large scale stuff allow you to jump into a different mindset completely and have a blast with it.

[6:48] Q: Will there be a hard copy of the Star Citizen Novella?

A: The answer right now is we don’t know, but Dave has been working on it recently and wants to have more time to work on it, but like before, there’s a lot on his plate to clear off first.

[8:53] Q: How do metrics affect your decisions for youtube, shows, articles, etc?

A: To be honest, not a whole lot. We’ve gone by our gut so far and our focus has been more on the hands on approach with the community and listening to them directly rather than looking at numbers.

Q: How do you intend to react to plotholes in Squadron 42 and the PU?

A: We don’t like to Retcon things as everything is in public view and suddenly switching gears can upset people if they’re attached to something, but if it was glaring then we’d evaluate it and go from there. For minor stuff we would ignore it or maybe try to address it in the next section.

[15:02] Q: Will there be older/underpowered/badly manufactured/etc type ships for flavour like the Scimitar from Wing Commander?

A: Yes, in time. And the Scimitar was a good ship, you take that back!

[17:33] Q: Will the Endeavour get more weapons, considering its size, at least for protection?

A: It’s a science ship. We’ll see in white box/grey box.

[18:57] Q: Difference between a Citizen and Civilian in game.

A: They’re still working it out, but it wont be where Citizens are seen as superior to those that aren’t as criminals and civilians need a viable gameplay experience too. Possibly specials on egg plates and cool pens.

Kane72

A watched kettle never boils. Time to avoid all updates about SC until the game is finished. Less hassle that way. Then I can play it in retirement, some 24 years from now.

Erillion

Kane72 said:

A watched kettle never boils.

Incidently it does. As quickly or as slowly as the unwatched one.

Patience is the key.  Or a high power microwave pulse  ;-)


Have fun 

rpmcmurphy

Is 2.4 playable by all backers or is it still restricted to a subset of backers?

Erillion

rpmcmurphy said:

Is 2.4 playable by all backers or is it still restricted to a subset of backers?

Alpha 2.4 still on PTU server (Patch Alpha 2.4.L .. see patch notes above). But with many thousands of player testers (Evocati group + 5000 PTU testers + all interested subscribers).

Live servers still on Alpha 2.3 at the moment.

My personal guess ... Alpha 2.4 on live server this week.


Have fun

Erillion

"Alpha Patch 2.4.0m has been released to the PTU, and is now available for players to test!

Important Callouts:
Please note that Battle Royale seems to be experiencing a frequent crash during initializing.

Star Systems:

Fixed an issue in ArcCorp where players could jump over the railing, resulting in player death.
Changed the texture on the pistol display shelf in Garrity Defense and Cubby Blast.

Game Systems:

Fixed an issue where a players wanted level was not correctly capping at 2 when enabling and disabling Comm Arrays.
Fixed an issue with the ICC Probe Mission 4 not failing due to irregular pirate spawning.
Increased the reward for the Outlaw mission ‘Keep the Comm Arrays Offline’ from 100 aUEC per kill to 250 aUEC.

Ships:

Fixed an issue where the nose mount of the Avenger Series ship was not available after being removed. For now, the nose mount hardpoint has been disabled in the Port Modification App. Made additional improvements to the Pyroblast Scattergun performance and visual effects. Fixed a clipping issue when certain missile racks were equipped to the Freelancer.

User Interface:

Fixed an issue where the chat window was on by default in the Tutorial missions.

Technical:

Fixed several server crashes.
Fixed several client crashes."

Have fun

DKLond

Kane72 said:

A watched kettle never boils. Time to avoid all updates about SC until the game is finished. Less hassle that way. Then I can play it in retirement, some 24 years from now.

You got a point.

I'm trying hard not to follow it too much, but I really should do a complete blackout.

24 years is a bit much, though. I'm thinking around 2 years.

Erillion

"Alpha Patch 2.4.0n has been released to the PTU, and is now available for players to test!

Star Systems:

• Fixed an issue where players could get inside the repair bay of Dumper Depot.
• Corrected the order in which the ICC Probe Research missions are offered to players.
• Fixed some issues with wall mount flair item ports not being visible in the Hangar.

Ships:

• Fixed an issue where you could not change out the weapons on the turret of the Super Hornet.
• Removed unused Port Mod hard points on the Retaliator.
• Removed unused Port Mod hard points on the 300 series.

First Person:

• Fixed an issue where players were missing ankles if wearing shoes without pants.

User Interface:

• Fixed an issue where player HUD would become distorted after respawning from a ship death.
• Fixed an issue where the Outlaw penalty UI prompt was still visible if the player switched from Crusader to ArcCorp.

Technical:

• Fixed several server crashes.

Have fun

Erillion

"Alpha Patch 2.4.0o has been released to the PTU, and is now available for players to test!

Important Callouts:

• Please note that Battle Royale seems to be experiencing a frequent crash during initializing. 2.4.0o will have a fresh database, due to some changes and bug fixes that have been made.

Updates and Fixes

Star Systems:

• Fixed an issue where non Outlaw characters would affect Crusader Security spawning at active Comm Arrays.
• Fixed an issue where some NPC dialogue in Crusader was not stopping at the proper time.
• Fixed an issue where the Generic Horizontal Display Case was not facing in the right direction in the Hangar.
• Fixed an issue with blacked-out doorways in the Revel & York, non XL bay, Hangar.
• Fixed an issue where the EVA visual effects were detached from the jetpack and showing up at the players feet.

Ships:

• Fixed an issue where player was unable to interact with Port Mod turret hard points.
• Fixed an issue where players hand would clip into the flight stick of the Reliant.
• Removed unused Port Mod hard point from the Super Hornet.
• Fixed an issue where additional turrets were showing up in the Port Modification App when interacting with the Cutlass Port Mod turret hard point.
• Fixed an issue where the S4 fixed mount could not be placed on the Super Hornet.
• Fixed an issue where the Port Mod missile hardpoint for the 300 series was not centered on the wing.
• Fixed an issue where the self destruct text prompt was not showing up for the Aurora.

User Interface:

• Added feature to ‘Try On’ mode to show controls for inspecting clothes.

Technical:

• General pass on Crusader to help improve performance.
• Fixed several client crashes."

Have fun

Erillion

"Alpha Patch 2.4.0p has been released to the PTU, and is now available for players to test!

Updates and Fixes

Star Systems:

• Added a mission objective to the mission “Public Enemy” that will trigger if the bounty player attempts interacts with the hacking terminal.
  • In addition, an objective marker will appear showing the location of the Bounty.
• Fixed an issue where the interaction point with the Ammo Crate in Live Fire would become more offset the closer the player was to the Crate.
• Fixed an issue where the NPC inside of Astro Armada did not have a name over their head.
• Fixed an issue where Security would spawn and then instantly despawn.

• Fixed an issue where the Plant Shelf was not aligning correctly with the wall when placed in a Hangar.
• Fixed an issue where all the Space Plant flair items would spawn rotated 180 degrees in the wrong direction.

Ships:

• Fixed an issue where you could not shoot a player in the pilot seat if the ship was moving at full speed.
• Fixed an issue where some of the Starfarer cockpit seats did not have proper collision.

First Person:

• Fixed an issue where a player was unable to EVA after switching flight suits because they were lacking a jetpack.

Technical:

• Fixed a couple of server crashes."

Have fun

Erillion

Alpha 2.4q patch notes:

"Important Callouts:

• Characters will switch to a “T” pose when idling without holding a weapon.

Contents:

Star Systems:

• Fixed an issue where salvageable items like Whiskey Bottles and Cigars were not respawning correctly.
• Fixed an issue in Vanduul Swarm where enemy AI was spawning clumped together near the Terraformer.
• Fixed an issue where flair items were not showing up in the Port Modification list if they had already been placed in a Hangar.
• Fixed an issue where ships placed in the Hangar could be interacted with before they were completely spawned into the Hangar.

Game Systems:

• Fixed an issue where character would slide slightly to the left after completing any other animation.
• Fixed an issue where Store items could sometimes be purchased twice.

Ships:

• Fixed an issue where the Xi’An Aopoa Khartu-al was missing its thruster audio.
• Increased the amount of countermeasure ammo the Starfarer and Starfarer Gemini have by default.
• Fixed an issue where the Omnisky III Laser Cannon was missing its firing audio.
• Fixed an issue where some Ship Port Modification Ports were overlapping.

First Person:

• Fixed an issue with the ATT-4 Energy Rifle was missing its scope when purchased.

User Interface:

• Added a freelook command hint for the gamepad to the Tutorial.
• Added processing feedback UI when purchasing items from the Store.

Technical:

• Fixed multiple server crashes."

Have fun

Erillion

Alpha 2.4r patch notes

"Important Callouts:

The ship spawn terminal in Port Olisar locks the user in place until they request a ship, even after exiting the terminal.

Backing away from the terminal rather then exiting it will sometimes allow users to escape.

Star Systems:

Fixed an issue where the jump point icon for ICC Probe mission 2 would disappear after the mission was completed.

Fixed an issue with that was preventing Arena Commander matches from starting in Dying Star.

When the Security Console Defender at Security Post Kareah disconnects, the mission to kill the defender will be withdrawn from the criminals.

Game Systems:

Players will be unable to exit the Ship Selector Console while their ship is still in the process of spawning.

Fixed an issue where your character would change to a T Pose when in an idle state and not holding a weapon.

Technical:

Client and server optimization.

Fixed multiple client crashes.

Fixed multiple server crashes."

Have fun

Erillion

Alpha 2.4s patch notes:

"Tutorial has been disabled.

Contents:

Star Systems:

-Disabled the Tutorial.
-Fixed an issue where the “inspecting weapon” animation was very awkward for shopping try-on.
-Fixed an issue at CryAstro Station where missiles were not restocking if the player left their ship cockpit during the restock process.
-Fixed an issue where particles were not displaying correctly in Covalex Station.
-Fixed an issue in Port Olisar where a player would become stuck after interacting with the Ship Spawn Terminal, -and be unable to move until they spawned a ship.
-Fixed an issue in Selfland where parts of the wall and floor would disappear when viewed at certain distances and angles.

Ships:

General Ships:
-Made a change so that if a player has multiple of the same ship, they will be numbered sequentially.
-Fixed an issue where firing a FPS weapon in the Starfarer was not damaging another player or the Starfarer.
-Temporarily removed the pulsating orange emergency lighting fro the Starfarer.
-Fixed an issue on the Hornet series where you were unable to switch out the cargo pod via Port Modification.

Mustang fixes:
-Updated the Mustangs Series to have the proper Port Modification Ports.
-Fixed an issue where the Mustang Series did not have the proper visual effects or audio when destroyed.
-Fixed an issue with the Mustang Omega where it could not land properly for repair if its wings were damaged prior to landing.
-Fixed an issue with the Mustang Gamma that was preventing players from exiting the ship if ship was damaged and on a landing platform.
-Fixed an issue with the Mustang Beta where it had no rear lighting.
-Fixed an issue with the Mustang Alpha where the exterior lights were not working.

User Interface:

-Fixed an issue where UI was not correctly notifying player of Comm Array status, aUEC rewards and mission updates.

Technical:

-Fixed a client crash.
-Fixed multiple Server crashes"

Have fun

Turrican187

Erillion

"Alpha Patch 2.4.0t has been released to the PTU, and is now available for players to test!

As of 2.4.0t, access to the PTU is no longer restricted.

Star Systems:

• Fixed an issue where weapons and missiles were not being restocked on ships properly at CryAstro Station.
• Fixed an issue where spawned ships in Port Olisar would first appear floating 50 meters above their designated landing pad.
• Fixed an issue where textures were disappearing from certain angles in Selfland Hangar and ArcCorp.

Ships:

• Fixed some reflection and flickering issues with the Starfarer cockpit glass.

First Person:

• Fixed an issue with the inspecting weapons animation looking awkward in Live Fire and Cubby Blast.
• Fixed an issue where inspecting rifle weapons would cause the rifle to clip into the players helmet.

User Interface:

• Fixed an issue where the UI notification alerting users which landing pad to find their ship was missing.

Technical:

• Fixed a server crash.
• Fixed a client crash during Vanduul Swarm.
• Fixed an error code 7 disconnection."

Have fun


PS:

99 little bugs in the code,
99 little bugs in the code,
Fix one bug, compile it again,
101 little bugs in the code,
101 little bugs in the code.....
(Repeat until BUGS = 0)

Erillion

Another look into the development of the female avatars.





Have fun

Erillion

INN Transcript from

10 for the Developers: Episode 14

http://imperialnews.network/2016/06/10-for-the-developers-episode-13-2/


Have fun

Erillion

Live server instability reported by Will Leverett, CIG Game Support Manager


With Alpha 2.4 now tested by hundredthousands of backers, new bugs have been found as the database has to perform under heavy load. Performance is being monitored, bottlenecks identified and blockers patched out. 


https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/332855/2-4-0-service-instability/p1


Posted: June 12

"Hi everyone,

We're investigating and troubleshooting backend service issues related to the rollout of Star Citizen Alpha 2.4.0 on Friday. During this time, players may have difficulty logging in or experience unexpected in-game behavior, such as duplicated or wrong inventory and loadouts.

For context, it's the first full deployment of Persistence, our database-driven service that will ultimately will affect every part of the Persistent Universe. While we spent significant time testing this services on PTU, a major infrastructure update such as Persistence often won't have its biggest problems exposed until we reach certain thresholds and conditions.

Ultimately, the demands of this particularly massive tech rollout during this stage of Alpha production meant that we could only discover these issues with the larger populations on the Live service. We know it can be entirely exhausting and frustrating when the game experience goes wrong - after all, we're gamers, too! - but such are the realities of providing a service while building it.

We appreciate everyone's time and patience, and for continuing to provide us with invaluable data on the forums and on the Issue Council. We'll be working to get the Live service in a stable state as quickly as possible, and we'll pass on updates this week here as we get them.

Thanks and have a great day!

Will "Soulcrusher" Leverett"


Have fun

Brorim

database comes now .. lol .. they are in trouble ..

Erillion

Brorim said:

database comes now .. lol .. they are in trouble ..

No they are not. Its called load testing. Normal step in development (and not only in the gaming industry). Resolving block events and database access conflicts.


http://dba.stackexchange.com/questions/4760/what-is-blocking-and-how-does-it-happen

"Analogies

Sometimes it helps to use analogies away from computers.

Let's say you have a ball and two children. Only one child can have the ball at any one time. However, if one of the children gets the ball and doesn't let go of it because he's distracted (watching TV, for example), then the other child will not get to play with the ball.

The other child is blocked from that resource.

If we compare this to the TV, for example, several children can watch TV at any one point.

Locks

If we move over to the database world, we see that there are different ways to use resources (just like our two examples above). We can perform "reads" or we can perform "writes".

When we want to read the data, there's no reason that other's can't read the data as well--just like two people watching TV. However, if we want to write the data, then we need to make sure that no one else is looking at it. If they are reading it while we're writing it, they will get "dirty" reads. (Meaning, they'll see the data partially written out, which will be invalid.)

In order to insure that these dirty reads never occur, we have two primary types of locks, Read Locks and Exclusive Locks.

Read Lock

You can have several different connections reading from the same datasource at any given time. But to insure that no one changes that data while they're reading it, they take out a Read Lock.

Once a connection has a read lock on a piece of data, all other connections must wait until the Read Lock is released before they can write the data. Others can, however, take out Read Locks of their own on that same piece of data.

Exclusive Lock

If a connection wants to update/insert/delete a piece of data, they have to take out an exclusive lock. This prevents any other connection from also taking out a lock on the data (making the lock exclusive to that connection).

When a connection has an exclusive lock on the data, no other connections may read from the data. This helps prevent dirty reads by insuring that no one can read the data while its being written.

Blocking

"Blocking" is simply a term that means that one connection is holding a lock on a resource when another connection wants to read or write to it. It doesn't necessarily mean that the owner connection won't release it, just that it's currently holding it.

Compare this to the case with a child holding the ball. The child holding the ball is blocking all other children from holding the ball.

Deadlock

I know you didn't ask this, but it's only one more step to get to deadlocks (and it's related very directly to blocking).

Deadlocks can happen when you have two connections that each have a lock, but they want each others resource. In this scenario, it's like two children that each has a ball, but wants the other's ball.

Like children, these connections are not willing to share at all. Each connection needs access to both of the resources in order to continue. However, they are in a state of permanent blocking. In this state, the parent (DBMS) has to come in and choose a loser so that one of the children (connections) can have access to both of the resources.

Once that "winning" connection is done, it releases the resources and then the other ("losing") connection can try again to get to both resources.

So, the concept of a deadlock is where you have two resources that are blocking each other."

"Guidelines for designing applications to avoid blocking include:

• Do not use or design an application that allows users to fill in edit boxes that generate a long-running query. For example, do not use or design an application that prompts the user for inputs but rather allows certain fields to be left blank or a wildcard to be entered. This may cause the application to submit a query with an excessive running time, thereby causing a blocking problem.
  
  
• Do not use or design an application that allows user input within a transaction.
  
  
• Allow for query cancellation.
  
  
• Use a query or lock time out to prevent a runaway query and avoid distributed deadlocks.
  
  
• Immediately fetch all result rows to completion.
  
  
• Keep transactions as short as possible.
  
  
• Explicitly control connection management.
  
  
• Stress test the application at the full projected concurrent user load."

THIS ! --> Stress Test

Have fun

goboygo

Brorim said:

database comes now .. lol .. they are in trouble ..

I'm glad you don't work for me, with your quitter doom and gloom attitude you would last about 2 days on the job.  The most successfully people don't see "lol trouble" they see challenges and they find solutions. 

That's what the upper 20% do in this world, the rest well, "there's trouble" "I just love trouble, I'll be over here laughing and taking jabs at people while someone else figures it out, but I actually hope they fail because it will make me feel better about myself......."