DM_BK
January 5th, 2011, 17:24
From time to time I see the app (as a host) crash...while Id like for that to not happen, it doesn't happen that often. But when it does everyone needs to re-connect and we have found that you can't all reconnect at once or it will crash again. Even that can be delicate to manage as its always a slow process that if you attempt to rush it you will likely crash again.
So I ran a network monitor and was stunned to see the amount of activity going on...some of which continues even after the client appears fully connected (as in character appearing at the table).
A lot of this traffic appears to be related to users that have module files. Users with module files it almost seems like they are re-downloading each file with the amount of sustained activity they generate. Note that these module files have 99% of the data in client.xml. Users with no module files use very little bandwidth upon connecting.
Many of the module files have images inside of the file but the clients have those same files that the host has. I do not know how the image files are handled...the client has them but are they being transfered to them anyway? That could be a reason for all the activity.
I also noticed that the process of a client editing their characters sheet is also unexpectedly bandwidth intensive. Something around 100k/second... while no where near the problem that the initial connection is, that's still pretty crazy for textual data. I can only assume that the entire XML for that character is being handed back and forth with each key stroke and zero compression is being used.
I'd kill for some sort of UI feedback as to what is being transfered to clients. Please consider that. I think the fact that the host has no idea, not even the slightest hint, of what is occurring in the background makes people more upset when there is an issue because as far as they can tell the app is doing nothing....when really its transferring data non-stop.
Another minor item, as of a few releases ago (sorry don't know the exact one) the host has a brief but jarring pause when ever a client connects. Feels like some sort of thread locking issue.
Anyway, keep up the good work. Things are getting better with each release.
So I ran a network monitor and was stunned to see the amount of activity going on...some of which continues even after the client appears fully connected (as in character appearing at the table).
A lot of this traffic appears to be related to users that have module files. Users with module files it almost seems like they are re-downloading each file with the amount of sustained activity they generate. Note that these module files have 99% of the data in client.xml. Users with no module files use very little bandwidth upon connecting.
Many of the module files have images inside of the file but the clients have those same files that the host has. I do not know how the image files are handled...the client has them but are they being transfered to them anyway? That could be a reason for all the activity.
I also noticed that the process of a client editing their characters sheet is also unexpectedly bandwidth intensive. Something around 100k/second... while no where near the problem that the initial connection is, that's still pretty crazy for textual data. I can only assume that the entire XML for that character is being handed back and forth with each key stroke and zero compression is being used.
I'd kill for some sort of UI feedback as to what is being transfered to clients. Please consider that. I think the fact that the host has no idea, not even the slightest hint, of what is occurring in the background makes people more upset when there is an issue because as far as they can tell the app is doing nothing....when really its transferring data non-stop.
Another minor item, as of a few releases ago (sorry don't know the exact one) the host has a brief but jarring pause when ever a client connects. Feels like some sort of thread locking issue.
Anyway, keep up the good work. Things are getting better with each release.