map sharing issues

[Jackin]

It seems to be sending all the maps we have ever done at once and then it crashes!:mad:

[Griogre]

Did this happen after after your player's deleted their caches? Typically that will start the server rebuilding the cache - and usually the largest items in the cache are map images. What ruleset are you using? Is this a long running campaign? What version of FG are you using?

[Moon Wizard]

A couple more questions:
* How large on the images?
* How many images do you have?
* Do you happen to use tokens on your maps created from dragging the portraits in the upper left corner?

With Griogre's questions, it should give me an idea of the magnitude of items you are sending.

Also, you can try using the /flushdb chat command on the host before the users attempt to login. (if you are running 4E ruleset) Let me know if you are running some other ruleset. This will clear all shared items in the database, so that nothing will be sent to client initially except for ruleset, modules, portraits and tokens. (at least until they choose a character)

Regards,
JPG

[CampbellR66]

Moon Wizard

This is part of the same issue we are dealing with on the other thread.

Since 2.7.4 players are getting continually booted out the game when maps are displayed. Lots of file transfer errors on portraits and image files.

Regards

Rob

[Moon Wizard]

Campbell,

From my understanding, you were getting disconnects, not crashes. If you are getting crashes, we may need to look at other items.

Thanks,
JPG

[CampbellR66]

Moon,

We get about 1-2 full on crashes per session ...normally this player.

The workstation is onlyjust above the minimum spec.

We have lived with this for a couple of years now ... The newer versions seem to have improved this issue.

if i can find timei will document the different type of disconnect and crashes we get.

Out of interest there has been a big debate about trying alternative software, but everyone thinks the dice in your software are a 'must have' and are the thing that gives it the real game touch .... ie fiddlin with the dice durin the game ......

regards

rob

[Moon Wizard]

I think that the specs probably need to be updated a bit. I don't think they've been updated in 5 years, and I think FG2 requires a little more horsepower than it did on initial release. I have one player that will crash a couple times every other session, but it's always the same person. I believe that it is a graphics driver or low memory issue, but I have no way to verify what the problem is. Next time he goes down, I plan to have him send me the new log files. He also happens to run on a laptop, which are generally lower spec machines.

The first thing I would look at for that user is memory usage. You can have the user watch the memory usage as he is loading/playing to see if there is a certain level that causes the issue. Also, I would have him heavily limit module usage. The primary contributor of memory usage are the modules loaded, with the ruleset secondary.

A few data points from my machine:
* A new 4E campaign running on v2.7.4+ takes about 330M of memory.
* My ongoing 4E campaign with about 12 modules running on v2.7.4+ loaded runs about 604M.
* My ongoing campaign with 12 modules on v2.7.2 ran about 1.3-1.4M.

On my machine, I would get crashes is in the 1.7-1.8M range (~24 modules) on v2.7.2, which is close to the physical memory limit for an application on Windows (2M). My machine has 6G, but it's a Windows limit. That's one of the primary drivers behind the v2.7.4 patch.

Cheers,
JPG

[CampbellR66]

Image Size - Avg 200-300kb - Largest 1.7mb
Number of images - approx 50
portrait tokens - Not now we use tokens on the combat tracker dragged to map. We drag portraits to the combat tracker. However a lot of our early maps have portrait tokens all over them.
I will use the flushdb command


A couple more questions:
* How large on the images?
* How many images do you have?
* Do you happen to use tokens on your maps created from dragging the portraits in the upper left corner?

With Griogre's questions, it should give me an idea of the magnitude of items you are sending.

Also, you can try using the /flushdb chat command on the host before the users attempt to login. (if you are running 4E ruleset) Let me know if you are running some other ruleset. This will clear all shared items in the database, so that nothing will be sent to client initially except for ruleset, modules, portraits and tokens. (at least until they choose a character)

Regards,
JPG

[CampbellR66]

Did this happen after after your player's deleted their caches? Typically that will start the server rebuilding the cache - and usually the largest items in the cache are map images. What ruleset are you using? Is this a long running campaign? What version of FG are you using?

We gained lots of new issues once we cleared the cache on all the workstations. these problems will work there way through over the next few sessions until everyone has a fully rebuilt cache.

[Leonal]

It may not be a permanent fix, but pre-sharing the cache might be a good idea before you begin play. (GM connects to his own server with a 2nd client, shares all necessary images, closes the client and sends the campaign.dat located in the "Appdata\cache\campaign name" to the players)

Note: This will clear any player hot keys that they might have created before hand.

It has solved many transfer issues for my games. Updating to the latest test version may have helped too.

[Griogre]

Pre-sharing the cache might be helpful, like Leonal mentions. Just have the players make a note of their hot keys so they can re-create them.

Nobody asked this yet - What is the FG server computer's up bandwidth? Is the FG server running any other servers? IE a voice server?

[CampbellR66]

the server has 20mb download 1mb upload via DSL cable modem.

We run a skype call at the same time. No trouble with skype

[Griogre]

Good bandwidth, but Skype, and Vent *can* suck a lot of bandwidth. Many voice servers run on a high priority which can starve FG. You might try using GSC which is another free voice server and see if it makes any differance. https://getgsc.com/

[CampbellR66]

Good bandwidth, but Skype, and Vent *can* suck a lot of bandwidth. Many voice servers run on a high priority which can starve FG. You might try using GSC which is another free voice server and see if it makes any differance. https://getgsc.com/

We have run the game on skype for a couple of years only without issue up until last release. I will start getting players to load an alternative client.

Might even try on an telephone conference ... based on recent tests it wont make a difference ...but it would completley eliminate it as a possible cause.

Regards

Rob