PlaneShift

Gameplay => Newbie Help (Start Here) => Topic started by: gzint on November 02, 2005, 01:40:46 pm

Title: When "Rat is Impervious to Attack" ...
Post by: gzint on November 02, 2005, 01:40:46 pm
As almost everyone is aware, ALL of the non-player charachters (mobs) in Planeshift are currently \"impervious to attack\".

As a roleplayer, just accept the fact that the gods have declared a respite from violence.

Behind the scenes, something else has happened.  The \"NPC Server\" is down.  While I\'m also a newby -- and definitely not a PS developer -- here\'s my take.

There appear to be at least TWO server/server processes involved in running the Planeshift server.  

One is the \"world server\" (for lack of a better term) that presents the environment, quests, etc.

The other is called the \"NPC Server\".  This \"server\" (or process) controls NPC battles.  If it is down or non-responsive, an NPC will be impervious to attack.

Even in my short (<1 week) of playing, I\'ve seen this range from server-wide and lasting for days, to impacting a single monster for a short period of time.

When I first bumped into this, I had almost killed a monster when it suddenly became impervious to attack.   I camped out, and logged back in.  Usually, the mob would still be damaged and I could continue to kill it.

Apparently, it wasn\'t my client that was at issue -- it was the NPC server.  Sometimes it appears to reset itself.  Other times, it is down and the developers are working on it.

Would it be possible for the Laanx status page to show the NPC server status as well as the world server?  Also, I\'ve never seen anything directly in the forum explaining this for new (or experienced) players!

For the duration of the bug, good mining!

Gzint
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Post by: Bereror on November 02, 2005, 02:35:17 pm
Your understanding about the server is almost correct  8)

All the characters including NPCs on the server need somebody to give them instructions -- move somewhere, attack, defend etc.

We as players use the client software that connects to the server and gives instructions to our characters. As NPCs need instructions as well, a special process called NPC Client (yes, it is actually a client like the client that we use, just without the nice graphics) connects to the server and gives instructions to all the NPCs in the game. If the NPC Client crashes or disconnects from the server, NPCs have no \"intelligent\" and to protect them against us, they become \"impervious to attack\".

With the latest upgrade the NPC Client became extremely unstable, crashing continuously and quite often taking the main server down as well. As an example, I sometimes run my own local server and when I start up the NPC Client, it survives maybe 30 seconds maximum and then crashes.

So our only hope is that developers can find all the reasons behind these problems and fix them. Until then we can RP without killing and leveling up.
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Post by: DaveG on November 02, 2005, 07:02:06 pm
http://qdb.ps-mc.com/?294 (http://qdb.ps-mc.com/?294)
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Post by: steuben on November 02, 2005, 08:58:53 pm
well. that actually explains a fair bit of what\'s happening.

it\'s the elephants.
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Post by: Jinkeen on November 02, 2005, 10:03:40 pm
Quote
Originally posted by steuben
well. that actually explains a fair bit of what\'s happening.

it\'s the elephants.

That cracked me up..sometimes it\'s the little things.
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Post by: WizardsRule on November 02, 2005, 10:17:57 pm
I never could have pictured Talad saying something like that.
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Post by: steuben on November 03, 2005, 04:11:10 am
i prefer the superman (http://qdb.ps-mc.com/?418) explanation.
Title: The REAL story
Post by: mac173 on November 04, 2005, 09:50:40 pm
I got someone into the server room, and they took this picture of the NPC Client Server machine. I think it explains everything...........

http://metku.net/modgallery/images/3786_3.jpg

(Cut and paste the address into the address bar)
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Post by: WizardsRule on November 04, 2005, 10:04:29 pm
Well, that was obscenely odd
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Post by: mac173 on November 04, 2005, 10:24:48 pm
Sorry, I cannot get the link to work. Copy the address, and paste it into the address bar of your browser, and it will bring up a photo.