TrevorJD

Hi guys, our dedi server ran out of disk space tonight. I discovered no less than 1420 server-perfstats files in the Avorion folder. I have had profiling=true and performanceDataAutoSaveFiles=10 for at least three weeks but all had dates in the last 3 days. You might want to check that 2.2.2 is correctly deleting old perfstats files.

We're seeing similar problems with long ticks; we're also finding that the RAM usage of the server is growing and growing. It will happily use up all available RAM after a few hours. Since we implemented 4x daily reboot, I think we've only crashed once or twice.

Reinstall Windows? Goodness! That's not an option for most people!

Trying to combat performance issues and I'm thinking to cap the number of blocks per vessel. Anyone know what will happen to existing vessels if the new cap is lower than the ship's current block count?

My server logs are full of spam like the following: uncritical but too large update in component: Durability, size: 1490 uncritical but too large update in component: Durability, size: 1362 uncritical but too large update in component: Durability, size: 1170 uncritical but too large update in component: Durability, size: 1234 uncritical but too large update in component: Durability, size: 1202 Also, it's chewing up as much CPU and RAM as I'll give it. Currently running at ~40% CPU and 12.5G RAM with only a half dozen online. Alive sectors set to 5. By contrast, our two 7D2D servers and Ark server are using 5% CPU and 4.5G RAM each. Further, it's failing to shut down, erroring with a shutdown() not called! I've had to implement a Window Scheduler task to kill it. I've asked a couple of times on Discord but no one replies and the message scrolls off. How do we troubleshoot this?

On this, I'd like to see docking bays align with their perpendicular axes. it's very unsatisfying to dock and have the two docking bay blocks off-centre, barely touching!

Agreed. I was very disappointed at how much computer core I needed to add to a ship to get an extra module slot. May as well just add more generator and shields and have the extra mass be useful.

I like the idea but balance needs to be considered. The more gameplay elements you remove, such as requiring the player to take the ore to a refinery, the less of a game there is to play. I would implement this by adding a refinery block, separate from the assembly block. The volume of the block would determine the speed with which it works and the tier determine the efficiency. It would need to be slow and even the top tier refinery blocks should be inefficient so that there's a reason to still travel to an actual refinery. e.g. 10 ore per minute per 1m3 of refinery block, scalable to however much ship volume you care to build. The block would probably be pretty dense, like armour. Lots of heavy machinery involved in refining. I'd start it at Titanium but it'd only be equivalent to low tier Purifying lasers. Then scale up efficiency with the Avorion refinery about 80 % or 90%.

Further information: I'm working further to try to sort this out. Again, it's failed to shut down cleanly. The first part below is from the TCAdmin game console monitor. The second part is the tail end of the most recent log. Cleaning up entity transfers ... Server is shutting down. Saving settings... Saving script values... Saving factions... Saving sectors... Saving groups... Saving galaxy script data... Saving settings... waiting for unfinished sector generation jobs... waiting for unfinished sector save jobs... saving sector 0x19219060 saving sector 0x48c1c2b0 saving sector 0x178be6c0 saving sector 0x34432a40 src\tier1\fileio.cpp (5164) : m_vecRegisteredWriters.Count() == 0 src\tier1\fileio.cpp (5164) : m_vecRegisteredWriters.Count() == 0 src\tier0\threadtools.cpp (3628) : Assertion Failed: Illegal termination of worker thread 'CFileWriterThread' src\tier0\threadtools.cpp (3628) : Assertion Failed: Illegal termination of worker thread 'CFileWriterThread' 2022-08-15 16-11-03| waiting for unfinished sector generation jobs... 2022-08-15 16-11-03| waiting for unfinished sector save jobs... 2022-08-15 16-11-03| create save work for sector (-36:-52), 0x19219060, entities: 841 2022-08-15 16-11-03| create save work for sector (-35:-59), 0x48c1c2b0, entities: 818 2022-08-15 16-11-03| create save work for sector (-32:-56), 0x178be6c0, entities: 2927 2022-08-15 16-11-03| create save work for sector (-25:-58), 0x34432a40, entities: 294 2022-08-15 16-11-03| saving sector 0x19219060 2022-08-15 16-11-03| saving sector 0x19219060 2022-08-15 16-11-04| saving sector (-36:-52) 2022-08-15 16-11-04| sector (-36:-52) saved to "C:\TCAFiles\Users\staff\25\galaxies\avorion_galaxy\sectors\-36_-52" 2022-08-15 16-11-04| saving sector 0x48c1c2b0 2022-08-15 16-11-04| saving sector 0x48c1c2b0 2022-08-15 16-11-04| saving sector (-35:-59) 2022-08-15 16-11-04| sector (-35:-59) saved to "C:\TCAFiles\Users\staff\25\galaxies\avorion_galaxy\sectors\-35_-59" 2022-08-15 16-11-04| saving sector 0x178be6c0 2022-08-15 16-11-04| saving sector 0x178be6c0 2022-08-15 16-11-05| saving sector (-32:-56) 2022-08-15 16-11-06| sector (-32:-56) saved to "C:\TCAFiles\Users\staff\25\galaxies\avorion_galaxy\sectors\-32_-56" 2022-08-15 16-11-06| saving sector 0x34432a40 2022-08-15 16-11-06| saving sector 0x34432a40 2022-08-15 16-11-06| saving sector (-25:-58) 2022-08-15 16-11-09| Error cleaning up lua::WorkerPool: shutdown() not called! 2022-08-15 16-11-09| Thread [Lua WorkerPool Thread 4] with id 19 exiting... 2022-08-15 16-11-09| Thread [Lua WorkerPool Thread 4] with id 19 exited

Hi folks, We run a modded server that has two serious problems. Firstly, it seems that we have a memory leak as the server will slowly creep up in RAM usage to the point where the server is running at almost 100% RAM usage. Secondly, the server is not always shutting down cleanly. The log shows it shutting down but it leaves a zombie process. That process still has hold of the game ports, so when the new instance starts up, it can't use them and the now-running server is invisible to players. Tonight it hit 15GB with only 7 people online. I told it to /stop and the server shut down but left the zombie process, according to Task Manager, 0% CPU but still 15GB RAM. Just an hour later, it was already back up to 10GB with the same 7 players. A few hours later it was time for the daily automatic reboot. Again, the server shut down but left a zombie process. I notice that the last line of the log is as follows: 2022-08-14 23-16-21| Error cleaning up lua::WorkerPool: shutdown() not called! I'm assuming both the memory leak and the inability to shut down cleanly are due to mods however perhaps some additional checks are needed to ensure that the server can never get in such a state. I would like to troubleshoot this but it would be quite difficult to replicate the conditions of an actively-used server. Further, looking at the logs, the shutdown problem is not consistent; sometimes it shuts down just fine. I could remove mods but that risks corrupting the save, and I couldn't convince several players to put in the effort on a test server. If you have any suggestions on how I might proceed with testing this further, please let me know. Thanks, Trev

I noticed just now that my mining ship had taken the resources for fighter production despite having no assembly blocks. While that was easily fixed, I think it would be worthwhile putting a check in when you try to blueprint a fighter.

Hi folks, I'd like to set relations with an NPC faction. I am familiar with grinding up by clearing pirates and whatnot, but that's tricky when it's a smuggler hideout so I'd like to use a command. The only instructions I've found via google are to target the entity in question, fire up the debug panel and use the diplomacy settings. However, as soon as I open the debug panel, my own ship is targetted and the diplomacy options (like, neutral, ally, etc.) appear to have no effect. Can anyone point me in the right direction, please? Cheers

Since we have a Diplomacy tab, it would be great to make better use of it more than just "bribe faction"! I'm currently grinding my way towards getting a neighbouring faction up from hostile. It doesn't help at all when one of their traders passes through a neutral system and my ship starts firing on them! I'd like to see a checkbox in Diplomacy for "Do not fire on this faction". Another idea in that line might be for factions to offer missions that can help improve your standing with that faction.

Hi team, We've noticed a couple of possibly-related bugs since the release of 2.2. We had an existing server (fresh on 2.1) but started a fresh map for 2.2 because the other was well-explored. Firstly, after repairing (self-repair or station-assisted), 1+ turrets that were previously flagged as Auto-fire, are no longer set (although they do correctly retain the group number). I've also noticed it seems to be happening after completing a mission. That is, I'll be sure to set all of a ship's turrets to auto, send it on a mission, then when it gets back, I'll find 1+ turrets are no longer set to auto. I asked on the discord and a couple of other players reported the same. Secondly, when logging into a server, or on mission completion, some ships will report "No turrets or fighters", even though they do. When I log into our old server, almost every station in my alliance complains, even though I know that each has at least one full sqn of fighters. Both of these servers still have active players so I can't easily test w/o mods but if you're not getting similar reports from others, let me know and I'll see if I can reproduce. OLD server Modlist modLocation = "" forceEnabling = false local prefix = "/home/sid_1549528/avorionStable/galaxies/avorion_galaxy/mods/" mods = { {workshopid = "1720259598"}, {workshopid = "1722652757"}, {workshopid = "1751636748"}, {workshopid = "2434077144"}, {workshopid = "2585151578"}, {workshopid = "2792015591"}, {workshopid = "2842525969"}, {workshopid = "2842526806"}, {workshopid = "2842968222"}, {workshopid = "2596280708"}, {workshopid = "1861103240"}, {workshopid = "2032319866"}, -- mods using both 'path' and 'workshopid': server will load the mod from the path and clients will download and use it automatically from the workshop } -- these are allowed mods, that can run on the client only (ie. UI mods) allowed = { {id = "2577563779"}, {id = "2812541322"}, {id = "2444170051"}, {id = "1765619430"}, {id = ""}, } NEW server Modlist modLocation = "" forceEnabling = false local prefix = "/home/sid_1549528/avorionStable/galaxies/avorion_galaxy/mods/" mods = { {workshopid = "1720259598"}, {workshopid = "2434077144"}, {workshopid = "2585151578"}, {workshopid = "2596280708"}, {workshopid = "2792015591"}, {workshopid = "2835498732"}, {workshopid = "2842525969"}, {workshopid = "2842526806"}, {workshopid = "2842885870"}, {workshopid = "2842968222"}, {workshopid = "2843935966"}, {workshopid = "2844619779"}, {workshopid = "2844632278"}, {workshopid = "1861103240"}, {workshopid = "2032319866"}, {workshopid = "1722652757"}, -- mods using both 'path' and 'workshopid': server will load the mod from the path and clients will download and use it automatically from the workshop } -- these are allowed mods, that can run on the client only (ie. UI mods) allowed = { {id = "2577563779"}, {id = "1765619430"}, {id = ""}, }

Exodus beacons already flash w/o an Object Detector. You only need to do the quest once so having them on the list simply confuses matters and encourages players to destroy them so they can see if there are any actual valuables in a sector, thus potentially preventing a newer player from finding them.

As I understand it, the MOTD is currently only defined in the INI file. Since the game is constantly re-writing the INI, that means we need to stop the server, edit the INI then restart. That's terribly manual and it's inconvenient to have to interrupt players to set the MOTD. It would be great if there were a /motd command that could be used via in-game console and RCON.

Agreed, this should be basic functionality. As a workaround, you may find the following mod of use. It adds a another tab to the Strategy view that allows you to find and select wrecks. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2842968222

We set up a new 2.2 server tonight and ensured that sameStartSector=false. That seems to be working, but players are all bring dropped within a sector or two of each other. It would be nice if there was greater variation in the random spawn locations. As it is, it means that the claimable asteroids, resource asteroids etc. are going to be highly contested.

Hi folks, We have been running Avorion Announcer to link in-game chat with a Discord chat channel. Unfortunately, it seems that ver2.2 has changed something and the mod is now just filling the log with errors. Unfortunately the author retired from modding some time ago, and I am not a programmer. Does anyone know of an active project that links in-game chat with Discord? Thanks, Trev

Hi folks, hopefully this is an easy one to implement. Grinding through research, spamming right-click as I crunch things up to higher tiers. As I do so, the inventory periodically refreshes, removing gaps in the display. This frequently happens, resulting in unintentional insertion of items. e.g. You have a row of three green and three white items, each stack having a single item. Right click on two of the greens, the inventory updates, moves the white ones left-ward and you wind up with two greens and a white. Now you need to manually remove the white so a green can be inserted. Related: It seems there's a sort triggered on right-click which can cause problems when you have stacks of different sizes. Let's say you have several items of same colour but different quality within that colour. e.g. tractor modules that have better ranges than others. You want to keep the good ones and research the lower quality ones. You start with 5 poor and 3 good. You right-click the poor ones a couple of times and then the refresh happens and it reorders so now the stacks have swapped places and you wind up with one you wanted to keep going into the research mix. Solution: Only refresh the inventory when the Research button is clicked! That would solve both of the above problems. I know that the research UI is being updated in 2.2. The autoresearch may reduce how often I run into this annoyance but we'll still be wanting to research manually a lot. I think it should be a simple fix. I hope it makes it into release.

I hadn't done. I'd dropped them down to Big Objects. I actually noticed fighter shadows pass over my hull as I was salvaging while typing that post so I guess the game has a different idea of what 'big' means! I've now turned them off completely. Everything else is either at Low, Very Low or Off.

Hopefully this is a simple one to implement! At the moment, when you are wanting to transfer cargo, the manifest seems to be unsorted. It would be great if it could be alpha-sorted to simplify finding what you want!

Hi folks, I run a GTX980Ti which isn't new but it's hardly a potato card. I have no trouble playing games like 7 Days to Die, Ark and Atlas in high quality mode. However, Xsotan invasions drag my video down to 7-8fps according to the counter and there's often 3-5 seconds between a mouse movement or keypress and the game responding. This is with almost all video settings turned down to Low. My client has even crashed a few times in the middle of an invasion 😞 A ship or station launching several squads of fighters will cause my game to pause and stutter for a good ten seconds. I dread to think how someone with a minimum spec GTX 500 would fare! The problem is clearly the number of floating objects / the number of things being animated because performance degrades progressively as the battle wages longer, and after the survivors warp out and I clean up the battlefield, my video performance creeps back up to normal. One way to address this would be to 'clump' the loot. When a ship is destroyed, it currently explodes into dozens of items including modules, cash, resources and wreckage. While it looks great, I expect there'd be a substantial performance improvement if the cash and resources were each combined into a single item. e.g. Instead of 10 pieces of 20 credits each, 1 piece of 200 credits. A solution would need to retain the existing code so that people with high graphics can enjoy the glittering prizes. Reasoning out the process, when a ship is destroyed, it's despawned and the wreckage items are spawned in. If there were a unique Wreck_ID tag shared by each piece spawned in, the client could then pick X of each type depending on the graphics level, and just render those. When the ship gets close enough to pick up the rendered item, all items of that type and Wreck_ID get collected at the same time.

Thanks for the suggestion but I feel that delving into lua is beyond the scope of a game server admin. I'm an experienced IT guy but not a programmer and the guys I co-admin with are not technical at all. Folks like us would like relatively user-friendly admin tools such as the example I gave.

Given how terribly all the combat debris in a Xsotan invasion bogs down my GTX1070 (8-10fps with frequent 3-5 second lurches, with most gfx settings on low), I'd like to see current tractor ranges multiplied substantially. I read a comment earlier from a dev about how they support Win 7. I can't imagine that a Win 7 era PC would even be able to render a Xsotan invasion!