Announcement Rolling Back Source Update

[Seiichi]

After doing the update and getting the server running, players were finding that their equipped items and many different functions/actions of the game were not working which coincides with the previous issue we had. As such we are rolling back to the last update before the source patch, and we will be looking into this issue so that we can resolve it.

Currently there is no ETA for when we will release this update, but we will be working on it as quickly as possible to get it out.

I'll also be running James Brown for the week once the server is back up.

 

[Aluchi]

Why not release updates in small patches? It is better to do what is planned gradually than to try to do everything at once and to no avail.

 

[Seiichi]

Why not release updates in small patches? It is better to do what is planned gradually than to try to do everything at once and to no avail.

The issue is not the changes we made, but literally a dependency of the game itself. Most of Dragon's Prophet is made off of abandoned middleware that was not made for or optimized for Dragon's Prophet, and most of the problems are due to solely to this reason.

The issue we had was inconsistent; everything works on our test server, but we have gotten different issues with this dependency on different setups now. It is likely an issue where there is a workaround somewhere in the code that is not compliant and fails if exact criteria aren't met (we have run into this multiple times now), and is something that we will have to look at fixing. The issue is that the errors are at a kernel level, and not at an application level, so the errors tell us nothing as to why it is failing. Likely the actual issue is memory related, as that tends to be the issue with anything DP problem.

 

[THARGOR]

I'll also be running James Brown for the week once the server is back up.

ty - and good luck with solving these problems

 

[Seiichi]

We have another tentative plan that could potentially deal with the dependency issue while we work on a long term solution; we'll be doing some tests over the next week or so, and see if it is actually viable. Preferably we would like to resolve the dependency issue first as a whole... But given how long it takes to find these seemingly arcane Houdini-esque errors sometimes, finding a workable temporary solution that is in parity with the current server is good enough for the short term.

 

[Galban]

Thanks for your hard work. Could you please update the language packages before update?

 

[Seiichi]

Thanks for your hard work. Could you please update the language packages before update?

The translation platform we were using (Weblate) was problematic, so we are trying Tradoura, but adding an intermediary service to add and maintain translation strings via commandline (the issue I had with Tradoura is having to manually import 10-20k strings at a time... with 280k strings... per language).

German was completed as of a month ago, however new strings cannot be added to be translated with Weblate due to restrictions in how it works in comparison to how DP outputs strings.

 

[DumbNFat]

I'm just happy to see you working on the game. Hopefully the issues DP has don't present too much of a challenge to you guys. Thanks.

 

[Kiryuin]

DP sounds like a real pain to work on, thank you all for your hard work and not giving up!

 

[Aluchi]

Thanks to you, the game is alive, I was upset. I understand that this is a lot of work and I wish you good luck. You develop the game, do what others could not or did not want. You will succeed, do as much as it takes time, good luck to you!

 

[Seiichi]

Thanks to you, the game is alive, I was upset. I understand that this is a lot of work and I wish you good luck. You develop the game, do what others could not or did not want. You will succeed, do as much as it takes time, good luck to you!

As I said, we have a few ideas of what to fix, it's mostly just figuring out why it is failing.

There is a potential solution we may look at, but it could potentially increase our costs by quite a bit as it's moving to a more spread out setup.

 

[Sylvester]

There is a potential solution we may look at, but it could potentially increase our costs by quite a bit as it's moving to a more spread out setup.

In my opinion, a game is about developers / publishers but also its community, its players.

So, if those who are developing need more financial support to try and find solutions, and there, I think I speak for a large number, do not hesitate to let us know.

 

[Seiichi]

In my opinion, a game is about developers / publishers but also its community, its players.

So, if those who are developing need more financial support to try and find solutions, and there, I think I speak for a large number, do not hesitate to let us know.

There are quite a few issues with what you are proposing:

First and foremost, it is not the players responsibilities to financially support a server or service more than they feel comfortable with. Maintaining and continuing to run the business comes down to how the business model is applied, and also with the satisfaction of the players. If people are happy, and have reason to spend money they will, but if they are not then they won't.

Secondly, prior DP servers (and private servers in general) have often requested for players to spend more money... And many times those people get burnt by untrustworthy people. It is why we do not run a Patreon, it is why we do not take donations, and it is why every purchase is a proper transaction. I personally am against ever requesting money from players; it is unsavory, can be seen as manipulative, and also places an unnecessary burden on players rather than the network.

Thirdly, income fluctuates and cannot be depended on. People spend less towards the end of the year except of Black Friday/Cyber Monday or after Christmas, but they then spend more in the spring or the summer. Because bills are monthly and because employee payroll is monthly, we cannot expect people to constantly fund the network even if we were willing to ask for it.

The solution I spoke of is a last resort and is more about saving time and getting the update out sooner, and not a final solution to the issue which seems to plague all versions of DP but is just covered by a bandaid on non-upgraded servers.

EDIT: As far as actually supporting development, the best way to do so is to purchase Diamonds when you feel you need them and if you can afford it. Also using Paypal is the best way, as Xsolla is garbage and I'm close to removing it again due to waiting two months for them to pay us out.

 

[Dimzan]

Approximately when you plan to try to install the update again?

 

[Seiichi]

Approximately when you plan to try to install the update again?

No clue yet, as it's not a simple issue to deal with.

 

[Sylvester]

[QUOTE = Si les gens sont heureux et ont des raisons de dépenser de l'argent, ils le feront, mais s'ils ne le sont pas, ils ne le feront pas.
[/CITATION]

En fait, vu comme ça.

Disons que l'idée que je voulais exprimer à la base est plus en phase avec la fin du premier point que vous avez abordé.

J'avoue avoir laissé ma spontanéité parler d'elle-même sur ce point.
Autant pour moi. ^^

 

[Seiichi]

[QUOTE = Si les gens sont heureux et ont des raisons de dépenser de l'argent, ils le feront, mais s'ils ne le sont pas, ils ne le feront pas.
[/CITATION]

En fait, vu comme ça.

Disons que l'idée que je voulais exprimer à la base est plus en phase avec la fin du premier point que vous avez abordé.

J'avoue avoir laissé ma spontanéité parler d'elle-même sur ce point.
Autant pour moi. ^^

Yeah I figured, I just wanted to make clear the reasons why Adept isn't ever going to ask players to spend money; our job is to keep the server running (and hopefully get out this stupid update), and the players job is to just enjoy themselves on the server whether or not they spend money here.

 

[Sylvester]

Otherwise in the update notes I remember reading something with Windows 8+. Is that what I'm thinking about?

 

[Seiichi]

Otherwise in the update notes I remember reading something with Windows 8+. Is that what I'm thinking about?

That was in relation to us fixing the High Quality Texture setting for Windows 8+.

 

[Sylvester]

Yes, ok, but by "Windows 8+" you mean "Windows 8", "Windows 8.1" and "Windows 10"?