PBW

[Longstreet]

Is it just me or is PBW down?

Caius

[geoschmo]

It looks like it's down. I can't get to it till later this evening to check it.

[Longstreet]

Thanks for the info Geo.

Caius

[Caduceus]

Just a status report that it still is down.

[Phoenix-D]

It went up briefly, then went kerSPLAT.

[geoschmo]

The cable connection is being very spotty today. I've reset it again. Hopefully it will stay up this time.

[se5a]

and up, and down, and up, and down again...

[Romulus68]

geoschmo said:
The cable connection is being very spotty today. I've reset it again. Hopefully it will stay up this time.



Do you have unlimited Bandwith? Those SeV files get huge!

[Fyron]

I don't think many (if any) broadband ISPs in the US do monthly limited bandwidth for residential or small business accounts. Connections are just limited by per second rates (though maybe with some sort of excessive usage flags).

[geoschmo]

I don't think it's a bandwith limit. First of all the problems been intermittant for really over a year if I think about it. Sometimes daily, sometimes a couple times a week it will lock up. When it locks up I merely cycle power to the cable modem or log into the cable modem's admin page and reset it. When it locks up I can typically still reach the modem from within my Lan, and I can see the PBW server, so I figure my lan is fine. It's just not communicating with the internet. The lights on the cable modem are all on like normal.

If it were a bandwith limit I presume cycling power to the modem wouldn't fix it. Also I'm not getting any notices from the isp and I assume I would if they were nerfing my connection. In fact I contacted the isp last year about it, but they weren't a lot of help. But they didn't mention me exceding the bandwith limit, if there is one.

I'm guessing it's either the modem is getting old and wearing out, or the cable is noisy. Probably the second one. Unfortunatly the isp is not the same as the cable company, they just use the line. So trying to get a problem like this fixed ends up being a bunch of finger pointing. That's the biggest reason I've just tolerated it for so long. It's only recently it's gotten to be so frequent that it's a real headache.

[Atrocities]

GEO I ran into this issue just the other day and it turned out that there was a bad part out side at the phone box. It was grounding out when it got cold and killed my signal. Recycling the power on the modem would bring back the ISP signal, but very weak. The Tech guy replaced the part and now I have solid signal and haven't had a kick out in two or three days.

[Romulus68]

Can yuo get Verizon's FIOS service where you live? You can get speeds of 30m down and 5m up for like $55 in Virginia. The speed is amazing and the downtimes are VERY few.

http://www.verizon.com/fios



geoschmo said:
I don't think it's a bandwith limit. First of all the problems been intermittant for really over a year if I think about it. Sometimes daily, sometimes a couple times a week it will lock up. When it locks up I merely cycle power to the cable modem or log into the cable modem's admin page and reset it. When it locks up I can typically still reach the modem from within my Lan, and I can see the PBW server, so I figure my lan is fine. It's just not communicating with the internet. The lights on the cable modem are all on like normal.

If it were a bandwith limit I presume cycling power to the modem wouldn't fix it. Also I'm not getting any notices from the isp and I assume I would if they were nerfing my connection. In fact I contacted the isp last year about it, but they weren't a lot of help. But they didn't mention me exceding the bandwith limit, if there is one.

I'm guessing it's either the modem is getting old and wearing out, or the cable is noisy. Probably the second one. Unfortunatly the isp is not the same as the cable company, they just use the line. So trying to get a problem like this fixed ends up being a bunch of finger pointing. That's the biggest reason I've just tolerated it for so long. It's only recently it's gotten to be so frequent that it's a real headache.

[se5a]

down again

[geoschmo]

se5a said:
down again

Yeah, the cable went out again. It's back on now.

I'm working on a script that will monitor the internet connection and reset the cable modem whenever it senses an outage. It's going to log the outages as well so I have some information to use when talking to the cable people to get it fixed.

Geoschmo

[geoschmo]

I've loaded the script now on the server which checks periodically for connection loss and attempts to reset the modem if needed. This should greatly improve the reliability of the site. If you can't reach the site give it about 5 minutes and try again. If you still can't reach it then something else has happened that a simple reset won't fix, or my script isn't working.

Geoschmo

[Romulus68]

Switch to Verizon FiOS!! :-) Virtually no downtimes.

[geoschmo]

Romulus68 said:
Switch to Verizon FiOS!! :-) Virtually no downtimes.


Either they don't offer any service in my area or their system is having a problem right now because I can't get it to recognize my address to see if it's available.

[se5a]

sweet

[capnq]

geoschmo said:

Romulus68 said:
Switch to Verizon FiOS


Either they don't offer any service in my area or their system is having a problem right now because I can't get it to recognize my address to see if it's available.

Try poking around their site a bit. When I tried to check on Verizon DSL availability in my area, I had to try links on three different pages before I found one that worked. (I don't remember if I had to load the site in IE to get an answer.)

[Romulus68]

geoschmo said:

Romulus68 said:
Switch to Verizon FiOS!! :-) Virtually no downtimes.


Either they don't offer any service in my area or their system is having a problem right now because I can't get it to recognize my address to see if it's available.



http://www.verizon.com/fios

[geoschmo]

Yes, I know Romulus. That's the same link you gave me earlier. It doesn't recognize my address. Not even to tell me the service isn't available. It doesn't like the street or zipcode I'm putting in. I found a service map on broadbandreports.com that says FIOS isn't available anywhere in Ohio. Not suprising. I guess it's fairly new and they would want to start out hitting the major markets first.

My only options appear to be cable and DSL. DSL for me isn't a good option though because I'm over 15,000 feet from the nearest CO. At my old house where the PBW server was previously it ran well on DSL, but I was much closer to a CO there.

Since I've installed the script on the server we haven't had a single outage except when I took it down on purpose last night to test the script. That's pretty good compared to the last few weeks. I'm wondering if the script checking the line occasionally is somehow stabalizing the signal. I don't know if that's even possible, I just think it's an interesting coincidence.

[Romulus68]

geoschmo said:
Yes, I know Romulus. That's the same link you gave me earlier. It doesn't recognize my address. Not even to tell me the service isn't available. It doesn't like the street or zipcode I'm putting in. I found a service map on broadbandreports.com that says FIOS isn't available anywhere in Ohio. Not suprising. I guess it's fairly new and they would want to start out hitting the major markets first.

My only options appear to be cable and DSL. DSL for me isn't a good option though because I'm over 15,000 feet from the nearest CO. At my old house where the PBW server was previously it ran well on DSL, but I was much closer to a CO there.

Since I've installed the script on the server we haven't had a single outage except when I took it down on purpose last night to test the script. That's pretty good compared to the last few weeks. I'm wondering if the script checking the line occasionally is somehow stabalizing the signal. I don't know if that's even possible, I just think it's an interesting coincidence.



I work for Verizon. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif BUT, the reliabilty is really there. Its a shame you can't get fios, yet. I would say you were loosing connection when no one had visited the website in a fixed time period. The ISP is dropping your connection on purpose thinking its a dead link with no one there. They do that to save money and to give more bandwith to other users by taking yours away as they think you aren't home or something like that. The script is accessing the web and think of it like moving the mouse so the screensaver won't kick in. That brief access resets the timer that has been timing you out.

** Edit ** Oh, DSL and FiOS don't do that. The nature of the two is somewhat like a T1 and once the loop/connection is made it stays there. I will say DSL will loose performance over severals days without resetting the IP, BUT it remains connected the whole time.

[geoschmo]

Well we had a brief outage last night at around 11PM. The script did exactly what it was supposed to do and reset the modem. Everything came back up exactly how it was supposed to.

[se5a]

great!

[GuyOfDoom]

Awesome, thanks for the hard work.

Is there an estimate for the update to v1.25 for PBW?

[geoschmo]

We should have 1.25 loaded in the next couple of days.

[GuyOfDoom]

Awesome. Thanks again.

[se5a]

don't forget Balance Mod 1.03 as well geo ;-)

1.25 should make combats logs a bit smaller too.

[Longstreet]

I'm playing Ver 1.20 in a PBW game. Do I have to change anything in the Game Administration page if we patch to 1.25? I do not intend to patch until PBW has 1.25 loaded.

Caius

[se5a]

yeah ahhh, can we have an install of bm 1.03 with the old (1.02) defult slotsets? the new defult slotsets screw up curent designs.

new slots are ok for new 1.03 games and 1.02 games that don't use the defult slotset, but 1.02 games that are using the defult slots (KOTH) are going to run into problems.

we could just upgrade to 1.25seV with 1.02bm I supose...

[geoschmo]

se5a said:
yeah ahhh, can we have an install of bm 1.03 with the old (1.02) defult slotsets? the new defult slotsets screw up curent designs.

new slots are ok for new 1.03 games and 1.02 games that don't use the defult slotset, but 1.02 games that are using the defult slots (KOTH) are going to run into problems.

we could just upgrade to 1.25seV with 1.02bm I supose...

You can't upgrade mod versions on PBW. There is only one game type folder for the balance mod. You can't change the name of the folder, so if you want to have a different version of the mod you'll have to change the files in the game types folder. Doing that would screw up everyone using that version on PBW.

What I will do is setup SE5 1.25 with Balance mod 1.03. If you want to continue playing 1.02 you'll have to stay on SE5 1.20, or have the game owner process the turns offline.

Geoschmo

[GuyOfDoom]

Any estimate on the v1.25 update?

[se5a]

oh true...
pah this sucks, aaron needs to make it so we can update a savegame to a different mod.

2.25 fighters are better than 2.20, and the files are smaller too.

[geoschmo]

I have added support for SE5 ver 1.25, including support for Balance mod ver 1.03, Golden Eclipse Mod ver 1.0 Beta, and Gritty Galaxy Public Mod beta. I haven't tested the Golden Eclipse and Gritty mods to verify they work with ver 1.25, these are the same versions of the mods that were available with 1.20.

Uprgading an exsisting stock games from 1.20 to 1.25 should work fine. There may be issues with mod games, consult the mod creator for more specific information in that regard.

There is still no way currently to upgrade a game on PBW from an older to a more recent version of a mod. For SE5 there is only one version of the mod pn PBW per version of SE5. In Se5 there is still no way to change the game type folder name being used in the game, so the only way to change the mod for a game is to change the files in the game type folder. Doing so on PBW will change the files for every game usign that mod. If you are playing an existing game of 1.20 with balance mod ver 1.01 and want to upgrade it to 1.25 you will have to upgrade to 1.25 with balance mod 1.03. There are reports that this is a problem. If you want to upgrade to 1.25 but remain on 1.01 of the mod you'll have to have the game owner run the turns offline.

Geoschmo

[se5a]

oh right, so going from
1.20seV with 1.01BM
to
1.25seV with 1.03BM can be done.

the only problem switching from the versions of bm are if you are using overide slots (so all the slots are the same)

[Phoenix-D]

Golden Eclipse and GG should work, BUT they will error out unless you add a line to the settings.txt (its the one that controls if ships can retreat).

[geoschmo]

Phoenix-D said:
Golden Eclipse and GG should work, BUT they will error out unless you add a line to the settings.txt (its the one that controls if ships can retreat).

Ok, I've done that now. Thanks for the heads up.

[parabolize]

Could you update GG to 125b before people start creating games?
http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/MM/SE5/Mods/GrittyGalaxy125B.rar

[Suicide Junkie]

Yes, please do.
That version has all the bugfixes that came up so far in our IRC game.

[Baron Grazic]

Hi Geo
I am getting an "Internal Server Error" when going to PBW.
Doesn't sound like a ISP problem this time.
I know you'll take a look when you get a chance, so Thanks in Advance.

[geoschmo]

parabolize said:
Could you update GG to 125b before people start creating games?
http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/MM/SE5/Mods/GrittyGalaxy125B.rar


Ok, that's done.

[parabolize]

Thank you. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[se5a]

Geo, would it be possable to do a script that only included the combat log in the zip file if the combat log has changed since the prev turn? this may save a bit of upload bandwidth on your side, and some download bandwidth on ours.
if you did do this you might also want to give players the option to download the combat file seperatly incase they play on multiple PCs

if pbw was in python I'd try do a script myself,
infact I might just do that for the next version of PBFTP http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[se5a]

also Geo, PBW refuses to let us upload se5 combat files too.

Edit: or the log files.

[Phoenix-D]

Actually it seems to die on anything but straight .gam files. I think the format may have changed from SE4 and its confusing the poor server. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[geoschmo]

Yes, that's something I was aware of and haven't got around to actually fixing. It's more complicated then it would seem at first glance. The code isn't as particular of the filenames that it sends out, so on turns processed on the server it works fine. But it is selective on which file extensions you can upload. The only thing the server needs to process turns is the .gam file and .plr files, so that's ok. The combat turn file isn't needed on the server. Of course it means you have to take the extra step of emailing the combat file to the players. This is more of a problem if you are running multiple turns offline I guess. I hope to get it fixed eventually.

[Baron Grazic]

PBW is now a lot more friendly for Dial-up users after the last patch. My KOTH savegames have gone from 15-20MB to 2-3MB.
Of course we will see after the next massive invasion :-)

[aegisx]

pbw webserver seems to be down.

[aegisx]

its up now

[Romulus68]

**** Edit **** he switched to Text based and was able to join game.


error when Aegis trys to takeover the open empire in game: SEV Galactic Domination. We are getting AI issues on turns as well. AI doing things when turns are submitted, etc.

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Null filename to Game.load?
at cc.dpf.pbw.seiv.Game.load(game.java:508)
at cc.dpf.pbw.servlet.seiv.GamePlayer.processRequest( GamePlayer.java:276)
at cc.dpf.pbw.servlet.seiv.GamePlayer.doGet(GamePlaye r.java:339)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet .java:740)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet .java:853)
at org.apache.tomcat.core.ServletWrapper.doService(Se rvletWrapper.java:405)
at org.apache.tomcat.core.Handler.service(Handler.jav a:287)
at org.apache.tomcat.core.ServletWrapper.service(Serv letWrapper.java:372)
at org.apache.tomcat.core.ContextManager.internalServ ice(ContextManager.java:797)
at org.apache.tomcat.core.ContextManager.service(Cont extManager.java:743)
at org.apache.tomcat.service.connector.Ajp13Connectio nHandler.processConnection(Ajp13ConnectionHandler. java:160)
at org.apache.tomcat.service.TcpWorkerThread.runIt(Po olTcpEndpoint.java:416)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.ThreadPool$ControlRunnable. run(ThreadPool.java:501)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:484)

[capnq]

Romulus68 said:
**** Edit **** he switched to Text based and was able to join game.


error when Aegis trys to takeover the open empire [...]

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: [etc.]

We really ought to put something in the PBW FAQ about Java errors. It seems like I suggest that someone try the other UI every month or two.

capnq
PBW admin

[GuyOfDoom]

Any plans to make this usable on PBW:
Post# (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showthreaded.php?Number=) Post#http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=496354&page=0&view=collap sed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1 (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showthreaded.php?Number=http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=496354&page=0&view=collap sed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1)

[se5a]

you don't need that on PBW, you just create the map with the mod, save the map then load it when creating your game.

[GuyOfDoom]

Ah ok. Thanks