Llamaserver and patch 3.26

[WraithLord]

For the benefit of all I’m posting this rather than asking llamabeast privately.

So, has the server been upgraded?
What will happen to turn files of older version?- Would they result in stale?
When should the game admins tell the players to upgrade?

[Executor]

I don't think there will be stale turns. The game should rather indicate you need to download the newest patch to open the new turn file, same as when mods are needed.

At least that was the deal before I think.

[thejeff]

Executor: I'm not sure that makes sense or there's something I'm missing.
If llamaserver hosts under 3.24, sends me a turn, then upgrades, I can open it under 3.24 and send out my turn.

There used to be an issue if someone upgraded before the llamaserver did. I think he checks for that now. Which is why the server has been down a few times in the last few weeks.
The message there implies the llamaserver will accept turns from both the old and new versions.

[Executor]

Really? Huh, I could have sworn the game showed a message to upgrade in the past.

[thejeff]

I'm dredging this out of the depths of my memory, so don't rely on it, but I think you may be right.

The new version will host with a turn from the old version. You will need to upgrade to open the new turn. That's where your message comes from.

The problem comes when a turn from the new version is used by an old server.

[llamabeast]

Buh... unless I'm being stupid, everything both of you said is right.

Anyway:
- The server is now upgraded to 3.26. Hooray! This is an excellent patch for modding. :)
- You can send turns in using either version. You will get no problems either way.
- When you get new turns back from the server, you will only be able to open them with 3.26. If you try to open them using 3.24 then dominions will tell you to upgrade (like Executor said, I think).
- Basically it is impossible to do anything wrong. :)

[Calahan]

- Basically it is impossible to do anything wrong. :)
That could very easily be taken as a challenge :p

[Quitti]

When you make something idiot-proof, someone finds you a better idiot.

Especially with software.

[WraithLord]

BTW, there's some discrepancy between server time and actual time.
Server Current time: 08:57 GMT
Actual GMT: 12:25

[WraithLord]

false alarm I guess. Server clock seems to be ok now.

[Calahan]

That was some good scaremongering Wraith. Trying to force your foes in all your games to panic and sumbit rushed turns as quickly as possible, just in case the llamaserver started rejecting them during a tantrum.

I don't know, some players really will do anything to win :rolleyes:

[Executor]

Huh, reminder emails aren't being sent it seems.

[Awund]

I received one 10 minutes after your post, so it works for me.

[dehm]

The llamaserver seems crashed at 21:50 without host nor execute... some problem?

[dehm]

It says:

Last updated at 21:50 GMT on Monday January 24th
Current time: 00:08 GMT

[Corinthian]

It had the same problem two days ago as I recall.

[Korwin]

Forced Hosting didn't work.
Hope I don't get two turns after reboot, or whatever needs to be done.

[llamabeast]

Yeah, this is caused when a game takes forever to host. It is a mysterious dominions bug that occasionally hosting takes infinite time, so the server gets stuck till I come and kill it. If I kill it it hosts again without using any 2h files so everyone stales. This normally works but obviously isn't ideal.

The game FirstBlood caused this delay, and the one a couple of days ago. I haven't checked but I suspect they rolled back to avoid the mass stale, and got the same problem again. Unfortunately while the bug remains there's no better solution than the current setup, so far as I can see. Well actually, it has just occurred to me that it would be better if the server gave up after 6 hours rather than waiting for me to come and kill it. Maybe I will try to implement that soon.

[WraithLord]

Perhaps it's a good time to report that I've noticed the following phenomena in two games I'm admining, GotM and YARG2 (in which rdonj is the real admin and I just help out with mundane stuff).
So, games seem to slip hosting by increments of 24h. It happened twice in GotM and IIRC twice in YARG2. I basically take note of that (using the admin log to make sure) and decrement the 24h but thought it may be prudent to share my observation.

If it happens again I can send a PM or email.

[Amhazair]

Same happened to Troubling Times, (once) but according to... someone* ... Llama(beast or server) added 24 hours during the patching to 3.26, so that was allegedly normal behaviour.

*Edit: the someone in question being Priestyman.

[llamabeast]

If it is exactly 24 hours, then I don't understand. But if it's just "some significant delay", then that happens when the server has been stuck for a bit. It gets worried that it's not working properly so it postpones games in order to avoid making anyone stale. And it gets stuck when dominions gets stuck. I'm looking into making it deal with that situation a bit better though.

[WraithLord]

If it happens again, I will send/post the admin log, the turn email and the host time so that proper inquiry could be made.

This did happen during the patch 3.26 happy times so maybe it has to do with some auto/manual adjustment and won't happen again.

[Korwin]

So, who killed Llamaserver this time?

[Corwin]

So, who killed Llamaserver this time?

I second my almost-namesake's question. :)

My "Song of Ice and Fire" seems to be on hiatus again just like last turn - the server indicates on gamepage that it has received all our turns but it is not hosting.

[llamabeast]

Yes - very sorry all, something has happened to the internet at my house, and I'm away this weekend so can't go and check it. It seems to have partially recovered - it is now checking e-mail, but still not hosting turns and it won't let me log in to look at what's happening.

[Executor]

Many games seem to be hosting and crashing just now, Llamaserver is on a mass stale rampage! Save yourselves!

[Corwin]

Many games seem to be hosting and crashing just now, Llamaserver is on a mass stale rampage! Save yourselves!

Uh oh. Yes, just got a "stalled and crashed" message in Song of Ice and Fire game. :(

[llamabeast]

Aaargh, tried to fix it too fast, was at home for about 2 minutes and tried to fix it and caused a disaster. Infuriatingly our ISP have changed all our settings so I can't log in remotely.

I have just asked my housemate to turn it off at the wall. I am at home properly tomorrow and will fix it then. Very sorry everyone for the inconvenience. :(

[Mauxe]

Not a problem :)
Without your time and effort the server wouldn't even be available.

Here's hoping for an easy fix :)

[P3D]

The game WorldOfSymmetry disappeared from the server.

[WraithLord]

Server status:
"Last updated at 21:15 GMT on Sunday January 30th.
Current time: 10:04 GMT
"
Does this 13h diff make sense?- Or is the server in distress?

[llamabeast]

Yes, it's in distress. This evening is set aside for fixing it. In the meantime I had my housemate turn it off at the wall because it was getting itself in a tangle and I was away from home. Apologies all - I will probably send an e-mail out to everyone once it's all sorted.

[Quitti]

No problem Llamabeast, great work with the server anyway :) I've postponed my game to not host until the problem is resolved.

[Nosantee]

No problem Llamabeast, great work with the server anyway :) I've postponed my game to not host until the problem is resolved.

Games are set to host at their regular interval at the moment even if Llama is down? Should I go ahead and submit my turn or just wait for some kind of universal rollback?

[Quitti]

If the server is plugged off, the games won't host anyway, or at least should not. My postponement is just a precaution - if BearTrap (the game I'm currently hosting) would disappear from the server, it might create extra work for llamabeast. I'd rather do my part and make a few clicks instead of forcing llamabeast to do it :)

[llamabeast]

Thanks Quitti. :)

Everyone should go ahead and submit their turns as normal. The first thing the server will do when I turn it back on is check its e-mail, so it will see all its e-mails before it does any hosting.

[dehm]

Thanks... good news!