A Handful of Questions

[MasterBel]

So these questions shouldn't be taken as indicative of anything… just me trying to understand and gather any/all information I can. I suspect more questions will come later.

Most of these questions are going to be focused around the lobby/server, but not all of them. Please answer at least one or two of them, if you can/wouldn't mind. All would be awesome.

• What happened to the idea of a community lead?
• Why does it seem so hard to have any successful discussion on this forum? (Please: Use max of 5 words, and don't disagree with others. I want people to feel safe to say whatever***. And I want radical out-there opinions. Just curious.)
• Do people still actively discuss lobby development in any channels on the official server that I should know about? I've kind of stalked a few but all the discussions have died mainly?
• What happened to Cheeselobby? Picasso has a fork of it on github, but the original repo apparently doesn't exist?
• What's the state of matchmaking on uberserver?
• How would the server respond to an influx of players wanting to play on BA 9.46 and Spring 103? Hypothetically. Oh, and for fun they're all running a new Mac-specific lobby client and, well, all on Mac. Hypothetically.
• How many instances of SPADS (Or some equivalent) could you in theory run on a single machine (say a server), for fun let's also say the instance of uberserver they're connecting to is on the same machine. (I'm afraid the answer is 1… but hoping not). What restricts it?
• The engine can be started by a start script placed (in theory) anywhere on a machine?
• Why exactly was NOTA lobby breaking the GPL? I know there's an explanation somewhere, I've seen it before, but I can't find it again.
• How could the lobby/server facilitate tournaments, say in a matchmakerish sense?
• Thoughts on something this. I want the people who don't like it to tell me how they'd make something with the same intention work. Even if they don't like that solution, just the best they can come up with.
• Who what when where how why do people discover this engine and/or its games? Does anyone know?
• Is there a grand picture for the Spring infrastructure/community/engine/role in the world of RTS games?
• I'm sure there are many more to come.

Thanks for bearing with me, I'll go and be busy with other things for an unknown amount of time, and re-visit this thread whenever I can. Thanks for your time, I'll try to make sure it wasn't wasted.

***Appreciated if the mods could enforce this but I understand if that would be viewed as overreaching.

[MasterBel]

A quick update… I notice this thread has been moved? Would be really appreciated if I could have a PM sent or some kind of notification … I thought I'd accidentally not-posted it and was about to write it up again. When I found it here, I started to think I'd accidentally posted it in the wrong place. Oops!

A brief explanation of why it's moved would be nice too? Except this time I can guess and I do think this is a better subforum for this post, so thanks to whoever moved it :)

[raaar]

Maybe some of these would need their own thread (which may exist already).

Why does it seem so hard to have any successful discussion on this forum? (Please: Use max of 5 words, and don't disagree with others. I want people to feel safe to say whatever***. And I want radical out-there opinions. Just curious.)

- admins suppress discussion about sensitive topics. Threads get locked too easily. It's mildly disrespectful.

- discussion seem to have moved to mantis (engine) or the lobby or project-specific github, other discussions happen on discord or the lobby chat

How many instances of SPADS (Or some equivalent) could you in theory run on a single machine (say a server), for fun let's also say the instance of uberserver they're connecting to is on the same machine. (I'm afraid the answer is 1… but hoping not). What restricts it?

I run several spads hosts from the same server, which also hosts the webservices used by MF (replays are analyzed locally before being uploaded to the replays server). Last time I checked each spads host using spring-dedicated increased cpu and mem usage only by about 1-2% when the games were running, even when running lua AIs (server only has 1 cpu core and 1GB ram).

How could the lobby/server facilitate tournaments, say in a matchmakerish sense?
Thoughts on something this. I want the people who don't like it to tell me how they'd make something with the same intention work. Even if they don't like that solution, just the best they can come up with.

I don't think a matchmaker would do much atm. We don't have enough players (dozens) on any game and game mode. ZK community is somewhat larger than the one on this server, dedicated to a single game and still the queues are often empty and queue times are often too long to work.

Do people still actively discuss lobby development in any channels on the official server that I should know about? I've kind of stalked a few but all the discussions have died mainly?

I participated on some discussions on #springlobby and coded battle list changes which are waiting for approval, but the devs have been dismissive or unresponsive so it seems pointless...

Is there a grand picture for the Spring infrastructure/community/engine/role in the world of RTS games?

It's a hub for indie games which use the spring engine. A better and more reliable version of the "whole package" could be good enough for games to be worth keeping the player base on the official server and playing by the admins' rules throughout their life cycle, possibly paying something depending on how much load they generate.

Having the game communities move out when the games "mature" can be more realistic, but has its issues, as split player bases fall below critical mass more easily, and it's also more likely to lead to standards, protocols, etc. diverging over time.

[MasterBel]

- discussion seem to have moved to mantis (engine) or the lobby or project-specific github

Ah yes, mantis. And thanks for all the answers :)

[Forboding Angel]

- admins suppress discussion about sensitive topics. Threads get locked too easily. It's mildly disrespectful.

Mostly this, and the fact that chat in discord tends to be more productive overall as differences and misunderstandings are cleared up much more quickly.

[MasterBel]

Couple more questions…

Why is the pr-downloader executable considered part of the engine?
Where can I find documentation of its interface, more than just the commands that you can send it?

When Spring terminates with an error (say, host refused connection), is it possible for a lobby to catch that error somehow?

[MasterBel]

Why is downloading games via PR downloader so much slower than downloading maps in terms of data/sec? Is this just where it's hosted?
What would it take to make this faster?
Also getting this with every download:

Code: Select all

[Info] Server refused ranges

Why? (I'd prefer to not have to dig into PR downloader code if someone knows, but happy to if no one does)

https://springrts.com/wiki/Pr-downloader has a list of flags that can be used. Could someone with knowledge make some 5-word descriptions – hopefully this will provide enough basis for me to play with things and (hopefully !) write some more detailed documentation myself

[Jools]

Maybe some of these would need their own thread (which may exist already).

Why does it seem so hard to have any successful discussion on this forum? (Please: Use max of 5 words, and don't disagree with others. I want people to feel safe to say whatever***. And I want radical out-there opinions. Just curious.)

- admins suppress discussion about sensitive topics. Threads get locked too easily. It's mildly disrespectful.

- discussion seem to have moved to mantis (engine) or the lobby or project-specific github, other discussions happen on discord or the lobby chat

It's not an even filter, it's more like in this chart (that I posted sometimes earlier):
Flow chart