Great test results

Todays Mega Server test was hugely successful. We were running a 1024 square kilometers modifyable map with 200 000 creatures and 300 players and measured 0 server lag. If we hadn’t run into issues with our Content Delivery Network, we’d have more players online but this gave us confidence that we can release this fantastic region.

We’ll announce release date for this map next week and keep you posted about any upcoming changes.

Thank you everyone who participated and you who tried to but couldn’t make it!

Mega Server 2 test soon starting

Time to download the new test client!

As usual, you find it at http://www.wurmonline.com/client/wurmclient_test.jnlp

The test starts in 30 minutes from this post. The server is online but denying connections right now.

The goal of the test is to see how many players the server can manage at once and how much lag is induced on the server.

The size of the server is 1024 square kilometers of fully modifiable terrain and it has 200 000 autonomous creatures roaming around. We encourage creating multiple accounts. There is no need to register, just select a unique name and log on.

We have disabled the “test” option where you could create a lot of items easily since it may have affected the test too much last time.

If you have issues downloading the graphics packs, you may have to delete the old test_graphics.jar files found in the packs folder.

Enjoy!

Mega Server test Tuesday 29 April 23.00 CEST/5 PM EST

With short notice due to a new deadline, we announce our next Mega Server test tomorrow evening Swedish time. The time is selected for being one hour before normal peak time, and we will run it for as long as player count increases which should be somewhere around one to three hours.

In order to participate, you do not have to register – just download our standard test client found at http://www.wurmonline.com/client/wurmclient_test.jnlp

Since the graphics and sound packs take quite some time to download please do it as soon as possible. The client currently links to our standard test server but will be relinked a while before the test starts. If you come to the old test server during the test, close the client and redownload it.

This server is 4 times the size of Independence, so a bit smaller than we had initially hoped. It’s still 16 times our standard servers which is a huge improvement.

Just like the last time, Rolf will be experimenting with live streaming on twitch.tv/codeclub

Well met!

 

Client fix

  • The animations for first person no longer uses third person animations
  • Sharks no longer bash fences
  • Fix for title list not showing correctly when “It’s a Trap” is in list

Happy Easter everyone!

  • We celebrate this Easter by doing two things: upping creature AI a bit, and nerfing lava spawns which were making a bit of a mess. Enjoy! Hopefully the Easter Bunny pops by so don’t forget to check for your egg come Saturday! Remember, the Bunny likes to hide it in grass.

Mega Server test concluded!

The test conducted on our Mega Server today was in many ways a success but the server lag became a bit too heavy with 600+ players online at the same time.  What was very nice to see was that the server didn’t die or totally freeze. In a sense it was still playable and many of you didn’t seem to care much but the lag wasn’t really noticeable if you were only walking around or fighting. It would be very frustrating during creation or building though.

We’ll look further into what can be done to reduce lag and discuss the data we gathered.

A  heartful thank you goes out to everyone who participated in this test – we did find things that we do not want to run in to in a live release situation. Next test will be at a better time with a bit more notice. We’ll keep you posted with any decisions we make!

Rolf

Mega Server test client link

Allright, the game client you need to use for the Xanadu Mega Server test is our standard test client, which has been modified to connect to that server:

http://www.wurmonline.com/client/wurmclient_test.jnlp

There is no need to register for the event – just type a nickname and a random password and connect.

We suggest that you download it now so that your graphics packs update properly.

What we are testing is to see how a large population affects lag on the server, so don’t hesitate to run multiple clients at once. The test is scheduled to run between 22.00 and 23.00 hrs CEST today but we will try to keep the test going as long as population numbers increase.

We’ll be streaming how it looks ingame as well on http://www.twitch.tv/codeclub

Thanks for joining in!