Editing Announcements - 2000/05 - Heroes' Respite (section)

== State of the Code ==

{{Microsoft Zone
 |  Link = <nowiki>http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/news/ashenewscodestate1.asp</nowiki>
 |  Date = May 10, 2000
 | Title = State of the Code
 |  Text =
This is the latest installment of a frequently updated series of reports on "The State of the Code" for Asheron's Call. In this report, we keep players informed as to the state of some of the more technical aspects of AC, particularly bugs we are working on and technical limitations of which you should be aware. Look on the "News" page on the Zone for other articles about recent additions and changes to AC.
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<font color=#FFFFFF>'''Minor game update on 5/10/2000'''</font>
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On 5/10/2000, in the early hours, we made a minor code update to all AC worlds. The only change in this update was the removal of experimental code referred to in a State of the Code item previously published. As a result of this removal, you will now get experience points from kills in exactly the same way you did before the major update on 5/2/2000.
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<font color=#FFFFFF>'''State of the Code Archive'''</font>
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''Below are items from previous State of the Code articles. Some items have been retired from the archive below because we believe they have been fixed. If they turn out not to have been fixed, we will revive those items.''
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<font color=#FFFFFF>'''My long sword variance was not changed. What's up?'''</font>
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In this update we changed swords so that the least amount of damage they do went from 25% to 50% of their maximum damage. However, we've discovered a bug that kept regular long swords -- but not elemental long swords -- from being readjusted. We will fix this problem in June.
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<font color=#FFFFFF>'''Major game update on 5/2/2000'''</font>
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On 5/2/2000, in the early hours, we introduced another major update. Our ever-evolving storyline continues as the heroes of Dereth celebrate the defeat of the Shadows and a new outpost is founded. The update also fixes numerous bugs. Look for News articles on the Zone that tell you of the changes made.
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<font color=#FFFFFF>'''Help! I am no longer being "saved"'''</font>
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You may have noticed that the "<Character> has been saved" message no longer appears in the chat window. This was actually old beta code and has been removed because the message was misleading. Actually, it did not mean you'd been saved but that the servers had verified your location in the world. Your characters are still "check-pointed" like this as normal, and regular backups are still done to ensure that your characters are in fact saved. No code has changed except for the removal of the message.
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<font color=#FFFFFF>'''My character is gone/has been looted!'''</font>
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Unfortunately, not everyone you meet on the Internet is trustworthy. We have had several reports of players who downloaded programs from the Internet or directly from a new "friend" they met online, ran these programs, and later discovered that their Zone password had been changed, or that their character had been looted or vandalized, or even deleted. This is because the programs these players ran were "Trojan Horse" hacking programs in disguise. These programs are designed to give a hacker remote surveillance or control of your computer.
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Protect yourself: use an up-to-date virus protection program with "real-time monitoring"; use "firewall" software or make sure your computer security is at its maximum; and do not have your Zone ID password be automatically saved on your system. Unfortunately, the Internet still presents many security challenges beyond our control, but "safe computing" practices will protect you from almost every threat. Learn more by reading the <font color=#FFFFCC><nowiki>MSN Insider system security article</nowiki></font>.
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If you think that your Zone password has been changed, first make sure you are remembering it correctly. By going to any Zone Web page and clicking on the "Services" link, you can find out how to recall your password. However, if that does not seem to work, the hacker likely changed the e-mail address associated with your account. Your best recourse then is to click on any "Services" link as stated above, use the pulldown menu to go to Billing/General Help, then look on the Table of Contents on the left side of the window for "Report Problems," where you can go on to report your problem to the Zone's Billing Support staff. Be sure to include an e-mail address that they can use to contact you.
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<font color=#FFFFFF>'''Attackers are sticking to me like glue!'''</font>
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If an attacker is faster than you, it is a serious threat. It will be able to catch up to you and hit you repeatedly as you try to run away. Likewise, if you are faster than a monster, you still will be able to hit it repeatedly. This is a necessary aspect of game balance.
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It's easy to mistakenly come to the conclusion that you are faster than a monster, when this may not really be the case. There is a "blip effect" that can contribute to this conclusion when a monster attacks; see below.
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To figure out if you or the monster is faster, try antagonizing it (coming just within its awareness range, or hitting it with a spell or missile) while it is as far away as possible. Then, immediately run away from it. Watch its dot on your compass while it is still chasing you. Does that dot get any closer to you over time? If so, that monster is genuinely faster than you, and is a serious threat. Note that there is no way to be sure of how fast a monster is just by examining it. A monster has a Run skill as well; Quickness alone does not determine its speed.
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We have done extensive testing (with average Internet latency) and determined that in no case did a monster that is genuinely slower than a player land more than one or two hits before falling and staying behind.
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However, we also found that Internet latency can have a strong effect on how successfully you can run from a monster. If your connection through the Internet is slow or spotty, or if you are downloading more data than your connection can handle, it can allow slower monsters to catch up to you. Also, please realize that when you go from standing still to trying to run from a monster, it takes time for that signal to cross the Internet and reach the server. Until the server knows that you have started running, it thinks you are still standing there. Therefore, to avoid attack, you need to start running before the monster can reach you, and the slower your connection, the sooner you should run.
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<font color=#FFFFFF>'''Monsters that attack me while I am running seem to fall back, then blip right on top of me. Can I get some of that magic?'''</font>
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Currently, there is a less-than-ideal visual effect when monsters attack you while you are running. They appear to fall behind you as they stop their running animation, in preparation for their attack animation. Then, when they do their attack animation, they suddenly appear to be right on top of you.
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It may appear that you are outrunning a monster, which then suddenly gets a free "teleport" on top of you. You may think that you are faster than a monster and that it is cheating with this "teleport." In actuality, the opposite is true: the monster has always been right on top of you, but it erroneously appears to stand still for the few moments it readies its attack animation. We hope to fix this soon.
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<font color=#FFFFFF>'''I went right to my corpse soon after dying, but my corpse was gone, or it was empty!'''</font>
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This is a rare and elusive bug. We think we fixed part of it, making it so that objects in corpses to not "decay" over time like they do when they are on the ground. Also, keep in mind that you can only have two corpses in the world at a time; if you make more, your oldest corpse will vanish and its items will end up on the ground, where they will quickly vanish. Still, that does not seem to explain some anecdotes we have heard. We are looking carefully into this hard-to-track bug.
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<font color=#FFFFFF>'''I was in the water in a big river and hit invisible walls.'''</font>
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There are spots in large bodies of water that prevent you from going further, sometimes resulting in a maze of invisible walls. We want to fix this, but it's a bit tricky. Meanwhile, please consider these large bodies of water a hazard. If you hit such an invisible wall, go in the opposite direction -- you cannot "slide" along such a wall.
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<font color=#FFFFFF>'''I cannot connect at all, or I get booted out of AC frequently.'''</font>
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Though we strive to allow 100% of our customers to connect 100% of the time, there are still some particular configurations that need some more work in order to connect. On the AC Web pages on the Zone, click "Game Help" and look for "Connectivity FAQ." There you can learn of ways to fix any connection problems you may have.
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<font color=#FFFFFF>'''Why am I not supposed to jump onto steep slopes?'''</font>
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There is currently a bug where certain steep slopes are trapping players. This seems to happen when you jump onto a slope that you cannot naturally walk onto. Until we inform you that we have fixed this bug, please avoid jumping onto slopes, particularly steep ones. By doing so, you not only can be trapped but also may take repeated falling damage. If you happen to die on such a slope, you will not be able to recover items from your corpse. Use the "Urgent Assistance" option to request help getting unstuck. We are still working on the fix.
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<font color=#FFFFFF>'''I was just walking near a cliff edge, and all of a sudden I fell off it!'''</font>
We are tracking this down. We apologize for this problem. Meanwhile, beware of such spots as best you can.
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<font color=#FFFFFF>'''I've told you about a bug. Why isn't it fixed?'''</font>
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We do read every single report of bugs, and strive to make AC completely bug-free. However, we will not make changes instantly. We want to group fixes together into major updates to prevent undue inconvenience to players. We also want to maintain a rigorous testing process to assure that our fixes do no harm. We value your reports of bugs, and we are hard at work to fix them as soon as we can. Thank you!
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<font color=#FFFFFF>'''What's up with portal storms?'''</font>
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Portal storms prevent people from massing too densely in any one small area of Dereth. When a small area gets too crowded, portal storms thin out the crowd by transporting some people a small distance in a random direction. Those who have been in the crowded area the longest will be the first to be transported.
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Because it often will be a while before you become the one who has been there the longest, you should generally have enough time to do your crucial business. If this still is intolerable, consider visiting one of the dozens of other fine towns in Dereth. You might be surprised to find better prices, more exotic merchandise to buy, and interesting sights in less popular towns.
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Portal storms are a necessary thing in AC. No 3D massively multiplayer game can tolerate arbitrary numbers of people in close proximity. The bandwidth needed to give everyone updates about everyone else rises rapidly with density. Please understand that these limits are designed to keep everyone's play experience as smooth as possible.
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Large groups that want to meet may try doing so in one of the "Meeting Halls" that are near every major town; scribes sell directions to these halls. Though Meeting Halls are exempt from portal storms, the presence of many players will make performance slow. Please consider that in the feudal system, on which the AC allegiance system is based, monarchs would never meet with all of their subjects down to the lowest-ranked vassals. Commands were passed down through many layers, and this allowed the intrigues that characterized politics in the Middle Ages.
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<font color=#FFFFFF>'''What is going on with the lag?'''</font>
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"Lag" is a term commonly applied to any perceived slowness with your connection to the game. It manifests as your movement being slowed, and a long period of time between your action and the world's reaction -- such as doors taking a long time to open, attacks to occur, or objects to move.
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A few things look like lag but are actually slowdowns on just your system. For example, if you are in an area with a lot of complex geometry, such as a crowded town, your computer and graphic card may have a hard time keeping up, and your screen will only be updated a few times a second. This may only happen when your screen is showing rain falling, for instance. This is not really lag as it is commonly called. A visit to our technical support resources (see the inside cover of your AC manual) may help you get the most out of your computer's performance.
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"Bandwidth lag" can crop up when you are in a crowded area, especially when you first enter. The game servers are rapidly sending information about all of the many things going on there, and you are using up your entire allotment of the "pipe." This is unavoidable, but Dereth is a huge place with many places to visit -- spread out a bit!
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There are a few things that can cause true lag. One is the game servers bogging down with too much to do -- too many people and objects demanding too much calculation for the server computers. This will affect everyone in one particular area of Dereth, such as a town or dungeon. Fortunately, with the exception of a few dungeons crowded with former beta testers in the first days post-ship, we have had none of that type of lag since AC made its premiere.
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A cause of lag that was improved in December and does not appear to have returned is been "datacenter lag" -- issues with the datacenter in which the AC servers are housed. We are constantly on the lookout for these issues and will work tirelessly to fix them.
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Another area for lag to develop is in your own connection through the Internet to our servers. Signals from your computer go through many "hops" on the way to our datacenter (where our servers are), and any of those hops can cause a delay in that signal, which causes the perception of lag. It will usually not affect many people at once. While you are lagging in this way, the person next to you may not be. "Internet lag" caused in this way is utterly beyond our control. The Internet is indeed chaotic and nobody can guarantee good Internet connectivity all the time. If you suspect this kind of lag, try a different Internet Service Provider, and use an Internet diagnostic tool to find out where the slowdown might be occurring. A "traceroute" to www.zone.com may be indicative of your connection to the AC servers, though not always fully indicative -- your route to www.zone.com may end up looking better than your route to the AC servers actually is. We are working on better ways to help you diagnose your connection.
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[[Category:Event Announcements]]