You enter ***** and see......

[Chris Johnson]

This sounds like a good idea but does impose a larger load on the server

Entry and exit routines are already one of the larger , more intensive operations and what is being proposed here would mean further analysis of objects splitting them into categories, accessing the interior room details and also checking on presence and type of vehicles. Projects will also have to be analysed and very soon presence of animals would need processing just to report these summary details. It'll have to be coded in such away that both voluntary entry and involuntary entry (dragging) would generate this event (no extra load in this case but added complexity)

Which will have to be processed again if someone wants to interact with any of these categories , or look at them in more detail, as they currently are when the objects, activities or buildings page is clicked. So the additional load will be comparable to making every entry equivalent to accessing most of the infomation required for the objects, activities, locations and buildings pages.

Currently ProgD is devoting a lot of resources to cut down on server load, and make the game more responsive and therefore enjoyable for the players. I'd rather not at this stage impose new loads

[Kreed]

Instead of looking at it as a server problem couldnt you view it as a programming problem. The only info I have on how the game is coded is what I've seen in game and picked up from the forums so you have a better view than me.


Instead of analysing each location on entry have a short array holding the info which is changed at the time of each change.
(10,4,7,L) which could be translated to

10 rooms, 4 peices of furniture, 7 items and lots of resources.

This could be translated by a routine added to the entry routine and perhaps the array could be added to the location name and erased by the translation routine on entry for display on the screen.

The array would be generated on the fly by moving and building things and not on location entry so would impose less strain on the server.

I could be wrong, so dont beat me up if I am

[Chris Johnson]

Not just updated after entry

The details will still have to be updated whenever the state of contents in the location is changed such as after entry, after exit, when projects complete, when material is added to projects , when items are picked up or dropped, when a character dies , after item deterioration has been processed, when a vehicle docks with the location etc

This is before we finish implementing domestication where all animal activity will need recording as well.

Also all those updates of the array are in progamming terms a "write" operation - which have a higher impact on database loads than a "read" operation. They also require space, though that is of less concern.

[Kreed]

Yes I realised that, there must be a write operation each time one of these things happen anyway, will writing one more charater cause such a strain?

[Kreed]

This is watering the suggestion down but it would still be helpful...
how about a "look" button that displays Rooms,Buildings,funiture,vehicles and resources?

[Sho]

I like that idea - it would be very nice to be able to get a quick record of those things in your events listing, and unlike the original suggestion this wouldn't clutter up your events unless you wanted it to.

[Solfius]

:?
I don't think anything should be specified in grams. This is supposed to be what the person can see as they enter a location. When I referred to resources, I just meant that if you can collect only wood, say, in a location then it should say perhaps '...one resource...', whereas if there are, like 20 different raw resources available to collect it could say '...lots of resources...' Maybe 'kinds of resources' would be better...?

I dunno...

I think that's the best approach, it reduces all the resources to one line that doesn't generate too much spam

[fishfin]

or instead of a look button you would have to type "look" in the chat thing, or maybe "comand:look" would be better?

[Sho]

That will not happen. This is Cantr, not Zork - we have more to our interface than the events page and chat box. A "look" function would be a button - means we don't have to worry about making an in-game command reference, among things. Or typos.