Author Topic: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?  (Read 41313 times)

Codewalker

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #40 on: October 23, 2015, 06:04:54 PM »
Very good to know! So the client needs to be written and altered if possible - otherwise we get all the servers back?

Just that the names can't be easily changed. Which ones are active or listed can be altered as that comes from the server when you connect. The authentication server sends a list of numeric IDs -- along with the current number of active players (for the load level bubbles) and IP address -- for the client to choose from. The client appends each ID to a hardcoded string and looks it up in the translation table, which is loaded from the client messages bin file. CoHWorldServer_1, CohWorldServer_2, etc.

A monkey with a hex editor might be able to pull off changing a server name to a different name of the same or shorter length. But they couldn't make it longer, and they'd run into serious problems trying to reintegrate the extracted bin file with the game, getting past pigg checksums, etc.

I think we all suspected that a new launcher and at least a client patch would be needed anyway, I mean that the new servers would have a different IP than the original so the new launcher would have to point at the correct server address to apply the client patch or even download a clean client for those who don't have it anymore. Wouldn't it?

Then there is an issue of Logo's and what not, the new masters would need to slap their own brand on that hide. . .

Downloading the client and patching the client, while often performed by the same launcher, aren't necessarily tied together. One is easier and less complex than the other.

Dropping in a texture replacement and modifying .bin files without dev tools are on completely different levels as well.

For that matter I don't think even the .pigg archive format has a publicly-available way to create them. There are plenty of viewers, but no tools I can think of are comprehensive enough to create new ones or patch existing ones (which is more easily done by creating a new one to replace it anyway). That's a little surprising to me since the pigg format is relatively simple.

Or they could do what players have been doing and drop replacements into data/, which works to override any type of file that's not on the forbidden list. But it looks amateurish, and players would be able to delete their data directory and revert those changes. Not to mention support headaches with other client mods that go into data/.



My own opinion on number of shards is that due to the heavily instanced nature of the game and the fact that the architecture shares a pool of map-hosting servers, there is little reason to limit the number unless you're anticipating an extremely low number of players. Once you have enough hardware to run one shard smoothly (and don't fool yourself, it'll take quite a bit just for that), you can easily fire up 2-5 more without taking much of a hit on resources at all.

From available evidence (mothership raids, hami raids, iTrials, Freedom stress test, ITF valley of lag), the server software doesn't scale particularly well with the number of players/critters at all. In that case, a large number of shards with a lower population each would support more players on the same hardware than a few heavily populated ones.
« Last Edit: October 23, 2015, 07:50:11 PM by Codewalker »

The Fifth Horseman

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #41 on: October 26, 2015, 10:44:38 AM »
we will be lucky to get 1 to 5 servers to start with there is a very rare chance we may get all the servers back (cause it costs major money if they are using an actual server machine). not major money to the THeM possibly, but to us yes.
Virtualization is a thing and has been for years. 
Quote
a small part of what the THeM is taking a small amount of time on must be deciding what they will run the server image on. will they go cheap and deal with upgrading components later, or will they go straight for an IBM or other pricey brand server?
They can go cheap. CoH's servers originally ran on 2004 era hardware, remember? Technology did not stand in place in the 11 years since then - even budget modern hardware will outperform 2004's cutting edge.

Quote
anyways I can imagine if they start with one machine it'll probably have the capacity to serve 1000 to 10000 players, in other-words from 1/10th to 1/6th of the paying player estimate at shutdown.
And do you really expect more players to be there at start? Another advantage of virtualization: You can assign resources on an as-needed basis.
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The end occurred pretty much as we predicted: all servers redlining until midnight... and then no servers to go around.

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Brigadine

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #42 on: October 28, 2015, 12:54:43 AM »
Virtualization is a thing and has been for years.  They can go cheap. CoH's servers originally ran on 2004 era hardware, remember? Technology did not stand in place in the 11 years since then - even budget modern hardware will outperform 2004's cutting edge.
And do you really expect more players to be there at start? Another advantage of virtualization: You can assign resources on an as-needed basis.
You can build a moderate server pretty cheap anymore... One for an 11 year old game shouldn't be too bad. I do worry about if there is a speedwall of sorts though from how old the code is causing it to be horridly optimized. Sorta like how games can lag on hardware regardless of if it is overkill.

Mageman

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #43 on: October 31, 2015, 10:08:42 PM »
So many servers to choose from. When any are available, I will choose a west-coast server and probably load that up with my characters. I started many characters on all servers, then broke down concentrated on 2 servers (one for CoV, one for CoH before you could swap sides). I THINK my villains were on Virtue and my heroes were on Champion. But with the loss of all my characters, it really doesn't matter to me. I just hope that we get the account information back. I purchased a lot of stuff from NCSoft and I think this information should be included in the sale.
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Brigadine

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #44 on: November 01, 2015, 04:19:15 AM »
So many servers to choose from. When any are available, I will choose a west-coast server and probably load that up with my characters. I started many characters on all servers, then broke down concentrated on 2 servers (one for CoV, one for CoH before you could swap sides). I THINK my villains were on Virtue and my heroes were on Champion. But with the loss of all my characters, it really doesn't matter to me. I just hope that we get the account information back. I purchased a lot of stuff from NCSoft and I think this information should be included in the sale.
I hope so too. I honestly don't buy that they don't have it anymore. You don't just lose that stuff.

Sihada

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #45 on: November 02, 2015, 05:44:06 PM »
The truth is that, if this ever happens, there will be one server.  There isn't going to be the financial support for anything more than that, not to mention that just running one server is going to be difficult to do.

Sinistar

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #46 on: November 02, 2015, 10:26:29 PM »
. I purchased a lot of stuff from NCSoft and I think this information should be included in the sale.

One would like to think so but there may be some laws against this due to personal information, etc.
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Paragon Avenger

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #47 on: November 03, 2015, 04:25:33 AM »
My guess, all the virtual junk you bought with real money is gone.

I think I'll play on the game server: Paragon Avenger 12

Sinistar

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #48 on: November 03, 2015, 05:19:07 AM »
The truth is that, if this ever happens, there will be one server.  There isn't going to be the financial support for anything more than that, not to mention that just running one server is going to be difficult to do.

That may be true but there is also the old saying about putting all of one's eggs in one basket.
I would think at least two servers would be available at relaunch.
In fearful COH-less days
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When all seems lost in the effort to bring CoH back to life,
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Paragon Avenger

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #49 on: November 03, 2015, 04:14:04 PM »
That may be true but there is also the old saying about putting all of one's eggs in one basket.
I would think at least two servers would be available at relaunch.

Ok, the term server doesn't mean server.
They most likely had a group of physical servers linked together into what is known as a server farm.
Each "server" like freedom and protector was a game instance or shard.  The game instance can run on one server or multiple.  And once you have a server capable of running a game instance, most likely you can run more than one instance.

So they will probably have separate servers for:
  • database of user accounts for billing
  • database of player data
  • web front door server for login
  • some sort of intrudsion detection
  • master server for load balancing
  • a group of servers to run the game instances on

So, we all thought that we were on separte servers when on justice or guardian, but we were in realality on the same physical server or group of servers.

I'm not a network guy, so I don't know the exact configuration of servers, but I'm absolutely positive that it isn't going to be a 486 running XP sitting in Codewalker's basement.

It might be that the name of the servers was part of the game.  Changing the server names might require changing the code, easy enough if you have the source code, assuming NCSoft knew how to program and had the server names in only one location.
If THeM can only get the binary copy, it will require extra work to change the server names.

In other words, there wasn't a PC some where named Triumph.

(the joys of trying to explain the difference between physical and logical in the IT world)



Vee

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #50 on: November 03, 2015, 05:27:39 PM »
I'm absolutely positive that it isn't going to be a 486 running XP sitting in Codewalker's basement.

I knew it, Codewalker's a Tandy man.

Paragon Avenger

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #51 on: November 06, 2015, 05:13:09 AM »
I knew it, Codewalker's a Tandy man.

Are you kidding?  Codewalker probably built his own rig, and it's water-cooled, no, liquid helium cooled.  He has to call the power company to warn them before he turns on the power.


Brigadine

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #52 on: November 06, 2015, 09:37:54 AM »
Are you kidding?  Codewalker probably built his own rig, and it's water-cooled, no, liquid helium cooled.  He has to call the power company to warn them before he turns on the power.
heh... its probably nuclear fusion powered...

Ironwolf

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #53 on: November 06, 2015, 07:31:13 PM »
I usually say its magic.

You put smoke and wires in one end of a bunch of boxes and the game comes out of the other end. The wizards control the lightning and use it to make everything work.

Occasionally the smoke gets out and everything is broken requiring more smoke to be installed.

Paragon Avenger

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #54 on: November 07, 2015, 03:07:40 AM »
I usually say its magic.

You put smoke and wires in one end of a bunch of boxes and the game comes out of the other end. The wizards control the lightning and use it to make everything work.

Occasionally the smoke gets out and everything is broken requiring more smoke to be installed.

No, it's not smoke and magic.  It's probably mirrors, and there's a false bottom.  And there might be like a spring loaded trap-door.

Blackgrue

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #55 on: November 07, 2015, 05:27:43 AM »
I'll be on Virtue. Virtue virtue virtue.
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Abraxus

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #56 on: November 07, 2015, 06:34:49 PM »
I'll be on Virtue. Virtue virtue virtue.

If there is a Virtue, that's where I will be!
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Paragon Avenger

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #57 on: November 08, 2015, 08:15:02 AM »
Let's all assume that all the servers will be back as there were right before shut-down.

I'll be on all of them, this time.

FeliciaDivine

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #58 on: November 26, 2015, 04:04:02 PM »
 Everyone has a favorite server...if the game comes back...all the hardcore players will be here...Freedom and Virtue will be full, count on it...but equal to Freedom and Virtue servers...Champion server had the most hardcore players who came daily and stayed active trying to push CoH/CoX to its limits.
 
 The best solution to accommodate huge traffic flow would be to reopen ALL the original servers!!!!

 I will be voting for CHAMPION SERVER!!!!
(Stryke-Force, Protectors of Neverland, United Heroes Brigade and Hammers of Justice EACH one of these sg's had more prestige than ALL 100 sg's from ANY other server combined so don't tell me Champion players were not as dedicated as other servers)
 I heard of the crazy 88's sg which ran the summer of 2011, they started earning prestige, ground out daily and in 6 months became the top prestige sg on their server...Freedom?...if they had been on Champion server they would need another 54 months just to hit the top 20!

 Yes champion server had a small population...but those few did a lot :)

Charged Mastermind

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Re: When CoH/CoV comes back, what server is everyone going to be playing on?
« Reply #59 on: November 27, 2015, 01:08:29 AM »
To be honest? I think they should limit the servers to only a few of what was available during the game's original running. I say this since we're most likely a small band of CoH'ers who know about this compared to the millions of players they had by the time the game shut down.

Basically what I am saying is since we are a small population unless the deal gets published and gets promoted really fast, I would say they should only bring back 4-5 servers until they absolutely need more. My opinion at least