OPEN release notes 2/25/09

[Edward Edgemenace]

Observations about the New Memory Management

With the TEST release 2/21 and the open release 2/25, there is a new style of memory management implemented within the game. When all the fast memory on your computer is used up, POTCO memory management cleanup starts (no noticeable delay when it is in operation.)

For me: Dual core P4, 1GB + 1GB swap file.

The first time starting POTCO on OPEN today, memory utilization jumped to 1.47 GB.

Closing POTCO returned me to 330 MB used. (Firefox using about 90-100 MB to be here.)

Starting POTCO again jumped to ~550 MB.
Selecting a pirate and landing on Port Royal jumped to ~850 MB.
Launching ship and zooming compass out, jumped to 0.98 GB.
Sailing once around the map edge, gradually increased to 1.04 GB (1.07 GB) used. <--- indicating the new memory management is at least partly working.
Landing at Tortuga/Abassa, jumps to 1.09 GB (1.11 GB) with "typical" Abassa type slowness only at first.
Going to wildwoods then returning to port of call jumps memory utilization to 1.14 GB (1.12 GB) with sudden, massive slowdown in all movement, as Windows starts to take over with its memory mismanagement. (Swapping to swap file.)
Entering Kings Arm then returning to port of call stabilizes at 1.14 GB but all movement is subject to windows swapping lockups (seconds at a time.)


Pretty positive development. But because of residual leaks, the POTCO memory management eventually gets usurped by Windows memory management, at which point, gameplay deteriorates.



Restarting same test with "Aggressive memory conservation" checked:

Just Firefox running (windows says 18 processes): 330 MB.
Login screen (launcher1.exe running): 390 MB.
Login to pirate selection screen: 681 MB (658 MB.)
Note: still defaulting to single-CPU mode incorrectly.
Select pirate, land on Tortuga: 777 MB.
Idle on social beach for 10 minutes: 850 MB (846 MB.)
Launching a ship and zooming compass out: 844 MB (847 MB.)
Teleporting to Port Royal: 903 MB (870 MB.)
Entering shop and returning to port of call: 896 MB (880 MB.)
Teleporting to PDF: 959 MB (914 MB.)
Going to launch a ship from dinghy, press shift then ESC: +~10 MB.
Repeating Shift + ESC about a dozen times: 1.05 GB (1.03 GB)
Launching ship and zooming compass out: 1.08 GB (1.06 GB.)
Sailing out to Mariner's Reef (essentially so herky-jerky as to be unplayable): 1.09 GB (1.07 GB.)
Landing at outcast: 1.12 GB (1.14 GB.)
F7 + Exit game (return to desktop - erm, wait, it didn't now): 345 MB.
Exit launcher1.exe: 329 MB.

Overall, not nearly as bad with "Aggressive" as it has been recently, but nowhere near as smooth as it used to be in June/July 2008 with aggressive turned on.

Unable to start a second or third or fourth pirate concurrently now. (It "starts" but both pirates slow down too much to be able to take a single step in any direction, in under 5 minutes.)


For these initial observations, overall I think they are finally at least trying. That in itself is simply fabulous. But it seems like maybe 30-40% of the game objects are currently subject to recycling: the rest get added and just stay added no matter what. I still believe that they should flush all stale objects on scene changes.

The fact that they are looking at memory management at all, is just fantastic. Very encouraging. And not a moment too soon, with all the texture additions in Port Royal and Tortuga.

[Chris]

Ok so problems i noticed in my first 15 mintues of playing:

- Hair colors are wack! I went from black to grey!
- Character sizes are messed up as well im no skinny with next to no neck.

Other things i noticed in the game:

- You can now click on peoples names in the chat ;log to pull up their profile

[jason davy]

My game is lagging worse than it ever has before.

And apparently these chickens are my enemies. (The compass says so.)


And were there always this many soldiers in Fort Dundee? Or is this just a compass glitch?


Another thing- the ship placements are WEIRD. I just saw 2 Juggernauts (levels 44 and 45) positioned right next to each other, perfectly in the middle of Padres and Kingshead. (I have a screenie, but it messed up so you can't tell they are Juggernauts.) I couldn't even make it to Kingshead in my sloop because they both fired on me... and KEPT firing on me no matter now far away I sailed.

Originally Posted by Chris

- You can now click on peoples names in the chat ;log to pull up their profile

You could do that since the Port Royal updates.

[The Skirata Clan]

Originally Posted by jason davy

Yes, it's the Mac thing again.
Finder
Applications
Pirates Online
Show package content
Expand Mac OS
Expand cache folder
Delete all of its contents (it was 956 items for me)

Should fix it, same as last time.

Whoever decided to release this already is an IDIOT. Didn't see this coming.... (yeah right)

EDIT: whoops, didn't see that Ed already answered that question, sorry

thanks mate, I was close to that number.

[Crazypirate]

I havent really noticed anything except the hair colors are a little off and all those red dots are because the compass has a extra layer of zoom now if you zoomed all the way in it wouldnt have looked that way. It appears that alot of ppl are complaining about this when thier compass is just zoomed all the way out showing a greater number of enemies or ships. Although on padres now all the pigs and chickens do show up as red dots.

[Luvbug]

Originally Posted by Edward Edgemenace

I'm sorry, but I don't understand your perspective at all. I go to very great lengths to exploit (and report) as many glitches on test as time allows. I have helped other exploit glitches on test, to speed-level, so that they can test things like instant desolation. I have helped others exploit glitches on test to speed-quest-level, so that they can test things like the boss battle.

TEST is the place for pure chaos, NOT OPEN. Anyone that thinks restraint is appropriate on TEST, does not belong on TEST at all. Politeness and courtesy are the rule of the day...that needs to remain the single most important factor there.

Hmm, don’t get your sails in a bind. I never said you don’t have a right to test as you see fit. (Not sure why you couldn’t offer the same common courtesy) What I did say is thank you to the testers who chose to play thru the game as I would on live… not exploiting glitches and bugs. Finding a glitch and reporting it… good. Reproducing the glitch AND reporting it… Better. Exploiting a glitch just for leveling or gold in my opinion is NOT what test is about. If I need my pirate to be bigger, then I work on it. There are lots of 40s on test, and I would venture to guess that the majority of them did NOT glitch their way there. I have pirates at many levels on test, and with each release I go thru and check as much as I possibly can. This is how I choose to test, and since Disney chose to give me two test accounts way back in beta one, I guess they liked the way I have been testing for them for years.

Skip

[Maximvs]

There are lots of 40s on test

I have seen several 40s on test - espically recently with all the new stuff (I would hope this to be a good thing, possibly pulling back in some who had been gone for a while).

If I need my pirate to be bigger, then I work on it.

True - but I know some of the best testers who have used the bugs on test to get higher levels to test higher level items... Ironhawk and his team were famous for using the Hex Shot in teams to quickly level pirate to their 30's within a week to test new side-quests (which you can't do if your only a level 10) and other quests (which if you past that quest item in your journal - the only way to test it is to quickly bring another pirate 'up to speed' as quickly as possible.

Not to say testing from the start is not bad either - but without a test function like "set pirate level to X" to test a specific function - glitching test to level up quickly does have its uses, as does playing the entire thing normally. Both sides have merit - so its a mute point

----

Now for memory...

This update tanks... pirates was only using at max 560mb before the update- now its eating 700-800mb and Lagging like crazy.... if this is new memory management - bring back the old management... I can always log out every few hours - but the wreck of a game I played this evening was pretty bad... hadn't sen such lag and video issues like that in months...

[Nelly Darkpaine]

The avatars look horrid. I can't believe it. Textures are bad, the shapes are off, and yes, the looks entirely changed. Wow... a BAD change to make overall, since many of us are so familiar with our pirates that a change that seems minor like that makes a big difference. Colors, textures, everything is off.

I dislike the new Tuga, and I think the change came WAY too fast. The glitches we found the first night are still there, even though we reported them multiple times.

Oh well... how about content for level 40's? Now we just have a new place to do nothing.

[Dr. Zeppers]

I like the new Tortuga somewhat, glad they have worked on the games memory management, etc. Well one thing i've noticed is that they are DOING more than before to work on the game. The multitude of bugs and glitchs that were left ignored by the devs was unbelievable before. Finally they found the time to work on POTCO. Just seemed like the devs werent listening before. I know alot of these things even just recently fixed were reported in volume quite awhile ago, and on test before they even came to open.

Keep up the good work Disney.

[Ghostcannon]

Two things I found today:

-Hair is messed up...I had it brown, now it's blonde.
-I launched my ship from Padres and for the 1st time ever, I saw 3 lvl 44 EITC Jarggos together right when I boarded my ship. The EITC are up to something!! that's the warning we all being hearing. Good to see the Jarggounauts back around Padres Del Fuego.

[jason davy]

Originally Posted by Ghostcannon

Two things I found today:

-Hair is messed up...I had it brown, now it's blonde.
-I launched my ship from Padres and for the 1st time ever, I saw 3 lvl 44 EITC Jarggos together right when I boarded my ship. The EITC are up to something!! that's the warning we all being hearing. Good to see the Jarggounauts back around Padres Del Fuego.

I too saw two Juggernauts right after launching from PDF, bit I was not as pleased about it as you. These bigger ships are nice, but they should be out in the ocean, not in the paths between islands. People that are just sailing from island to island shouldn't have to deal with two Juggernauts firing on them without cause.

[Sven Niscadae]

Originally Posted by jason davy

I too saw two Juggernauts right after launching from PDF, bit I was not as pleased about it as you. These bigger ships are nice, but they should be out in the ocean, not in the paths between islands. People that are just sailing from island to island shouldn't have to deal with two Juggernauts firing on them without cause.

I do agree it's a bit much. Right outside of PDF last night I saw 2 Juggernauts, 2 Corsairs, 3 Ogres, and a bunch of Barracudas and Bloodhounds all in the same vicinity. Poor lower level pirates who wander towards PDF. Also there were no Navy ships in sight every time I went through there. Obviously Padres is next on the EITC's torching list.

[Rackat]

Originally Posted by Sven Niscadae

I do agree it's a bit much. Right outside of PDF last night I saw 2 Juggernauts, 2 Corsairs, 3 Ogres, and a bunch of Barracudas and Bloodhounds all in the same vicinity. Poor lower level pirates who wander towards PDF. Also there were no Navy ships in sight every time I went through there. Obviously Padres is next on the EITC's torching list.

That's what I am thinking Sven. Those high level EITC ships could wreak havoc on PDF sitting that close to shore with those massive guns.

I would think that people would try to take advantage of this situation while it lasts. Nothing like a major plunder party flotilla launching from PDF all at the same time in War Galleons with full crews to just sit off shore and rake in gold for their lower level guild members or even their higher level pirates that may not have a full War fleet yet.

[Maximvs]

I do agree it's a bit much. Right outside of PDF last night I saw 2 Juggernauts, 2 Corsairs, 3 Ogres, and a bunch of Barracudas and Bloodhounds all in the same vicinity. Poor lower level pirates who wander towards PDF.

On my server it was 2 Juggys and 6... 6 Corsairs! Right in front of PDF. Then if you survived the entry - it was 1 Ogre, 1 Baracuda and 1 Marauder - then one Bloodhound and One Navy Galeon.

Thee was a 'hole' to the left of the 6 Corsairs, but not much of one as there was then 2 Ogres to the left of that. Basically it was there to go through - but one side or the other would see you and get a shot off...

I can't say its a bad thing... but ya don't want to be poking around out in front of PDF...

[The Commodore]

Yea, when I was sailing to KH last night, 2 juggys, 5 corsairs, and 2 ogres right in my way. I just barely missed them.