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Open Beta of Spring Update

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#61
Reservoir Dog said:
One of the TWB 50 player test servers are running without the beta. Are you still running tests on it without players having to download beta? Just curious because it is still drawing the "non-beta's" to it (it's full at the moment). Might be a good incentive to have all 50s with the beta so players will d/l beta for the 50 experience.
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We tried that on Tuesday night when the patch became available. We told everyone they needed to download the patch where & how to get it & shut the server down we just had the 1 beta up. Everyone disappeared to other standard servers. Our servers then remained empty all night with just a few on the new beta for a short time.

Yesterday we put our standard server back up within 30 minutes it was full. We then spent all day spamming the screen telling people how & where to get the patch. Honestly we should have been banned for spamming the screen.;)
I would say 80% of the traffic on that server do not visit the RO forums, some don't even know there is going to be an update & some even thought we were conning them.
One little spam that I did do was I had noticed a couple of Dev's on the Beta server so I then spammed the screen of the standard telling them that they should go get the patch & join the Beta server & go beat the Devs at their own game . This did shift a few :D But then the Devs left so that was the end of that.:(

At least with the un patched server up, we have got a captive audience to keep pushing people to go get the patch with an empty server we cant tell anybody anything.
 
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#62
Reservoir Dog said:
One of the TWB 50 player test servers are running without the beta. Are you still running tests on it without players having to download beta? Just curious because it is still drawing the "non-beta's" to it (it's full at the moment). Might be a good incentive to have all 50s with the beta so players will d/l beta for the 50 experience.
Click to expand...

Yeah I discussed this with Ramm on monday and we did make both 50 player servers beta.
With both servers BETA we found that we all just sat there waiting for players to join which they did not in anything like the sorts of numbers TWI require to fully test the patch at the maximum settings.

So yesterday morning I took the decision to run one server as per normal and have our Admins spam the hell out of those who joined.

It proved quite successful as we saw quite a few switch servers to the BETA but the worrying aspect is the amount of players who simply knew nothing about the beta at all!!!
Despite what many may think on these forums.
NOT everyone who plays RO visits this site or try's to keep in touch with what's going even though TWI have now placed information about the beta on the game browser it was incredible the amount of players who simply said "What beta?"

As Ramm stated in a conversation last night running our other standard server is a double edged sword.
Yes players can still play 50 player without the beta but shutting it down did nothing to encourage players to get the beta.
Most are simply unaware or are not bothered about helping to test the patch they will simply wait until its available to use.

On the downside is the argument "Well i can play with 50 players now so why do i need the beta download"

My take on this currently is "Well let's inform them and keep informing them as they join the other server that way we can at least have a way in which we can try to influence players in a positive way to go download the beta patch"

Things may change though because I do feel that to get this patch out the door we all need to help TWI get the beta fully tested on more than just one 50 player server and that may require a rethink with regards keeping the present non-beta server running as a non-beta.

I think its something we will monitor closely and discuss with TWI as obviously we at TWB just like everyone else want to see this patch released so that everyone can enjoy it along with even more 50 player servers.
 
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#63
[FLOT]airborne said:
Pathetic is 100% accurate. Where's the support from all who downloaded the beta client? Time for all to jump on the beta test servers!
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At the moment their are about 6, 50 player beta test servers and a couple of 40+servers,if they were all full, their would be 300+ppl playing on just a handful of servers.
How many ppl actually play this game at the busiest times?,
How many smaller servers would go to the wall because of lack of clients?
How many ppl would leave the game because their fav. server had to shut down and the bigger servers were full?
How many clan servers would shut down?

I realise their will always be more servers than ppl to fill them,but do we want the game to be monopolised by only the 50+ servers, and the wealthier clans, or server Admins/owners who can afford to pay for them?

Not everybody wants to play on the biggest servers,but if thats all their is,will they leave the game?

With so many empty servers out their as it is, then the question has to be asked? are 50 player servers,a good or a bad idea?
You know the old saying "too much of a good thing can be bad for you"

Im not against the 50 player server,but too many of them would in my opinion be bad for the game as a whole,and looking to the future we are bound to lose players to the upcoming realeases of MoH Airborne and CoD4.

Nothing of what i have said will come as a suprise to Butch or Mike Nomad or the many other server Admins who came to this game from CoD and other games,because it has all happened before,and we have to try and preserve what we've got,and not lose ppl needlessly.
 
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#64
Major_Day said:
At the moment their are about 6, 50 player beta test servers and a couple of 40+servers,if they were all full, their would be 300+ppl playing on just a handful of servers.
How many ppl actually play this game at the busiest times?,
How many smaller servers would go to the wall because of lack of clients?
How many ppl would leave the game because their fav. server had to shut down and the bigger servers were full?
How many clan servers would shut down?

I realise their will always be more servers than ppl to fill them,but do we want the game to be monopolised by only the 50+ servers, and the wealthier clans, or server Admins/owners who can afford to pay for them?

Not everybody wants to play on the biggest servers,but if thats all their is,will they leave the game?

With so many empty servers out their as it is, then the question has to be asked? are 50 player servers,a good or a bad idea?
You know the old saying "too much of a good thing can be bad for you"

Im not against the 50 player server,but too many of them would in my opinion be bad for the game as a whole,and looking to the future we are bound to lose players to the upcoming realeases of MoH Airborne and CoD4.

Nothing of what i have said will come as a suprise to Butch or Mike Nomad or the many other server Admins who came to this game from CoD and other games,because it has all happened before,and we have to try and preserve what we've got,and not lose ppl needlessly.
Click to expand...

Some very good points major.
We at TWB have always only intended on running one 50 player public server.
We put up the second at a time when there was a need to let players experience the gameplay with such big nimbers on an RO server.

Our intention was and still is to run just the one TWB 50 player server so once the patch is released officially we will be taking down our second server.

I think only time will tell on the long term player number issues but your right when you say that a sudden influx of 50 player servers will impact on those servers set to the original or lower maxplayer settings although whether that will be a long term thing or just related to "patch fever" no one can know.
 
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#67
killerbee_zor said:
What the hell?!
This is what i get when trying to start the game(after updating of course):


runtime error
programm:...m\steamapps\common\red orchestra\system\RedOrchestra.exe



:eek: :confused: :(
Click to expand...

6. If when you launch the game it doesn't work, or you get mismatches when connecting to a [Beta 1047 Test] server, Verify your cache. Right click on the RO icon in the Steam games list. Select the "Local Files" tab, and click the "Verify Integrity of Game Cache..." button. This will make sure all files downloaded properly.
 
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#68
Major_Day said:
At the moment their are about 6, 50 player beta test servers and a couple of 40+servers,if they were all full, their would be 300+ppl playing on just a handful of servers.
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I agree but only to a point. We must remember many users are reluctant to go into a beta situation for many reasons. As such, we are not seeing anywhere near the potential number of players at this time. Many of the Beta clients are playing but they are, unfortunately or fortunately depending upon how you look at it, playing only their favorite maps instead of participating in "across the boards" testing. This is to be expected since we are dealing with human nature. We must however exercise patience and "wait and see" what the actual outcome will be once the Spring Update is released and everyone is running the Spring Update. The situation may very well become an entirely different story.

The technical aspects for and about servers are also a very strong consideration. Far too many players have complained of drag, lag and strange anomalies encountered in certain servers and maps. The capabilities of many servers are extremely limited. Once those limitations are reached, anything can happen and it usually does. I feel we should strongly consider the problems introduced by inadequate servers, be it poor administration, hardware and/or bandwidth. Then comes the lame, problem filled, maps and rehashed maps that should've been left sleeping. As you can see, there are many factors to consider.

Larger Servers will ultimately prove to be a greater overall benefit than is perceived at this time.
Major_Day said:
  • How many ppl actually play this game at the busiest times?,
  • How many smaller servers would go to the wall because of lack of clients?
  • How many ppl would leave the game because their fav. server had to shut down and the bigger servers were full?
  • How many clan servers would shut down?
I realise their will always be more servers than ppl to fill them,but do we want the game to be monopolised by only the 50+ servers, and the wealthier clans, or server Admins/owners who can afford to pay for them?
Click to expand...

Easy now, you are beginning to sound a tad overly concerned. If the larger servers are going to provide the means and arena to yield a greater degree of playability, balance and entertainment to the clients, then of course, that's the way to go. The smaller "specialty servers" will indeed remain to cater to those who wish to play the game their own way. ie., One Map Only, Rifles Only, Pistols Only, Bayo Only, etc., Clan Servers for specific matches, Regional groups playing amongst themselves, to name a few instances.

Major_Day said:
Nothing of what i have said will come as a suprise to Butch or Mike Nomad or the many other server Admins who came to this game from CoD and other games,because it has all happened before,and we have to try and preserve what we've got,and not lose ppl needlessly.
Click to expand...

Very true, preservation is key. In reality, preservation and enhancement is the strong solution to invigorating and adding longevity to the platform. We've seen most of these situations before and I have since found that surprisingly, there is an expected and normal process of attrition. However, in this RO platform, due to the active support and communications provided by Tripwire, the attrition rate, to a large extent, is non-existent thus far. I wouldn't be too hasty in judging or being overly concerned about the 50 man servers or any server for that matter. Besides, there is more to the Spring Update to enjoy. Remember, time takes care of everything.

Take a deep breath, step back and look at the BIG PICTURE. The entire online gaming scene is growing not shrinking. We, on the RO Platform are still gaining new users at a respectable rate. Truly, that's what it is all about. More players.

The summer months are coming up and with them, the summer vacations and more online players. You may be very grateful for the variety of servers as they absorb the influx of new players. I say, relax, enjoy the game and take advantage of everything "neat" that RO offers. Enjoy RO and yourselves.
 
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#69
Just FYI - I accidentally stumbled on a way to switch between the beta and the regular version.

I went to join my clan's 45 slot server last night and I clicked on it in X-Fire. When Steam started, it began downloading a ROOST "update" (Not the entire game). When it was done and ROOST started, I was in the regular version, not the beta. I joined a non-beta server and it worked just fine. I exited ROOST and Steam and then started with the shortcut I created for the beta. It downloaded again and I was playing the beta. I was getting pretty good transfer rates (over 700kb/s) so switching between the two wasn't so bad.
 
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#70
I agree my concern was a bit exaggerated,but i felt the questions had to be asked.
The gaming scene is growing,and every game has a limited lifespan,and RO will die just the same as every other game.
Tripwire have excelled many others companies in their support for this game and the RO community,and all the bug fixes,new maps,max player limit,and new vehicles etc. will keep the game alive for a long time yet im sure.
Im just not sure if they would not have been better spending more time adding more content to the game,new maps,game types?,vehicles etc.
Popular servers which are full at the moment will always be full,whether its a 32 or 50 player limit, so upping the maxplayer limit is really only helping that section of the community.
Maybe the technical limitations will mean that 50 player servers will be a no go anyway,so as Mike says lets just enjoy ourselves during the summer and hope that their is a new influx of players during that time,and thank Tripwire for their efforts.
 
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#71
One upside of having 50 player servers that Major hasn't mentioned is bringing in MORE players :) There is something about higher player counts that make the game more appealing for more poeple. For anyone that has played on the 50 player servers you know that its a different kind of RO - small maps are more intense and big maps finally come into their own. For poeple that don't enjoy it, there will always be the standard 32 player servers "good old RO" so to speak. Running a 50 player server takes a HIGH end server machine, and I doubt there will be that many clans or admins that are willing to spend that much every month. 50 player servers will be more like a "jewel" in the community, there will probably be 6-10 that are basically full 24/7 that poeple can hop onto any time and get thier 50 player "fix".

RO has been around for almost 4 years (3 years of the mod, and 1 year of retail). It's weathered the release of 3 COD games, many bad MOH games, BF2, BFV, BF2142, DODS, and is still growing. So I wouldn't worry about it dieing anytime soon. Thousands of new players get the game every month still - if you watch the best selling games list on Steam, we're very often in the top 8 (out of 200 games on Steam). That says a lot about the continuing popularity and staying power of the game. So as Mike Nomad said, just sit back and enjoy the ride. Tripwire's not done with Ostfront yet - there's a lot more exciting stuff on the horizon :)
 
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#73
So.

I made a copy of my redorchestra folder in the Common directory.

I added the suffix to the call string in the Steam shortcut.

Steam updated RO.

I removed the sufix from the Steam shortcut.

I use the same My Games link in Steam to start both versions of the game, I just rename the two folders as I need them.

I'm really digging the Beta! Had a good game last night with a few of the TW team, and here are some of the cool things I noticed:

Nice splash screen. Eeeeeeevil.

Death screams, cries, groans and moans. Hoo yeah! I was moving through a Forest when I jcould have sworn I heard a baby cry. WTF? I heard it again, and realized it was a death scream from a distance. Made my hair stand up, though.

Stabby! The new bayo animation is aces for accuracy. I think this will improve melee hugely.

The lean. Hey! I can see the guy shooting at me! Hooray!

The server started out lightly populated, but as the TW staff abovethread stated, the server started to pull more and more folks in as time went on. What started as a 2 on 2 game became a respectable 10 on 10 by the time I left.

Good games.

Although I can't say for sure as the server was not full, it seemed to me that I had fewer lag issues than usual.

I didn't get to play any tank maps, so I have no comments about tank changes.

IMHO the improvements all work as stated, and all seem to be positive steps forward for RO.

Then I swapped RO directories to "standard" RO and jumped into a scrim. Easy as pie.

Thanks, guys.
 
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#74
[RO]Ramm-Jaeger said:
RO has been around for almost 4 years (3 years of the mod, and 1 year of retail). It's weathered the release of 3 COD games, many bad MOH games, BF2, BFV, BF2142, DODS, and is still growing. So I wouldn't worry about it dieing anytime soon. Thousands of new players get the game every month still - if you watch the best selling games list on Steam, we're very often in the top 8 (out of 200 games on Steam). That says a lot about the continuing popularity and staying power of the game. So as Mike Nomad said, just sit back and enjoy the ride. Tripwire's not done with Ostfront yet - there's a lot more exciting stuff on the horizon :)
Click to expand...

Outstanding!!!!! Got to love these Guys!!!!!!
 
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#75
Thanks Butch and Jane for explaining. You do have to keep the lines of communications open to "non-betas". Perhaps if the beta was built into Steam itself, the casual players would check it out. Right now the casual "non-betas" don't even know since they don't visit the forums, and would be discouraged if they had problems with the beta. What you guys are doing is the best way to handle the beta rollout imo. Thanks for spreading the word.
 
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#77
Added this to first post but I'll put it here too.

For those of you who want to keep a clean public build of RO, you can install steam again (to a different location), copy your RO folder over, and put the command line update in the second steam's shortcut. This will give you 2 versions of steam, one with the beta and one with the public.
 
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#78
Let us not forget that the bandwidth bills have not yet rolled in for the newer beta 50 man servers either. And I'm sure not all game server companies are going to offer 50 man servers (not without some disclaimer about bandwidth usage). As Mike commented, time will tell.

And those clients participating in the beta should keep in mind that there is a mix of server types running the beta. Part of the open test is to get an idea of what a cpu/server type can handle. If there are some glitches along the way, please inform the admins in a respectable way. Some admins may well push the limits of their capacity in an effort to provide useful information.

Without broader participation though, its going to take longer to tell.

Floyd
 
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