Test Server Update October 23, 2013 4 PM PST: OMFG Patch

[CrimsonTemplar]

https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/test-server-update-october-23-2013-4-pm.155270/



Greetings,

The Tester Server will be coming down for an update at 4pm on Wednesday, October 23, 2013. After the server comes back up we will lock it for internal testing only.

Thank you for your patience,


Could it possibly be what we're hoping for?

[Chewy]

They said that the first chunk of OMFG is coming soon. So odds say yes.

[Orisoll]

It's 6:41 EST, what time zone is SOE in?

[basti]

SOE: http://launch.soe.com/installer/PS2_Test_setup.exe

Pro7: http://launch.soe.com/installer/PS2_PSG-Livetest_setup.exe

Download, get ready, server will propably unlock tommorow, once SOE got time to check stuff out.

[CrimsonTemplar]

It's 6:41 EST, what time zone is SOE in?

Pacific Time.

[DredVS]

Yup I'm downloading a 2 gig update.

Stable 60 FPS time. My body is ready.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vpE6uMJ37dk/UOScrne47aI/AAAAAAAAEL4/Ki-4IWO-SoY/s1600/ron-paul.gif

[camycamera]

yes, it is. prepare yourself.

[bpostal]

I'm So Happy! Gonna get my FPS on (with my 2.8GHz i5)

[Mastachief]

Downloading 1.7gb

Any further info on when it unlocks?

[NewSith]

Release the hounds! Hair for the Hair God! Spawns for the Spawn God!

Danny Cocke - No Restraint (Hybrid Rock) - YouTube

[CrimsonTemplar]

Something snuck onto the PTS, hidden in the files:

http://i.imgur.com/ggM5DcM.png

Looks like it's the Planetside 2 re-imagining of the REK.

Credits to Sir RoyAwesome for discovering this tidbit.

Is this the surprise that they're putting in on 20th November? Who knows...

[camycamera]

Something snuck onto the PTS, hidden in the files:

http://i.imgur.com/ggM5DcM.png

Looks like it's the Planetside 2 re-imagining of the REK.

Credits to Sir RoyAwesome for discovering this tidbit.

Is this the surprise that they're putting in on 20th November? Who knows...

i think that may be the computer that controls the remote control drone for the infiltrator.

[Hamma]

Anyone get on there yet or is this bad boy still locked?

[Mastachief]

Still locked for me

[Jaybonaut]

I doubt it will be unlocked for us today; I could be wrong.

[Kalee J]

I promised myself I wouldn't cry.

[ChipMHazard]

I'm guessing that we'll be hearing when it's open to the public again.

[Calista]

Well it's just 7:00 out west so they will probably have it open sometime tonight their time anyway.

[bpostal]

i think that may be the computer that controls the remote control drone for the infiltrator.

That would make more sense to me seeing as there's wouldn't be much for a REK to actually do (besides taking up a pistol slot)

[arclegger]

Update: https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/test-server-update-october-23-2013-4-pm.155270/page-3#post-2209673

[camycamera]

Update: https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/test-server-update-october-23-2013-4-pm.155270/page-3#post-2209673

can someone post the content of that link here? it is blocked for me atm.

[Sirisian]

First the bad news, while Elam and the Producers are running away from my computer they are letting me know that unfortunately we ran into some Test server specific issues that the team is trying to resolve. I will update this thread with more info as I get it (I just ordered a surf and turf burrito for dinner because it's going to be a late night at the office).

The good news is there was only 1 major problem, everything else seems to be working smoothly on the Test server. As I write this I can hear Elam and Production talking about working really late tonight to resolve this, trying to figure out someway somehow to get the build up tonight (Midnight PST *google it* or later). They want this build up badly and are very mad that it isn't up now. Let's make sure we remember these guys and not get too upset at them.

Thanks.

Thanks for the update.

[GeoGnome]

can someone post the content of that link here? it is blocked for me atm.

First the bad news, while Elam and the Producers are running away from my computer they are letting me know that unfortunately we ran into some Test server specific issues that the team is trying to resolve. I will update this thread with more info as I get it (I just ordered a surf and turf burrito for dinner because it's going to be a late night at the office).

The good news is there was only 1 major problem, everything else seems to be working smoothly on the Test server. As I write this I can hear Elam and Production talking about working really late tonight to resolve this, trying to figure out someway somehow to get the build up tonight (Midnight PST *google it* or later). They want this build up badly and are very mad that it isn't up now. Let's make sure we remember these guys and not get too upset at them.

Thanks.


@cammy What happened, you get banned for something?

Also yes, thank you for the update Clegg

[Wiifi]

First the bad news, while Elam and the Producers are running away from my computer they are letting me know that unfortunately we ran into some Test server specific issues that the team is trying to resolve. I will update this thread with more info as I get it (I just ordered a surf and turf burrito for dinner because it's going to be a late night at the office).

The good news is there was only 1 major problem, everything else seems to be working smoothly on the Test server. As I write this I can hear Elam and Production talking about working really late tonight to resolve this, trying to figure out someway somehow to get the build up tonight (Midnight PST *google it* or later). They want this build up badly and are very mad that it isn't up now. Let's make sure we remember these guys and not get too upset at them.

Thanks.

Hoping I'll still be awake. Early class tomorrow.

[camycamera]

@cammy What happened, you get banned for something?

Also yes, thank you for the update Clegg
thanks.

and no, i'm on a different network that bans the website. :lol:

when i get home i'll be able to access it.

[Mordelicius]

:groovy:
Breakwater - Release the Beast (1980) - YouTube

[arclegger]

We're live

[camycamera]

IT'S SO MUCH SMOOTHER. i did not try without smoothing, however, so i guess smoothing was the game changer.
i think that i got more FPS than i would usually (we fought at the crown), however i am not sure. i got about 45 fps on average, on a 48+ vs 25-48 battle at the crown. i need more testing, but i'd say that is an awesome. as i guess, i'd say i might have averaged 35 on live.


also, you can alt-tab without crashing. not to mention, loading is much faster, and also the UI has a bit of a change when it comes to health indicators, when you kill someone, and whatnot.

edit: but for some reason i d/ced and now the server is unavailable.

why Clegg, why? i was just about to get the PDW and shove it up the VS's ass :(

edit 2: also there were some instances where the FPS counter was not telling me if i was CPU bound or GPU bound at all (not during fights of course). interesting.

EDIT3: Just a note that we encountered our first world crash. Working on a fix for it but there may be another crash or two before the new world is up.
oh, okay.

[Ssential]

I'm constantly crashing over the crown with my reaver...

Other than that a pretty good improvement in overall FPS for me.
In big fights around the crown I have35-40 (shadows off) fps on live server and now 45-50 (shadows high) on test server which is great.
I'm wondering how the performance is in biolab/amp/tech facilities. That's where my performance dropped the most to 25-35 fps.

i7-950 @3.07 GHz (4 core, 8 threads)

[torokf]

Thanks for the late hour work guys, on my end I feel like I should slow a bit and test things thorougly before expressing a misjudged opinion, in fact I've already done so, my first login seen around 5 crashes due to altab / altenter, changing settings, guess I'll make a file convalidation and try again with more patience :cool:

Clegg by any chance did you change some terrain around Indar? I remember reading you were working on West highland checkpoint or something that would go live with Optimization. Am I wrong?
I'd love more cover, Esamir is amazing <3

[Jaybonaut]

Trying to get the word out in my own little way:


Be Less Derp Guy

[Rolfski]

First impressions: Definitely more GPU bound and solid fps increase across the board, especially at quiet area's. But in a massive 3-way grinder at the Crown, it gets ugly fast though: Lots of stuttering, massive fps spikes (15fps - 85fps), rendering issues (you can hardly see where your shells are flying), etc. Still far away from a smooth experience. Btw I'm on a i7 950 3.6GHz/ 6Gb RAM/ATI HD 5970 dual gpu.

As for the new HUD UI, I'm not a fan of it. Besides from its style (not mine), it fails to do where it's designed for: Give you clear info. It blends too much with the back ground (shields in centralized hud, you can hardly see when it's full/empty), the ammo reload circle is too thin and hardly visible and the same goes for the red hit detector: You can hardly see if you're hitting someone.


BTW. Be sure to check out the new lay-out of Biolabs. Looks promising (have to test it though), except for the closed-off spawn: You have to take a ridiculous walk to actually get in the biolab .

[DirtyBird]

Finally got around to matching my settings on live to the PTS.
About a 10% increase in an empty warpgate so it'll be good to test it on Sun/Mon.
More bottleneck at GPU level for me now with a 6970.
I'd like to finally run crossfire but I hear its still not stable atm.


As per what Rolfski said, I am also not a fan of the central hud update.
An option to have the old one would be good.
The ammo and HP indicator does disappear into the game too much and I liked the fact the current version on live gives clear information.
Even the death screen shield and health bars are over the top now.

The repair hud is still the old bar system down the bottom of the hud for when you overheat.
The repair circle on items is till the old circled bar system as well which seems strange that you would change the bottom hud with a thin line around the circle but leave other things as they are.
Maybe they are in the list of things to finish.

The change to the smaller hud down near your nade count looks ok, for your jump jets, aura heal etc.

Might just be me but I think my tracers are easier to see in thermal.

Bio Labs changes look interesting.
That large walled platform above the teleporting tube room could be a good addition.

Pulse from Recon Dart is so faint its nearly non existent.

[Hamma]

The actual notes are up:
https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/test-server-update-10-23.155314/

http://wiki.planetside-universe.com/ps/Test_Server_Update_(2013/10/23)

How has the performance pass been for everyone?

Hi All,

The first patch for our Performance Update is now on Test Server and we're ready for players.

Summary of Changes:

We’ll get a longer list of patch notes out when we’re closer to live, but here’s the short of it for now:

General:

Performance changes of all kinds. Too many to list and more on the way.

UI:

The Centralized HUD has been redesigned with a new look to increase performance. You can try it out by checking the "Centralized HUD Mode" checkbox in the General Settings.
We've renamed all the Warpgates to geographical names. So you will now see the "Indar Northern Warpgate" instead of the "Indar TR Warpgate"

Misc Bug Fixes:

Fixed shotgun pellet count tooltip. Instead of saying, "The amount or pellets each time the shotgun fires" the tooltip now says, "Single-shot Pellet Count / Pellet Spread"
Added 1x sight for VS Eridani SX5G
Fixed an issue where Resupply and Repair Sunderer icons would not display when within 100 meters of the vehicle
Fixed an issue where The Smoke Screen Utility tooltip on the loadout menu has a different duration value than the cert rank for Sunderers
The AV turrets at West Highlands Checkpoint should no longer be floating
Fixed floating turrets at West Highlands Checkpoint and The Stronghold
Removed erroneous painfields around Indar
Fixed an issue where the two projectiles would sometimes be visible when firing the Recon Detect Device when only one was fired
Fixed issue where lower ranks of Sunderer Proximity Repair could not repair Sunderers that had a higher rank equipped
Depot Bundles and store items have had a pass to ensure correct faction usage is written in their descriptions
AV turret projectiles should no longer disappear in large battles

Major Known Issues:

This is not an exhaustive list of what we know about, but we’re turning around a lot of bugs each day and these are the major outstanding issues:


SLI and Crossfire Hitches – You may want to turn off SLI and Crossfire for the moment as there are some performance hitches we’re working on
Minimum Spec PCs – If you have the bare minimum or very close to, you may still be experiencing some significant performance issues.
GPU Particles –These could cause cosmetic anomalies, performance issues and crashing, so please turn them off for now
Freyr - We’ve decided to hold back the base flows changes in Freyr a little while longer. Likely won’t be until after this first performance update is live
Video Capture - May cause performance issues, but feel free to test and send us information on what you’re seeing

Help Us Test:

Performance in large battles - We only have so many people at SOE to test large battles, so this is an area where we really need your help. We’ll be collecting data on the backend, so no real need to send us reports.
Animation - We’ve made a ton of changes here to improve performance and are still working through some issues. Please report any oddities or bugs in first or third person animation.
Indar - Indar has received a full optimization overhaul. Look for cosmetic and functional issues in regards to bases and terrain. (Esamir, Amerish and Hossin haven’t had their optimization passes yet.)
Overhead Indicator Revamp and General UI - We’ve made a lot of optimizations just about everywhere in the UI, so please be on the lookout for anything not functioning properly
Art Assets - We went back and touched most of our existing art assets (weapons, decals, environment objects, FX, etc.), so please let us know if something doesn’t look right or is just plain missing.
Stability - If you crash, please let us know in a bug report what you were doing before you crashed
Double/Triple Loading Screens - We may still have a few lingering cases of this but need to get more testing on this
Everything Else - We’ve made core changes to the game that could have caused just about anything. We’ve already found and fixed a ton of these, but we’re surely missing some and won’t see them until we get a critical mass of players.
Framerate Smoothing Option - In graphics settings, you’ll see this an option for Smoothing. If you’re looking for a smoother frame rate, you want this on. If you’re willing to deal with performance spikes -- good spikes and bad spikes – leave this off. We expect most players are going to want this on for a smoother experience, but you’re welcome to test for yourselves and give us feedback. If you’re just looking to see how high your frame rate spikes on Test compared to current live, you will want this off.

Test Server Incentive:

If you log on to Test Server any time from today until the day before the patch goes live, we’ll give your Live account a 3 day XP boost to use on any character
You must use your Live account on Test Server to get this reward, otherwise we have no way to determine who to give the reward to

Reporting:

In-game Reporting - This is the best way to give us feedback as Test Server bugs are emailed directly to us. Push Esc, then support, then Report a Bug
Forums - Please use the Test Server sections and work with other players to help give us information. The more condensed and easy to read the reports are, the easier it is to get them addressed

As an additional note, we will be updating the Test Server frequently with updates and bug fixes. It could be down more often than usual or have game breaking issues for periods of time. We'll keep you all posted on major changes and down times.
-Raxxyl

[ChipMHazard]

More stable frames and more GPU bound, but I haven't been in a big enough fight to really see if the optimization has changed much.

[bpostal]

More stable frames and more GPU bound, but I haven't been in a big enough fight to really see if the optimization has changed much.

Well Chip, I'm glad you said that. Did you know that we're hoping for a huge mega stress test on the PTS this Sunday (the 27th of October) at or around 1300 PST? (http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?t=56869) Gonna be a good time! ;)

[Babyfark McGeez]

Something snuck onto the PTS, hidden in the files:

http://i.imgur.com/ggM5DcM.png

Looks like it's the Planetside 2 re-imagining of the REK.

Credits to Sir RoyAwesome for discovering this tidbit.

Is this the surprise that they're putting in on 20th November? Who knows...

Maybe they plan to replace "staring really hard at a console" with actual hacking. ;)

Edit: Also saw in the notes they fixed (some) floating turrets, woot. :p

[VaderShake]

Something snuck onto the PTS, hidden in the files:

http://i.imgur.com/ggM5DcM.png

Looks like it's the Planetside 2 re-imagining of the REK.

Credits to Sir RoyAwesome for discovering this tidbit.

Is this the surprise that they're putting in on 20th November? Who knows...

This was in the guy who did the concept stuff for PS2 from his Deviant Art page.

http://th08.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2012/239/4/4/planetside_2_pre_viz__cud_1_by_ukitakumuki-d5cotfw.jpg

Link to his page: http://ukitakumuki.deviantart.com/art/PLANETSIDE-2-Pre-Viz-M439-Vanguard-317280226

[Jaybonaut]

The only issue I have is with shield/class skill/health bars, the rest of the ui changes are ok, unless you count the infiltrator darts on the minimap because those seem to be broken.

In regular non-centralized HUD mode, it is too hard to use your peripheral vision to keep track now because the line thickness isn't consistent for those bars.

In centralized HUD mode, I would like the bars to not fade at the ends because it is too difficult to see.

[ChipMHazard]

This was in the guy who did the concept stuff for PS2 from his Deviant Art page.

http://th08.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2012/239/4/4/planetside_2_pre_viz__cud_1_by_ukitakumuki-d5cotfw.jpg

Link to his page: http://ukitakumuki.deviantart.com/art/PLANETSIDE-2-Pre-Viz-M439-Vanguard-317280226

So it is for the drone then.

The only issue I have is with shield/class skill/health bars, the rest of the ui changes are ok, unless you count the infiltrator darts on the minimap because those seem to be broken.

In regular non-centralized HUD mode, it is too hard to use your peripheral vision to keep track now because the line thickness isn't consistent for those bars.

In centralized HUD mode, I would like the bars to not fade at the ends because it is too difficult to see.

Agreed. I don't know why they wanted to go with a more stylized approach to the bars. Might be that they had to go away from the previous style completely because of UI optimization or that they just wanted the new design to have a more futuristic style to it.
I've always preferred simple bars that are easy to see at all times.

I kinda like the new enemy kill notification, although I do not like the glare behind it. I find it to be too distracting.
Not sure about the kill feed yet.

[Carbon Copied]

The HUD screams "stylized console" to me. I don't think this is coincidence.

[Wahooo]

Minimum Spec PCs – If you have the bare minimum or very close to, you may still be experiencing some significant performance issues.

I wasn't expecting much for myself, but I think I may have lost out some. Maybe its just that I had adapted to the stuttering of other players and since I haven't really logged in other than to clear my certs for over a month, but FPS isn't even hitting 30 at WG as it used to and a lot more rubberbanding of other players.

The move to more GPU bound is probably better overall for more people but it might end it for me for now.

[camycamera]

The HUD screams "stylized console" to me. I don't think this is coincidence.

I think that they did it so it uses less resources, as the HUD has been known to take allot of resources on live.

[typhaon]

The shield/health bars on the standard HUD aren't good.

They are much harder to keep track of than on LIVE.

As mentioned in the notes, I can confirm that using SLI causes major spikes drops in FPS... constantly, really.

I wouldn't really play without SLI, so I can't comment on much else until ^that is corrected.

[synkrotron]

Test Server Incentive:
If you log on to Test Server any time from today until the day before the patch goes live, we’ll give your Live account a 3 day XP boost to use on any character
You must use your Live account on Test Server to get this reward, otherwise we have no way to determine who to give the reward to

Anyone any idea how this works? Is it delivered like a boost you purchase from the store or does your XP automatically get boosted after playing on the test server?

I'm asking because I've spent some time on the test server but I'm not seeing a boost as such to my XP on my Live account.

cheers

andy

[Kalee J]

When you're granted a boost (or other item) it shows up in your notification page. The default is "K" I believe to open this page. There you'll see pending notifications (squad invites, friend requests, etc.) and you should see a boost that if you accept it will go into the store of boosts the character you have logged in at that time. So while the notification will show up on all characters you log in on that account be sure to only claim it on the character you would like to use the boost.

[Spoof]

... or that they just wanted the new design to have a more futuristic style to it.

People of the future still require the same, practical functionality from a HUD :)

This new design is a step back into a past where people have to guess how much ammo/thrust/shield/health/armour is left, while constantly wiping their monitor with a rag in the hope of removing these artsy-fartsy etchings that keep appearing in their line of vision.

Please bring back the clean, functional centralised hud with 'ticks'. It was the implementation that impaired performance, not the art itself.

[synkrotron]

Thanks for your reply Kalee.

I've checked my notifications and there is nothing there.

I'll try to play on the PTS a bit more and see if that makes a difference...

[typhaon]

Thanks for your reply Kalee.

I've checked my notifications and there is nothing there.

I'll try to play on the PTS a bit more and see if that makes a difference...

I don't think they've been awarded, yet.

[VikingKong]

This new design is a step back into a past where people have to guess how much ammo/thrust/shield/health/armour is left, while constantly wiping their monitor with a rag in the hope of removing these artsy-fartsy etchings that keep appearing in their line of vision.
Yeah, it's pretty bad. I thought the point of the centralised HUD was that you could tell what was what without having to take your eyes off the action, but now - even if I stare directly at it for a few minutes - I can't tell shit. Plus it looks like arse.

[Wargrim]

So i have spent some time on PTS today.

- Constant crashing? Still there.
- Bug that leads to unplayable stuttering unless i turn on the ingame video recording tool? Still there.
- Stuff takes over one minute+ to render if i drop pod into a fight? Still there.
- Inevitable graphical corruption of the map and UI after some time playing, a sure sign of a following crash? Still there.
- FPS improvements? No idea, PTS is pretty much empty.

Conclusion: Patch does nothing for my system. All the stability / performance related fuckups they introduced back in April, over 6 month ago, are still present. The game is still less playable for me than it was in the later parts of Beta.

Additional realizations:

I visited Hossin myself for the first time. Base design seems awesom, which is in such incredible contrast with some of the base design fuckups on other continents. Framerate is super low even when empty, zero chance it will ever be possible to have a decent FPS fight on Hossin on my PC. But pilots with a rig that gives good FPS and FAST LOADING OF THE TREES will have an awesome time flying low and fast, this is gonna be real good fun for them i think. Plenty of LOS / Lockon breaking trees, flying backwards is super high risk. Might see lots of curving around in fights, as long as you fight below the canopy.

Biolab Spawn change is the bigges Level Design fuckup in the game in a long time. See the other thread.

UI change is horrible. Before, we had life/shield/reload/and so on - bars that were simple, clear, functional, readable, simply GOOD. This stylized shit is the opposite.


Both the Bio Lab spawns and the UI change should never make it to life servers. If this patch gose life as it is now, i am done with this game once and for all. Not because of those particular changes, but because they would be the final prove that SOE is deliberately taking this game in the opposite direction of where i want it to go. There habe been a great number of changes in the past that all point to this: SOE wants to remove everything from the game that seems difficult, challenging, and potentially frustrating for people that seek the fast and easy way, that want instant gratification, that could be called casual. But those challenges, difficult to achieve goals, that require efford, time, dedication, teamwork are what makes this game interesting to me.

I have played this game as often and as long as i possibly could, from Beta to release until today, despite crashing every 10 - 20 minutes since April, this is more than 6 month. Because there is nothing comparable. Because i think it has a gigantic potential. Because i had a tiny bit of hope left that things would get better some day. But things have come to a point where this patch, if introduced as it is on PTS right now, would be the final straw that breaks the camels back. If SOE is going that route, all hope is lost from my perspective. It is only going to get worse, and what i once enjoyed will be taken apart bit by bit.

This patch is a turning point. Make the game significantly better for a lot of people, or fail to deliver once again. Set a path to a new resurgence in players, or to the final decline that can not be stopped anymore.

[Falcon_br]

Well, I got 120+ fps on hossing on low setting.
Normally it doesn´t care if I am on low of high setting, my fps is around 40.

I forgot to say that it is great for me, because the game has been announced here on Brazil.

We all know most Brazilian PC are bad, people doesn´t understand about hardware, they still think the most important thing on video card are it memory size, so most pc sold here are with bad videocards.

With this new patch I can see the game been a success on Brazil, because now, everyone with a shitty pc will be able to play it.