I get that message from the forums all the time, at least half the time I cant even look at these forums.

IS there some other server you could put this site on that doesnt have bandwidth limitations?

Hopefully some optimizations that we have planned will substantially reduce bandwidth usage, and so this won't be a problem.

I definitely apologize for having the website be down for a few days there at the end of the month. It definitely won't be happening again.

As of today (starting this new month) a lot of graphics on the webiste have been optimized. Most graphics saw about a 20% decrease in size (which is a reduction in bandwidth used). However, the graphic from the top of the page was reduced by over 70%.

Graphic	                Old Size	New Size
header-pic	95314	27653
Aasimar	                6798	5699
Adelia	                5440	4294
arachnomancer	13411	10786
demetrius	                5850	4750
drow	                6463	5355
duergar	                 5632	4803
dwarf-gold	5230	4029
dwarf-shield	7536	6013
EarthGenasi	5572	4425
elf-moon	                5311	4437
elf-sun	                7076	5378
elf-wild	                5624	4606
elf-wood	                8436	6423
gaeseric	                6294	5085
gnome	                7190	5766
grigor	                5838	4768
HalfDrow	                4640	3966
halfelf	                6360	5248
halfling-ghostwise	5988	4680
halfling-lightfoot	4030	3259
halfling-strongheart	5136	4126
halforc	                6956	5568
human	                6544	5028
ivlysar	                6614	5301
mayoryorrick	5718	4437
pix-battle	17476	14908
pix-exploration	27543	21921
pix-interrogation	21451	15017
pix-mainnpage	17108	13572
pix-royal	15847	12860
pix-studying	15339	11830
pix-undercity	17619	14426
sherrifwalters	5888	4895
simms	                7141	5570
Svirgneblin	6076	5335
thecaptain	7769	6032
Tiefling	                6542	5103
victoria	                5950	4714

Now, where was the bandwidth going? I personally believe about 90% of the bandwidth we used was taken up by a single graphic, the header that shows up on all forums, pages, and everything else.

This graphic was 100k. What does that mean? Let me give you an example: An application comes in. A DM goes to the applicatoin forum. (1 page) The DM posts the app (2nd page) We are at 200k. It will actually use another 100k bringing up the page again, but that will get counted below.

Assume 8 DM's go look at the application. 1 page each to view the app. 1 page each to vote. 1 page each to comment.

So, this is a total of 26 pages each loading the graphic, for 2600k. Now lets assume 10 apps a day, that is 26 MB of bandwidth used up for the month each day just for apps, assuming that each DM only has to look at it once (which is seldom the case.)

Now, think about how many clicks you do when browsing forums. I estimate I do at least 100 clicks a day easy, and I'm sure others do too.

Now, this graphic is reduced by 70%, which means that we can serve that graphic 3 times as often using the same bandwidth up in a month.

Obviously, that graphic isn't everything, but I think it will help immensly.

T

You may wish to preform the same operation on the header-pic that actually displays in the forums, as it's location is different than the content pages.

http://escapefromunderdark.com/forums/templates/AdInfinitum/images/header-pic.jpg

It's also a bother that they can't be made the same so browsers can cache them both, as on the content pages, the header is 700 pixels, and on the forums, it's 717 pixels. The compression looks pretty good though, as the crispness of the letters on the content page header is still very clean and readable.

-- Until this happens, your calculations aren't going to hold Thrawn... :(

It's the forum header who is the beast, and he hasn't even been grazed!

We need a new host

Actually, header-pic is the first one on the list, and the one with the most dramatic change. It went from about 95k to about 27k. The example I gave above with the 70% bandwidth savings was based on header-pic.

Are the goblin and kobold subrace info coming to the website? Would be nice to see them there also

Paha Poika Are the goblin and kobold subrace info coming to the website? Would be nice to see them there also

[Thread-jack]

And what about that no-more-non-humans info? Would be nice to know a little more about what it's actually about (for instance, dwarves weren't mentioned...)?!

[/Thread-jack]

Snoteye [Thread-jack]

And what about that no-more-non-humans info? Would be nice to know a little more about what it's actually about (for instance, dwarves weren't mentioned...)?!

[/Thread-jack]

Now you lost me here?

Saturday, I think, it was announced in-game that all non-human characters would now require approval, and that it was retroactive. Then, moments later, they listed a bunch of races, but left out dwarves (and, IIRC, half-elves), and then added that we should check out the soon to be updated website for more info. I do not recall who stated this (only that I'd seen the name of the DM before).

I figured that, if they were going to answer your question about updating sub-race info, we might as well kill 2 birds with one stone.

Non-human characters being tieflings,drows and so on. Dwarfs and others are the base races that aren't ecl+ subraces or rare races in general.

Non-human characters beeing tieflings,drows and so on. Dwarfs and others are the base races that aren't ecl+ subraces or rare races in general.

Yes, I know about the ECL subraces requiring approval, but it's been like that since I joined (which, admittedly, isn't that long ago). This announcement just made it sound like some base races (that is, those listed in the "Getting started" section), especially elves, would now also require approval. The fact that it would be retroactive seemed to support this theory (I mean, I know of 1 drow in the game, and I haven't seen her in-game yet - hard to believe that one instance wasn't an approved one).

It was an April Fools Joke.

bwhaahhaahah >_> Go DMs

Howland It was an April Fools Joke.

... I will now go cry in a lonely corner for not figuring that out... :roll:

I always feel bad disputing something with a DM :P

Thrawn, look at the picture here, which is posted on the top of the content pages: http://www.escapefromunderdark.com/images/header-pic.jpg

And look at the picture here, posted on the top of the forums: http://escapefromunderdark.com/forums/templates/AdInfinitum/images/header-pic.jpg

They are different, and I'm suggesting that this one on the forum be compressed as well. It's size is 55537 bytes. The one on the content pages was correctly compressed and reported as 27635 bytes.