About 5 minutes ago I thought I'd check to see if EFU was up at all and to my shock - it was! Ok, yes it was set to the NWN OC Prelude, not EfU, and only one of my 3 characters (Tarnis) was available and was he 3 levels lower than he should have been, but, HEY, the server was alive and it showed signs of data retention.

I sent a message on the DM channel asking if I could help test anything and a female PC appeared behind me (I'm assuming it was Howland), and here is what he said:

"I'm rebuilding the computer, and so far it's going really good. But I have to take this down for now. Later."

So good news to all the fans of the module, that he's working hard on getting it up and running and for that we ALL owe him, and whoever else may be helping him, an epic amount of gratitude and perhaps even a donation or two to help defray the costs of the repairs.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share this sliver of info with the rest of the community.

What djspectre said!

That's the best news I've had in a couple of days now.. :wink:

Actually that would have been cawila, who has been a real trooper in helping get the server back installed under linux.

Things are definitely very close to completion, thank you all for your patience.

*shakeing and drooling* I need my fix man can't you see *raises a shaking arm* come on hook me up I'm good for it!

ROFLMAO - Oh that is just so funny Zaldar

So blatantly true.

:( Is your penguin worth it now? Huh? I live in agony without my slave prelude. A pox on you all.

MadCaddies So blatantly true.

Yes, but still funny I hope

For saftry reasons, we better just hook the modem wire up to his vains

What are your thoughts on data loss, if any Howland? Think we'll be alright in that regard?

And if you would really like to indulge me, what do you use for a server anyway? I have always been curious what type of rig is needed to run a 40 player server.

Shouldn't be any data lose, let us know if there is. It's conceivable persistent storage may get lost, but that is unlikely.

The server is actually just a dedicated consumer 3ghz Intel PC.

NO!!! *arm shakes as he talks and looks at the empty bag* you can't mean this is all you have.. *blood shot eyes pleading* this is barely enough to get me through tonight. I need more!!

(sigh)

Howland

The server is actually just a dedicated consumer 3ghz Intel PC.

Interesting, is it a RAM hog to run a server like EFU? I have a love of computer tech type stuff, but I am by no means an expert. I have always been curious what causes some of the lag. You know, like a certain servers orc invasions. Lack of RAM, CPU bottleneck...I dunno, it's just interesting to learn more when I can as far as how and why these things happen. And we do have some talented computer types here, so I ask to satisfy my unending curiosities ;)

Sedarine I have always been curious what causes some of the lag. You know, like a certain servers orc invasions. Lack of RAM, CPU bottleneck...

Semi-usefull conclusion: Players, help reduce lag by using small (interior) areas! : )

Seconded, as I mostly experienced lag on EfU when the party size was 6 or more on a quest. And lags caused more death than any other monster ever be able. So "safety in numbers" is not always a working theory...

Lag is also caused by Huge factions in one area. The larger the NPC faction, the more the lag. This also applies to PC parties (which tend to operate similar to factions as far as data is sent between objects). a certain orc invasion contains alot of monsters in one faction. Similar invasions can be handled by breaking attacking NPCs into multiple small factions, with a little touching up here and there to make sure they dont' attack each other unless the DM wishes which should make it all round, much smoother.

What about connecting directly via a lan connection rather than going through gamespy. I've heard that this significantly reduces lag for some servers. There are enough dedicated players on this server to do this. I'm not sure it actually helps, but if anyone knows better, please inform.

I -really- doubt that connecting through gamespy, rather than direct connection, does anything. Gamespy just lists servers and their IPs, once you find what you want, you connect to that server. I doubt you connect -through- gamespy, then to the server. If that was the case, it would be colossaly slow for people over seas, and cause all other sorts of problems.

As far as I learned, now I don't know alot reguarding this, is on Low End Client machines, direct connect from the Desktop helps as far as the ammount of stuff your PC has to do, as it doesnt have to run an extra exe in the background for nwn, it only has to run the server connection.

I used to do that and found I got Slightly less lag and (not alot but there was a Deffinate improvement) better load times on areas.

I have noticed I havn't been able to change the apearance of armor or clothing, I just get constant failures with no rolls in the actions menu. Is this in the process of being fixed?