Multiplayer maximum mission time?

[NETSCAPE]

I'd like to run a mission from dawn till dusk (in game). In my current scenario I'm working on this would equate to 10 IRL hours. Just curious if there are any issues in doing this or some hard-coded max time for multiplayer missions. 

 

It would be nice to inform players "The mission ends at 5:40pm game time." in the mission description box. 

 

With questions like this I'm not sure if the ME or MP Server forum is preferred...feel free to move. 

[Sketch]

10 hours? I'm willing to bet $100 on a memory leak in dServer that would cause the game to run like butt after five to six hours on the same mission. I believe, Coconut's is the longest mission timer at three hours. Everyone else is around two to 2.5 hours. 10 hours... whew! I think it'd be pretty damn awesome.

 

Regardless of the memory leak (if there is one), it'd be a lot of work and balancing on your part. Just thinking about one mission [that's 10 hours or more long] is a huge amount of scope. Man, think about how many objectives you'd have to create to keep the player base happy for 10 hours. And players can be so damn needy! What if they destroy everything at the seven to eight hour mark? What if they don't destroy anything and the 10 hour mark hits? What about limiting plane spawns and the players' favorite 109 is all used up? How will you balance that? My hats off to you if you can pull it off @NETSCAPE.

Edited August 22, 2018 by [TWB]Sketch

[NETSCAPE]

Well aside from the memory leak all those other issues could be avoided by simple mission logic. My server, in theory, won't be for everyone. That's forsure. I've "rebuilt" with alive ie destroyable objects Station no.1 and the Red october factory at Stalingrad and used my docks/ferry/floats from a Stalingrad template I made for Sirens of Death ect. Aside from that I have just been compiling a list of historical airfields, planes and loadouts. Then I check flight times to area's. I *think* I'm just about done planning objectives for my Summer Stalingrad scenario:

 

 

The idea for the server is hardcore/full realism/historically based with a few exceptions. Again, it won't be for everyone. You'll have to navigate via landmarks and find targets yourself. They won't be magically marked on your GPS finder. And yes I know the icons are wrong color (no blue) - I'm working at this stage in singleplayer format.

 

It will take a bomber about 1 hour to reach Stalingrad from the proper airfields. They could RTB to the nearest friendly field, Tuzov where most of the LW fighters will be stationed. Point being a realistic sortie will take over an hour at most. Therefor having a 2 hour mission is uh, not optimal for bomber pilots who want to fly correctly and climb up to 5k to bomb Stalingrad. 

 

On the other hand attack planes of both sides can reach the nearest enemy targets within 10 minutes. So there is that too. 

Edited August 22, 2018 by NETSCAPE

[NETSCAPE]

@coconut  is @[TWB]Sketch correct here? Could I get away with 4 or 5 hours maybe?

[coconut]

I don’t know. My missions are 3hours, but I restart the server every 12h, and the server is reasonably stable. It could work. 

[NETSCAPE]

1 minute ago, coconut said:

I don’t know. My missions are 3hours, but I restart the server every 12h, and the server is reasonably stable. It could work. 

 

[LuftManu]

1 hour ago, NETSCAPE said:

 

Thank you for this, really! I am looking forward to it!

[Aap]

I think that Finnish server has 6h missions.

[NETSCAPE]

3 minutes ago, II./JG77_Kemp said:

I think that Finnish server has 6h missions.

 

I just checked their thread and you are correct! 

[SYN_Haashashin]

Note that some servers use the trick of having no towns objects at the map whatsoever, been the Finnish server one of them If I remember correctly. Using a big map, and that one is a huge one, full of objects plus lots of IA is not a good idea, thats my experience at least.

 

Haash

[NETSCAPE]

16 minutes ago, SYN_Haashashin said:

trick of having no towns objects

 

That's why I don't play TAW. Immediately kills immersion. Stalingrad has less town/city ect objects than both Kuban and Moscow though. Sure I'll delete them where no one will likely be flying... use static objects  as targets whenever I can... spawn guns in and out when needed... do what I can. But I refuse to fly around in an EMPTY world with no town blocks. Imagine flying over a flat grey area of Stalingrad with no buildings? If I can't run a server with simple static 3d objects like that than I won't run a server I guess, nor play on them. 

[coconut]

One thing that worries me a bit looking at the snapshots with the very nice border lines. Unless it's been fixed since then, MCU_TR_Icons are pretty heavy in multiplayer. Enable/disable one of them and you get a stutter whose length depends on the total number of icons in the mission.

[NETSCAPE]

31 minutes ago, coconut said:

One thing that worries me a bit looking at the snapshots with the very nice border lines. Unless it's been fixed since then, MCU_TR_Icons are pretty heavy in multiplayer. Enable/disable one of them and you get a stutter whose length depends on the total number of icons in the mission.

 

yikes... that sounds... concerning. On the bright Stalingrad area in August should be clear blue skies so hoping that will contribute to a lighter load...

[LLv34_Temuri]

16 hours ago, [TWB]Sketch said:

10 hours? I'm willing to bet $100 on a memory leak in dServer that would cause the game to run like butt after five to six hours on the same mission. I believe, Coconut's is the longest mission timer at three hours. Everyone else is around two to 2.5 hours. 10 hours... whew! I think it'd be pretty damn awesome.

 

We run 6 hour maximum time missions.
http://ts3.virtualpilots.fi:8000/en/missions/?tour=23

11 hours ago, coconut said:

One thing that worries me a bit looking at the snapshots with the very nice border lines. Unless it's been fixed since then, MCU_TR_Icons are pretty heavy in multiplayer. Enable/disable one of them and you get a stutter whose length depends on the total number of icons in the mission.

Very nice info! Thank you very much!

[NETSCAPE]

OK I have calmed down from my super ultra mega huge historically correct Stalingrad mission and am working on my Kuban MP mission idea "Chaos Over Krymskaya". Very short flight times, action packed with only a few airfields for fighters and attack planes is the plan (Anapa and Glens-deck or whatever it's called lol.) I tried to take it really easy on the border line MCU's. Although this will be a "simple" mission, it will sort of function as a density test, which I know is problematic... 

 

Ju 52 cargo drops give 88s, PaKs and Artillery ammo... not a historically accurate aspect, but it's pretty neat turning away and seeing 88's shooting 2000 meters at tanks hehe.

 

Since I'm new to MP design and have no clue how to start, setup and run a server I figure this mission will be a good start-a-roo mission.