Nexon's decline in traffic

[Eos]

That indeed seems to be the case. So despite the fact that this link property exists, it would seem that it isn't always being used to its full advantage.

While true, they don't particularly care because it has no bearing on the server itself.
Nexon doesn't really care how much additional processing and resources the client has to deal with because the individual players have to subsidize it, not them. As long as it's within whatever they consider a reasonable burden they'll just keep bloating it.

They care about overhead to their hardware, which having extra maps and mob life does impact. Anyone who doubts this can look at how they designed the client to do all the thinking so the servers wouldn't have to and realize it's true. That's why the game is so easily manipulated. They cut corners to reduce their own costs.

[Leaves]

While true, they don't particularly care because it has no bearing on the server itself.
Nexon doesn't really care how much additional processing and resources the client has to deal with because the individual players have to subsidize it, not them.
They care about overhead to their hardware, which having extra maps and mob life does impact.

A silly approach, really. But it's nothing new from Nexon - they never seem to realize the impact that their decisions have on the actual end-consumer, and how this may end up coming back to bite them in the ass. As I previously mentioned, minimizing client hardware requirements should actually be one of their top priorities. Remember how long it took them to support Vista/Win 7? Dumb. They don't think it's important, yet I beg to differ, as I personally quit for a long period of time because bossing was un-doable on my machine.

On another note - isn't it true that until a player enters a particular map in a particular channel in a particular world for the first time that map does not hog any resources? I was under the impression that the maps/mobs aren't actually initialized until first entry past a server reboot. Afterwards, they remain alive till the next restart. If this is the case, things like Coke Town would not impact the server operation, seeing as no one can get into those maps.

[Eos]

On another note - isn't it true that until a player enters a particular map in a particular channel in a particular world for the first time that map does not hog any resources? I was under the impression that the maps/mobs aren't actually initialized until first entry past a server reboot. Afterwards, they remain alive till the next restart. If this is the case, things like Coke Town would not impact the server operation, seeing as no one can get into those maps.

That may be true in private servers but I doubt it on the live game, at least not to the extent you've said.

Mob life and props won't spawn until a player has entered for the first time, but the map itself has to be preloaded for them to be able to enter in the first place without excessive delay, and once a player has entered and initialized the map it never despawns it so that map on that channel has become permanent overhead until the next SC, even if no one ever enters it again.

They could do garbage collection to tick off how long a map's been empty and start deallocating it after a certain threshold but that means more CPU to unload it and reload it, and more potential memory leaks for an area that gets passed through regularly but not too regularly.

[Leaves]

That may be true in private servers but I doubt it on the live game, at least not to the extent you've said.

Mob life and props won't spawn until a player has entered for the first time, but the map itself has to be preloaded for them to be able to enter in the first place without excessive delay, and once a player has entered and initialized the map it never despawns it so that map on that channel has become permanent overhead until the next SC, even if no one ever enters it again.

They could do garbage collection to tick off how long a map's been empty and start deallocating it after a certain threshold but that means more CPU to unload it and reload it, and more potential memory leaks for an area that gets passed through regularly but not too regularly.

You've said what I meant to say, just more eloquently. Thanks :)

All in all, then, it clearly would be beneficial for both Nexon and the end-user if they removed useless crap like Coke Town. So the question is, why don't they do it? Andddd I think I know the answer.

[Fiel]

Additional frame data has zero overhead in the files. Actually, having the frame data stored locally in each img file would be faster than using a link because there's no redirection involved.

Also, adding frame data to one file would not affect seek/read performance of any other file. Of all the things you nark on Nexon for, you choose the WZ format? If anything, the WZ format is the best, most efficient thing Nexon has. Their patch format is also very efficient.

If you want to attack Nexon's bloat, try poor programming practices in the game client. That will bring more bloat much more than additional frame data ever could.

Also, adding more data to the WZ files has very little cost on Nexon's behalf. The only time where it would become an issue to add more data is if you were to approach the 2.1GB mark, and then Windows might poop a brick or two. Considering their largest file is about 900 MB, Nexon has nothing to worry about considering file size.

[Eos]

You've said what I meant to say, just more eloquently. Thanks :)

All in all, then, it clearly would be beneficial for both Nexon and the end-user if they removed useless crap like Coke Town. So the question is, why don't they do it? Andddd I think I know the answer.

I left out that even an empty map no one can reach is still a drain on resources because in addition to the memory it occupies, it also takes a bit of CPU for the main loop to stop in and poll that map for any pending events each tick. It's not much, but it does add up when you're talking hundreds of maps across multiple channels.

[Leaves]

Additional frame data has zero overhead in the files. Actually, having the frame data stored locally in each img file would be faster than using a link because there's no redirection involved.

Also, adding frame data to one file would not affect seek/read performance of any other file. Of all the things you nark on Nexon for, you choose the WZ format? If anything, the WZ format is the best, most efficient thing Nexon has. Their patch format is also very efficient.

If you want to attack Nexon's bloat, try poor programming practices in the game client. That will bring more bloat much more than additional frame data ever could.

Also, adding more data to the WZ files has very little cost on Nexon's behalf. The only time where it would become an issue to add more data is if you were to approach the 2.1GB mark, and then Windows might poop a brick or two. Considering their largest file is about 900 MB, Nexon has nothing to worry about considering file size.

I was looking at this from the consumer point of view. The only real reason Nexon would care about their Setup file size would be download costs, which they seem to have already taken care of through their sneaky game manager. Thus, we have established the fact that they do not give a chinchilla's ass.

But consumers do care, and from that perspective, the .WZ files are pretty inefficient at doing what they're meant to do, which is host only relevant game data while minimizing file size.

[Fiel]

I left out that even an empty map no one can reach is still a drain on resources because in addition to the memory it occupies, it also takes a bit of CPU for the main loop to stop in and poll that map for any pending events each tick. It's not much, but it does add up when you're talking hundreds of maps across multiple channels.

An event handler with lazy loading would be enough to solve that issue. If no events have ever been reported, then that place should never be polled. Only load the resource if an event is reported from that resource. See? Client side programming is better!. (snark)

[Eos]

Additional frame data has zero overhead in the files. Actually, having the frame data stored locally in each img file would be faster than using a link because there's no redirection involved.

I don't entirely agree with you on that one, but it largely depends on implementation.

A pointer is a pointer regardless, whether you're pointing from vnum->img[0] or vnum->link->img[0] the only real point where one would be more cumbersome than the other is in establishing the link pointer itself, which would normally be a one time load during client initialization.

I do agree having redundant images wouldn't matter much because they're nested, and therefore wouldn't impede traversal of anything but themselves, and the actual space they occupy in the files. They don't necessarily have to occupy any additional memory because a clever programmer could easily store images with identical checksums in a hash table and share references if it were truly a concern.

An event handler with lazy loading would be enough to solve that issue. If no events have ever been reported, then that place should never be polled. Only load the resource if an event is reported from that resource.

You could also do this by traversing a linked list of active areas only and moving the areas to/from the active pool based on inactivity. A lot of possible solutions but the only one that matters is whatever they actually did

[KhainiWest]

So guy's remember maplestory 2!? Pretty sure nexon just comes on here and reads Eos/Fiel posts concerning structure of the game, Eos/fiel doesn't post it that often in that subject, therefore why it's taking years of development!

[Eos]

So guy's remember maplestory 2!? Pretty sure nexon just comes on here and reads Eos/Fiel posts concerning structure of the game, Eos/fiel doesn't post it that often in that subject, therefore why it's taking years of development!

I've considered writing it myself

[Fiel]

I've considered writing it myself

http://www.blockparty.com/

[Loose]

Southperry Online: The MMORPG

With NPChinchillas that give you pineapples.

[KhainiWest]

Southperry Online: The MMORPG

With NPChinchillas that give you pineapples.

It wouldn't work unless you design it.

[Leaves]

Southperry Online: The MMORPG

With NPChinchillas that give you pineapples.

I will donate.

[Eos]

I will donate.

I'm still considering throwing up a Kickstarter campaign.

[Loose]

I'm still considering throwing up a Kickstarter campaign.

Hahah! If this is true, I'm up for the challenge!