New & raw web based Dominion II game server

Esben,

I hate to post anything remotely critical about an excellent public service that you've provided out of pure generosity. But the fact is that it is a public service, so...

Next time, would you consider making an announcement about Version updates before you implement them, and give people some time to read the announcement and prepare for the changes? Although at the moment I'm an obsessed DomII addict who checks these forums and mosehansen several times a day, I'm dimly aware that there are some who don't. Given that this patch makes gameplay changes (e.g. gem-creating items) and will inevitably cause compatibility worries (thus the multiple Posts on these forums worrying about whether turns will fail), I think it would have been really helpful to give people a couple of days notice before it happened.

Thanks once again for the server and the service.

Mark

[calmon]

Next time, would you consider making an announcement about Version updates before you implement them, and give people some time to read the announcement and prepare for the changes? Although at the moment I'm an obsessed DomII addict who checks these forums and mosehansen several times a day, I'm dimly aware that there are some who don't. Given that this patch makes gameplay changes (e.g. gem-creating items) and will inevitably cause compatibility worries (thus the multiple Posts on these forums worrying about whether turns will fail), I think it would have been really helpful to give people a couple of days notice before it happened.

I think its a good rule: patch out -> upgrade.

Many people wouldn't see an announcement. A new patch is a more common information.

[Soapyfrog]

Seems to me that all my double-stacked fetishes and clams and what not are still working under 2.14, so I dont think there is much need to panic.

[Thufir]

Soapyfrog said:
Seems to me that all my double-stacked fetishes and clams and what not are still working under 2.14, so I dont think there is much need to panic.

Actually, I'm starting to wonder if our turns really ran under 2.14. I saw the infamous bogus battle report when I looked at my most recently run turn via 2.14, and the battle report was fine when I viewed under 2.12?

This turn was in the game Live and Learn, and was definitely hosted after Esben posted his upgrade notice.

Calmon: The trouble is, that isn't (and can't realistically be) the rule. See for example what happened - or didn't happen - around the 2.13 patch. What actually happens is that a patch comes out and we wait for Esben to announce when he's going to upgrade. In this case, he announced that he already had upgraded, and I think that was just a bit too fast for some people.

I didn't have any clam hoards to worry about, and was already aware that that 2.12,2.13 and 2.14 turn files were compatible. But that's clearly not been the case for all players here, and I think it would have been best if they had had a chance to have their questions answered before the upgrade happened.

It's not a big deal, certainly not a disaster. But it could have been done slightly better IMO.

Mark

[Esben Mose Hansen]

I'm sorry for the worry I have created. The reality is even more fun. The games you are player are most likely still at 2.12.. The Version only changes after a restart, which is why i didn't feel an advance warning was necessary. As the Version the games were started on is available nowhere there is no good way to know which Version you should use. Isn't that fun?

Actually, in the old days, IllWinter made the patches so that playing with different Versions were impossible. I liked that better

To solve the problem now, I could kill every single game, but in such a way that all games will appear to still be running. Then the game owners can restart when they feel they are ready. In this way, the game slots cannot be stolen.

Is that a better way to do the upgrades?

Hmm, so you're saying that in fact all games are still running on 2.12 until the owners decide to restart? I suppose that should have been obvious, but I didn't really think about it.

In that case I take it back. You just announce that you've installed the upgrade, and every game can decide when they want to change Versions (though I guess circumstances might force their hands)

I guess we'll all be a bit clearer on how it works next time it happens.

Mark

[Huzurdaddi]

Esben Mose Hansen,

you rock. It's just that simple.

[Cainehill]

calmon said:

I think its a good rule: patch out -> upgrade.

Really? Look at the fact that so many people and games _didn't_ upgrade to 2.13, because of potential problems that turned out to be potentially game-destroying bugs.

Not to mention that if someone was playing and not bothering to look here, they'd have no idea that a new patch was out. And since there's no way to tell what Version the host is running....

I definately agree that there should in general be some announcement and notification about upgrades.

[Ygorl]

It says on the "Welcome Page" what Version the server is running (it's 2.14 today... )