Server Stress Test
This week we held a server stress test, where we wanted to see how many players the servers could handle at the same time before crashing. And the test was very successful in the sense that the severs did crash. Unfortunately this already happened when we had around 650 users logged in at the same time.
We have now gathered a huge amount of data from the test and we know what went wrong, but we still haven’t identified all of the reasons why. We’re working hard on fixing the issues and will get the servers back up as soon as possible.
We would also like to extend our gratitude to all who logged in and helped us at the test!
We know that it was the first time many of you tried to log in and it may not have been the most fun experience in the world not to be able to play when you have waited a while for a beta-key. But quite soon the servers will be up again, and hopefully we have fixed the bugs causing the servers to crash, so you can log in and play again.
7000 new Beta-keys
We also sent 7000 new Beta-keys this week. So if you have signed up before (and including) the 29th of May you should have received a key – if not, please contact support. But don’t contact support if you know that you signed up after the 29th of May! ;)
Screenshot Competition
Last week we kicked off a screenshot competition on facebook, where you can win exclusive Heroes & Generals gear (T-shirt, USB-ke, etc) but we extended it this week because of too few entries. Now we have (in writing moment) 12 entries and more are welcome. The competition ends Tuesday the 5th of June at 10.00 CEST. So go on and post your entry (as soon as the servers comes up, so you can grab some shots of course) and remember to “Like” your favorite entries to vote!
Propaganda this Week
Previews
Massively
MMOHut
MMOBomb
Violent Gamer
KrebsCOHO
GamingBolt
Shooter-Szene (DE)
Developer Blogs this Week
Congratulations – You crashed our servers!
“The server stress-test today was successful! Our servers crashed and we’ve closed down access to the game. We’ve now sent the servers to the infirmary and we’re analyzing the data collected from the test. We expect the servers to be up again within the next 24 hours.” Read More
7000 Beta-keys + Reminder-mail
“7000 Beta-keys has just been sent by email, and we’ve also sent a “reminder-mail” to those who hasn’t activated their key during the Alpha-phase.” Read More
New Server Stress Test Today at 18.00 UTC
“We have a new server stress test Today (Thursday the 31st of May), where we test how many users can be logged in at the same time. Access to the servers is closed until the test starts, but the servers will remain open after… well, unless you succeed in crashing the servers. ;)” Read More
A change in the dark – shadows revisited
By Reto.Hal9k, Render Programmer
“We’ve been running with Cascaded Shadow Maps (CSM) for quite some time now, with a user adjustable cascade count ranging from 1 to 3 cascades.” Read More
Screenshot Competition Extended
“Come on! This can’t be true… Only three entries in the Screenshot Competition on facebook? We need to do better than this, so we’ve extended the competition one more week. :-D” Read More
Team Debriefing
Design
Reto.RedBjarne, Game Director
“MIA”
Reto.Fleck, Level Designer
“Mainly tweaking and configurating the new capture-setup on Medium French Village. Very glad for the dialogue on the Forum about this subject: Forum.heroesandgenerals.com. Also worked with Reto.Hr.Wille on changing visual look for the ingame maps, due to the new GUI. “
Reto.Robotron3000, Community Manager & Game Designer
“Weapon sway, weaponmods, wiki-work and various bug fixes”
Artists
Reto.Hr.Wille, 3D Artist
“This week I have been working on a few new vehicles and a new Tank set-up. Also did some marketing renders.”
Reto.Mato, Lead Character Artist
“This week I started on new parachutes and their backpacks and did a few H&G banners for marketing.”
Reto.Owleater, Character Designer
“MIA”
Reto.Colding, Lead Animator
“This week I have upped the number of passengers in the american Halftrack to 8 plus driver and gunner… also I have worked on general seating conventions with vehicles and finally done some screenshots for E3″
Reto.Dave, Environment/Props/Concept Artist
“Been doing graphics for the app and for the pontoon bridge.”
Coders & QA
Reto.Goonstah, Programmer and Technical Lead
“Bugfixing, stress-test, bugfixing and bugfixing… did I mention bugfixing?”
Reto.Hal9k, Render Programmer
“- Build management for bradley
- Lobby functionality
- Reset database functionality
- Default character with characterpack on login.
- SLI/Crossfire fixup for new shadow code
- More work on deploy system”
Reto.Ogssan, Gameplay Programmer
“* Fix the change seat code to better handle 7 player jeeps
* New weapon modifier variables for Reto.Robotron3000 to play with
* Bug fixes
* Assault gamemode tweaks:
- Defence timer is paused when attackers start capturing a map resource
- Attackers are awarded a time bonus for every capturepoint they capture
- After capturing a capturepoint the next ones in the row are locked for a short period of time
- Accesspoints are captured like ordinary capturepoints, and while being captured the owners spawn a bit away
- When capturing capturepoints they become neutral at 50%
* Some gameover screen fixes and tweaks
* Action server log tool updates”
Reto.Leto, Gameplay Programmer
“Working on connection issues and general stability issues.”
Reto.Injection, Senior Programmer
“Surfing the bitstreams and working on improving downloadspeeds.”
Reto.Splixxen, Lead Tester
“- Test new build
- Test Ribbons
- Test Badgets
- More testing
- Debug Crashlogs
- Test something else.”
Reto.Indusninja, IT Architect
“The week has been dedicated to code cleanup and refactoring”
Reto.Vashu, Flash Programmer
“- Testing Bradley (next build) internally
- Fixing bugs for Bradley and other builds
- Stress test with community thursday evening
- Added Character rank UI (yep ranks are coming) to Character overview in a later build
- Added Ribbons and Badges for Character overview for Bradley
- Added disable / enable autoscroll for chat and number of players in a channel for Bradley
- Planned implementation of Command Structure with redBjarne, Indusninja and Robotron3000 for later build”
Reto.masterdisaster17, Server Programmer
“Oh dear players, won’t you listen, to my de-brief-ing ?
I’ve spent all week working, on bugs and stress-tests.
I’ve searched through them log files, from beginning to the end.
So dear players, won’t you listen, to my debriefing ?”
Sound
Reto.Draebesmoelf, Lead Sound Designer
“I have been checking and testing the game and then researching, creating and adjusting sounds for the vehicles.”
Reto.Lord, Audio Programmer
“Still working on flash client mission lobby”
Management, IT & support
Reto.Topo, CEO
“War planning with high command and partners.”
Reto.Hansg, IT Admin
“1. Planning of servers in Austraila/New Zeland (wating for mail) (have to make some test servers)
2. Leaseweb planning of new game servers in US. Wating for mail (have to make some test servers)
3. Planning of new perforce.
4. Deploy script to install new servers fast. (auto setup of servers)
5. Backup backup and backup.
6. Various IT stuff.”
Reto.KenSolo, PR Manager
“This week I had the pleasure of sending 7000 betakeys and prepared the two server stress tests. I also started a small test marketing campaign on Google and finally I have just started working on the next videolog for the upcoming ‘Bradley’ build. ;)”
Reto.Lusa, Project Coordinator
“Coordination of the app for Android and iOS + Mission Lobby and Weapon Mods.”
Reto.Bacon, Support Manager
“- Been working on support system internally for smarter processes.
- Support at our two stress tests – awesome job on the last one, it went as it should! Thanks to everyone who came.
- Coordinating test of “Failed to send packets” error, we are now getting close to a solution, which we hope to bring to live soon. As always your feedback is very important!”
NOTICE
The Intelligence Bulletin is designed primarily for the use of the members of the Heroes & Generals community. It is a vehicle for the dissemination to them of the latest information received from Reto-Moto Intelligence sources about the development of Heroes & Generals. Readers are invited to comment on the use that they are making of the Intelligence Bulletin and to forward suggestions for future issues.
Reto-Moto Intelligence Division,
Developer Department
Heroes & Generals fai