Without bashing their efforts - could custom online scripts cause crashes?

[mazex]

Hi!

I really like all the new servers with custom scripting that gives us nice multi player "modes" that are not available in "stock CoD"! As I never have any crashes offline I start thinking if the custom online C# scripts could cause crashes for us playing online? Could it be that a lot of guys out there with rather limited experience in programming C# cause the clients to crash too maybe?

Like I said, I really appreciate the stuff done by them, but I have seen some really "rookie" C# code snippets floating around on the net for CoD... Could it be that the API:s exposed by CoD for the scripting are not safe so we get weird stuff happening on the client side too?

Naturally the answer will be that the game is unstable as it is, but it's getting better and I just wonder if anyone knows some stuff done in the scripts that could cause client crashes? After my last crash online "launcher.exe" used 3Gb of memory so that sure feels like a problem for a 32-bit process, and I don't know how a server side script could cause a problem like that... Maybe by creating to much stuff like ground units etc and then not cleaning up correctly?

[pupo162]

well, if this was true, i bleieve a bugged script would rather kick everyone at the same time, instead of keep crashing people individually. Unless the crashes are related with specific events, aircraft creation or destruction.

the only time i crashed online i was simply flying straight following leader.

[dflion]

Mazex, I am currently on the quick 'scripting' learning curve. All that I am personally interested in at the moment is a basic script that lets you move through a mission or campaign with success or failure scripting. After much testing, these basic scripts do not seem to effect the gameplay if they work properly.
What I have noticed is that 'triggering script' can cause 'crashes', particularly if you are triggering a lot of aircraft/objects into the gameplay which could 'dig deep' into your computers RAM.
We are getting great member support about scripting from Ataros, FG28 Kodiak, Blackdog kt and others, though when Ilya issues a proper sdk I am afraid it is a still a 'hit and miss' affair?

DFLion

[SEE]

Same a dflion, I found the trigger scripts could cause crashes (SP missions). This was during the last official version.

[Ataros]

Originally Posted by mazex

I have seen some really "rookie" C# code snippets floating around on the net for CoD... Could it be that the API:s exposed by CoD for the scripting are not safe so we get weird stuff happening on the client side too?

The answer is yes, scripts can cause crashes. E.g. commonly used script for actors removal causes client crash if a player stays in the cockpit for 3-5 minutes after landing or crashlanding (fixed at R2 and R3, not sure about R1).

Sure there are other bugs present. That is why server owners need help from experienced C# programmers.

FG28_Kodiak is very helpful in solving some key issues with scripts but he does not have time to check out and correct every server script out there alone.

As I understand from your message you have some C# knowledge. If you are willing to help fixing code for Repka servers, please let me know, we will appreciate it. We need a programmer with goodwill and dedication to develop R2 and R3 missions (Steppe map for now).

[mazex]

Originally Posted by Ataros

As I understand from your message you have some C# knowledge. If you are willing to help fixing code for Repka servers, please let me know, we will appreciate it. We need a programmer with goodwill and dedication to develop R2 and R3 missions (Steppe map for now).

Well, as an old programmer I guess I could add some help... The problem is that I was too good (?) as a programmer so I've been working as a manager of a development department for a bit too long to still have my skills sharpened. The latest stuff in the .NET framework and the latest versions of C# have arrived with me sitting in meetings all days long. I have not done a decent day of real programming work for years In the early days of .NET I did however work with C# for a while (after programming C++, Perl and a lot of other languages before that).

I do have a few side projects in my spare time though and sometimes I code something around games that is one of my oldest hobbies! Among them I did an LCD app for Logitech keyboards in C++ showing real time online stats for good old IL2 which I still have some users on

I've been waiting for the game to mature before getting into doing something for CoD too, and soon is the time I realize. The problem is that many weeks I'm lost in work/family etc so I'm not a reliable resource. Let me fiddle around a bit to get up to speed on how the C# scripting works in CoD before I contribute! I have not done a "Hello world" in CoD scripting yet so my knowledge is more on the actual coding which may be fine, but to contribute in these matters a bit of first hand knowledge on how to work with the maddox-classes is needed! It would naturally not hurt if MG released some decent documentation themselves!

I really like the ambitions of the Repka servers and that's where I mostly go myself the few times I manage to go online in CoD. The problem is that it has been so unstable online and it's just the latest patches that I really have felt the old fun from IL2 return!

What I have reacted on while seeing some of the code snippets is really that many of them are obviously written by people that are not that proficient in how to code in C# and more do it like in less powerful scripting support in other games (though most of the examples are good too!). For example a general lack of error handling with try-catch etc will sure get the servers into problems, and it should be possible to write some good dll:s with all the basic stuff done all over in the different scripts? I was thinking of writing a dedicated server manager myself, maybe with some web based GUI to handle a lot of the stuff that is hard coded in the scripts today... There seems to be a lot of people waking up now as the possibilities of the C# scripting is starting to show with good examples like the Repka server!

One of my thoughts is to write a web based GUI in Silverlight to be able to have a real time map of the battlefield where a commander could issue orders that the server side scripts then display to the correct pilots etc... That would be interesting, but there is naturally a risk of accuses of cheating if fog of war is not handled with care The commander could also spawn and direct AI-bombers... Could be really interesting and you could actually have a server running with no real pilots and just two "commanders" battling it out It would naturally be a lot better if it was done within the actual game itself. Maybe for a future version?

[Ataros]

Originally Posted by mazex

There seems to be a lot of people waking up now as the possibilities of the C# scripting is starting to show

Yes, coding for CloD is fun. It is like playing another aviation game. I hope you will like it if you try.
List of available CloD methods can be found in the archive sticked on top of the FMB section. Most of them are self-explanatory. Examples from the developers are also included in the same archive (and can be found in forum threads too).

Originally Posted by mazex

One of my thoughts is to write a web based GUI in Silverlight to be able to have a real time map of the battlefield where a commander could issue orders that the server side scripts then display to the correct pilots etc...

Small_Bee from sukhoi.ru started doing a similar project before he got involved in Repka #1 mission creation (the Sea Lion one). http://i.piccy.info/i7/96ee7f0fea50d...79/bv_1200.jpg

I think most of commanding can be done inside a game via the Mission Menu. The only thing that is missing is some map tools that commander may need and rights restrictions to use them. Maybe this would be done with 3rd party add-ins soon.

Now Small_Bee is busy with R1 mission, but R2 and R3 are lacking such a professional attention. We are looking for experienced coders who may want to develop them (or one of them) on a more or less constant basis. The idea is to combine one of the devs' script generating a ground war with a semi-coop style missions running on R2 and R3 at the moment (a WIP sample of 2 mission only so far). Everyone is welcome to join!

BTW. wildwillie is working on a server commander. Here is one of his posts: http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=27243

[SNAFU]

I for example have actually no clue of programming, but I receive a lot of help and hints from Kodiak, who seems to have profound knowlege in C#, and without that help I would still struggle with simplest basiscs. But in the end, as with everything in life, you have to do it yourself, if you want to have something done.

I constantly check the console output of our server and spent most of my sparetime, which I can dedicate to CoD in looking for scripting solutions and bug elimination. So for the triggers, they do not cause bugs in scripts, they are simply overloading the network and the player PC, which cause some players game to give up. Usually if the RAM is close to certain workload. The more AI you spawn, by trigger, by missionloading via skript or .cmd, the way doesn´t matter, the moment your PC`s RAM receives to much workload to handle at once, the game gives up. You can also watch that problem with the "mission menu". It breaks completly for RAF planes, the moment more than X AIs are in the air, doesn´t matter how you load the AI into the game. That is no problem with LW planes. (Haven´t figured out the exact number of X but it is somewhere between 20 and 25) The best way to avoid that problem is to stick with an empty map.

But I formyself, rather deal with occasional crashes (and I can avoid them, by restarting the game after one sortie, when I see my RAM is around 70% clocked up, by the memory leak feature), than with empty maps.