[REPORTED] Cannot host old missions - not showing on server list

[m9matt]

So I ran a server this afternoon. After 20-25 mins it slowly filled up to 11-13 players. I disconnected, and my own server(running on another pc) was not visible. I exited Multiplayer back to the main screen and re-joined straight away, and could then see my server.

 

I then left the sim completely to type this, and then fired up DCS and could no-longer see the server at all.

Edited October 4, 2015 by m9matt

[104th_Maverick]

Myself, 373vFS_Greg and Xcom might be onto something.

 

We still need to do more testing but at the moment it looks like there is a player limit that is different for each server, possibly related to the mission file. Once this limit is reached the server drops off the list, when someone leaves the server then it shows back in the list until someone else joins and the limit is reached.

 

It 'seems' that the 104th limit is 15, the server is showing with less than 15 clients, but as soon as this limit is broken it disappears from the list.

 

Interestingly however it seems that the DCS Israel Server has a much lower limit until it drops off the list.

 

You guys could help us test this theory by looking for your server limit. Get your server to 13 clients and confirm you see it in the list.... then get someone to join so it goes to 14 and confirm if the server then drops off the MP lobby list.

 

If it does, get that client to leave or kick someone and check if you see it again with 13 clients.

[Shahdoh]

Another issue that I have just been informed of, is the player names need to be unique. Specifically default users named Player. Get people to use unique names, inform "Player" how to change their name and then remove them from the server. See how that works.

[xcom]

Ok, as Maverick wrote, we did some tests together.

 

We believe the issue is as I wrote before, related to the information being pulled from the server.

The main issue is not the information being pulled, but the information being written in your client when you are supposed to display server information, slot information, player information etc..

 

This is how we tested -

on DCS Israel once there were more than 5 players in (doesn't matter which player name), the server would disappear from the list.

I went ahead and removed the server description, tested again and now we can have 6 players (more available characters to be written in the server information box).

I then changed to the 104th mission and now we can also reach more players, so far seen 10 players, I'm guessing we will get the same limit as 104th server - 15.

 

so, most probably, it is only a matter of the server information box size, meaning how many characters it can hold to display.

 

In order to workaround this issue at the moment, you would have decrease the variety of used airplanes on your server to very little, preferably only on one side.

This will make sure there is very little information written in the server information box to begin with and you will be able to accommodate more players (depends on player name length).

 

Hopefully ED will now have enough information to get a fix on this issue and give us something soon so we can start up our servers again for the community.

[m9matt]

Built a brand new mission from scratch and it seems to stay in the server.

 

Now if you re-save that same mission, after you have changed a few things, I believe it will drop off after time.

 

Need to do some more testing.

 

EDIT : forget that, after 40 mins it disappeared.

 

EDIT AGAIN : not sure, left the multiplayer list and it was back, so unsure of this one.

Edited October 4, 2015 by m9matt

[JNelson]

So me and Shahdoh were testing with the NAFF server. The server was showing up. Then we crashed two P-51s together which created a server event. Both pilots had the SAME name. After this event the server did not show up anymore even after the two people with the same name left.

 

Maybe this is contributing to the issue.

 

EDIT: Disregard we have proven this to be false.

Edited October 4, 2015 by JNelson
correction from p51 to pilot

[Shahdoh]

Looks like multiple issues. #1 being mission size can effect how many clients can be on before it disappears. I can concur with that, as we ran a much smaller mission yesterday and had 20 clients on and server still visible.

 

The other issue is the duplicate name creating an event on the server. As Nelson pointed out, we specifically had 2 clients on with the same name on the server. At this point 11 people were on. Server stayed listed. Then, had those 2 players collide, triggering the friendly fire event to the duplicate name. At that moment, the server became unlisted and did not return. All this time, there were just the 11 on the server.

 

 

 

Edit: Seems my limit on the NAFF mission is currently 11, retesting the duplicate name event issue.

 

 

Edit2: Ok, disregard duplicate name issue. Retested and not able to duplicate. Apparently another had joined NAFF at the moment we ran our test.

 

Edit3: Changed mission to 67 available a/c and 3 tankers - no briefing info, server stayed in the list at 20 out of 20 allowed. Now the Memory leak issue killing the server (10g ram) around 35-60 minutes into the mission.

Edited October 5, 2015 by Shahdoh

[104th_Maverick]

Yeah the plot thickens...

 

Just seen the 104th server with 16 players in the list, so it looks like the limit of 15 theory is losing legs, as we have been running the same mission all day.

[Shahdoh]

As mentioned before, seems to be how much data is being broadcast to the master server. In that light, thinking length of client names may be contributing to that factor, thus the minor fluctuations in client capacity for a set mission.

[xaoslaad]

Too many flyable slots prevents the server from being seen.

 

Too many flyable groups prevents the server from being seen.

 

Ships, at least carriers prevent the server from being seen.

 

Trigger at the end to load a mission prevent the server from being seen.

 

As already mentioned, briefing prevents the server from being seen.

 

Text in the server description can prevent the server from being seen. I've seen some servers with a bit of text, but I put my brief there and it stopped showing up when I restarted...

Edited October 5, 2015 by xaoslaad

[Shahdoh]

Carriers in themselves do not prevent the server from being seen. I have 2 in NAFF's current mission and it stays visible with all slots (20) full.

[xaoslaad]

I tried twice with a mission I was chopping up piece by piece to find the cause(s). Just adding the Kutnetsov and Carl Vinson sent the server to hidden land. They may not always be a cause, but in at least some they are.

[M1Combat]

So what Shahdoh said?

 

If you can ever get a carrier in then it's not the carrier itself from a programming perspective but how the carrier relates to other particulars of the mission.

[xaoslaad]

Ok, so I'm sure that's not a bug because how? Literally putting two carriers on a map and trying to rehost and not seeing the server and then removing them and having it reappear is something that I somehow should be able to diagnose further? What's your point exactly?

[Shahdoh]

What were the other parameters of the mission? How many AC? How many clients could connect before it disappeared? As stated by Xcom and others, it seems to be mission size that matters most. Carriers indeed would add a substantial amount of info compared to other items in the game.

[xaoslaad]

A lot more than I do now.

 

I just added the carriers back and so it went that it worked.

 

Added 4 Su-33's and it worked.

 

Added two Ka-50's and it stopped. But, for me if I delete one of the Ka-50's at Batumi it will show up again.

 

I've attached it if anyone wants to see if it does the same for them...

 

FWIW this mission is just 55k and doesn't come remotely close to the 150k I saw earlier in the thread.

Free Flight and Practice Carrier 1.5.miz

[M1Combat]

I wasn't implying there isn't a bug... Just that the carriers all by themselves don't seem to be the issue.

 

No offense intended.

[m9matt]

Can the thread title be changed from 'old missions' to just 'missions'?

 

As this problem is not just with old missions, it's with new missions built in 1.5 as well.

 

I hope the devs can find the problem. It's very frustrating when you host a server and some people can see the server but others cannot, especially when it is yourself who has been in and out of the server though out the day, and then cannot see it at certain times.

 

I know I have the IP address, but must be frustrating for groups of players when some can see and some can't.

 

I've tried restarting DCS, but it will still not show the missing server.

[m9matt]

My server is on Windows 10, and my gaming rig is on Windows 7.

 

The server still disappears.

[ThePutzer]

No Logical Reason,for 1.5 (new) Missions(server) not showing

 

There are 1/2 doz. +, different reasons for not showing up on server list.. Jumped thru all the hoops, for all the goofy "WORK AROUNDS" today.. And it'll be something else tomorrow.The last patch even made them worse!! So only thing we can do is wait and see if they address these issues or leave us in the dark. With expensive Server Host Rigs, paying for Premium net service, and hrs. of wasted time in Editor..And nobody on your server unless they saved your IP and know by osmosis the server is up and which mission you're running.

No Logical Reason,,,it's Beta it's Beta.. Hope an Pray or send them Vodka.Only options I can think of..

ThePutzer

[m9matt]

I noticed an odd thing today. My server had been up for 10 hours plus, with clients coming and going all day.

 

I jumped on a few times though out the day from my main rig, which showed a ping of 8. I then jumped on in the afternoon using my IP address as it was not showing in server list. When I disconnected I could see my server with a ping of 2221. I then refreshed and the server disappeared.

 

Could it have something to do with a strange ping result ?

 

By the time I typed this, I refreshed the page again, and the server was back with a ping of 28.

[Coug4r]

10 hours plus? That's amazing, i fired up a server today to see if my 1.2 mission would run on it and suddenly i noticed there were actually people flying around but i had to kill the server after ~2 hours because of the (known) memory leak eating up all resources.

 

So yes the 1.2 mission runs, after opening and saving it in 1.5, but the memory leak is an issue.