Massively http://massively.joystiq.com Massively http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Massively http://massively.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[EVE Evolved: Time dilation and the war on lag]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/02/eve-evolved-time-dilation-and-the-war-on-lag/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/02/eve-evolved-time-dilation-and-the-war-on-lag/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/02/eve-evolved-time-dilation-and-the-war-on-lag/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

EVE Evolved title image
When EVE Online launched back in 2003, it quickly gained a following of over 40,000 subscribing players. With around 5,000 solar systems for players to explore, those players spread themselves throughout the galaxy rather than gathering in one place. Players would often come together to trade or make war, but the server generally kept up with the action. As the number of subscribers rose, the size of the average PvP fleet increased and CCP upgraded the EVE server to handle the additional load. 2005 saw EVE's subscriber numbers explode from just over 50,000 to around 100,000 players. Server upgrades suddenly didn't cut it any more, and lag began to set in during large fleet battles.

Ever since then, CCP has waged a largely unseen war against the impossibility of keeping all of EVE's players in one single-shard universe. Holding on to that core ideal that's made EVE the successful sandbox game it is today, developers have pursued every avenue in the fight against lag. While funding research into Python's Stackless IO and constantly optimising code, CCP built the biggest supercomputer in the games industry to house New Eden's growing population. With over 400,000 players now inhabiting the same world and a typically weekly peak concurrency of over 50,000 characters, CCP has been forced to develop some big guns in the war on lag.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at some of the biggest developments CCP has made in the war on lag, including the new Time Dilation feature that literally slows down time to let the server catch its breath.

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MassivelyEVE Evolved: Time dilation and the war on lag originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 02 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ccpccp-atroposccp-eveccp-gamesccp-veritascutting-edgeeveeve-ccpeve-evolvedeve-mmorpgeve-onlinefeaturedhardwarelagmmo-industryrad-game-toolsserverserverssupercomputerteam-gridlocktechnologytelemetrythin-clienttime-dilationwar-on-lagSun, 02 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE Online devblog addresses recent server issues]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/04/eve-online-devblog-addresses-recent-server-issues/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/04/eve-online-devblog-addresses-recent-server-issues/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/03/04/eve-online-devblog-addresses-recent-server-issues/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

EVE Online's server is a complex beast, holding the title of biggest supercomputer in the gaming industry. The main server cluster is housed in London and serviced by a team of IBM engineers. In addition to constant hardware upgrades to take advantage of the newest technology, CCP's network programmers work around the clock to improve performance and track down bugs that will affect the game. EVE is no stranger to lag or network issues and older players know all too well that server troubles are expected around patch days.

When the Dominion expansion was released, there were far more complaints of server issues than could be attributed to the usual "patch day blues". Now several months down the line we're still hearing horror stories of fleet battles lagging unbearably with only a few hundred players. The last few months have seen an increasing number of node deaths and database failovers, in some cases causing unscheduled server reboots. Read on to find out what CCP is doing to combat the issue.

Continue reading EVE Online devblog addresses recent server issues

MassivelyEVE Online devblog addresses recent server issues originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>bugbugsccpccp-eveccp-gamesdevblogdominioneveeve-ccpeve-mmorpgeve-onlineexpansionpatchserversupercomputerThu, 04 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Shall we play a game?]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/11/18/shall-we-play-a-game/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/11/18/shall-we-play-a-game/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/11/18/shall-we-play-a-game/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

When you think of a rapidly developing Asian nation, fast becoming a global superpower and now harnessing the potential of supercomputing, what's the first purpose for this supercomputer that comes to mind? Hint: think video games, not war games. Regardless of your first thought, we're betting you wouldn't have guessed "World of Warcraft"... but it's true.

China's World of Warcraft servers are run by The9, who own Blizzard's distribution rights in the country. "Earlier this year, The9 boasted of hosting more than one million World of Warcraft players online at the same time.To support the complex calculations required to create the game's graphics, The9 owns more than 10 supercomputer systems," Ashlee Vance reports for The New York Times.

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MassivelyShall we play a game? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>asiablizzardchinafantasymmo-industrynew-york-timessupercomputersupercomputingthe-new-york-timesthe9war-gameswargamesworld-of-warcraftwowwow-insiderTue, 18 Nov 2008 19:00:00 EST