Manual Server save hangs

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  2. 7 years ago

    ...

    I'm going to assume i'm being stupid again. But I think you've assumed i'm running a client.

    How do you get to the PBO of a mission that's embedded into the pbo of your mod? Your quickstart is available as SHOWCASE from the Arma3 UI. I'm running a dedicated server from a commandline. I need to write the mission name to server config and have it in the MP folder for it to be able to be tested on the dedicated server, I don't have access to a UI and there is no point in trying to test on a hybrid or fat client if i'm reporting an issue with a dedicated server.

    Are you guys not testing the software on dedicated servers?

  3. Tupolov

    10 May 2016 Administrator
    1. Setup your server on ALiVE War Room (follow the instructions), ensure your servers public IP is registered on War Room etc.
    2. In your server.cfg include persistent=1;
    3. Start your Dedicated server with the following mod params -mod=@CBA_A3;@aliveserver;@ALiVE; etc
    4. Start your Arma 3 client with the following mod params -mod=@CBA_A3;@ALiVE; etc
    5. Main Menu > Multiplayer > select your dedicated server > JOIN
    6. / #login yourpassword
    7. Maps > Stratis
    8. Missions > ALIVE | Quick Start (COOP 9)
    9. CONTINUE
    10. Select a slot (Squad Leader)
    11. OK
    12. When the map loads, if you have successfully saved a mission before with SPOTREPS, PATROLREPS, SITREPS or markers, they should be displayed on the map. The map diary should also include entries relating to the reports.
    13. CONTINUE
    14. A hint to the right hand side should appear stating your web profile has been loaded, if not persistence has failed.
    15. If you have saved a previous mission, then you should be restored to your last location with your last loadout.
  4. I need to do some config changes for mine then as I use autoinit to get the game auto load, thanks for the walk through will see how it goes.

  5. OK it works exactly how you describe, theres some differences in server setup between this and mine, but we get a server save as is designed. As mentioned I got player save in session so its around the server save and restart theres something happening. Here's the differences Ive got so far:

    1. Respawning is completely different, I need to check your description.ext and see if it works with my types which is the classic respawn point after timer. I suspect this is not a factor.
    2. When doing a server save, the quickstart mission actually exits and stops and returns to the mission select screen. In mine it does not. see 3 below...
    3. Autoinit is not present in your test so there is no autoloading of mission, in fact you can't have a persistent mission with the Quickstart because the mission wont run initially unless someone is connected. I wonder if this is the culprit?

    3a. Theres a fairly sizeable difference in my server.cfg when I did this test. I cut out a lot of options.

    1. I've got ACE3 and some unit mods like CUP and BAF added. Should be easy to rule out.
    2. My mission is a lot larger on Altis. It would not surprise me if that breaks something.
    3. There's possibly some funcitonal differences in the misisons anyway betweeen Alive modules and settings, I will have a peek at the quickstart mission tonight now its saved in my cache.

    What I plan to do is add the differences in layers and see where it breaks and find out what breaks it. It's enough to say that ALiVE can be broken right now, even when loaded as per the instructions provided, so I'm sure this is of interest to you guys.

    Fingers crossed for a solution and something to be gained for everyone out of this...

  6. Tupolov

    10 May 2016 Administrator
    1. You can configure respawn however you want as long as respawn on restart is disabled
    2. The only way to save a game is to exit currently. The save script should do this... If it doesn't, something is breaking it.
    3. Quick start is a fully persistent mission. Auto init is irrelevant and to be honest something we haven't reallly tested and may not work. The expected use case is for COOP missions that run anywhere from 1-x hours that are "saved" once the session is complete. Sessions are started by an admin and saved by an admin.

    To your points about ACE, CUP, BAF - all work fine with persistence.
    To your point about Altis and larger missions, we have stress tested to around 2000 AI and large Altis missions, so it shouldn't break anything.
    Please do check your module settings, particularly player persistence settings etc.

    As you say, start simple and validate persistence is working before introducing other elements. Auto-init would be the last thing to test.

  7. I think a problem is that i'm trying not to use it as it was designed based on what you said. I was heading for a JIP persistence similar to an exile/altis life type affair that would run the 'mission' without anyone present but use the "disable AI" to reduce CPU load. The ALiVE concept seems to be based around someone being there. Has anyone here tested with IniDB to get the persistence whilst only using ALiVE persistence for the logistics? My main issue with mixing the types is that traditional databases cannot capture the virtual AI system and the virtual AI system is the key to large scale conflict. So there's not a solution that fits my needs as far as I know :/ Which is kind of crushing. I'll still see if i can isolate the issue but without a way to fit my needs my heart isn't really in using this going forward. Thanks for your help.

  8. Edited 7 years ago by SpyderBlack723

    You can keep the server running when nobody is online by setting persistent = 1; in the server config file. Assuming that's what you're going for (of course no db saving unless an admin executes it).

  9. Tupolov

    10 May 2016 Administrator
    Edited 7 years ago by Tupolov

    Why would you want to save if the server is always on then?

    For your scenario. Just start the mission you want to run and leave it on. Simples. If you decide you want to change missions, turn off the server or simply shutdown Arma - then join the mission and select Server Save and Exit.

    No one has to be on the server, you just need to start the mission (and save the mission when you want to turn your server off). As we stated above you need persistent = 1 in your server config to have any kind of persistent mission (and not have to have a player in the mission).

    Am I missing something here?

    JIP Persistence is fully baked into ALiVE.

  10. Hi All

    I believe I have the same problem with thebgpikester. In our server, When the mission is on, we are able to save Loadout, I mean "Player Exit", exit the game and join back, the save loadout load again. Single Player Persistence works. However "Save & Exit" did save and exit as intended however when we load the mission again, It reset to it original state. Even the "Reset to Original" State is blank out. I've been head scratching since 1.0.4. In 1.0.3 the persistence did work.

  11. Tupolov

    11 May 2016 Administrator
    Edited 7 years ago by Tupolov

    We specifically stated that 1.0.4 was broken due to Arma 3 1.58 regression. This issue meant that player persistence was broken.

    That issue is fixed in 1.0.5.

  12. Hi Tupolov

    We are currently in 1.0.5. :P

  13. Tupolov

    11 May 2016 Administrator

    Then its likely your respawn settings are incorrect.

    How can I put this :)

    Persistence works, we test it daily/weekly. No doubt there might be edge cases such as:

    1. Use of special characters breaks it
    2. Respawn settings are incorrect
    3. Persistent settings on modules are incorrect
    4. Not waiting for save to complete
    5. Loading doesn't occur because of incorrect server IP

    If you think something is broken. Validate persistence is working with our ALiVE Quick Start (COOP 9) mission. If it works there, then its likely mission related. Feel free to turn on data debug and submit logs (RPT and plugin log) for your mission.

  14. Hi Tupolev, reason for saving a state whilst 'in persistence' is so you can reboot the box on a schedule using Windows Scheduled Tasks and have it come up and load back into the same mission again, or if there is a crash (small chance but its been known) without any interactions at all. I can currently achieve this and I do - I don't touch the box all week, it loads an alive mission, reboots the box every night but cannot hold persistent maps. To do this I need to send a save state inside the mission on a scheduled time period. I've already asked for that enhancement and I understand that ALiVE can't do that currently. I could probably script something but I'm not sure how to either a) access the game scripting from outside in the Windows environment or b) access the Windows environment from inside the gaming scripting environment - I'm not sure these are possible as developers usually design safety mechanisms to prevent it as its a security risk.

    You can't use ALiVE persistence without a server admin initiating a save so we are looking at organised group play, with a start time and an end time. That's a completely different style of gameplay to running a server 24/7 with restarts scheduled. These are fundamentally different approaches and solve different problems, just in this case not mine.

    I hope this explains what i'm trying to achieve and why, i don't think anyone is really understanding it because they don't play in the same way. The benefit of this different style is leveraging persistence (proper persistance over days and restarts - unattended) with large scale conflict in order to have quite large ongoing full map campaigns that continue to play themselves out whether there is one player, a dozen players or no players. It allows a solo player to still do key things like moving supplies, setting up mortar pits and defences with ACE and marking the map with these new positions, then later perhaps the main group come on and log (after say a reboot) and then utilise whats been left behind. It allows reconnaisance and preparation to be done in a day/night cycle, sniper teams can attrit, we can have longer logistics resupply timings. And finally, it allows the admin (me) to take absolutely no part in it unless i want to, certainly not to have to turn up, save the map and close up the session when they are done.

    If you can see a way to make that happen we can leverage ALiVE to run outside the gameplay session and extend into a proper war with logistics lasting some time without having to be logged into every four hours to manually save and exit form the game and then reboot it, clear up memory, patch server, check security software has latest definitions etc.

    Now if I've missed something in my understanding on how to get this to work I would be delighted to be shown the way so I can achieve that.

  15. Friznit

    11 May 2016 Administrator

    We understand what you've been getting at :) You're right though, ALiVE does not support autonomous restart. Our whole design was based on the assumption that the admin would be available to login to do a save & exit. Our play testers for the last 4 years (groups like VCB and KH) run ALiVE ops for up to 5 days at a time then an admin logs in, does save & exit, carries out any server admin and restarts and reloads the mission.

    The benefits of persistence that you mention are catered for with this model apart from the autonomous unattended restart and the edge case which is server CTD's. I can see the benefit of having an ALiVE server run fully autonomously and we've logged the feature request, but it's not possible currently.

    Perhaps now we've released the code Open Source someone will have the time to look into it!

  16. Tupolov

    11 May 2016 Administrator

    Its not that you can't do autonomous saves with ALiVE, we just haven't tested it.

    There's a function you can call on the server. You can probably use something like RCON to call that and achieve what you are trying to do.

  17. I tested it, it works, from the debug console anyway. I'll need to Google RCON and see what it is.

  18. Tupolov

    12 May 2016 Administrator

    https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/BattlEye#RCon

  19. Friznit

    12 May 2016 Administrator

    Useful tool that allows remote admin of servers, including multiple people to be admin at the same time. You'll find it invaluable given the use case you described above.

  20. Will the server save always end the mission and be in the foregorund, can it never be automated to run silently? If not then i can stop trying to get the unattended server save and look at database saving instead via IniDB.

    Unfortunately, Bercon and Rcon don't run Arma scripting commands, they integrate with chat or they can run a batch restart script (taskkill lol) but I can't seemingly parse the [server] command linked to me in another thread. Which is a shame. It's likely not a (commonly) requested feature.

    Spent the morning looking at remote commands and https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3_Remote_Execution but its not the thing i need.

    I think its a shame that the one use case of virtual AI that is really great can't be used unattended. What about working backwards the opposite way and providing the ability to save virtual AI to iniDB? I think I've given up with the server save, it's too restrictive to use.

  21. 6 years ago
    Edited 6 years ago by amahvan

    @azrink Hi All

    I believe I have the same problem with thebgpikester. In our server, When the mission is on, we are able to save Loadout, I mean "Player Exit", exit the game and join back, the save loadout load again. Single Player Persistence works. However "Save & Exit" did save and exit as intended however when we load the mission again, It reset to it original state. Even the "Reset to Original" State is blank out. I've been head scratching since 1.0.4. In 1.0.3 the persistence did work.

    I can confirm. We have exactly the same issue. As long as the server is running, single players can player exit and return and everything works great. The minute we Server Save and Exit, everything is lost when we start it back up again.

    This also breaks the sitreps/spotreps/patrolreps/advanced markers completely. The only way to get them working again is to export a new mission file with a different name.

    All of this said, I still know it's half working because the in-game time is the same as when the game was saved. A bunch of the features are just fucked.

 

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