From what I've been reading, it appears someone actually has to save the server state to save objects. Then save himself before leaving. A little like closing the door on the way out. Is there any way to call this function when the last player leaves in a "persistent = 1" config, and same for the player details when a player leaves? ALiVE clearly thought about closing down AI processing when players leave and stopped short in the design there...
Perhaps i'm asking of too much of the engine, but I don't see why when we can call the save in game, that that the save shouldnt be automated to save the session in the event of a restart and at last player leaving.
The reason I ask is because to have a fully automated dedicated server you need to manage its reboot. Mine goes off and autolaunches the game and mission right back (actually I suspend it in the early hours but thats another story). So if I reboot a server, the game is forcibly closed down and no save ever took place. AFAIK there is no way of accessing the dedi console to run an execVM to call anything like a save...
My vision is a 100% JIP, autosaving, auto-restarting server I can leave running without checking it, running a massive campaign, hopefully based on the Alive engine for efficiency. I cannot currently achieve that by having to log in as admin at the end of the evening just to save the game, seems ridiculous.
With local database as a solution I can save player and unit from code on multiplayer events or on a timer, but I have no ALiVE which uses virtual AI anyway, so the solution taunts me.
Surely someone must have come here looking for the same Nirvana?