[Observations & Suggestions Detail 2020-2021]

After careful consideration, I've prepared a new report.
These are some things I see and think would truly benefit this community and game.

Naturally, this is only my opinion.
But some of it does come from a place of wisdom and experience.

Enjoy!

@Havoc89 @Agent

Update Suggestions 2020-2021.pdf

[Consolidated Soundbug Topic]

11 hours ago, HavocPrime said:

i got windows 7 64 bit crash bug i think its links with the sound bug .When the sound bug happens my pc gets a BSOD and i have to do a hard restart.if you can tell where are the crash logs so i can post them here so you can check what seems to be the issue .

I think you're switching things around.

When your PC crashes, your audio also crashes. Always.
But it's not the other way around.

Honey tastes sweet, but not everything that tastes sweet is honey.

In this particular case I ask you to open a topic in Technical Support.
As a true full-on crash like yours is usually a driver or hardware issue.

[Report Problems With Your RenX Launcher Here]

31 minutes ago, Enzopastrana1 said:

sorry for being annoying, but i'm full of problems, now when it reach the 100% download nothing happens

Oeh, so we solved the first problem only for the next to arise.
Is it like 99.47% or something, or do you really mean 100%?

It may be extracting stuff to your hard drive there but it cannot show true progress for that because it uses some external program.
Give it some time. Let it be "stuck" there for an hour or so.

If that doesn't help, then maybe @Fffreak9999 knows this one better than me.

[Report Problems With Your RenX Launcher Here]

1 hour ago, Enzopastrana1 said:

thanks.

And then what do i do?

Try starting the launcher again. It *should* work now.

[Report Problems With Your RenX Launcher Here]

14 minutes ago, Enzopastrana1 said:

when i try to use the launcher it loads and then nothing happens, please help 

log register.zip 3.08 kB · 0 downloads

We got you brother.

Delete the contents of the folder %localappdata%\Totem_Arts.
While leaving the "Totem_Arts" folder itself in place.

[Secret to 60 FPS]

I've been having the same problem for a while and I almost accepted the answer that this is just how it is with UE3.
But then I found myself also having that same 50fps in main menu, utilizing only a fraction of CPU and GPU.

Oddly enough, this did clear up after clean-updating AMD drivers (were 3-4 months old) and then manually adding Renegade-X as a game profile.
AMD drivers did not automatically recognize Renegade-X as a game on my PC.

After this... my main menu fps jumped up from 50 to 280 fps. (uncapped)
And ingame it is my monitor's refresh rate (75) up until the point where there come players and tanks.
At that point, I drop to the usual 50+ fps, yet rarely below that.

So you're gonna want to make sure that your problem is truly the typical single-core problem in your situation.

To do so, you can use STAT UNIT together with STAT FPS to see exactly what kind of hardware is currently bottlenecking you.
When you look at the ground or facing a wall up close, you should see your GPU ms go way lower than normal. (lower ms = faster fps)
While the game thread will hop up with more tanks and players.

Also you can see the true usage of each of your cores in Task Manager -> Performance -> Right-click -> Change graph to -> Logical processors

Smooth as butter again for me.

[Is official EU server private, or closed comunity ?]

On 8/3/2020 at 1:04 PM, hanyz.cz said:

I downloaded and played game for the first time. But imidietly after first login and entering RENEGADEX-EU server, I got vote-kicked multiple times. So I tried other EU server and after while playing only 1V1 games, I whas left alone. so I tried again to enter RENEGADEX-EU server. Only one with popilation bigger than 0 or 1, and after few minutes of well behave game time I got votekicked again.  

I is a shame, first thing you can see after loging map is  notice to be nice to new players, and after you read that you got kicked. Kind of irony. I just wanted to give this game a chance, but through this "kicking" situation is atleast in EU game practicaly unplayable.

So sorry this happened to you.

If you spot someone kickvoting you again, make sure to speak out against it.
People press F1 (Yes) much, much easier if the person doesn't protest. They will just assume that it's for good reasons.

And as Freak suggested: admins and moderators are your friend here.
These people are very serious about your experience, and I have yet to see a .modrequest or !modrequest go unanswered.

I wish you a great Renegade-X experience man.
You are very welcome here. 😃 Take care.

[What does the fact that no one wants to command say?]

Also I think we're overlooking one huge thing here why people don't want to command:
The excruciating experience of having to preface every TeamSay with /C or /R, and to have to SetBind to repeat messages.
And if you accidentally press T instead of Y? Then your rush is as dead as it can be. Now thàt, is stressful to the brain.

So I'd say: let's see what happens if we put "TeamSay /C ..." on key I and "TeamSay /R ..." on key O.
And then if you press key P it will repeat your last /R message.

I tried this already with keybinds, but the chat input boxes are currently coded in such a way that you can't do that.

[What does the fact that no one wants to command say?]

Funny to witness these different preferences.
Because I can totally empathize with you and understand your preferences.

7 hours ago, R315r4z0r said:

When it comes to multiplayer games, I prefer ones that simulate loss by making you feel the burden of it.

I experience the same emotion, but for me that sweet spot is about 45-60 minutes. (MAX)
And I like 25-minute matches only if I feel that the teams were reasonably balanced.

7 hours ago, R315r4z0r said:

This sort of has connotations to how maps are designed. In some cases, matches will become boring simply because maps aren't versatile enough in their design.

Hmm yes that does make sense. Great point.

7 hours ago, R315r4z0r said:

If I go to a restaurant, I want to order a single meal and enjoy that. The next time I go, I might get something else to enjoy that. But getting a sample platter of different meals is not enough to enjoy anything. Yeah, the game has a lot of good maps. That doesn't mean you need to play them all every time you log in. Short matches aren't enough to enjoy them.

Hahaha here we go.

So I guess you must not like sushi and tapas then.
There are many many people who do, though. 😛 

7 hours ago, R315r4z0r said:

What I am saying is that the commander role, and its necessity in actually winning games, is making it hard for leaders to just fall into place naturally. An actual team leader in Renegade was never really official unless you where playing specialized matches. This made it easy for anyone to simply chime in and coordinate with others. Commanders now are a very specific role. There are players that have reputations of actually being good commanders and it kills the spirit of Renegade since their voice automatically mutes anyone else.

Yes I fully agree with this.

I wonder if the expectations / social pressure dynamic would change if the buffs would no longer cost any CP while having a X minute cooldown.
It differs because no points will be wasted on top of the loss of the rush, so one does not lose the ability to launch cruise missiles and EMP/smoke.

I know that that's probably still not exactly what you would prefer, but if there had to be a golden mean then something like this may be a good start. Anything to take a little bit of pressure off the commander. Especially when it's hard to gather a rush group.

[Game Quit While Load]

3 hours ago, Halaniys said:

Hello I Have Download (Renegade X) Today With Msi File And Waited Until it's Finished 

Hi there! Welcome to Renegade-X!

3 hours ago, Halaniys said:

Hello I Have Download (Renegade X) Today With Msi File And Waited Until it's Finished 
My Problem :
- Game Work with Low FPS & Lag
- Some Levels While Loading in (Skirmish) Game Quit Example > Level Called (Under)
My Pc Spaces :
4GB RAM
1TB Hard drive
Intel core 2 duo e8400
integrated GPU (128 MB)

Windows 10( 64 bit)

Oof!

Those specs are on the extreme low end, especially that iGPU will ruin your experience.

If you were to insert a graphics card, then you may have a somewhat acceptable experience.
Then your CPU would become the new bottleneck, as it is only barely sufficient BUT acceptable for now.

The 4GB of RAM will only serve you if you close all your browser tabs and other big programs before starting the game. (this is really important)

If you're willing, however, I recommend an overall hardware upgrade.

You can get a pretty decent gaming-capable PC including SSD for €350 second-hand.
Or you can have a much better one that will set you back €750 NEW and will probably last you for another 10 years.

[Extend Time Between Maps]

19 hours ago, Nyxblow said:

Same view as DugeHick: whether it is additional time between maps or during warm-up, either way it would be beneficial

That is a "same view" with a radically different conclusion.
I promote specifically warmup-time on the new map, but certainly not more between-map time.

[Extend Time Between Maps]

I also agree with Handepsilon and isupreme about game ending.

However I might be a proponent of warmup time +30secs or even +1minute.
At which point one can either spec the map or take a piss.

People who are on e.g. their 3rd game will need a bio and relax their eyes.
Also my brain requires micro-breaks to perform well and would love a little more warmup (AFK'ish) time.

This is an admin decision btw, different servers can set different warmup times.

[Your 5 Most enjoyable maps]

1. Walls
2. Forest
3. Lakeside
4. Tunnels
5. Islands

[Purchase Terminal Crashes]

1 hour ago, KCRITON' said:

Thoughts?

Where do we start.

That cache corruption shouldn't be happening and I have never experienced it myself.
This could be security programs tinkering with file/folder permissions, or hardware problems such as with the SSD or even memory.

Are you, by any chance, experiencing issues with other software and games aswell?
Instabilities, errors, files missing, anything out of the ordinary at all even if it seems small or meaningless. This is very important to know.

Try manually starting UDK as Administrator.

Are you using a 3rd party virusscanner or other security-related software?
If so you could try temporarily disabling those, except for internet-/firewall-specific things which are not the problem here.

Then verify game files and/or clean reinstall and then test your new situation.

If it still gives problem with those security programs fully disabled, then you have ruled out at least their realtime interference.
However they can still have permanently tinkered with permissions on those game files/folders, hence the clean reinstall after disabling idea.

As was mentioned, we're aware of the PT problem with FX processors, but afaik not on Intel.
Perhaps if we can solve your situation it may also give us a clue as to how to better deal with the FX situations.

p.s. if you chose to temporarily disable your security programs, make sure to have them reenabled

[Possible solution: x64 audio bug]

16 hours ago, Agent said:

I'm trying to remember what our previous analysis was, but iirc this bug was narrowed down to how UDK makes a specific Windows API call during reinitialization of the sound engine.

Well, there are no XAudio2-related calls between Browse and LoadMap.
And on my repro the sound bug occurs after Browse but before LoadMap.
So only if it turns out that my repro bug is somehow a different bug than the sound bug, would it be wise to uphold such a theory.

Note that when the voting interface displays "Loading Map", the client isn't actually loading the next map yet.
After 15-20 seconds it receives an invitation from the server and only then will it actually call LoadMap.
That's probably why everyone is thinking that this bug occurs while loading the next map.

This "narrowed down" tale that you're referring to, may very well be based on conjecture.

16 hours ago, Agent said:

I think we were originally planning on just reinitializing it in a DllBind

Even if such a WinAPI reinit function could be called in relation to the UDK process, most probably one would still need to finish the job within the engine by native-calling its audio init function (to e.g. obtain the new IXAudio2 interface pointer) which wouldn't be possible from script nor DllBind. As such I'm not so sure in what sense there would be anything within the order of "just" about this. If it were that run-of-the-mill, it would've been done back in 2017.

Unless we build our own audio subsystem, I'd say that if audio goes out, it stays out.

16 hours ago, Agent said:

Glancing at the above, it's worth noting that the failover stuff still goes through ServerTravel. It sounds like the idea is mostly to try to ensure that the client attempts reconnect after the server has fully loaded the level, in order to minimize the opportunity for the garbage collector to run? Am I understanding this approach correctly?

Almost.

With the caveat that the GC will not be stopped from sweeping.
Rather it will still sweep yet no longer prematurely sweep current-map related stuff.

 For some reason, audio-critical stuff gets marked stale once one calls (Pre)ClientTravel -> .. -> Browse.
But Browse isn't LoadMap yet: it will first wait for the server to accept the new connection.
And within that waiting period is where GC get's all opportunistic about our audio's. 😁

[Why this game needs direct download link for game installations]

1 minute ago, SonnyX said:

As the main developer of the TotemArts launchers, I can say that we are currently very near releasing a new launcher which should mitigate most issues had by the current launcher.

Although the new launcher will still have cases where it gets stuck at a certain percentage, this is not as common anymore as before and even these issues are now combat-able as even the network code has been written from scratch.

Expect this new launcher to come out in the coming week(s).

Fantastic, Sonny!!!! Looking forward.

To me personally the launcher already offers a supersmooth experience, I've been quite impressed with it so far.
So it will be a pure joy to see it get improved even more and to possibly iron out those last kinks.

[Why this game needs direct download link for game installations]

4 hours ago, BoBNice said:

Just repeated it 3 times until it passed the point.

OK good to know, thank you for feeding that back.
If you don't mind, please also inform how long exactly you waited for it to finish at each attempt.

4 hours ago, BoBNice said:

i was frustrated because i have bad internet.

I figured, and I sympathize.
There are a lot of things in the world that *should* be better. Yet they're not.  

I think it's really good that you're aware of that emotion, because sometimes people do take offense.

Also, the unpaid dev may experience an inverted effect on their motivation when being told that their work is bad.
In which case the act of taking out your frustrations on them may actually make the problem worse. Because they no longer want to work on it.

4 hours ago, BoBNice said:

i was asking and still asking why the devs are not providing the fans with direct download link (TBH i prefer if its updated regulary with each update), then the game update if there is any missing updates

The problem in this is that you need 1.5 internet size of the game (if the game size is about 10GB than they will need 15GB) for the DEVs they provided direct file of the game (1) and the update if someone's game is outdated and need to be updated

 

yo its just suggestion so...

Yes I hear you.

From what I gather here, installing from direct download proved to carry it's own problems with it.
Something to do with Windows permissions and all.

So that's one of the bigger reasons why they designed the launcher in the first place. To mitigate such issues.
As such, I'm pretty sure that the team would very strongly prefer to fix the launcher instead of providing a DDL.

Nevertheless, human error is a thing, and I do agree that there should be some kind of a plan B for the user *just in case*.

Perhaps the DDL page could prompt the user to provide feedback before they get to download the file.
This way, the team knows that there is a problem in the first place and can get to fixing it. Meanwhile you are enabled to play with us.

I will be taking this idea up in my new suggestions list for 2020.
It will be looked at and genuinely considered.

If you have any more issues in the future, please do report this but refrain as much as possible from acting out your frustrations on others.
Realize that we're literally just people like you, spending our free time passionately tinkering with stuff and playing our favourite game.
Most are professionals, while others are not necessarily.

I hope you are satisfied with this answer, and I wish you a great Renegade-X experience. 

[Consolidated Soundbug Topic]

1 hour ago, Madkill40 said:

Not having an FX CPU fixed 64bit issues for me. No more lagspikes on the PT and have not yet had the soundbug either whilst running 64bit.

UE3 really churns away at a single-core and boasted multi-core processors seem to struggle compatibility-wise. This is nothing new, but its safe to say upgrading away from an FX CPU confirms this, as a (pricey) solution

For how long have you had your new processor?
The soundbug in particular has been experienced by people with all kinds of processors. It is not specifically FX-related.

[Server Join error]

3 hours ago, DTtrex said:

No sry i deleted that information because i considered it private.

Oh seriously? And here I thought Winsock couldn't find your IPv4 address.

Oh well, whatever makes you sleep at night, sir/ma'am.  
That's what we're here for.

Personally I changed my IP and names to something else in my screenshot. (nope my computer name is not "DUGEPC" )
To avoid this kind of confusion in logicality while we're working the problem.

3 hours ago, DTtrex said:

I gues its some kind of strange bug on my side or the servers.

Hm yea well... you are getting a "[0061.77] Log: Host name resolution completed"
While I'm not getting that in my log at all.

If I were you I'd double-check if my ISP has switched my modem to strictly IPv6.
And check up on my DNS settings.

But alas you are not me.

Good luck!

[PC crashes when nuke explodes]

Ah, good ol' Black Screen High Fan.
I think this should be moved to Tech Support forum.

Either way

Most commonly, BSHF issues are pre-POST (before BIOS), in which case they're certainly hardware-related.
However in your case it happens post-POST and specifically when something (e.g. GPU/VRAM-)intense happens.

While it can still be a hardware issue, I think you'll want to rule out a driver issue first.
Specifically a clean install of your graphics driver.

I'd advise the following:

1. Clean install graphics driver by using https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html
2. Also update your chipset, LAN and sound card drivers
3. Test your RAM with https://hcidesign.com/memtest/
4. Find your motherboard model number and update your BIOS of it's outdated

If all of those don't do it then we can start thinking of a (non-RAM) hardware problem.
And then we would talk about PSU, MoBo (e.g. MOSFETs) and problematic PCI-e power connectors and also assess your PC's dust situation.

THIS MESSAGE IS FULLY ASSUMING YOU'RE NOT PUSHING YOUR VRM AND BRIDGES BY OVERCLOCKING
IF YOU ARE OVERCLOCKING YOU NEED TO TELL US AND STABILIZE YOUR CLOCKS FOR NOW

We'll definately figure this one out, friend.

[Server Join error]

This doesn't look a firewall issue.

As you can see marked on the screenshot:
Winsock already doesn't understand what @DTtrex's IP is.

Could be that there's something "weird" with your LAN adapter or its IP address(es).
Could be that you're on IPv6 while those specific servers only work with IPv4.
And e.g. DNS64 translation (your IPv6 -> server's IPv4) goes wrong.

Try disabling IPv6 while keeping IPv4 enabled.

If that doesn't work, or if you're afraid of breaking something, then do this:

Spoiler

open up a cmd.exe
make the window longer
type command: ipconfig /all
screenshot all of it and send it in PM
extensive IP info can be mildly hacker-sensitive so better not to upload publicly here

And then we can have a look why Winsock does not initialize with your IP address.
And perhaps get a better idea and/or a more focused solution.

[Why this game needs direct download link for game installations]

11 hours ago, BoBNice said:

 The problem when you say ""huge"" external extraction process is people well notice ""huge"" usage of their PC resources' such CPU, Disk speed and RAM.

it's like when u download repacked game where the system is almost unresponsive to you unless it finishes or you stop the repack

 

The problem is the usage is 0%, the installer is just not doing anything, it's just like when its 40% and for some reason it stopped downloading.

 

I still think giving direct download link is better cuz its faster, better, resume-able, not need to more work on it.

Understood

11 hours ago, BoBNice said:

I really hate it when people just defend bad thing, such this installer.

Noted

11 hours ago, BoBNice said:

Anyway it was a hard time but I managed to install the game 🤗🤗 

So how in the world did you get it to install this time?
Did it help to wait a little longer? Please inform.

[What does the fact that no one wants to command say?]

On 7/22/2020 at 6:14 PM, Knive said:

The problem about new teams is that they never ask stuff, would be huge if there also would be kinda like a tutorial maybe just a list for the short names and stuff.

Most of the new people don't understand that teamwork is important in RenX so they have to learn it in a hard way by losing and stuff.

Worst outcome is that they don't learn and complain against others why they lost.

Yep, we won't know what needs suggesting/explaining until something goes wrong.

So that's definately where a preventative tutorial comes in. Which will also reduce player churn.
That is: players leaving the community due to excessive skill gap and accompanying drama.

[Why this game needs direct download link for game installations]

2 hours ago, BoBNice said:

Update:

Now this shit stopped at 99:49% wtf

i guess i have to restart agien

I think that maybe at 99.49% it starts a huge external extraction process for which there is no progress feedback.
So you're like "Oh, last little step!" but then it starts up this huge operation that could take like half an hour or sumthin.

I may be wrong but maybe you should just try to wait a little longer.

 

 

[What does the fact that no one wants to command say?]

On 6/26/2020 at 11:58 AM, Knive said:

If no one wants to learn to command then there will never be a new commander.
If people don't want to command then they are afraid.
If people say that the current commander is bad that commander will never command again going to step 1 again.
 

Back on-topic: I agree that social pressure is probably one of the bigger causes of people not taking command.
Meaning that it may be important not to let the skill gap between current commanders and new commanders grow too large.

And I guess that maybe that's where a commander-tactics guide comes in? (which we probably already have?)
Because once people have truly done their homework on this, they will naturally be less afraid to take command me thinks.

e.g. RL analogy: I never feared corona once because I did literally everything I could to protect myself and my famn. Everything.
If I hadn't, I would've been anxious like hell just like the others.

Same applies to commander.
If you are better prepared then you will still fail sometimes, but rather honorably and constructively instead of feeling like an idiot. IMO