I’m going to revise my original proposal. (I tried to delete old thread completely but no perms, you can if you want).
So here’s my plan to make plaza a better experience, and a WAY better first impression on new people. Ignore me at your peril, this NEEDS to be addressed. I’m not trying to dog on the game, but full plazas run like shit.
PART 1: The Great Divide
As I’ve previously mentioned, player count is the major factor in server performance, and 64 is just too high when there’s so many things to do. Addressing this issue will solve damn near every plaza issue, performance wise.
Step 1: Keep ‘Em Separated
You separate Casino and Arcade into their own separate servers like Condo Hub. Players dark-screen teleport into both anyway, so it wont feel like that much of a difference client side. This takes the load of all those people sitting playing at machines off of the plaza and shifts them into their own server. This would also remove a ton of assets from the main outside plaza map, as currently these locations are just built underneath it.
Step 2: A Smaller Venue
With Casino & Arcade separated, those players now no longer count towards main plaza, so a 64 player limit is not needed. Instead, they can now cap to 32 players, and will run much better when the plaza area is full. I would advise limiting Arcade as well to 32 players. Casino doesn’t really matter, nothing really requires high latency there.
PART 2: Cleanin’ Up The Town!
Here are a couples notes I’d have for the new setup above with smoother 32 player plazas:
Step 1: Love For Laser Tag
The main problem with laser tag is the way it’s setup, kicking you out to the plaza after every match. It at least needs to be reworked into the Game Worlds system. Have rounds queue up for the next round when they finish instead of booting everyone, allow people to join game in progress. I realize this will require a bit of re-working the game code, but you gotta do something if you want people to play this mode. Hell, morph it into an SDNL mode that gives Laser Tag XP. Also, as it’s being moved to Game Worlds, demolish the Laser Tag building, it’ll be key to Step 2.
Step 2: A Bowl New World
Double the size of the current bowling building and take over the space previously occupied by Laser Tag and make the Bowling Alley a NON-teleport in place, but instead built ground level in the map for a clean walk-in entry like the shops.
Step 3: Pick a Side, Trivia
Trivia’s inside Arcade, but gives units. Either it’s part of Arcade, and gets separated into the Arcade server, giving tickets, or it stays part of the outdoor plaza area and gives units. If the latter, it should be like the above mentioned Bowling, with an open walk-in and a teleport door inside it to enter Arcade.
That’s all I got for now. Part 1 is INSANELY important, though.
Thank you for your attention in this matter.
- OuTSMoKE