Does the server store levels?

Started by Silken Healer, December 20, 2024, 12:13:12 PM

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Silken Healer

Edit Simon: Split from Lix 0.10.28 released

Quote from: Simon on December 20, 2024, 05:59:57 AM
    • Fix the symmetry in two-player Bunker Buster.
    [/list]

    I thought you had the power as the owner of Lix to just automatically update them in the server? When you left and fixed it the other day, did you just update the local copy? Because if you did, I selected it over your version and again, so we might've still played the bugged version :-[

    Forestidia86

    #1
    The levels are not (permanently) stored in the server. Simon might give a more elaborated explanation of how the server works.

    Simon

    Quote from: Silken Healer on December 20, 2024, 12:13:12 PMautomatically update them in the server? When you left and fixed it the other day, did you just update the local copy?

    I assume you mean the server for playing networked Lix games, not the webserver or Github.

    The Lix server stores no levels. When somebody picks a level, he sends the level to the server, and the server relays the level immediately to all players.

    In addition, the server keeps the level until the room closes, and relays the level to every late-joiner. But the server has no longer-lasting level database than that. All it ever knows is each room's current level, and this level is always player-picked.

    When I update levels, it always means that I'll update them in the main download, so everybody can select the up-to-date version of the level.

    -- Simon

    Silken Healer

    That's weird because I selected over your level with my local version, thinking that it did, but in the replays it's fixed :lix-gasp:

    Silken Healer


    Forestidia86

    Can you explain exactly what you did, esp. the timeline?

    Silken Healer

    #6
    I load Bunker Buster
    We play
    Simon says it's broken
    We exit to lobby
    Simon exits to fix it
    Simon comes back
    Simon loads bunker buster again
    BEFORE WE PLAY AGAIN I load bunker buster from my ../network
    We play
    Later, I look back at my replays
    All my replays except the first have the fixed version, even though I reselected bunker buster from my ../network

    Simon

    geoo publishes two different two-player maps: "Bunker Buster (No Wrap)" and "Bunker Buster".

    I fixed the wrapping "Bunker Buster". This fixed version contains: $BUILT 2024-12-17 22:21:23

    Later, you reselected "Bunker Buster (No Wrap)" and we played that, too.

    This publishing of several similar maps with similar names annoys me to no end. It's a source of confusion. The level author has the task of making the level as good as it can be. He should publish only the best version and ditch the others. If the other versions are good, he should remake them into different-looking levels with different names.

    The L1 repeats were a cheap way to bump the level count and make Wurschtellevels for new players. We can do better.

    -- Simon

    Silken Healer

    Quote from: Simon on December 21, 2024, 12:52:44 PMI fixed the wrapping "Bunker Buster". This fixed version contains: $BUILT 2024-12-17 22:21:23
    I know and I'm saying that's weird because I remember at the time I was under the false belief that what you did updated my version, so when you selected it I then selected the version in my Lix copy (which should actually be the version without the fix) again. This is all completely before we did Bunker Buster (No Wrap). The only explanation I can think of to why this happened is I'm misremembering and I actually didn't.

    Quote from: Simon on December 21, 2024, 12:52:44 PMThis publishing of several similar maps with similar names annoys me to no end. It's a source of confusion. The level author has the task of making the level as good as it can be. He should publish only the best version and ditch the others. If the other versions are good, he should remake them into different-looking levels with different names.
    I'm sorry but I'm going to have to completely disagree with this. Sometimes a level can be good with wrap and no wrap. It's reasonable and falls in line with the open-source good developer etc. philosophy of Lix to have complete freedom over what you want to play. I can's see how, it's reasonable If both versions are good, to expect level developers to make the level into a completely different level with a different name just to get a no wrap version. Plus, if everyone did this from now on, future players of Lix who want this will then have no idea that a no-wrap version exists. I don't see how it's confusing when it says "(No Wrap)" in the title.

    Quote from: Simon on December 21, 2024, 12:52:44 PMThe L1 repeats were a cheap way to bump the level count and make Wurschtellevels for new players. We can do better.
    Don't see the problem with the L1 repeats either. I quite like some of them.

    Simon

    The level designer should keep as many versions as he wants, for playtesting and for reverting from failed design experiements.

    In this concrete case: I think that, for two players, the non-wrapping Bunker Buster is better. Keeps the action focused. The wrap will be necessary for balance with 3 players.

    No time today to get into an argument about repeats. You disagree, and that's fine.

    -- Simon

    Forestidia86

    Quote from: Silken Healer on December 21, 2024, 12:16:27 PMAll my replays except the first have the fixed version, even though I reselected bunker buster from my ../network

    Can you post the first replay that has the old version and another one of this session that has the fixed version?

    Simon

    #11
    Here is what we played on 2024-12-17.

    • The times at the very left are all in CET (= UTC+1), and tell when my machine saved the replay. This is after the match finishes.
    • The name of the level inside that replay follows.
    • Finally, $BUILT of the level inside that replay follows. This tells the most recent time an editor has saved the level. This is the local time of the editor's user. In the case of 22:21:23, this is my local time (CET) because I fixed the symmetry of the wrapping "Bunker Buster".

    22:06:56 CET  Your Latest Trick 2P  $BUILT 2022-01-28 01:40:47
    22:10:57 CET  Your Latest Trick 2P  $BUILT 2022-01-28 01:40:47
    22:14:48 CET  Your Latest Trick 2P  $BUILT 2022-01-28 01:40:47
    22:19:51 CET  Your Latest Trick 2P  $BUILT 2022-01-28 01:40:47
    22:20:55 CET  Bunker Buster  $BUILT 2022-04-04 11:42:08
    22:24:54 CET  Bunker Buster  $BUILT 2024-12-17 22:21:23
    22:27:36 CET  Bunker Buster  $BUILT 2024-12-17 22:21:23
    22:30:08 CET  Bunker Buster  $BUILT 2024-12-17 22:21:23
    22:31:57 CET  Rescue Rangers Double Team (3p)  $BUILT 2021-05-17 10:55:46
    22:35:27 CET  Rescue Rangers Double Team (3p)  $BUILT 2021-05-17 10:55:46
    22:40:06 CET  [~GHM] Anyway You Want  $BUILT 2024-12-17 20:55:37
    22:43:10 CET  Bunker Buster (No Wrap)  $BUILT 2022-06-19 22:29:34
    22:45:32 CET  Bunker Buster (No Wrap)  $BUILT 2022-06-19 22:29:34
    22:47:34 CET  Rescue Rangers Double Team (3p)  $BUILT 2021-05-17 10:55:46
    22:52:03 CET  Rescue Rangers Double Team (3p)  $BUILT 2021-05-17 10:55:46

    -- Simon

    Silken Healer

    Another theory of what happened. Does Lix have a system where if you select the same level, it won't change it. Maybe when I selected over your fixed version of Bunker Buster with my local copy in my ../network, Lix saw they had the same title, author, and file name and decided not to switch it.