Setting up an official content test server

Content and general development discussion, including quest scripts and server code. TMW Classic is a project comprising the Legacy tmwAthena server & the designated improved engine server based on evolHercules.


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nmaligec
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Setting up an official content test server

Post by nmaligec »

I noticed that a lot of contributors don't have a local test server to see thier content before it gets into the main game. Also some projects are split between xml, graphics and scripters. It would be VERY convenient to have an easily accessible test server that brought together ALL content for testing, and possible addition to the main project.

If someone could host a server that's up nearly 24/7 (or something reasonable).
If it would also be possible for the already very generous candidate to:
1. provide an update server for the client and regularly pull client-data updates from a soon to be decided upon git repo.
2. regularly update the server data from a testing repo
3. possibly recompile the servers when needed.

I hope I am not asking for too much, but I think that this service would greatly improve cooperation between contributors and speed up the testing of new content.

On a side note, if we had one central set of testing repos, everyone would be be pretty much on the same page. Stuff like id#s and map tiles would be synched accross all contributors using git.

meway mentioned he might be able to do something like this. Also I heard mention that Rotonen might be willing to host some test content, but I am not sure how involved he would want to be with maintaining everything.
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Rotonen
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Re: Setting up an official content test server

Post by Rotonen »

nmaligec wrote:Also I heard mention that Rotonen might be willing to host some test content, but I am not sure how involved he would want to be with maintaining everything.
You set it all up once and it takes care of itself for the most part. With a limited set of test users using the server even TMW-eA behaves in a somewhat civilized manner.
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natsuki3
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Re: Setting up an official content test server

Post by natsuki3 »

Spoiler:
nmaligec wrote:I noticed that a lot of contributors don't have a local test server to see thier content before it gets into the main game. Also some projects are split between xml, graphics and scripters. It would be VERY convenient to have an easily accessible test server that brought together ALL content for testing, and possible addition to the main project.

If someone could host a server that's up nearly 24/7 (or something reasonable).
If it would also be possible for the already very generous candidate to:
1. provide an update server for the client and regularly pull client-data updates from a soon to be decided upon git repo.
2. regularly update the server data from a testing repo
3. possibly recompile the servers when needed.

I hope I am not asking for too much, but I think that this service would greatly improve cooperation between contributors and speed up the testing of new content.

On a side note, if we had one central set of testing repos, everyone would be be pretty much on the same page. Stuff like id#s and map tiles would be synched accross all contributors using git.

meway mentioned he might be able to do something like this. Also I heard mention that Rotonen might be willing to host some test content, but I am not sure how involved he would want to be with maintaining everything.

i can set up a host for the server :P
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Arphetic
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Re: Setting up an official content test server

Post by Arphetic »

I also vote for letting the scammer above me host it.
bcs86 wrote:This game is a long way from looking like something people could take seriously.
nmaligec
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Re: Setting up an official content test server

Post by nmaligec »

Rotonen wrote:You set it all up once and it takes care of itself for the most part. With a limited set of test users using the server even TMW-eA behaves in a somewhat civilized manner.
I guess updating is done via cron jobs?

Arphetic wrote:I also vote for letting the scammer above me host it.
Were you joking or being serious with the accusation?

As a test server there isnt much a scammer could do except try the user+pwd list on the real server to steal chars. It is pretty serious if someone looses they main chars this way, so some care has to be taken in deciding who will host it.


It occurs to me that maybe the existing Testing server on server.themanaworld.org could be used once all the stat balancing is done. What do the maintainers of the Testing server think? Would it be okay to expose players to experimental content and possible spoilers (though the open source and fact they are loging on to a test server might make this a moot point)?
Arphetic
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Re: Setting up an official content test server

Post by Arphetic »

I was serious about the scammer acuse.
bcs86 wrote:This game is a long way from looking like something people could take seriously.
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Rotonen
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Re: Setting up an official content test server

Post by Rotonen »

nmaligec wrote:
Rotonen wrote:You set it all up once and it takes care of itself for the most part. With a limited set of test users using the server even TMW-eA behaves in a somewhat civilized manner.
I guess updating is done via cron jobs?
Yes and this comes with a heavy assumption no one will push anything broken into the repo in question. Then again pushing in something which works will fix it so it should provide a pretty carefree happy-go-lucky hacking environment.

The details can be agreed upon if my hosting is chosen.
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nmaligec
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Rotonen to host

Post by nmaligec »

Rotonen: It would be great if you could set up and host a test server. I am sure everyone trusts you, and I'm sure you would continue to host it for a while (someone else might leave the project and pull it down after a month).

Is all you need the links to client data and server data repos? If so, I will leave it to Wombat to decide which ones to use. If there is anything else you need let us know.

How often would the test server be updated from the repos?

If the details get settled and the test server set up by this weekend, I would use it right away to test out a bunch of stuff for the reaper quest. I can't wait to test a few ideas with skipy and get feedback from Wombat.
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