[Re: [[CF-Devel] CPU and memory?]]

[DAVID DELBECQ]

Mark Wedel <
     
     mwedel at scruz.net
     
     > wrote:
DAVID DELBECQ wrote:
>
     
      Well, this doesn't seem to be a problem of the cvs version. I localy use
     
     the
>
     
      0.98 version without cvs to develop maps. In a map with 10 demon lords, the
     
     >
     
      server is laggy when they are casting while the same map didn't lead to
     
     >
     
      problems with version 0.97 i used before. It seems the the latest changes
     
     did
>
     
      really slow down the server. When i speak of slowdowns, i mean a use of 90%
     
     >
     
      cpu on a 600Mhz Athlon for 1 user.
     
     
 There is a known problem with lots of spellcasters on the same map/area.  to
fix this requires a fairly fundamental change in how map objects work, so is
not
likely to happen really soon.

 Basically, whenever a spell is added to a space, it needs to look at all the
other objects on the space to see if it gets affected or is affected by any
of
them.  When there are hundreds of objects on a space, this gets to be a very
costly operation.

 The simple solution is to try to limit the number of reaally heavy spell
casters in one area.  The map guide basically says to do this for other
reasons
(if a player can kill 2, chances are it can kill 3, 4, or whatever number -
at
some point, the monsters block other monsters, the extras can't do anything
anyways).


------------------------->
Ok, you say it requires a lot of changes because it is a problem of lots of
spells. If this is the case, this means you changed a lot of stuff from 0.97
version cause this version didn't lag and i don't think you made so heavily
changes.

Moreover, you speak about lots of spell on the same square. I have checked,
there are no more than 5 objects on a square (6 if i include my self, 7 with
the floor). The map, as i said, contain only 10 spellcaster, disposed so that
8 of them are hurting the player the same time, reducing number of spellcaster
is simply stupid.

3rd point, even if map could be smaller, with lesser spellcaster, don't forget
that level 80 players can cast more than 10 spells nearly at the same time,
linked on the same key in the client (e.g. cast 5 icestorm, 5 burnig hands, 5
holy word, 1 counterwall in the same key to do lots damages in a short time in
the arena.....). This cannot be prevented.

At the end, i'll say this is not a problem for crossfire to be cpu consuming.
The problem is that it becomes also VERY laggy (can hang-up up to 5 seconds
when spellcasters become to cast). 

You say you are fixing bugs in crossfire for version 1.0 THIS clearly is a
bug, i recommend you to check closely at the cast cone code, it contains a lot
of useless assignements in a loop. (System does not seem laggy when casting
things other than cone!!). If you make some checks, you could also see the the
time consuming is done when spell casting, not when the spell spreads.



David Delbecq
     
     David.delbecq at usa.net
     
     

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