Saving FL - What to do when MS bails out

Tue Dec 19, 2006 10:37 am by hotwire

I realise the GS has been pulled back up.

I realise also all our mods are actually against the terms & conds we accepted when we hit accept during installation.

However, if we do no want freelancer to die after MS bails out and the GS drops there are a couple procedures and situations to observe, in that way we can, and am sure will, keep the community of FL alive.

Ok let's begin by considering the GS DOWN PERMANENTLEY

A new guy buys the game and decides to hit MP, however, he can't connect. If he isn't a dumbass he may google the situation. We need to get a website on the top of google's list explaining all these things. TLR usually shows up in google, and TLR is advertised in the UK (by PC GAMER DECEMBER EDITION) as the FL community website.

Therefore, like all of us, this new guy (that represents future FL players), will have to use Direct Connect (once the GS is down permanently). However, having, myself, BRIEFLY scanned the server list there are about 1500 servers on at any given time when the GS is up. Players are spread all over them (minimizing the amount of players per server).

Now comes the bit where we revolutionize FL and keep it alive for ever, i tried to get this going but no one listened, maybe this time it''ll work, after we experienced a 3 day GS loss...

STEP 1: Vanilla Servers. Do we REALLY need 800 or so vanilla servers? These should be cut down to 1 or 2 per language (major languages maybe 5 or 6), using the best servers (machine wise to host them). This would mean all FL Vanilla players would connect only to 2 or 3 servers and these servers would be full and great fun.

STEP 2: THEMED MODS; eg like star wars, star trek and all the other TV shows/games. Apart from being quite illegal these should be cut down in number in such a way that there is one per theme, EG: 1 Star wars, 1 Star trek, 1 Halo etc etc, possibly if a theme is very popular 2 or 3 of the same theme, but a small amount of servers run off the best machines.

STEP 3: MAJOR RPG MODS; like Crossfire, Asylum 51, Phoenix, Asgard, Discovery etc etc This was my project: COMBINE THESE MODS, they can be combined, the systems, the bases, the ships, the weapons etc etc. We could assign each group (like Crossfire or Phoenix) 1 or 2, possibly 3 factions. This would mean there would be like a Phoenix Clan made up of 800 or so players from the Phoenix server. They can be administered by a group of mod teams. And by pulling these all together the amount of activity will SOAR! Of course valid servers required...

STEP 4: MAJOR NON-RPG MODS; like STEP 3

STEP 5: Spread the word

Now this, in my view, is the best and most doable way to truly save freelancer. This way we will unite players, create larger communities and stand together till the end even if, and as seems likely, Microsoft Bails out on us...

I'm not saying anyone at all should agree with me OR accept my point of view but i wish people who have some time, players and admins alike, think about the pros and cons (post them, as a community we can improve) of this idea and its end result.

It is my dream and hope that FL will be hosted for many more years even if many players "grow up" and decide to stop playing at least the community will still be together and there will never be need to NOT have fun.

I'm on this case: BACHING STYLE

Tue Dec 19, 2006 11:33 am by darth revan

While i think your heart is in the right place,i very much doubt that anyone could seriously goto server ops and go,please close your server so we can have 1 dedicated. I'm also pretty sure that the mod makers of crossfire,asylum 51,TNG etc etc would rather keep their work their own and not merge it.

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Tue Dec 19, 2006 11:53 am by hotwire

Well these people say they are keeping FL alive, but they are splitting the players up, killing it...i dont have a prob with mods..i love em but without players mods are useless...

I'm on this case: BACHING STYLE

Tue Dec 19, 2006 1:50 pm by Adui

I see a few major flaws in your theory.

First, there are a lot of us playing, if you cut the servers down that much, (and this is assuming guys like me would be willing to close their server at all) then the servers that are left will almost always be at max capacity, not only will this mean many of us will not be able to play at all, but it will mean servers that run a higher cap than they should, (which will have to be all of them to have a prayer of finding an open server) will have significant lag.
Then there is the location issue.. I am in north America, say I want to play on a TNG server, but the only server left of that type is in the UK.. My ping is going to be ATTROCIOUS, and my lag will make PVP, or any combat for that matter, next to impossible. Especially if I am one of those poor blokes who has to run the game on dial up!..

Maybe we do need to reduce the number of servers, but not that drastically. perhaps cut them in half, and then be sure there are servers located where everyone who wants to play that mod can get a decent connection to. However, then you still have to decide who gets to keep there servers, and you still have players that will be forced to play on server where they don't like the way things are run..

Yes we have to do something to unite the Freelancer community, however I feel that is being accomplished as best it can by this site.

I do feel someone who has the resources needs to set up a backup global server and post the details on how to use it here, but that is for another thread.

In closing, instead of suggesting drastic changes like closing 90% of the servers out there, most of which already have quite a community going that would dry up if they closed, perhaps we should be getting the word out that the Lancers Reactor is the place to come for all things Freelancer.

Just another day in Paradise!

Edited by - Adui on 12/19/2006 1:53:42 PM

Tue Dec 19, 2006 7:47 pm by Adui

Hmmm,

After re-reding this i see that my post could be taken wrong. Please understand I am not atacking anyone here, just posing my own opinions on the matter.

I would pull the post entirely except that i think it has merit, even if somewhat poorly written. Therefore I will instead apologise to Hotwire forwhat may be construed as an atack, it is not meant as such.

Adui

Tue Dec 19, 2006 9:43 pm by blackhole

Someone's going to say it, so i will.

openlancer

If you really want to work for something, help them. Theres too many fans lamenting about FL2 and completely unwilling to actually do any work themselves. They'll rally up a crowd and protest to MS, but hand them once piece of paper to fill out and they run into the shadows. If you really want to do something, help the community effort to create FL2.

Or just start... another ... rally to liven up freelancer. This is what, the 15th attempt?

Wed Dec 20, 2006 5:38 am by SWAT_OP-R8R

Openlancer.. hmmm
one BIG problem with it.... no new player does know it... and most ppl here want to play FL and not OL

another prob... merging servers does not work not if they run different mods and you cant tell some1 to shut down anything
actually you cant do anything against the upcoming situation

if the gls will go down then it will go down and due to the fact that hmm lets say 90% of the new players dont even know what they should google for a site which has a message wont help
the GLS will go down... when is not sure... very likely it will stay up till 2008... so i suggest to enjoy this year and think about something new that has the potential for a long future
personally i dont care if the GLS does go down... i didnt even notice it when it was down for 3 days (no CF player did notice it)

and forget about the legality issue... MS is fully aware of the fact that there are such mods and they dont even care

the more interesting question in my eyes is "what happens to LR when FL is going to die?"

Wed Dec 20, 2006 7:01 am by hotwire

after breifly scanning the terms & conds of FL i have found something interesting...apparently MS will support MP for ten years after the last succesful FL produc registration. However, terms & conds may change without notice so we can't be sure.

Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:34 am by SWAT_OP-R8R

MS usual policy is to cut down the support of one of their products after 4 years
to my knowledge the GLS will stay online till 2008

but in fact MS did close the Starlancer game rooms without warning after 3 years already and they didnt care about if the game was still bought or if people still played it
SL is still sold but there is 0 support for it

Wed Dec 20, 2006 11:03 am by Preacher0815

Althou this is all a great idea to get the remaining servers full of players, I like the kind of "biodiversity" of servers we have here in germany. All the major servers I play on (DFLS, LC and some others) have things (bribes, missions, NPCs, server extensions, ...) set up a bit differently than the competition, which is what I grew to like alot about vanilla FL. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one thinking like that.

About the EULA... come to germany. No need to care about it here

Thu Dec 21, 2006 12:52 am by DwnUndr

Greetings to the Lancer community! My team and I have only been playing this game for 6 months or so, but I believe I can shed some light on possible alternatives (since we still have time).

First, a little background. Team RIP was born playing Descent3, made by Interplay. Lot's of nasty things happened...the company split into two, the two didn't talk, didn't like each other. Eventually everything went south and patch support was lost. A few years later the global server went down, for good (I won't go into the sordid details). D3 was a far smaller community than FL. At our peak we had 75 servers and 75 people playing at any given hour of the day. When the global went down it crushed the community, we lost 80% of it instantly because those poor souls had no clue how to find a game using an IP tracker. I wouldn't wish that on the FL community for anything. For the next few months we existed on 25 servers and about 15 players at peak times (not per hour!). A death knell had sounded, or so we thought. Slowly, through word of mouth and a few kind souls who put up trackers on various websites, a few migrated back. Now two years later we have 50 servers up and about 20 players at the peak hours. Quite lonely. If only we had asked for number 1 below beforehand.

Solutions...If what some say is true about 2008, we still have time. Perhaps there are two solutions:

1) Have a Lancer's admin simply ask Microsoft "please, put out flpatch1.2 or let us do it'. This patch would include an additional button to click if the global server is down that would lead to one or more community-run global trackers. Quite legal and handy.

2) Not sure if this is possible, but could something be put into the script.xml files of each mod that would lead to a tracker. I know about the 'direct connect' stuff, most probably do not. It is fine for each mod to include direct connect info in their readme files, but I am hoping something larger could be incorporated in there. There are many fine minds here that could probably come up with something.

[RIPDwnUndr
ripteam.com

Edited by - DwnUndr on 12/21/2006 12:54:14 AM

Thu Dec 21, 2006 2:12 am by hotwire

Well if we are gonna ask microsoft for permissions etc then why don't we just ask if we can run the GS??

Thu Dec 21, 2006 2:16 am by SWAT_OP-R8R

to 1) MS wont do that... they never do something that does grant profit for them
and even if we would create such a patch ppl wouldnt know where to get it

2) a script wont help either due to previous said reasons... not to mention that vanilla FL wouldnt be affected

no matter what is done it will not stop the results of the GLS being offline

Thu Dec 21, 2006 6:13 am by Chips

to 1) MS wont do that... they never do something that does grant profit for them
and even if we would create such a patch ppl wouldnt know where to get it

2) a script wont help either due to previous said reasons... not to mention that vanilla FL wouldnt be affected

no matter what is done it will not stop the results of the GLS being offline

You don't know that for sure, it's a guess at best (although most likely well founded). Also, product support is usually 5 years as well - not four.

Openlancer.. hmmm
one BIG problem with it.... no new player does know it... and most ppl here want to play FL and not OL

New players may not know about it simply because they haven't heard about it - to which there is an incredibly simple solution.

As for most people here want to play FL - only because it's what they are here for . If Openlancer was a fully working MMO type game, then I am sure it'd surpass freelancer in both popularity AND pull for the site (well, their site).

Those guys are busting nutts doing something completely original, and although I have many times been a detractor at them for constantly bashing or moaning - the truth is they are producing results.

They've got a LONG road ahead of them, but the fact that they are still working upon it and still producing results is testament to the whole team that they've got over there

All these negative vibes... *oddball from Kelly's Heros*

Edited by - Chips on 12/21/2006 6:42:14 AM

Thu Dec 21, 2006 10:49 am by SWAT_OP-R8R

well if its 5 years then 2008 is correct then

but honestly there are too many "if''s" and "maybe's" atm and i wont wait until one of those will become reality
FL wont live forever that is a fact and ill be prepared for the moment... ive to lead a community which does expect a future after the GLS is gone

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