User talk:Joe Kimmes/Archive August 2009

Old and new Linux questions

Heya Joe. First up, I'm curious on the status of the cursor issue from User talk:Joe Kimmes/Archive June 2009#Cursor. Maybe-someday pile, no-way-can't-do-it pile, or working-on-it pile?

And for something new, since Wine version 1.1.22, there's a problem that's cropped up, apparently involving reallocation of memory when updating the GW client, that sends people into "repairing data archive" loops. According to the Wine guys, this is actually a bug with GW which Windows automatically corrects for, but Wine doesn't (anymore). To quote a Wine dev (comment #14): "It looks like they move the contents of the block by hand after the realloc, thus of course accessing the data that has just been freed. Someone should tell these guys that HeapReAlloc already moves the data..."

Usual disclaimer here, I know Linux is not officially supported and I understand completely if you just say "Not my problem" and move on. Thanks for your time either way. - Tanetris 05:55, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

For an update on the cursor issue, I've tracked down the location of the cursor allocation that seems to be causing the problem; I was concerned about changing the code around without fully understanding it, though, so I shelved the issue while working on some other bugs. This is definitely still 'working-on-it' though.

I'm less optimistic about the memory allocation issue you mention, though; that's well outside my area of expertise with the GW engine. Not to mention, of course, that accidentally breaking the updater would basically bring the whole game down! I'll keep this in mind though and at least try breaking my local version a few times. =) - Joe Kimmes 16:02, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Awesome on the cursor, understandable on the updater. Yeah, I can just imagine the outpouring of rage if that happened... Still, you've got my full confidence! And much appreciated on trying if nothing else. - Tanetris 18:29, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Aaaaaand apparently it's not a GW bug after all. Whoops. Sorry to bug you! Still, awesome about the progress on the cursor. - Tanetris 18:55, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Is there a limit on the maximum HP a player can have at any given moment?

This popped up on Gaile's page, and I did some calculations here. The theoretical conclusion is that at the absolute max, a player can have up to about 17,858 HP for a short time using Symbiosis and every ally/party-targeted anchantment in the game, plus some other skills and items. Would this actually be possible, or are there any technical limitations that would cut it short? I can't think of a better person to ask than yourself. Rose Of Kali 23:59, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Without actually checking the code, my suspicion is that it would not be cut short at that range. There are bosses with more health than that (or at least close to it), and there's no reason players wouldn't have a similarly generous absolute maximum. - Joe Kimmes 00:09, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Cool. On that note, do you know what boss has the most HP in the game, and what it is? My guesses are Urgoz/Kanaxai or Mallyx. :P Rose Of Kali 00:13, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Shard also said this on my talkpage: The number is probably at 32,767 for players because players can have negative health. I don't think bosses can have negative health (they just die), so their max might be the max value of an unsigned short, which is 65,535. Is he right? Close? Rose Of Kali 00:20, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

My guess is Mallyx too, but that's something the designers would know. As for the true maximum, I would guess that the HP value uses a larger data type than a short, so it would be a lot higher. - Joe Kimmes 00:29, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Interesting. Thanks. :) Rose Of Kali 01:07, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

I think N.O.X. (if not all the M.O.X.-quest Golems) has upwards of 60,000 HP, too. --Riddle 01:11, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Party Size in Kamadan and Plains of Jarin

→ moved from User talk:Linsey Murdock

I noticed after doing the Z-quest today Venta Cemetary that my party size was larger than intended. It had me as 6/4 while in Kamadan then when I zoned out to the Plains of Jarin it left me as 6/4. I did the mission with Heros and Henchmen and it kept my heroes along with Herta and Kihm. I never had this happen before and I always used the same Heroes and Henchmen in that mission. Here is a link to a screen shot I took in Kamadan [[1]]--Antiquus Lupus 22:03, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

It's been like that forever; read the Bug listed under Notes at the iwki page for the mission ~ http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Venta shadguy 22:18, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Ah okay, I didn't realize this as I have never read the page for the mission. Thank you for the reply. Only time I noticed it after 7 times through before.--Antiquus Lupus 22:38, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Personally, I think this is intentional, because if you go to Dajkah Inlet and talk to Dockmaster Dimedeh with 4 heroes and the 4 henchmen that are also in Kamadan, you can enter Kamadan with a 8/4 without doing a mission or anything... I don't see any other purpose for that NPC other than that, unless he was originally put there for taking the Sunspears back in the storyline, instead of Margrid doing so. -- Azazel The Assassin\talk 04:15, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

Didn't they fix that, though? I remember doing blacktide for one of the first Zquests, and at the end, when I was sent back to the great hall, my party was disbanded. We used to use that trick for having an 8-man Vanq of Plains of Jarin. :( Targren 13:47, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

Haven't you just said the exact reason why it was inentional, why should they split up your group on returning to Kamadan after the cutscene? --Smithyben 22:31, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

If you use NPCs unavailable in Kamadan, they will leave your party.217.140.110.23 22:46, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

I am aware of this behavior and it has been working that way since before release. I don't know if it was intentional or just the way it had to be from a technical standpoint. Maybe Joe could answer that questions. - Linsey talk 19:41, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

I would guess that this is working as intended for the aformentioned design reason of not breaking up groups of players. - Joe Kimmes 21:05, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

When you try to zone from a PvP outpost to a PvE one with a PvP-Only character, you get a message and can't go though. Wouldn't it be possible to do with PvE teams that are bigger that the area limit? That would solve both this issue and the one about breaking teams when you zone between campaigns. MithTalk 00:24, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

I never said there was no way to prevent this; I just said that not preventing it was a design decision. - Joe Kimmes 00:37, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Questions about the client

I've got a question for you. Are you the one to ask about the process that launches the client? Because this update has screwed a few things up on that end.--Pyron Sy 00:41, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

I'd be interested to hear what problem you're having, but I can't promise much. This update changed very little client-side code, and nothing with the launcher has changed in quite some time. - Joe Kimmes 00:46, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Okay, I've got three accounts, and have three different install folders, each one set with that accounts email address, and three different shortcuts. I used -image on my main shortcut and updated the game, and removed -image to play. When the game loaded, it launched one of my secondary accounts instead of my main. All three shortcuts launched the same install. I tried running the gw.exe directly from the folders, and it still only launched the one install.--Pyron Sy 00:53, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

How odd - like I said, nothing in the build should have caused that. I suggest sending this in to Support and seeing if they have any advice - if nothing else, that will help us determine if other players are experiencing similar problems. - Joe Kimmes 01:08, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

I'll write up a ticket tonight. A fix was found, but it involves using one of the multi-instance launchers developed by the community. It has something to do with clearing mutex, but I have no idea what that means. I've posted on guru in the multi-instance thread for all affected players to contact support, and someone else has already posted they had the same issue. I'm sure it'll filter back down to the coding team from support in a few days, but at least now you've got a little bit of info about it ahead of time.--Pyron Sy 01:18, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

What you're describing doesn't seem to be a problem with the client, I do believe the multiple installs you made share the same registry keys and they only point to one location, so you'd probably have to change the registry keys to the correct path before running each account. If you're trying to run those instances at the same time, then things get more complicated and you need to start messing with the client (clearing the mutex is effectively a hack to stop the client from checking if there's a GW instance active, combined with the registry change I mentioned this allows you to run multiple instances). None of this is officially supported by Anet so it makes sense that you run into problems. --Draikin 17:22, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Ritualist Heros and Enchantments

Since the recent buff to Ritualists, I've noticed something with how they handle enchantments. If you take an elementalist hero and put fire attunement for example on their bar, they will immediately cast it and will attempt to maintain the enchantment on recharge/when it expires. Ritualist heros however do not do this, often waiting until the party is aggro'd before casting their enchantments, thereby wasting time before they start casting spirits. The enchantments I'm primarily thinking of include Spirit's Gift, and Boon of Creation, but I'm sure it also applies to others as well (Explosive Growth et al). Is this an AI problem with how Rit hero's handle/use enchantments? If so, how hard would it be to code an option for the hero bars along the lines of the (Shift + Click) 'Do not use this skill' marker, but basically with the meaning that the hero should use the marked skill on recharge (provided there was a target). Yeah I know there's always the option that I could micro the hero... Anon-e-mouse 15:00, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

I don't think it has anything to do with Rits in particular, it's the way the enchantments themselves are coded. Spirit's Gift, Boon of Creation and Explosive Growth all last longer than their recharge, so there shouldn't be a problem with maintaining them in and out of battle. Casting them before battle actually saves energy and time for the battle (25 energy and 5 seconds if you cast all 3). They should be "flagged" as cast-on-recharge, like the attunements. Rose Of Kali 15:27, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Rose of Kali is correct; for the most part, the skills themselves have AI settings for when they should be used, the Hero AI just polls those to determine the currently useful skills. I recommend submitting these issues to the ArenaNet_talk:AI_bugs section of the wiki - QA regularly sweeps through there and submits the bugs into our internal bug system. - Joe Kimmes 15:57, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

And even if it's not totally a bug and you just think that a skill could be used better than the way it is presently coded, they typically look at that too. In fact, there's a several-month-long debate going on under Life to determine who it should be used by heroes now, but that's beside the point; it's simply an example of what I was saying earlier.-- Timeoffire45 rawr 20:25, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Hero/Henchmen AoE Reaction

I can't verify this specifically, perhaps someone else can corroborate, it seems that heroes and henchies are much more reluctant to evade/escape from AoE attacks than foes. On many occasions I see my H/H stand and take Sandstorm or Maelstrom damage without moving. Is this a deliberate mechanic or only my imagination? - Terryn Deathward 22:44, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

There's no deliberate mechanic that makes heroes slower to escape AoE. I'm interested to hear if anyone else has noticed this, though - it's possible that there's some bit of unique hero AI that slows their reaction down. - Joe Kimmes 23:11, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Aside from the usual problems with heroes getting out of AoE attacks, what I often see happening is that heroes try to get out of AoE attacks but instead of actually running they take mini-steps back and forth in the AoE even though there are no obstacles preventing them from moving. When this behavior is triggered it usually shuts down their skill usage completely as well. As soon as the AoE attack ends they're "unlocked" again and start moving and using skills. I'm not sure if PvE foes suffer from that same problem but in general they don't seem to be any faster at escaping AoE attacks. --Draikin 01:53, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Yes, I noticed this too. When hit by AoE, sometimes they run back and forth just a few steps without ever really leaving it and completely freak out and won't use any defensive skills to save their own life until it's over or they're dead. Could this have something to do with them not "wanting" to get too far from the human player or a flag? On the other hand, sometimes when the caster heroes or henchies start kiting melee attackers, they will get way way out of range of their flags or their player leader, and often will aggro other mobs. Another thing I've noticed is that sometimes they decide to use a skill on a fleeing or not-yet-aggroed patrolling monster and will follow them to absurd distances (like half a compass!) and can only be pulled back with a flag reset that also cancels the skill they were trying to use. Rose Of Kali 04:33, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

I'm more concerned about when they stick close inside a specially strong AoE combo dealt by different enemies, like Searing Flames. If you have ever seen a flock or a shoal, when something gets in, they don't just scatter. they spread evenly in opposite directions, and then reunite again. When AI scatter, they don't so evenly like if the circle they form was being inflated, they run around, and more around quite randomly, and more frequently than I'd like to, they run around still inside the AoE, and close to other party members. MithTalk 17:42, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

This reminds me that the behavior setting on the AI influences the range at which they'll overextend from their position, and I do believe this has a similar impact on how far they'll run from AoE attacks. I'd imagine that on "Attack" they're more likely to run out and stay out of the AoE attack since they're allowed to run that far, while on "Avoid" they'd be more likely to run back to their flag (often meaning back into the AoE). The AI mobs are probably all set to "Attack" which might explain why people find that they're better at getting out of AoE attacks. --Draikin 18:22, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure I've seen this behavior in henchmen, and as far as I know, they're all set to "Attack." You have no idea how many times Alesia decided to aggro first... >_< Rose Of Kali 18:34, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

I believe (but have not confirmed, so take it with a grain of salt) that Henchmen set themselves to Defend. The flee-from-AoE AI is basically glitch-prone at best, though, so I don't doubt that it's causing problems. - Joe Kimmes 16:00, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

I am taking it with a grain of salt, since it seems like when I have Alesia (or any caster henchie) and Jora on Defend, Alesia usually makes the first hit when aggroing a mob, while Jora patiently waits for me to aggro. O_o That's not very "defensive." (What I often do on my necro is select a closest target and hit space to attack so that I start running towards them, then just before entering eggro, I cast Protective Spirit on myself, then let my wand aggro or use a skill, but Alesia seems to run ahead and attack while I'm casting PS and going through the animation... so now I've learned to flag my team back if I want to aggro like this with any caster henchies on my team, or they will aggro before me and get spiked.) Rose Of Kali 18:08, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Forced Disconnect and Empty Accounts

Hello, Joe. I don't exactly know if you're the right one for client problems but since you're a programmer I guessed so. Yesterday, I've been a bit tired and tried to map-travel yet only clicked once (though you need to double-click to finish it). I've been a bit annoyed so I slammed on my mouse buttons and instantly got disconnected. After a second — even slightly more annoyed — attempt I got the same result. Further testing today proved my thesis which can be found here. I also experienced the rare bug which shows you an empty account with only one chapter of Guild Wars this way. Hope to see it fixed.

Yours, Ɲoɕʈɋɽɕɧ 12:33, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Keep in mind that Joe is not responsible for fixing bugs through his talk page; there are official channels for that. TBH I'm surprised he does it as much as he does ;) 74.181.200.229 13:44, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

I've used those bug pages. They responded like half a year later. Ɲoɕʈɋɽɕɧ 14:21, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Which is why people post here I guess. Joe actually seems to care, unlike the so-called official channels o.O -- euphoracle | talk 00:13, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

The bug pages have been much more active recently with some of the new staff. Just an observation. --Freedom Bound 18:25, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

More active they may be, but I've posted various bugs which never get a response; yet, when it turns out that a report I make is unfounded/a figment of my imagination, it gets a response in less than a day. Example: I posted three text bugs all at once (I found them quite randomly and all around the same time), the secondw of which turned out to actually be the intended text while the other two were, in fact, errors. Within twenty minutes of my post, I get a message saying that the correct one is, indeed, correct, and that my report is inaccurate, but thank you for the thought. The other two wait two more days before they see any action at all. What's more I posted a bug on how the Ebon Vanguard Assassin is totally A.D.D. and fails to stay on target (there's actually a less pressing bug in its skill chain usage, but that's more minor), and it's been sitting there without a single official comment as to whether or not it's actually a bug. Mind you, this is after another user has tested and confirmed the report. Suffice it to say, more active they may be, but good at browsing the sections and adressing bugs instead of refuting claims is not a quality I would ascribe to them just yet. No offense to them, of course: I'm sure they're busy; it's jsut frustrating sometimes. -- Timeoffire45 rawr 02:57, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Ironically, if you have a long wait for a response on a bug report, that can often mean that the report was escalated from support to the Live Team. There are a number of player-reported bugs, including this one, that are already in my to-fix list; they're just such time-consuming or complex issues that fixes aren't immediate or, unfortunately, have to take lower priority than other tasks. I know it's tough to have to see a bug go unfixed for a long time, but believe me that the reported bugs are reaching the team, even if the turnaround time is slow. - Joe Kimmes 15:53, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Chat Box Spam

Similar to the check boxes for which channels we view in chat, we need something on the options page to select which messages show up in the green text. I don't care what dropped for other people. I don't care that they dropped ashes (usually). I don't care what they picked up. I do care very strongly about eliminating spam. Make your interface options more robust. Thanks. 76.97.53.157 20:49, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Harshness aside, I too dislike the use of chat for silly things. In a mission, for example, the NPCs will absolutely flood team chat at times, it makes it difficult to use. -- euphoracle | talk 02:15, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

I doubt the designers will let me remove NPC chat from the log, since it's theoretically supposed to be plot-relevant, but 76's complaint about messages for other players is valid. I'll see if anything can be done about that. - Joe Kimmes 15:55, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

I had to be intentionally harsh. If I were to flower it up, I'd get hit with the "OMG NO SUGGESTIONS!!!1" parade. Harsh makes it sound like what it is, an extension of existing features instead of a new idea. *edit* As a follow up: I've played for over 4 years, I've watched every movie, played every quest, repeated the same "Go here, do X, open gate, get to town" TRASH (emphasis on that) design that we've been stuck with this whole time. For 2 years now I've skipped every cutscene, ignored every quest, hated every moment of Factions main storyline being linear (and NF, and EotN). I can understand that they are proud of parts of the storyline, but let me decide what's relevant to my play time. Also, Joe, you make me happy. In an uncomfortable and awkward way. *wink* 76.97.53.157 20:07, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Whoa, whoa!.. *offers a glass of cold water* Rose Of Kali 21:26, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

While you're at it, any chance that blue items can show in chat as blue? They're more useful than purple 95% of the time. 76.97.53.157 19:19, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Gwen in Pre-Searing and increased healing?

→ moved from User talk:Linsey Murdock

There has been a question about a note that says that it is possible to increase the amount of healing Gwen does in pre-searing. There have been no reports of this actually happening, but the only way to really settle the issue is to have someone who can look at what the game actually does check if it can happen. Please settle this question. --mtew 01:52, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

Ping? --Max 2 19:59, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

Without any indication of how people say this is possible, it's hard to even know where to look. I need more information than this. - Linsey talk 19:49, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

He's talking about the note on the Gwen article that indicates that she can level up and thus provide more than the ~20 healing she provides as a level one NPC. --Freedom Bound 19:53, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

That seems like a Hoax to me. MithTalk 00:14, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

That is the question. I spent considerable time trying to trace the origin of the assertion, only to run into the brick wall of Backsword's failure to recollect where he copied it from. I suspect you are correct, except that I have been politely calling it a Myth, not a Hoax. Unfortunately the only way to lay this to rest is to have someone examine the game code, which we, as players, can not do. --Max 2 08:04, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

If it's a code question, maybe Joe Kimmes can help. But, I don't really think it's necessary. If no one else has ever seen her level up (I know I haven't), call it a poorly executed and mis-timed April Fool's joke, remove the note, and move on. --Freedom Bound 13:53, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

That would just sweep the problem under the rug. I want it laid to rest properly. Linsy would be the one to assign the problem to Joe if I understand the teams structure properly. --Max 2 17:17, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

If every little note and piece of trivia was verified by A-net, this wiki would be pretty empty. But, if you want to wait for a real answer, go ahead, just my opinion. And please don't edit my comments, even to add links. I'm well aware of how to link, and if I thought it was necessary, I would have done so. --Freedom Bound 17:23, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

My, my. Touchy. The note is still there because lack of verification is not sufficent reson to remove it. As for the link to Joe Kimmes' page, I used it to get to his talk page and add it to my watch list. The change did not change the meaining of what you said, but, since you objected, I added it to my text instead. --Max 2 17:38, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

(Reset indent) Linsey: Is that sufficient clarification? Do you want to look into this, assign someone else to do so, or should I re-post the question on Joe's talk page? --Max 2 15:23, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

That is sufficient for me to get an idea of what you are talking about. It's definitely not something I could verify, but I'm not even sure if Joe could easily verify it either. Feels like the kind of thing that someone would need to actually test out rather than something that is documented in the code. I could be wrong, but Joe would be the one to ask. - Linsey talk 19:12, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

It looks like the 20 is hard-coded and not affected by level. It's handled the same way as other healing though, so it's possible that any hexes/enchantments that modify healing might change the number and cause this confusion. Hope that helps! - Joe Kimmes 15:56, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Well, the number of skills there is quite limited, and I can't recall any of the ones that can affect you being in areas where Gwen can go. Let's see enemies that cast hexes in areas where Gwen can go... the River Dragon cast only Blurred Vision, the Skale boss doesn't have hexes... the Charr boss was a ranger... the ettin was a warrior... the aloes only cast spells over other plants... and it seems that's all no more skills. And none of the player's enchantments would affect healing... unless pre-Searing skills are copycats like BMP skills it must be a hoax. And I don't think they are, since they have been changing along skill updates every single time I checked. MithTalk 18:01, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Moar Linucks

← moved to User talk:Regina Buenaobra