I don't see this happening in games that are able to be modded. Someone's going to do malicious things with any tool, whether it's cheating, griefing, spamming, or just being an annoying jerk. Ultimately it isn't possible (or IMO desirable) to have computers basically making moral decisions for humans. You're going to need some sort of human supervision in order to make those types of judgment calls, unless you're ok with servers being overrun by spammers, trolls, etc. (And at that point who cares if anyone is cheating.) I don't see the benefit of putting so much extra effort into trying to encrypt/obfuscate something when that time could be spent on something that makes a difference. I think this is one of those situations where the cure is worse than the disease.
I don't think it's a matter of choosing one over the other. Code is becoming more secure whether game developers focus on that above all else or not. It is simply a trend that shows no sign of stopping and that is only good news for us gamers (that are not using exploits). The integrity of data transmitted between clients and the server should be of the highest priority. It's not just about cheating but also performance, quality and stability. Regarding mods. As a former developer and husband of a director of developers, it boggles my mind how difficult or impossible people think it is to have mods and security at the same time. Take a look at the way Android and IOS app permissions are handled for an indication of what can be done to authenticate what mods have access to and their abilities (your phone is doing this now!). Preventing "man in the middle" type exploits can be done quite nicely if that is what you are focused on and your code is robust enough to adapt. Now I am admittedly a bit more passionate about this due to my experiences with "hackers" on games like War Rock (long ago) and DayZ where they have completely taken over and effectively ruined the game for everyone. Again, just my 2 cents.
Yes, this is all a matter of opinion, and I'm not angry or anything. I just put a higher priority on modability (which is pretty crucial to game enjoyment for me) and performance, which is going to suffer if the game engine is a virtual machine. I think it's just a waste of developer time/effort, because even if it removes all vulnerabilities to cheating, it does nothing to slow down all the other ways in which people are going to be annoying, so the same server with or without built-in cheat protection IMO would not be fun either way.
I would like the option of setting up an instance with all technology unlocked (or maybe just certain technologies unlocked, others excluded), to allow for limited duration tournaments, where players need only worry about obtaining resources and performing the tasks assigned (e.g. King of the Hill, etc.) during the timeframe, and not worrying about having to grind out XP for unlocking.
You need to have access to the root files of the game .. read on here: http://empyrion.gamepedia.com/Dedicated_Server_Setup#Retrieving_lost_ships
Another point of feedback, may have already been mentioned, but it would be awesome to have dedicated server content separate from single player content, so that mods to our SP game don't affect dedicated server content, and vice-versa...for that matter, unique content per dedicated server would allow for something like this scenario: Game1 - Mondays, Game2 - Tuesdays, Game 3 - Wednesday, et.al. Would require an option to provide game id or some such switch to the dedicated server launcher to point to the correct content path....
What I think might need looking at is pod ownership as you start a game so only the person in the pod can access it, to stop people running up to the pod as it drops in and stealing the new players starter supplies. And trade shops where people can sell ore for credits/money [ingame only no real money involved at all ] and buy whole ships, or parts or ingots, and where players can go to do missions for the local traders and earn in different ways. The game isn't focused on this, but in a galaxy planned to be so huge, it would be nice to see it here and there spread through the galaxy randomly, areas where other factions exist, and do trade and war with other factions and players.
I wanted to add some stock blueprints for my players to use, so I added them to the PrefabsStock folder on the my server, they didn't show up in game except for the personal copy I have. after some playing around I added them to the PrefabsStock folder on client and then they showed up. this sorta defeats to purpose of having this folder if I can't add public blueprints for everyone, then why not just put every thing into blueprints folder. I understand that most of the new buttons for blueprints are not working yet, but I thought the folder would work if I manually inserted blueprints in it.
Could you update the wiki guide ? I'm just a bit confused : I had problems with my server today, 2 people were on separate playfield and other people could not connect. (I mean, they logged out in different playfields). Is it linked to "- { prop: Srv_ReservePlayfields, value: 2 } # Determines the number of playfield servers that are held in reserve. For busy public servers, we recommend at least 2 (default is 1) " ? Is there any command in the console that we can use ? Thanks !
I didn't wipe mine and so far every thing is working fine. Is it linked to "- { prop: Srv_ReservePlayfields, value: 2 } # Determines the number of playfield servers that are held in reserve. For busy public servers, we recommend at least 2 (default is 1) " ? that just sets how many are reservered, when a player a new playfield they will enter into one of the reserved ones. if the area they left the server will shut that one down. If the reserved areas on your server is low after the move it will reserve another.
Ok, I did not find out where the bug came from but after doing a clean install it is working as intended, and as soup238 explained
Devs don't having anything to do with the Wiki. It's all good hearted members of this forum. On a volunteer basis. You can even go do it.
BLG Server Owner Here. I know dedicated servers are relatively new to the game but I have some feedback/suggestions/requests to make. I really think there is a huge opportunity for dedicated servers (which is probably why you made this a feature). Multiplayer with this game is awesome! However, right now running a high population server is maddening. I realize this game is pre alpha. But I would love a few of these things that I mention below to be addressed ASAP aka IMMEDIATELY. I am real disappointed that these issues were not address in the last patch, which is why I am writing this. Dedicated servers revolve around building a community, and this cannot be done with out some stability or more importantly admin controls. This game being pre-alpha and bugs being common, I feel that sufficient admin tools should be priority #1. As an admin we can then address issues on a per situation basis instead of wiping entire servers/play fields or constantly restarting. All of which kill server population and keeps players from returning or even playing the game. Also allows you to have less upset gamers when a bug is experienced. So I ask this for the NEXT update!! PLEASE DO THIS! Please give us an in game admin menu with(at a minimum) gives admins the following abilities: Teleport myself Teleport others Teleport/Move/Delete Ships and Bases Ban/Kick Spawn items and bps Restart specific play fields Restart Server Server Messages -Also add a way to identify ships to players/factions. This would be awesome and we could easily move peoples lost ships and help those who lose hours of hard work! This would help players withstand the common bugs if admins are there to help. I firmly believe our server has the most active and helpful admin team with our type of population. If we had these tools we could keep players playing the game and they would not be as upset when bugs do occur. Also please focus on fixing play field crashes and file corruption in the future as well. These two have been deadly to our server and have caused a wipe or two since we have started. Very frustrating as admins and players. Thanks for reading and for your hard work!
I would also love to see more admin support for our dedis. I run a public PVE server that is ... for the most part .. pretty empty of players since we have to server wipe so often. It seems like people are afraid to start any large projects on dedis that aren't theirs, for obvious reasons. If admins can simply update playfields, etc, or even export/import ships/bases to a fresh server without having to sort through and figure out which SV_New_xxxxx file belongs to who, it would make things easier for migration.
Is there a way, right now, to put a wipe time only on specific planets ? AKUA is full fast. Other playfield, not so fast ? Could give incentive to build somewhere else for the advanced players on my own server ? Any idea ?
I run a server that currently has 37 playfields and the xxxxx has gotten to around 1,200,000 and have been on the same save for 2 months we are getting ready for a server wipe mostly because of feature that we don't get, all the abandon bases and ships and lately have had a couple errors but nothing to fantastic, besides the save in running around 3G atm. I recently had to add slots as we where maxing out from time to time. I offered to restore my players levels, gift some resources, but most where not interested, we ended up with me providing them with a SV cargo ship, that they are not allowed to modify. so they can load what goods in the containers as they see fit. since I know the file names of these ships, they will be easy to transfer to the new save and they can BP what the choose.