Puresim Online Leagues?

[XCom]

ORIGINAL: Deltadog
Questions-
1.  Xcom - when you downloaded how many teams did you see?  Just 3 or all that were there before.
2.  In your psa folder you should have file 7z.exe, which I believe is what the game uses to compress and expand the files.  My file is 117 KB which seems awful small for a program.  How large is yours?

When I logged in I had only three choices as you have stated. I assumed that the reason for this was that Legend had taken a team and setup the rest of the teams to computer control. Therefore they wouldn't be active on the login screen. When I accessed my team I did have a full roster of players. I just can't get the changes to upload.

Also, the size of the 7-zip.exe file is correct. 7-Zip seems to be working correctly as far as I can tell.

[Deltadog]

Are there any other exe files with 7z in the name in that folder.  For example 7zm.exe.  i downloaded 7z and in order to open it I have to use the file manager 7z.exe, but there appears to be only the 7z.exe file in my puresim folders.  I wonder if this could be while my downloaded files are not being extracted.  Also I also have all the teams when I look at rosters during the one time each extraction that I am able to open the file.

[XCom]

No, there are no other files associated with 7z in my folder. I don't think Shaun has it coded where the file manager is required. I think for programming purposes you can use 7z.exe and imbed the call into your code and run 7-zip in a command prompt in the background for compression/decompression. The file manager is just a user friendly interface, but the 7z.exe program actually does the work.

[legendsport2k]

ORIGINAL: XCom

One question for Legend. Are you using your own server space to host the league file or are you using the Matrix server space? In the test I did I used my own space and I'm assuming you did as well. I wonder if we would see anything different if we use the Matrix server?

Yep, I'm using my own server space.

[legendsport2k]

ORIGINAL: XCom

When I logged in I had only three choices as you have stated. I assumed that the reason for this was that Legend had taken a team and setup the rest of the teams to computer control. Therefore they wouldn't be active on the login screen. When I accessed my team I did have a full roster of players. I just can't get the changes to upload.

Also, the size of the 7-zip.exe file is correct. 7-Zip seems to be working correctly as far as I can tell.

Yes, I turned all teams other than Boston, Philly & New York to computer control before running the draft. I agree that the zip process is working. The hangup definitely seems to occur in transferring the files.

XCom, did you check the "Use passive mode" box when setting up your league? I did, and that shouldn't be a problem, but maybe using active mode would change things. If you're using passive I may set up a league with active mode and see what happens. At the very least it would be another test of the sim's current FTP system.

[XCom]

Yes, I have always used passive mode with my FTP settings. Not sure how active mode is different but worth a try I guess. We should also try the Matrix server space to host a league and just see if that works better or not.

ORIGINAL: legendsport
XCom, did you check the "Use passive mode" box when setting up your league? I did, and that shouldn't be a problem, but maybe using active mode would change things. If you're using passive I may set up a league with active mode and see what happens. At the very least it would be another test of the sim's current FTP system.

[legendsport2k]

ORIGINAL: XCom

Yes, I have always used passive mode with my FTP settings. Not sure how active mode is different but worth a try I guess. We should also try the Matrix server space to host a league and just see if that works better or not.

I've created a league on the Matrix server. It went up very smoothly. Not sure how league members are supposed to get the original file from there, so I put it up on my own server as well. You can d/l it at http://legendsport.com/baseball/ps/psa.7z - just unzip into your /psa folder. Let's see if this is any better.

[XCom]

Okay, I will try it out as soon as I can. But, with the holiday coming up it might be a few days. [:)]

[Deltadog]

I downloaded your new test league, extracted it to my psa folder opened it logging on as Boston just as I did with the prior league. Draft profile changes were made and uploaded. From what I can see on thus end all appeared to go smoothly and very quickly.

Of course this part went smoothly the last time as well. I will be interested to see what happens when a newer version with players is downloaded as that is where the earlier problems have raised their ugly heads.

I know that the decompressing has worked fine for you and Xcom, but it has not worked for me. Earlier when I downloaded SittingDuck's league it did seem to work well.

[Deltadog]

Update

I recalled that when I clicked on the original new test league file to open it the program that responded was Winrar not 7z. I then changed the windows setting to make certain that files with 7z extension are always opened by 7z.exe. I clicked on the psa.7z file I had downloaded and the screen blinked and nothing opened. I then opened the game and tried to open the first test league (after replacing all files in my psa related to that league with the original league files) The game downloaded the newer version of the files on the server and this time extracted the archive using 7z and opened the file. I made roster moves and then clicked upload and the game crashed immediately. I tried to open the league a second time and succeeded. I tried to upload again and this time got a message asking that I make sure my roster was correct before proceeding. I had done nothing move players around in the batting order had moved the # 1 starter to second and second to 1st. I had also moved a relief pitcher to the 5th starter slot. In an effort to correct the roster to suit the game, I moved one of the original starters to the reliever slot and tried to upload again. From my end it appears that the upload went smoothly with no crash this time. Last night I could open the league files once and from then on experienced a crash. After transmitting the roster move file I tried to open the league again and all went well.

1. To have downloaded files extracted it appears necessary that windows be set up to always open files with 7z extension using 7z. If this association gets changed the downloaded file will not be extracted.

2. Maybe if there is a problem with the roster in the games eyes, you get a crash trying to upload and get no warning. If you open the league again and try to upload, you do get the warning. If the problem is fixed no crash. ( this will is a theory that requires more testing.

Adivse if the draft profile was received relative to the new test league and if the roster change was received relative to the older one.

[legendsport2k]

ORIGINAL: Deltadog

Adivse if the draft profile was received relative to the new test league and if the roster change was received relative to the older one.

Both seemed to work. The old league crashed - a lot - for no apparent reason when trying to contact the server, but eventually it went through and said it was processing Boston's roster moves.

[puresimmer]

I think if you guys use the new built in support for running leagues on the Matrix server it should all go quite smoothly.

Maybe I'll create a league on there and we can do some more testing.

Shaun

[XCom]

Okay, I finally got a chance to reload 1.40 and try this new league out. I downloaded the file from Legend's link and decompressed it to my /psa folder using 7-zip. I loaded up the league in Puresim and selected Philadelphia, but the game crashed before I could do anything. So, I tried again...and again. Tried logging in as different teams, but the game crashes back to desktop unless I log in as Boston or Chicago. Just a standard Windows error, so little to work from. I've attached a screenshot of the error as well.

Any thoughts?

ORIGINAL: legendsport

ORIGINAL: XCom

Yes, I have always used passive mode with my FTP settings. Not sure how active mode is different but worth a try I guess. We should also try the Matrix server space to host a league and just see if that works better or not.

I've created a league on the Matrix server. It went up very smoothly. Not sure how league members are supposed to get the original file from there, so I put it up on my own server as well. You can d/l it at http://legendsport.com/baseball/ps/psa.7z - just unzip into your /psa folder. Let's see if this is any better.

[XCom]

Shaun, I tried creating my own test league using the Matrix server and I can't even upload the first league file without the game crashing. Is there a problem with the Matrix server right now? When hosting a league on my own server I can at least upload the first league file and have my owners access it. The problem comes when trying to submit roster moves (as evidenced in this thread above).

No offense to Matrix, but this is the main reason that I want to be self-sufficient in hosting my league on my own server.

Help us, Shaun. We really want to get this to work! [:(]

ORIGINAL: puresimmer

I think if you guys use the new built in support for running leagues on the Matrix server it should all go quite smoothly.

Maybe I'll create a league on there and we can do some more testing.

Shaun

[Deltadog]

After reading your message, I logged on as Boston as I had done before and also was able to log on as Philly.  Howeve, when I tried LA, I got the same error message as I had been getting earlier when I logged on as Boston on the private server and which XCom describes above.

Shaun, would the message windows wants to send to Microsoft be of any value and if so is there any way that we can save it to a file to send you.

After entering the above message, I went back and loaded all the teams in the league. When I opened Miami I got the same message again. But when I tried again I was able to access and transmit a set of draft instructions. I was also able to open LA this time with out the error message?

[XCom]

Seeing Deltadog's message I went back and tried to load various teams again. This time I was able to get more teams to actually load, but it seems very hit and miss on which teams crash Puresim. I was actually able to get Dallas to load without a problem this time around, but now Boston is crashing Puresim. And for the record I still have not been able to load up Philadelphia at all. It always seems to crash when doing the server check. Very strange.

[puresimmer]

Wow, looks like there are problems with the server.

I hate to say this, but I am considering bagging multiplayer support altogether. Too many variables.


Shaun

[XCom]

No, no, no!!! Please don't give up on us just yet. [:(]

I have been using patch 1.31 in a test league for over a month without a problem. Something was introduced sometime after 1.35 that is causing problems. The two variables I see are:

1) incorporation of the 7z compression routine

and

2) ability to use the Matrix server as an option for league hosting

I'm more inclined to lean towards the Matrix hosting option as being the culprit since I've never had a problem with the game crashing during the compression/decompression phase. That part seems to be working okay. The problems all seem to stem from server checks or roster change submissions. It's as if the game is getting confused with the multiple hosting choices. I would suggest just removing the Matrix hosting option for the next patch and go back to the pre-1.35 code for mutiplayer (with the exception of leaving in the 7z compression because of the big time advantage of higher compression ratios). Let us find our hosting site. There are reasonably priced hosting options out there that have more than enough storage space and monthly bandwidth limits to host a league. Let's get it right with that option before worrying about giving people free server space to host a league. Just my 2 cents.

I'd hate to see multiplayer support pulled so close to a final release. Even if you go back fully to the pre-1.35 code it would be better than bagging it. Yes, there are things I'd like to see incorporated into multiplayer to make it work better, but not at the cost of losing multiplayer support altogether!

ORIGINAL: puresimmer

Wow, looks like there are problems with the server.

I hate to say this, but I am considering bagging multiplayer support altogether. Too many variables.


Shaun

[Deltadog]

I don't know what the problem is but we were having problems downloading after players were assigned in Ducks league before the option to allow use of the Matrix server was introduced.  The problem also existed before the 7z compression was introduced.
 
I agree, that it would be ashamed if we lost the multiplayer support this close to the final patch.

[XCom]

Deltadog, going back and looking through the thread you guys had going when working on setting up Duck's league it seems to me that you guys didn't start having problems until 1.35 was released. See this entry by you on 8/29:

ORIGINAL: Deltadog
However, this will present another problem if my recent experience is an example. I recently upgraded to Beta 135. Now when I open the league, it tries to contact the FTP server and fails.

After that post a few people seem to have problems, Duck goes down with an injury, and the league collapses without any resolution to the connection problems.

Look at what 1.35 introduced...

=== 1.35 (BETA RC4) Fixes/Changes ====

- Fix: Error 6 when viewing defensive chart for some players (introduced in 1.34)

- New: Integrated BETA version of new 'Matrix Online' support for hosting multiplayer leagues
(Note: This version simply uses my home FTP server for a test, so download speeds will be a bit slow, when we get the Matrix servers setup I'll cut over to their servers and it should be super fast)

- New: Now using 7z for multiplayer association compression resulting in 3x to 5x smaller file sizes resulting in greatly improved upload/download times

This to me is the smoking gun... [:(]