PL/LD bug

Hasrett

Dalayan Beginner
I looked around a bit for information on this and didn't find any. If I missed it, please feel free to link the appropriate thread, and I'll go have a look.

First, just so everyone is clear, I'm talking about what happens to your group roughly an hour and a half after you zone into a dungeon. Typically in the same order you zoned in, you'll each either get what looks like consistent 70-ish percent packet loss, or you'll simply go LD instantly. You then have to relog. Zoning, including dying or relogging, appears to reset the timer.

I don't recall seeing it happen in city zones, and I'm sure I've been in them far longer than an hour and a half without zoning.

I seem to recall something from way back when I played before suggesting that it wasn't a bug so much as a "feature." If it is a feature, can I ask what the reason behind it is? It's a pretty brutal and very consistent problem. I can't even guess at the number of times we've wiped or at least had a death or two because of it.

Yes, I know it can be averted by just having everyone relog every hour and change. I don't understand why that's necessary though. What happens if you forget? What happens if you're not in a very safe place to do so? So yeah, it's possible to avoid it, but it's a huge pain in the ass. Is there any chance of getting it fixed? If not, how about a comment on why (whether rationale for a feature or coding difficulty for a bug)?

Thanks much.
 
I have done quite a few packet captures on this as well as Xardon and Adlarac. We have an idea of what is causing it and of course we are looking into it with the small spare time that we have. For right now, its a side effect of a reverse engineered game server.
 
I've tried to break down the eqgame.exe and the .dll to try to find where that portion of code is, but no luck so far either, other than finding out what's happening, nothing more to provide. I'd love to find a fix just as much as Dynak and Adlarac, it's one of the more annoying things to me.
 
If anyone is willing to capture some PL bug's using Ethereal and send me the capture file, it would be greatly appreciated. PM me if you have some to send to me, thank you.
 
Xardon said:
If anyone is willing to capture some PL bug's using Ethereal and send me the capture file, it would be greatly appreciated. PM me if you have some to send to me, thank you.
I don't think it'll work. Whenever I use Ethereal, it heals my group, but it doesn't prevent the PL bug. I have to relog to do that.

(/snicker... IDK how to do that, otherwise i'd be happy to give it a shot)
 
Xardon is talking about a network protocol analyzer lol, not the spell. Way2Fail =D.

I'll get to it whenever I'm on, and experience some PL while raiding.
 
From the Question Night transcript at http://www.shardsofdalaya.com/forum/index.php?topic=13878.0


[Wed Jul 18 14:57:49 2007] Dev-Woldo BROADCASTS, 'What is the status of the PL/Insta LD bug research that was being done a bit ago? Any progress into a possible fix?'

[Wed Jul 18 14:58:14 2007] Admin-Wiz BROADCASTS, 'Well, the status is that we know exactly what causes it but there's not much we can do about it. Are you interested in a breakdown of the problem?'
[Wed Jul 18 14:59:04 2007] Admin-Wiz BROADCASTS, 'OK, basically. The client encrypts all data sent between it and the server with a unique encryption key that is generated when the connection is opened.'
[Wed Jul 18 14:59:27 2007] Admin-Wiz BROADCASTS, 'Every two hours or so, the encryption key is refreshed, but we do not have access to the serverside response that needs to be created for the key refresh to go through.'
[Wed Jul 18 14:59:42 2007] Admin-Wiz BROADCASTS, 'So when the key is refreshed, the server fails to respond properly, and the client can no longer receive packaets from the server'
[Wed Jul 18 14:59:45 2007] Admin-Wiz BROADCASTS, 'ergo! pl bug.'
[Wed Jul 18 15:00:36 2007] Admin-Wiz BROADCASTS, 'As for why it doesn't happen in some zones or you can soemtimes stay on longer... it's a mystery. The Game client uses some archaic process to decide on when to refresh its key.'
[Wed Jul 18 15:00:46 2007] Admin-Wiz BROADCASTS, 'It's probably based on the # of packets received/sent.'
[Wed Jul 18 15:00:59 2007] Admin-Wiz BROADCASTS, 'So in a raid you'd run into a refresh faster than when alone in an empty zone.'
[Wed Jul 18 15:01:33 2007] Admin-Wiz BROADCASTS, 'So yeah, that's everything you ever wanted to know about PL bug.'
 
The PL bug is almost an institution on SoD. If it was fixed the server would never be the same.
 
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