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Thread: Tacview Server Side Testing

  1. #11
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    While not a member, I could make myself available tonight from GMT 17:00-23:00 if that would be helpful.

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    OK, we'll shoot for some time between 1800-1900. Anyone who's around can participate. Should take less than 30 mins, just meet on TS.

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    I don't have access to TS yet. Please PM me details if acceptable to join it.

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    Member Dojo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Breemis View Post
    I don't have access to TS yet. Please PM me details if acceptable to join it.
    Hey Breemis, I really appreciate the offer to help. Given where you are in the recruiting process, I think you can sit this one out. I'm sure you'll hear from the guys soon re: recruiting.
    Last edited by Dojo; 29Dec16 at 15:36.

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    Fair enough, best of luck with the testing.

  6. The Following User Says Thank You to Breemis For This Useful Post:

    Dojo (29Dec16)

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    First, can a mod move this thread to the General Discussion forum? Apologies for putting this in TTPs.

    Here's an update on the testing. First, thanks everyone who participated. We had ~10 folks jump on yesterday between recruits, 132nd, and 476th members.

    The good news is, in comparison tests between server side Tacview on and off, the persistent disk utilization is below 1%. With Tacview enabled on the 476th public mission, we saw a steady write rate of ~9KB/s, the same as with Tacview turned off, which is likely DCS writing it's track data. Approximately every 5 seconds, the server would spike to about 450KB/s write rate. This was with 8-9 players flying A-10s and firing the GAU-8.

    Tacview has a memory buffer, so all ACMIs are stored in memory until the tiny buffer is filled, and then written to disk, hence the ~5 second intermittent write spikes. This is a good thing.

    The bad news is, we discovered that Tacview was not reliably detecting all connected clients, and therefore was not generating a file for all players. That said, we believe we've found the issue. Currently, the Tacview exporter only starts after the server is unpaused, so the state of the server matters when users join. As we had everyone joining roughly at the same time, there was a matter of order that is to be considered.

    This has been reported to Vyrtuoz, and he believes he can make changes to have the exporter detect client connections even in a paused state, which should fix this issue.

    We're close.

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    Hansolo (30Dec16), Noodle (31Dec16), Snoopy (31Dec16)

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    FYI, just flew on the DS for about an 1.6 hours, the produced ACMI file was 2.2MB, so the auto compression is quite effective.

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    Black (31Dec16), Bushpilot (31Dec16), Hansolo (31Dec16), Snoopy (31Dec16)

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    Great news everyone:

    Today, we received the pre-release Tacview exporter, aimed at resolving the Tacview server side client detection issue. We had 11 pilots twice connect to a server, and in addition to the detection tests, we conducted a couple additional performance tests.

    All 11 clients were detected by Tacview, and ACMI files generated for each. On the 476th Public (i.e. a heavy object mission), CPU utilization remained below 30%, disk utilization below 1%.

    Moreover, in a second test run, we configured Tacview to save directly to Dropbox. The expectation was that, in addition to the above metrics, the Dropbox write would stress upload, as the files are sync'ed in real time. The good news here, is that Tacview writes in bursts from its buffer.

    Sustained upload rate from the server, with 11 pilots connected, and Dropbox sync of 11 simultaneously generated ACMI files was less than 2Mbps.

    We're gold.

    These results have been reported to Vyrtuoz, and he aims to have this in the beta within the next 24 hours.
    Last edited by Dojo; 06Jan17 at 22:42.

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    Gliptal (08Jan17), Hansolo (07Jan17), Howie (06Jan17), Panther (07Jan17), Ragtop (07Jan17), Snoopy (06Jan17), Tex (06Jan17), Trigger (07Jan17)

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    The new beta with server side recording is out. (note: it does not matter what version the client users run). http://www.tacview.net/download/beta/en/

    Given some of the questions, here's a summary for the folks not following what this all means:

    1. Tacview is awesome sauce, but due to the inefficient way DCS exports, there is a giant frame rate drop when actively recording with Tacview on your desktop.
    2. To address the issue, Vyrtuoz added the ability for the server to create Tacview recordings for individual pilots, so that you wouldn't have to actively record from your desktop.
    3. One Tacview file is generated per connected pilot. The files are generated on the server, regardless of whether you have Tacview installed or not.
    4. When you connect to the server, Tacview will start to record a file for you, in a folder with your name. When you disconnect, recording will stop for you, but continue for other pilots. Of note: in this mode, the server will not create a tacview file for itself. (by design)
    5. In order to view your file, you will need to download it from the server after your mission. Command staff will provide instructions for this once it's implemented.
    6. Of course, you will need Tacview installed to view the file, but you can leave recording OFF for the 476th DS so that you don't have the performance penalty.

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    Black (07Jan17), Eddie (07Jan17), Gliptal (08Jan17), Hansolo (07Jan17), Howie (07Jan17), Oliver (07Jan17), Ragtop (07Jan17), Snoopy (07Jan17), Tex (07Jan17)

  15. #20

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    If it works as described above without any flaws that'd be close to the ultimate solution, if not the ultimate solution.

    Quick question, ACMIs recorded server side with 1.5.3b3, can they be opened with 1.5.2?


    A mission’s execution often reflects the quality, discipline, and tone set in the briefing. - Chris “Kimos” Haave

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