Strike #3 for May.

[Kaylia]

....You don't have to change the structure of the table to add Inventory slots. The slot limit is imposed server-side by limiting the number of rows that belong to a given player. Why is this so complicated for people to grasp?

I disagree with that. The way information is stored matter for huge database like this one, and modifying value like this can have a big impact depending how it was implemented if you don't know what you are doing. I'm not talking about the table itself, but the way bits are written and organized.
I'm not sure of the correct english programming term, but you can't allow your database to go in a "defragmented" state. If they planned X amount of space at first to keep it fast, they cannot increase it without major impact on the speed.


Tordall said it the best

If it's designed to be fast, it's gonna be hard to expand. If it's designed to be easy to expand it's gonna be hard to make it go really fast.

That said, I never worked on huge database with thousand of querry every seconds. Maybe in this case, it wouldn't have any major impact, but I'm certain it's not as easy as you make it sound.

[Tordall]

I haven't taken the time to hack anything FFXI related. I play this game for fun. Most of my hacking has been in live datastreams, firmware, and the like to get around hardware locks on expensive software, so I don't know too much about what FFXI is actually like on the inside.

However, I have had to work with large data structures, and issues regarding size, getting data into them fast, and getting data out of them fast.

I can think of about 8 different ways they could be storing item/player data server-side. None of which has to be anything like how it's stored client-side. In fact I kinda doubt that the server side item and character information are the same as the client side data.

If the limitation is in PS2 memory, then there's not much they can ever do to get around it. It might be easier for them to add temporary items, mog house, storage, and mog locker space b/c they don't have to send all the data associated with the items to the client until the items are transfered into active inventory (why there's such a huge lag when you move stuff to/from the mog-generic-storage). Back in the early console days there were a lot of ground breaking games that basically involved transferring memory in funny ways between consoles & cartridges in order to make enough space. I can still remember the first atari game that did that used a trick (ram in the cartridge that was effectively used as swap space) to make it possible to have a first person-perspective. Until then there simply wasn't enough ram in the 2600 to do it, and it was regarded as a limitation on the machine.

Purely speculating, but the mog lockers may have been added using a similar trick to use the memory space in the PS2 that was already being used for either storage or the mog safe.

With regaurd to temporary items, notice that they are temporary. There should be a lot less bookkeeping associated with them.

That said, if there isn't a limitation on the PS2, the server-side data might be coded in such a way that it can quickly find X-number of items associated with a given character, and making it so that X+1 items are possible might be so culgy that it causes serious problems.

[Trythison]

mmmmmback on topic....


...Runic Portal...

...Multi-ticket....

go!

[Appie]

If they can't give us more inventory space, then allow us "to fuse" armors together. I wouldn't mind a Shura Togi fused together with an Arhat's Gi+1 =D

Usukane head is basically a fused together Opt hat/Turban/Shura Kabuto, so they got the idea already I guess, would be nice to see it on old junk too, dump a heavy price tag/retarded quest on it, who cares, going down to about 20 items for gear would be nice whatever the price is it comes at.

All this macro gear which SE loves is killing the inventory space

And yes please, multi-ticket for Runic Portal.

[Tordall]

If they can't give us more inventory space, then allow us "to fuse" armors together. I wouldn't mind a Shura Togi fused together with an Arhat's Gi+1 =D

Usukane head is basically a fused together Opt hat/Turban/Shura Kabuto, so they got the idea already I guess, would be nice to see it on old junk too, dump a heavy price tag/retarded quest on it, who cares, going down to about 20 items for gear would be nice whatever the price is it comes at.

All this macro gear which SE loves is killing the inventory space

And yes please, multi-ticket for Runic Portal.

Let's not push too hard for them to do something to reduce gear needed for macro-swaps.

They'ld probably change it so you lost all your TP whenever you swapped any gear, not just your weapons. That way weaponskill gear would become useless, no one would carry it, and therefore we'd all get our inventory slots back.

[yukijin]

Again, the question I always ask, when will they ever put a moogle in Selbina? I can handle the rest of the bs in the game

[Riel]

How about you ask them why they have the most PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE ON EARTH?

Their servers screwing up? Sorry noone to contact until 9-6 Mon-Fri at a long distance number where you wait on hold for hours to be told it's an issue on YOUR end. PATHETIC.

"You are paying for the CHANCE to use this service" in a click-through ToS will not hold up in court. I am seriously considering contacting my attorney.

[yukijin]

that would lol me to death.

[Neptune]

In before someone mentions the BBB.

[Riel]

In before someone mentions the BBB.

Been there, done that. This company will refund customers' money when they fail to provide service due to gross negligence, or face the legal consequences. I am done caring if I'm made fun of for this. This is sickening.

[Sixtail]

In before someone mentions the BBB.

Been there, done that. This company will refund customers' money when they fail to provide service due to gross negligence, or face the legal consequences. I am done caring if I'm made fun of for this. This is sickening.

lol man loooool. You don't read the TOS closely do you? And hey, SE is the ONLY megacorp who has customer service like this amirite?

[Riel]

In before someone mentions the BBB.

Been there, done that. This company will refund customers' money when they fail to provide service due to gross negligence, or face the legal consequences. I am done caring if I'm made fun of for this. This is sickening.

lol man loooool. You don't read the TOS closely do you? And hey, SE is the ONLY megacorp who has customer service like this amirite?

you and i both ANAL. heh. we will see what AL says.

also in all fairness, the problem i am having today is probably the fault of level3 and not SE. their CS still sucks.

[Mifaco]

How about you ask them why they have the most PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE ON EARTH?

Their servers screwing up? Sorry noone to contact until 9-6 Mon-Fri at a long distance number where you wait on hold for hours to be told it's an issue on YOUR end. PATHETIC.

"You are paying for the CHANCE to use this service" in a click-through ToS will not hold up in court. I am seriously considering contacting my attorney.

have fun w/ the LOLsuit

[Riel]

Yeah I was pissed off... I will actually ask my attorney about this though when I talk to him about some other things.

[BRP]

The BBB report is utter shit from the greatest of bulls. So many reasons why it should never be quoted as a valuable source. Here some nice little facts: 1) The report was made almost 5 years before FFXI was released in Japan, 2) SE didn't talk to the company at all.

[Kyreth]

In before someone mentions the BBB.

Been there, done that. This company will refund customers' money when they fail to provide service due to gross negligence, or face the legal consequences. I am done caring if I'm made fun of for this. This is sickening.

Wow. I barely need two hands to tick off your posts, and already I can see enough from you to restore every beach on Cape Cod.

Stop caring. I've seen "waaaah sandy crotch" pronouncements like yours since "MMORPG's" were 120-man textual MUD-wannabes on GEnie. They're hot air, signifying nothing.

[Credos]

In before someone mentions the BBB.

Been there, done that. This company will refund customers' money when they fail to provide service due to gross negligence, or face the legal consequences. I am done caring if I'm made fun of for this. This is sickening.

Good thing you don't care, because you're gonna be made fun of.

[Riel]

Noone ever sets themselves up to get made fun of here on BG

SE's horrible rating at the BBB comes from the numerous complaints lodged against them and SE's refusal to settle these claims.

[Credos]

Noone ever sets themselves up to get made fun of here on BG

SE's horrible rating at the BBB comes from the numerous complaints lodged against them and SE's refusal to settle these claims.

Or maybe it has to do with the fact that SE is a Japanese company and doesn't give a shit about the BBB, a company that deals with American and Canadian businesses. I'm no SE fanboy, a lot of the stuff they have done pisses me off, but to be a swinging dick, talking about lawsuits is just . Tell you what, instead of wasting your money on an attorney for nothing, you can western union it to me.

[Riel]

Noone ever sets themselves up to get made fun of here on BG

SE's horrible rating at the BBB comes from the numerous complaints lodged against them and SE's refusal to settle these claims.

Or maybe it has to do with the fact that SE is a Japanese company and doesn't give a shit about the BBB, a company that deals with American and Canadian businesses. I'm no SE fanboy, a lot of the stuff they have done pisses me off, but to be a swinging dick, talking about lawsuits is just . Tell you what, instead of wasting your money on an attorney for nothing, you can western union it to me.

Read up a lil bud. It was hot air like that self-involved ego stroker said :D Whaddya want me to edit the posts which are already quoted? Who cares, it's been said. Talking to a lawyer for a couple minutes about the idea of such a suit won't cost me a dime, although I'm probably too lazy to do it.

SE doesn't care about the BBB because they don't care about anything but sales figures for next quarter. If they had ever cared about the long-term success of this game and of their company in the MMO world, they might have realized that exploiting addicted customers as much as possible while minimizing GM and other CS labor costs is probably NOT the best business model for such a company. I hope they do get sued.

Carry on.