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[InnerSphereNews]

Patch Version 1.4.165.0

Size: ~7MB

Direct Downloads:

http://patcher.mwome...ndPatch_331.zip

http://patcher.mwome...ndPatch_332.zip

Greetings MechWarriors,

A Hot-Fix is scheduled to occur on Thursday, April 26th at 2:00PM PST (21:00 UTC), to address the following fixes:

Front End Loading Time Optimization

Over the years MWO has grown significantly. Where you once existed in one localized area of the front end, we have since added Faction Play, Comp Play and Solaris making it possible to be in some areas and not others. For example, you may be in the Quick Play area all the time and never go into Faction Play, Comp Play or Solaris areas. The way the system operated was to load the entire front end experience whether you visited those other areas or not and under this scenario, you'd be loading Quick Play, Faction Play, Comp Play, Solaris, MechLab and the Store.

We have found a way to optimize what gets loaded when you enter the game and navigate through your play areas. The system will no longer load the entirety of the front end and will only load what is necessary for what you are wanting to view. The initial load will be to the Quick Play Home Screen as usual and as you are used to after all these years. It will not however, load Faction Play, Comp Play, Solaris or the Store. This is a major reduction in load time for the initial load into MWO. If you choose to check out Faction Play, it will trigger a short load to load the Faction Play part of the front end. This one time load will now allow you to switch between Quick Play and Faction Play seamlessly. If you enter Comp Play, this will trigger a short load of the Comp Play part of the front end. You can now switch between Quick Play, Faction Play and Comp Play seamlessly. Essentially each load will load that area into memory and will stay persistent until unloaded/dumped by dropping into a match or leaving the front end in general.

That being said, this happens only while you are in the front end. Places where you exit the front end will restart this process over again. These places include dropping into a match, logging out of the client, entering the tutorial and/or Training Grounds. Upon returning, the front end needs to reload but again will only load what is needed for the screen you return to. If you love playing Solaris matches, you will first load into Quick Play upon first logging into MWO. Clicking the Solaris tab will cause a short load to load the Solaris area of the game. Launching into a match dumps the front end and loads the game/map/’Mechs/etc to let you play. After the match is completed, the system loads the Solaris Home area of the front end which is magnitudes faster than previously as it will NOT be loading Quick Play, Faction Play, Comp Play etc. This is major improvement in getting back to the front end and queuing up for the next match.

Database/Store Loading Optimization

The other main area is database store improvements. Several areas of store access has been significantly optimized, and in particular, subsequent loads. The initial login to the MWO Client will have a shorter database retrieval time. Subsequent loads like coming back from a match will have a very short database retrieval time as well. This combined with the above sectional loading process should show a dramatic improvement in load times.

Test Account with 751 owned ‘Mechs:

Before hotfix

Initial load: 67 seconds

Subsequent loads: 50 seconds

After hotfix:

Initial load: 32 seconds

Subsequent load: 14 seconds

Improvement:

Initial load: 35 seconds faster (52% faster)

Subsequent load: 36 seconds faster (72% faster)

Test Account with 10 owned ‘Mechs:

Before hotfix

Initial load: 50 seconds

Subsequent loads: 40 seconds

After hotfix

Initial load: 25 seconds

Subsequent load: 14 seconds

Improvement:

Initial load: 25 seconds faster (50% faster)

Subsequent load: 26 seconds faster (65% faster)

Player Card/Leaderboard

It was discovered that players are able to view the loadout of a player selected from the leaderboards by clicking the MechLab tab in Solaris. This was never intentional as the player card was meant to display minimal build information of the selected player’s basic weapon loadout on their most recently used ‘Mech. To that end we will be diverting the player to their own MechBay when MechLab has been clicked.

Due to the exposure this bug has brought, we will be investigating the potential of adding it as an actual feature along with being able to view a player’s skill tree for the associated ‘Mech. However, in the spirit of competitive play, a layer of privacy in relation to a player’s complete build profile and Skill Tree may prevent this from happening in the future. We’d actually like to get your thoughts on whether or not players should have full detailed information about your build or not.

Share your Feedback regarding the Solaris Player Cards here

Solaris C-Bills/XP Rewards

We have been reviewing the concerns about the discrepancy between Solaris and Quick Play/Faction Play in terms of C-Bill gains per minute of gameplay. We found a display error in which the base payout from Solaris Patrons was not being added to the total shown on the End of Round screen. This was a display error only and players were receiving the full payout. This lead to a major perceived notion that Solaris was not paying as much as Quick Play and Faction Play. This has been fixed in this hotfix.

After looking into the above situation, we found that currently it’s possible to play, on average, just over 3 Solaris matches in the time it takes to play 1 Quick Play match. Using these metrics and looking at the average CB payout in each mode, it was showing that Solaris was paying near identical levels of CB as Quick Play. With the decrease in load time fix in this patch, it is now possible to play more closer to 4 Solaris matches in the time it takes to play 1 Quick Play match. This means that Solaris will be outpacing quick play on average but in addition we have decided to incentivize Solaris a little further by increasing base Patron payouts by a further 5,000CB. Winning a Solaris match will result in a base Patron payout of 25,000CB (up from 20,000) and 20,000CB(up from 15,000CB) for a loss.

We’ll also take this opportunity to increase Patron XP payouts as well. (XP Payouts had the same slight discrepancy between Solaris and Quick Play.) XP payouts will be increased from 200XP for a win and 150XP for a loss, to 250XP for a win and 200XP for a loss.

We will continue to monitor the situation to make sure the two game modes are similar to each other in terms of rewards and will make the necessary changes to fix any discrepancies.

Other Fixes:

- The Urbanmech UM-SC left arm energy hard points have been corrected to 3 instead of 4.

- Fixed a bug where sometimes the Supply Cache were not being rewarded in Faction Play when filling the Supply Cache bar.

- Fixed a bug where some Supply Cache items were not being added into the player's account.
- Watch List requirement has been lowered to 1850 Elo requirement which will now be showing matches you might be interested in spectating.

- Fixed an error which occurred upon entering the Skills tab after viewing one's Player Card.

- The Map banning timer phase has been reduced to 5 seconds instead of 10 for Solaris matches.

- Toggle Bolt-on keybind has been added to Configure Controls Settings with "L" as the default.

[Liveish]

WRT


Test Account with 751 owned ‘Mechs:

Before hotfix

Initial load: 67 seconds

Subsequent loads: 50 seconds

After hotfix

Initial load: 32 seconds

Subsequent load: 14 seconds

Improvement
Initial load: 35 seconds faster (52% faster)

Subsequent load: 36 seconds faster (72% faster)


Does your location make the load time worst EG Living in OZ?
Wish i got

Initial load: 67 seconds
Subsequent loads: 50 seconds

Edited by live1991, 25 April 2018 - 04:17 PM.

[Zh0u]

NOOOOOOO THE STREET CLEANER!!! WHY???!

It was arguably the best hero mech of the pack, but now with 3 energy points instead of 4, all the mechs are pretty much sub-par...

[Duncan1dah0]

Wow! Awesome! I can't wait, it has gotten to be a real drag on playing.

[Glaive-]

Thank you PGI for addressing the load times! Looks like a good hotfix overall.

live1991, on 25 April 2018 - 04:16 PM, said:

WRT

[ snip ]

Does your location make the load time worst EG Living in OZ?
Wish i got

Initial load: 67 seconds
Subsequent loads: 50 seconds

Pretty sure the hardware you are playing on has a huge impact on load times. My laptop loads MWO way slower than my PC. I kinda wish they had included the specs of the computer used in that test, tbh.

Edited by armyunit, 25 April 2018 - 05:07 PM.

[tee5]

I repeat my question.

How much premium time and supply caches will we get, for enduring those ridiculous long loading times?

[Squiggy McPew]

Umm with the removal of an energy hardpoint on the street cleaner its left with sub par firepower even for a light. There isn't enough free tonnage for two heavy projectiles and you can barely fit in two ac2 with a couple of tons of ammo so you need the energy as backup. Bad move for a mech I payed money for..

[Catalina Steiner]

Loading times decreases... best hot-fix ever.

Squiggy McPew, on 25 April 2018 - 05:33 PM, said:

Umm with the removal of an energy hardpoint on the street cleaner its left with sub par firepower even for a light. There isn't enough free tonnage for two heavy projectiles and you can barely fit in two ac2 with a couple of tons of ammo so you need the energy as backup. Bad move for a mech I payed money for..

Quote from the Solaris 7 package describtion (Urbanmech)

Quote

Hardpoints

Head -(empty)
Left Arm - 3 Energy (Actuators: Upper)
Left Torso - (empty)
Center Torso - (empty)
Right Torso - 1 AMS
Right Arm - 2 Ballistic (Actuators: Upper)
Left Leg - (empty)
Right Leg - (empty)

That's what you bought.

Edited by Catalina Steiner, 25 April 2018 - 05:43 PM.

[Groutknoll]

Can you add that when MWO S7 starts it loads to a default mode (QP/FP/S7/store/etc...)? and then when you leave a match it loads only the selected mode?

previously if you were playing FP and waited for the battle summary screen you would not go back to FP screen but to the home screen.

you have said if you drop S7 then you will go back to the S7 screen ... but what about FP?

Edited by Groutknoll, 25 April 2018 - 05:51 PM.

[Rhialto]

InnerSphereNews, on 25 April 2018 - 04:07 PM, said:

Test Account with 10 owned ‘Mechs:
Before hotfix
Initial load: 50 seconds
Subsequent loads: 40 seconds
After hotfix
Initial load: 25 seconds
Subsequent load: 14 seconds

Does the initial load time starts after entering password up until you see the welcome screen we always need to dismiss?

I just tested it with my 67 Mechs and I get 33 seconds. I would say I was closer to 20 before the S7 patch.

So how come you get 50 seconds there with 10 Mechs? What are the spec of your computer? HD for sure instead of SSD, right?

[Rhialto]

BTW I like the filling animation we see on the Solaris ACC bar after a match, can you duplicate on the Supply Cache bar in Mech Lab? That would be a better option than the popup we had after each match.

[NUMBERZero1032]

I like the idea of adding a bug as a feature! That's a fun idea. Being able to view other people's builds might also help clue in inexperienced pilots as to what more powerful builds may be.

[Brain Cancer]

I've wanted to see this on other people since forever, including quick play- but for Solaris, absolutely.

Quote

Due to the exposure this bug has brought, we will be investigating the potential of adding it as an actual feature along with being able to view a player’s skill tree for the associated ‘Mech.

[LordLosh]

Thank you for another quick patch. I think these short/quick patches will be more necessary as further improvements are still needed to be made to make Solairs7 thrive.

• Mech division re-arrangements need to happen SOON. NOT in 2 months....
  
• Nerfs need to happen on Annihilator. at least for Solaris 7 mode
  
• rematches of the exact same person over and over again. *more a population issue, that could get better if 1st two bullet points are addressed

[Squiggy McPew]

Catalina Steiner, on 25 April 2018 - 05:41 PM, said:

Loading times decreases... best hot-fix ever.









Quote from the Solaris 7 package describtion (Urbanmech)



That's what you bought.

I bought a mech that was delivered with four energy hardpoints. I didn't buy a description. Subtle yet relevant point.

But if they must remove one then relocate one to the ct and another to a torso so you don't lose most of your firepower when the lightly armored arm is blown off.

Edited by Squiggy McPew, 25 April 2018 - 06:51 PM.

[Rodrigo Martinez]

Would be nice to have 2d mechlab interface as default to avoid this horrible "LOADING",

[Liveish]

- The Map banning timer phase has been reduced to 5 seconds instead of 10 for Solaris matches.


Can you make the first ban be 10 seconds, then the rest 5 Seconds.

Loading into some games it already at 3 Seconds.

[IshanDeston]

About that display of Mechloadout and skills.... in professional sports you also get websites that have all relevant information about the players. Solaris undoubtedly would have the same analysts to inform other competitors, and spectators, about all the information about a pilot and their mech, if needed.

It shouldn't be available during the match, but after the match, you should be able to research it.. including a mech history. And a nemesis system would be nice as well. Keeping track of who they loose to the most. This way players could then look at the other players mech and find out what was needed to beat their own Nemesis and their mech. This would encourage Rock, Paper, Scissor type of gameplay over just copy and pasting a single mech build for each division. As people would likely pick the Nemesis loadout of the enemy over the enemy's loadout.

Being told you are up against your Nemesis could also provide further value to the players themselves. Maybe even come with a little bonus if you can beat them?

And yes, i know.. its probably to much to ask.


Also... could we please finally fix the Energy Hardpoints on the Dao Breaker? The left arm's energy hardpoint is below the gun barrel, protruding, and the right arms energy hardpoint is recessed back into the Arm.... it looks absolutely ugly. Either have both protruding or both recessed please. I want to be able to use both of them... but i just can't get myself to do it, because the asymetry is offending my senses.... even in the cockpit, as you can see the freakishly large energy hardpoint below the gun barrel.. and non on the other side.

[TAPAH 483-K]

NOOOO URBIE!!! WE NEED 4 ENERGY SLOTS

[Curccu]

Groutknoll, on 25 April 2018 - 05:49 PM, said:

you have said if you drop S7 then you will go back to the S7 screen ... but what about FP?

That is not problem with a group as you can just launch and do not really need to go to FP screen, but for solo players it is annoying as hell. End the game get back to mainscreen, go to FP screen, click the game mode you want and so on.

I would love an option to quicklaunch to same FP mode that I have previously played.