Author Topic: New Save Format --- No more absurd upload speeds, client loading in the works! (Read 7848 times)

DrenDran · August 27, 2014, 04:16:45 PM

The upload speed stats are for the test release.

Pros:

Saves are 55 to 65 percent of their original size.

Bricks	Save name	Default size	Binary Size	Final Size	Regular Upload Time	Binary Upload Time	Time Difference
6275	ATC fort	263.6kb	167.2kb	63.5%	106	14.1	7.52x Faster
11479	Crysta Castle	507.1kb	298kb	58.7%	192	26.12	7.35x Faster
14091	Afghan DM	582.4kb	335.5kb	57.6%	240	30.45	7.88x Faster
16478	ACM city	719kb	451.8kb	62.8%	288	35.36	8.15x Faster
17687	Sirrus Military Compound	777.7kb	470kb	60.4%	318	40.73	7.80x Faster
44465	Goldengate	1.9mb	1.2mb	63.1%	780	88.87	8.77x Faster

Saves load up to 8x faster due to a new uploading system
Ownership is saved for every single brick. This fixes many issues where bricks would load with the loaders ownership no matter what.
Server-side saving. Comes with autosaver.
Possibility of adding support soon for brick persistence. (saving variables to bricks)
Saves bricks by datablock name and not uiname. There have been a few instances of developers changing their bricks display names and screwing up saves. (I had to deal with this personally with the wedge bricks)
Tells you what add-ons you need to load a save.

Cons: (Stuff that will hopefully be fixed eventually)

Server loading takes longer than it would without the mod. That is loading a file saved on the server. It's still a lot quicker than uploading a save from the client side normally though.
You have to have port 14880 open on your server to accept files from clients.
No options currently to disable saving events or ownership. This is planned however.
Not a client side format, you have to be the host of the server to save the bricks like this. I could plan on adding a client side mod but it'd most likely only work (or work better enough to consider using) on servers with the server mod.
While future versions of the mod will be backwards compatible (able to load saves from previous versions), the mod may be updated frequently, meaning you might want to wait until some of the planned features are added.

Installation:

Just unzip both server_binarysave and it's requirement support_binary to your add-ons folder.

Download:

(Latest stable release: 18:12 EST 28.08.2014 | Not backwards compatible)
(Latest test release 10:50 EST 03.09.2014, contains /uploadBinarySave command | Compatible with stable release)
- http://www.filedropper.com/systembinarysave_1

Usage:

/loadBinary <path> --- Must be a complete path (e.g. "saves/test.bin" is okay, but "test.bin" is not) must be admin to use.
/saveBinary <path> --- Same as above
/binaryCancel --- Admin only, cancels any saving or loading from the add-on.
/autosave --- Admin only, starts the autosaver. The autosaver saves to "config/server/autosave.bbs" every 5 minutes.
/uploadBinarySave <path> --- On servers with the test release when using a client that also has the test release.

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Momentum · August 27, 2014, 04:17:47 PM

nice work

MrLoL� · August 27, 2014, 04:17:55 PM

Real saving. Finaly.

Danny Boy · August 27, 2014, 04:29:41 PM

Xalos · August 27, 2014, 04:48:38 PM

Is the extension "Binary Blockland Save" or "Blockland Binary Save"?

DrenDran · August 27, 2014, 04:53:55 PM

Quote from: Xalos on August 27, 2014, 04:48:38 PM

Is the extension "Binary Blockland Save" or "Blockland Binary Save"?

I think the first one lol

why?

portify · August 28, 2014, 01:32:22 AM

Why are you writing the name of the datablock (with some parts omitted for some reason - what if you get one with an unusual name?) for every brick?

$binarySaveFile.writeString(getSubStr(%brick.dataBlock,5,striPos(%brick.dataBlock,"Data")-5));

Go through all the used brick datablocks and write a lookup table that maps U32s (or something similar) to full datablock names or uiNames, then just specify the index of the datablock in the table for each brick.

Taboo · August 28, 2014, 01:42:03 AM

I like to imagine every scripter on this game gets a personal alert when a new server script is released so that they can go through it in a constant attempt to boost their ego by one-upping every other guy.

portify · August 28, 2014, 01:44:00 AM

Quote from: Taboo on August 28, 2014, 01:42:03 AM

I like to imagine every scripter on this game gets a personal alert when a new server script is released so that they can go through it in a constant attempt to boost their ego by one-upping every other guy.

Quote from: DrenDran on August 27, 2014, 04:16:45 PM

Save name Default size Binary Size Final Size
ACM city 719kb 527.5kb 73.3%
ATC fort 263.6kb 192.3kb 72.9%
Sirrus Military Compound 777.7kb 550.2kb 70%
Goldengate 1.9mb 1.4mb 73.6%
Crysta Castle 507.1kb 385.6kb 76%
Afghan DM 582.4kb 432.8kb 74.3%

I was trying to help him improve the way high filesizes (for a binary format). I don't see what the issue is here; if he implements it, it's your advantage, not mine.

Crispy_ · August 28, 2014, 02:49:26 AM

How much longer does it load?

DrenDran · August 28, 2014, 07:56:11 AM

Quote from: Crispy_ on August 28, 2014, 02:49:26 AM

How much longer does it load?

Well, keep in mind there's no uploading, only the actual loading.
Compared to the time to upload and make a build, it's actually far quicker.
I'm not sure why but it takes forever to upload larger builds with the default system even though I have decent Internet.
It's slower in comparison with other server sided loading add-ons (as well as /reloadbricks), is what I'm saying.

With my system for me:
To load Golden Gate bridge (45k bricks) it takes about ~70 seconds.
To load a smaller build like the Arch of Constintine (2.5k bricks) it takes about 4-5 seconds.
Someone like Beta City (8k bricks) might take like 12-15 seconds.
It all depends on your computer obviously, but it's definitely faster than uploading and loading.

Quote from: portify on August 28, 2014, 01:32:22 AM

Why are you writing the name of the datablock (with some parts omitted for some reason - what if you get one with an unusual name?) for every brick?

$binarySaveFile.writeString(getSubStr(%brick.dataBlock,5,striPos(%brick.dataBlock,"Data")-5));

Go through all the used brick datablocks and write a lookup table that maps U32s (or something similar) to full datablock names or uiNames, then just specify the index of the datablock in the table for each brick.

Actually not a bad idea. Yeah, I'll see what I can do.

SWAT One · August 28, 2014, 08:53:41 AM

Dedi support?

DrenDran · August 28, 2014, 11:34:58 AM

Quote from: SWAT One on August 28, 2014, 08:53:41 AM

Dedi support?

What do you mean?

Advanced Bot · August 28, 2014, 02:19:27 PM

Quote from: SWAT One on August 28, 2014, 08:53:41 AM

Dedi support?

Means the mod can support dedicated servers. Since some mods break if the server is dedicated.

Zeblote · August 28, 2014, 02:28:25 PM

Quote from: Taboo on August 28, 2014, 01:42:03 AM

I like to imagine every scripter on this game gets a personal alert when a new server script is released so that they can go through it in a constant attempt to boost their ego by one-upping every other guy.

What's wrong with people contributing, pointing out exploits/bugs to fix or better/faster ways to do a certain thing? You, as the end user, will get a better product.