Author Topic: What do the different Internet Mode icons indicate?  (Read 5271 times)

Offline EricL

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What do the different Internet Mode icons indicate?
« on: November 19, 2007, 01:12:27 PM »
Internet Mode allows many different instaces of DB running on different machines on the internet to connect together into a single virtual "megasim".  A special randomly moving Internet Teleporter sends local bots it encounters (transported as *.dbo files) to a common server via the FTP protocol and in turn downloads a random set of bot files other simulations have uploaded.  Downloaded bots are then loaded at random positions in the sim.

Bots are teleported out at the moment they encounter the teleporter, but they live in a local folder on the local machine until the actual syncronization with the server occurs.  This happens periodically every few minutes.  In no case will this happen more frequently than every 100 cycles.  For faster running sims with higher cycles/sec, the code will wait a longer number of cycles to perform the upload and download.  The idea is to make it fair and well distributed for both large and small sims and somewhat indepedant of sim executon speed.

Up to 10 bots will get downloaded at each syncronization event.  Up to 10 staged bot files (teleported out in previous cycles) will be uploaded at each event.  But only up to 9 bots will get teleported out by the internet mode teleporter between sync events.  If more than 9 bots encounter the teleporter between syncronization events, the teleporter transforms into an intrasim teleporter until the next successful syncronization with the server and bots it encounters get teleported to other random places in the sim, not to the internet.  This insures that bots don't pile up waiting to go to the server when there are server connection or upload problems and if some do pile up, the local directories will slowly drain once the connection to the server comes back.

Each sim also uploads a "population" file at each sync event which lists the population of each species in the sim (if greater than 0) currently as well as downloading the popualtion files from all the other sims.  The information contained in these files are what popualates the Internet Mode Species and Sim population graphs.

Things don't always work perfectly.  Server or network problems, permanent or transient, may occur at any stage and the code is supposed to be resiliant to this.  Only a some of the files might get uploaded or downloaded in each sync event, another sim may have a file open at that moment preventing it from being uploaded or downloaded and so on.  The icons on the Internet Mode button are designed to give some high level indication of what is going on when connection problems or file transfer problems occur.  

The computer in the forground represents the local machine, the one in the background represents the server.  When both are green, everything is working as it should as far as the code knows.  When the local server is orange, it means that more than 9 bots have been teleported out for this sync event and the internet teleporter has changed to intra-sim.  When the server is red, it means there is no connectivity with the server.  When the server is orange, it means there is partial connectivity.  Not all files may have been downloaded last cycle or similar.  The Internet Mode log window gives more details on what exactly went wrong.

Unless the server is truly unavailable or there is some other serious network problem, connection issues should be transient and fix themselves over time.
« Last Edit: November 19, 2007, 01:13:16 PM by EricL »
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Offline Peter

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What do the different Internet Mode icons indicate?
« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2007, 01:20:36 PM »
Could there instaed of a maximum of 9 in the out-folder, be there be a higher maximum set up maybe 15 or 20. And every syn-time be 10 uploaded and the rest being send back to their own sim.

This could take a little time-warping for some bots. It means old bots will be set between the newer to test evolution a little.
Oh my god, who the hell cares.

Offline fulizer

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What do the different Internet Mode icons indicate?
« Reply #2 on: December 06, 2007, 06:21:55 AM »
Quote from: Peter
Could there instaed of a maximum of 9 in the out-folder, be there be a higher maximum set up maybe 15 or 20. And every syn-time be 10 uploaded and the rest being send back to their own sim.

This could take a little time-warping for some bots. It means old bots will be set between the newer to test evolution a little.
wow good idea
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Offline Lord Squeak

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What do the different Internet Mode icons indicate?
« Reply #3 on: October 31, 2008, 12:14:08 PM »
havent tested it , but if you add a teleporter without the internet option , that timewarp is exactly what happends.

Offline Peter

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What do the different Internet Mode icons indicate?
« Reply #4 on: October 31, 2008, 01:37:22 PM »
Quote from: Lord Squeak
havent tested it , but if you add a teleporter without the internet option , that timewarp is exactly what happends.
Well, a inbound teleporter will just teleport it to another spot.
I think you can if you put in a in and an out teleporter into a sim. Haven't testen it, but that'll work probably.

You seem to be longer at the forum, but welcome (back) anyway.
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