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A smidge about servers, the internet and whatnot

• PhiEaglesFan 617 Posts

  Sat, Aug 8 2015 7:22 PM

  SHRUDE:

  Why do we I always see the "media5.wgt.com"

  http://www.media5corp.com/en/

  Basically it's Media5's job to optimize WGT's content delivery.  WGT provides content to Media5 and they distribute it.  Our company uses Scene 7, which is a company run by Adobe. 

  Now I could be wrong, Media5 just might be a proxy of sorts that sends your request to the actual Content Delivery service.  They could simply be an extra layer of security or traffic optimization.

  If Media5 is the content service, then that's the server that interrupts your request and does its own work behind the scenes to get you what you need as quickly as possible.

  If you use Firefox or Chrome, and you want to see what's really going on behind the scenes.  Hit the F12 key or find your Developer's console, the network tab can be an interesting watch.

  Just keep in mind, you'll never see everything.  There's lots of stuff that goes on "server-side" that you'll never see.  That's all the communication and stuff that happens behind WGT and their associated server network.  Backend servers talking to each other, before your request can be satisfied, for example.

  It's a big world out there. =)

• PhiEaglesFan 617 Posts

  Sat, Aug 8 2015 8:13 PM

  andyson:

  I also wonder what browser and Flash versions WGT QA uses for its testing.

  .You could probably find their analytics if you look hard enough.   Up until recently my company was only QA'ing with IE11, IE10, IE9, FF (latest), Chrome (latest), and Safari (on mac) browsers aside from mobile devices.  I imagine WGT is doing something similar, including whatever mobile devices they are using.  Even doing just those select few a team could be just regression testing for half the day.  There's only so much four people can do.

  SHRUDE:

  So with the sites current issues, front of mind is the reloading flash applet to log in...

  Hard to say, we'd need a debugger to get a better idea of what's going on. Just looking at it, it appears to logging in and logging out repeatedly.  The LOG OUT button is green, indicating a permanently depressed button state.

  There's nothing going on in the network tab when this happens, so the browser is still keeping a hold of your session.   It doesn't appear to be repeatedly sending a login/logout event.  On the surface, it seems purely aesthetic in nature.

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Sat, Aug 8 2015 10:08 PM

  PhiEaglesFan:

  When I launch full-screen on WGT an Adobe Flash window takes over.  I think this is because I installed the stand-alone flash player and told Windows to open all SWF's with the stand alone. 

  Never heard of that before.  Are you saying you're in a FF window of the game client and launch full screen a new window opens running the game client in Adobe's Stand Alone Flash Player?

  I did just (tonite) download the Stand Alone (Projector they call it) Flash Player and both the sims looked great to me.

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Sat, Aug 8 2015 10:08 PM

  PhiEaglesFan:

  Just looking at it, it appears to logging in and logging out repeatedly.  The LOG OUT button is green, indicating a permanently depressed button state.

  I see two LOG OUT buttons.  One up top that is always light colored, and the green one on the bottom.  Green does not necessarily mean a depressed button, they go green when we roll over the button too.

  PhiEaglesFan:

  Even doing just those select few a team could be just regression testing for half the day.  There's only so much four people can do.

  Half a day sounds optimistic!  But with four people, they could test Alt Shot!

• SHRUDE 5,835 Posts

  Sun, Aug 9 2015 1:51 AM

  PhiEaglesFan:

  find your Developer's console, the network tab can be an interesting watch.

  Yes i've seen this before and understand all the cummunication going on. Its there where i tend to freeze in WGT and need to crash out and reload the game , with different results if I have an issue to begin with.

  andyson:

  PhiEaglesFan:

  When I launch full-screen on WGT an Adobe Flash window takes over.  I think this is because I installed the stand-alone flash player and told Windows to open all SWF's with the stand alone. 

  Never heard of that before.  Are you saying you're in a FF window of the game client and launch full screen a new window opens running the game client in Adobe's Stand Alone Flash Player?

  Am I right in saying that , that is what Maxthon does when you hit the 'Pop Out' button?
  
  Thats how i play , i call it Maxthons Full Screen , the graphics are brilliant.

  
  
   

• PhiEaglesFan 617 Posts

  Sun, Aug 9 2015 6:26 PM

  andyson:

  PhiEaglesFan:

  When I launch full-screen on WGT an Adobe Flash window takes over.  I think this is because I installed the stand-alone flash player and told Windows to open all SWF's with the stand alone. 

  Never heard of that before.  Are you saying you're in a FF window of the game client and launch full screen a new window opens running the game client in Adobe's Stand Alone Flash Player?

  Nothing is happening in my processes, so it's not starting the stand alone player, but I believe it's just handing off to Adobe somehow.  I get an extra window that I can see quickly disappearing whenever I come out of full screen.

  

   

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Mon, Aug 10 2015 7:00 AM

  I tried hard to duplicate your setup on my system and could not get the extra window on the taskbar.  I'm running Win8.1 and Waterfox.

  I set the .swf association in Windows to the Standalone Flashplayer

  

  And inside Waterfox I set the .swf association to the Standalone Flashplayer as well

  

  When I open my sims .swf using file explorer it does indeed open a new Standalone window.  And when I open my sim .swf from inside Waterfox using the Open File menu it also opened a new Standalone window.  So the above settings are in effect.

  But when I open the game client in either a new tab as you did or in a new WF window and go to full screen as you did, I do not get the extra Standalone window in the taskbar and the game is still in WF.

  It could be a Win8.1 thing, you're running Win7 I think. I had hoped to click on the extra Flash window on the taskbar just to see what it shows.  But no luck.

  What advantage/improvement do you see running that way?  Is that (FF full screen) how you normally play the game?

• PhiEaglesFan 617 Posts

  Thu, Aug 13 2015 4:42 PM

  Yeah I'm on WIn7SP1, and the strange part is that in my FF options it still says "Use Shockwave Flash (in Firefox)".

  andyson:

  What advantage/improvement do you see running that way?  Is that (FF full screen) how you normally play the game?

  It's the only way I can play the game.  If I play in just a plain browser I'm hosed. I've always used FF. It's my favorite.  Severely dislike IE and not a fan of Chrome in general.  I've never really tried any of the offshoot or lightweight browsers.  I will make FF work somehow. =)

  I really have no idea then how I managed to get it to function like that.  It could be something in my video card software, but I wouldn't think so.

  Here's everything in my about:config related to flash or adobe:

  http://oi57.tinypic.com/2ms0z76.jpg

  http://oi58.tinypic.com/2eqdpgx.jpg

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Thu, Aug 13 2015 5:12 PM

  PhiEaglesFan:

  If I play in just a plain browser I'm hosed. I've always used FF.

  Hmmm, when you ran my 30fps sim in your browser you said it ran "downright awful".  But you can't play the game either in your browser!  They both run awful.

  But when you ran the 30fps sim in the stand alone Flash Player as you normally play, you said it was "playable".

  Sounds to me it would be worth a shot for WGT to try the meter at 30 or 40 fps to see if it improves the stutters and freezes.