Tangle Posted February 18, 2017 Posted February 18, 2017 Suggestion Name: Disable the AFK kick (not timer) when the server population is below a certain threshold. Suggestion Description: Disable the AFK kick when the server is nowhere near full capacity so that players can be a bit more leisurely in their trucking during off-hours. When space is needed (when the server is above 75%-85% full or something like that), start kicking the ones who have been inactive the longest. Also, let players know with a message in chat when they're about to be kicked, so they can move if they're not actually AFK. Any example images: N/A Why should it be added?: When the server is fairly empty, I find it pleasant to take longer breaks between loads and have a snack, people watch, or just lay back a bit.Sometimes this means parking in the garage, sometimes it's by the repair station, or in a lot, and sometimes it's on the shoulder or in a truck stop. During off-hours, when server demand is lowest, I think it would be nice to see other truckers doing the same, either taking extended stops in rest stops as well, or just parking nearby to chat a bit. Making this change would allow players to take it a bit easier when less people are on, and also increase the average amount of players online during those times. 9
Simeta Posted February 19, 2017 Posted February 19, 2017 +1 but I think this would require a lot of code editing so not sure it would be accepted.
LordBenji Posted February 19, 2017 Posted February 19, 2017 I like the idea, so that way you can leave for a little break without having to constantly check to make sure you don't get kicked. Not sure how hard it would be for that to be implemented though.
kavijakx Posted February 24, 2017 Posted February 24, 2017 had warning from this yesterday, while i was not afk i was ordering a new truck. and got the message: move in the next minute, or you will be kicked. it's not because you are not moving that you are afk. +1
Tangle Posted March 6, 2017 Author Posted March 6, 2017 (edited) I'd like to hear from one of the coders about how much effort they think something like this would take, based on how the mod is currently structured. If my guesses are correct, there'd have to be a kick-queue added to the servers for something like this, so it knows which players to kick first when the player threshold is reached. That would take a bit of work, but since the system already keeps track of AFK players, it wouldn't be too hard to simply add/remove people from a new list when they're marked/unmarked as AFK, would it? Edited March 6, 2017 by Tangle
_.Queen Rosalie._ Posted March 7, 2017 Posted March 7, 2017 16 hours ago, Tangle said: I'd like to hear from one of the coders about how much effort they think something like this would take, based on how the mod is currently structured. If my guesses are correct, there'd have to be a kick-queue added to the servers for something like this, so it knows which players to kick first when the player threshold is reached. That would take a bit of work, but since the system already keeps track of AFK players, it wouldn't be too hard to simply add/remove people from a new list when they're marked/unmarked as AFK, would it? As someone who does game coding, adding something in this structure that can disable kick timers when population is low is t as easy as it sounds because it would require a specific cutoff point and we all know that server numbers fluctuate massively, with band, kicks by admins and just general game issues as well as population numbers, plus, the ark system doesn't operate on a queue system, its player based meaning the timer would need to be added as a central circuit (code wise) where commands are required to disable normally and the number of people on current timers would need to be monitored 100%, it's a lot of code for a simple job. alternately, there could just be a command like /AFKR that can be entered to stop the count down and restart, instead of typing in chat or moving your vehicle, (AFKR stands for Away From Keyboard Reset).
AllstarDK Posted March 7, 2017 Posted March 7, 2017 +1. I'm rarely AFK, so it's not a issue for me. However, when i get kicked it's mostly because i spend time editing a truck and then get kicked, so in times where the users online are low it would come in handy. Either this idea or a joint venture together with the suggestion with "AFK" places
Tangle Posted March 8, 2017 Author Posted March 8, 2017 13 hours ago, megadethsteve666 said: As someone who does game coding, adding something in this structure that can disable kick timers when population is low is t as easy as it sounds because it would require a specific cutoff point and we all know that server numbers fluctuate massively, with band, kicks by admins and just general game issues as well as population numbers, plus, the ark system doesn't operate on a queue system, its player based meaning the timer would need to be added as a central circuit (code wise) where commands are required to disable normally and the number of people on current timers would need to be monitored 100%, it's a lot of code for a simple job. alternately, there could just be a command like /AFKR that can be entered to stop the count down and restart, instead of typing in chat or moving your vehicle, (AFKR stands for Away From Keyboard Reset). This would technically be adding more work, but perhaps two thresholds? A higher one for the kicker to enable at, then a lower one for it to disable at, perhaps with a distance between each other of about 100 or 200 players? Also, the command would be nice, yeah, provided you're able to type while in menus and such. Hell, even something as simple as moving the steering wheel or looking around the cab (or interacting with a menu) should be enough, if any of those can be detected.
LordBenji Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 How hard would that be to check once per minute or once per few minutes how many players there is? Then decide if it is required to enable or disable the AFK kick... And there could be a threshold too, to avoid constantly toggle the AFK kick.
_.Queen Rosalie._ Posted March 8, 2017 Posted March 8, 2017 9 hours ago, Tangle said: This would technically be adding more work, but perhaps two thresholds? A higher one for the kicker to enable at, then a lower one for it to disable at, perhaps with a distance between each other of about 100 or 200 players? Also, the command would be nice, yeah, provided you're able to type while in menus and such. Hell, even something as simple as moving the steering wheel or looking around the cab (or interacting with a menu) should be enough, if any of those can be detected. There's too many variables to accurately set a on or off point, unless the server physically logs and checks how many players are online against how many are afk, it's a lot of work for little benefit on popular servers. Also, because server population differs from server to server, you can't have a uniform system, it would have to be server specific, again putting a lot of work and pressure on the already overworked servers. a solution is to allow a key to be assigned to reset the ask timer instead of typing in chat, much like the CB and chat bindings. 3 hours ago, LordBenji said: How hard would that be to check once per minute or once per few minutes how many players there is? Then decide if it is required to enable or disable the AFK kick... And there could be a threshold too, to avoid constantly toggle the AFK kick. In short, very difficult as it would require the server to constantly log online players and ark players within itself for reference, it's not a simple system to add.
Guest Posted March 9, 2017 Posted March 9, 2017 If you disable afk kick the server population will always be full cause people forget to exit game
_.Queen Rosalie._ Posted March 9, 2017 Posted March 9, 2017 1 hour ago, Fleming 9456 said: If you disable afk kick the server population will always be full cause people forget to exit game No, what is being suggested is that below a certain number, say 1000 players online, the ask timer is disabled, but over 1000 players online, it's enabled, so those who go away when it's below can still get kicked if the server population exceeds 1000 players.
Tangle Posted March 10, 2017 Author Posted March 10, 2017 On 3/9/2017 at 4:15 AM, Fleming 9456 said: If you disable afk kick the server population will always be full cause people forget to exit game Yeah, it kinda does say "when server population is low" in the title.
deejayhush Posted March 11, 2017 Posted March 11, 2017 Hello, Just wanna put my two cents and that is just my humble opinion - 1. I do not think that is really necesarry, as you can mod your truck in a single player version. 2. Like traffic watching? The solution is very simple - Just move your truck from AFK coordinates a few inches, and the AFK timer will reset. -1
_.Queen Rosalie._ Posted March 12, 2017 Posted March 12, 2017 23 hours ago, deejayhush said: Hello, Just wanna put my two cents and that is just my humble opinion - 1. I do not think that is really necesarry, as you can mod your truck in a single player version. 2. Like traffic watching? The solution is very simple - Just move your truck from AFK coordinates a few inches, and the AFK timer will reset. -1 1. Sometimes, like I do sometimes, you can feel like wanting to change to a new truck midway through a session, so do it while in mp and unless you know exactly what truck you want, the exact paint and accessories you want then you tend to rush because before you know it, the timer is up and you're kicked, even though you're active. 2. I hope that isn't a legit suggestion for people to use because it's dangerous if you're in free cam and not watching your truck at all as I'm sure some people will do. If the server is quiet, then you should be able to get away with disabling or at least extending the afk timer to compensate, but in my opinion, the whole, move foward a few inches thing should be removed because it's so easy to abuse in terms of trolls blocking traffic, if there's no admins online, a troll can block a road indefinitely, or at least until an admin arrives.
blkdeath75 Posted March 18, 2017 Posted March 18, 2017 I just tried multiplayer and parked in a hotel lot after a LONG run. Walked away to go smoke and grab a bite, come back and I'm kicked. I figured ok I was afk too long. Loaded back up, then decided to alt tab to look or rules on how long afk lasts before kick.....tab back in , kicked again...lol. This was on Euro2 but I was in a small city. Should be zones with afk extensions or something(i.e Hotels, Rest stops, Gas Stations, ect.)
uBreaky Posted March 28, 2017 Posted March 28, 2017 The afk kick is not bad, But a button for reconnect after afk or lost connection, i think its better. "You need to stop your truck before reconnect to the server"
Jadenn Posted April 2, 2017 Posted April 2, 2017 On 2017-02-18 at 7:05 PM, Simeta said: +1 but I think this would require a lot of code editing so not sure it would be accepted. On 2017-02-18 at 8:12 PM, LordBenji said: I like the idea, so that way you can leave for a little break without having to constantly check to make sure you don't get kicked. Not sure how hard it would be for that to be implemented though. Strictly speaking as a programmer myself, I foresee two possible implementations, one of which is trivial and one slightly less trivial. The trivial option being, every time the afk kick process runs, simply wrap a one liner around the execution which checks the current server population. However that would less than optimal because you have the process running when it doesn't need to be. Slightly less trivial, tweaking the logic that actually decides when to execute the AFK kick code to not do so while the server population is < n players. Disclaimer: This is highly speculative as I haven't any idea how they implement these things server side (nor with C for that matter). On 2017-02-24 at 2:42 PM, kavijakx said: had warning from this yesterday, while i was not afk i was ordering a new truck. and got the message: move in the next minute, or you will be kicked. it's not because you are not moving that you are afk. +1 I assume they are monitoring the actual positional data your game sends the server to decide whether or not you are AFK. i.e. not your mouse movement or other in game activities such as using truck dealers. This makes sense because most of the other data your game sends to the server is not really determinate of your presence at the keyboard (latency ping, time sync etc) On 2017-03-28 at 8:11 AM, uBreaky said: The afk kick is not bad, But a button for reconnect after afk or lost connection, i think its better. "You need to stop your truck before reconnect to the server" I personally would like to see manual (re)connection UI. As for my opinion on the topic, it certainly wouldn't hurt things, and I wouldn't mind being able to idle in the server while i step away from my computer.
iBruno Posted April 8, 2017 Posted April 8, 2017 +1 i think that can be a good idea, and we won't need to restart the game, but i got another idea, instead of no-kick, they can create a command like /reconnect that it would work to reconnect to the server if you had been kicked.
Game Producer Smoky Posted July 11, 2020 Game Producer Posted July 11, 2020 We're not going to do this. Idle players still consume bandwidth, which is something unnecessary. We're working on a system which should make reconnecting easier.
Game Producer Smoky Posted July 11, 2020 Game Producer Posted July 11, 2020 /Moved to Game Suggestions
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