View Full Version : Implementation of a Test server + Dedicated Test Team
As discussed in hinch's thread what do people feel could be the positives and negatives of this and in kk's view would this be a viable option?
We need a test server, one for the public and one that is private. The private one needs to be made up of people who understand the game mechanics and people who have been around long enough to know what they are talking about.
Unfortunately kk don't have servers to spare but i think a closed test server that can be opened up to public testing when a stress test on a patch is needed could work
Mighty Max
29-11-05, 16:23
Hmm,
What makes you think there are no testservers?
The lack of news from it? Wouldnt a NDA be a part of the testers requirements?
(That was allways part of the deal when i tested something not public available)
That a public testserver fails its purpose is known since the old testserver. Just get the few honest testers in a team. And you are back to the problem above.
There isn't a test server due to the fact they turned it into a full server for nc2 release afaik
/edit and if there is the testers need to be shot for the lack of things being sorted
You really think that KK are going to open up a testserver to all and sundry just so it can be abused by people who want nothing more than to test their setups? This has happened before.
I'm sure arrangements would already be in place for KK to test whatever they want whenever they want and it will be kept strictly under lock and key. After all, they don't want to let out all their spoilers now, do they?
The problem with the current situation is there isn't enough testing going on, due to the lack of public test server, whether it's open or invite only. Or the QA testing process is not upto scratch.
High profile bugs like the PPU mis-cast netcode issue and the zero item inventory bug should had been picked up in testing, not when the patch hit the live servers.
Dribble Joy
29-11-05, 17:01
There is an internal test server. There was talk of open it up invite only a while ago, dunno what came of it though.
There isn't a test server due to the fact they turned it into a full server for nc2 release afaik
Don't talk about things you do not know.
The problem with the current situation is there isn't enough testing going on, due to the lack of public test server, whether it's open or invite only. Or the QA testing process is not upto scratch.
High profile bugs like the PPU mis-cast netcode issue and the zero item inventory bug should had been picked up in testing, not when the patch hit the live servers.You say that as if they test stuff with their eyes closed. Don't you think KK already know about the netcode and the zero item bug? There could be all sorts of reasons why things go pear shaped. Maybe causes for some bugs just haven't been found, or perhaps things work fine on the testserver but go tits up on retail once everyone starts zoning at the same time and alt-F4ing instead of logging out properly.
You say that as if they test stuff with their eyes closed. Don't you think KK already know about the netcode and the zero item bug? There could be all sorts of reasons why things go pear shaped. Maybe causes for some bugs just haven't been found, or perhaps things work fine on the testserver but go tits up on retail once everyone starts zoning at the same time and alt-F4ing instead of logging out properly.
If things are going tits up between test server and retail, then there is a lack of configuration management between the test and live server. Trying to keep a dev server, test server and live server closely matched is sometimes quite a tricky thing to do, but still needs to be done.
If the game cannot cope properly with people pressing Alt F4, why not? Can this be tested, yes it can. Do KK test for it, I don't know. Have KK tested for it? I don't know either.
If the game cannot cope with everyone zoning at the same time, why not? Can this be tested, yes it can. Do KK test for it, I don't know. Have KK tested for it? I don't know either.
Now if you remember the test server in NC1, on average there was a few patches released on the test server before the patch hit retail. Why? Because due to the scale of the game, KK cannot test everything, but the player can probably find some bug.
As a developer myself, I accept no matter how good their test plans are, something will get missed and picked up by the player (Or another tester) instead who has his own version of his test plan, which you could call "closed eyes" testing.
However some of the bugs should have been picked up in the testing, like the two I've mentioned before. Did KK test for transfering items from a gogo to your inventory when it was empty, no they didn't, but I hope that test is in their test plan now!
There are some bugs that simply just don't occurr until you have 50 odd players trying to zone into the same place and start paraspamming, these are never going to show up with the current test server thats dev's/gm's only
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