June 2019 Update

[MattScott 15240]

Hi all,

 

It's been far too long since my last update, so I thought I would take a moment to walk through where we are at.

 

Let's start with April and May - both very bad months for Fallen Earth.

 

First, our data center migration caused lots of unscheduled downtime as we attempted to repair damaged databases.

That issue led to the loss of data, which I am personally very sorry for.

 

Second, in May we had an issue get out of hand that involved a number of FE GMs.

We made some mistakes on our end, and they made mistakes on their end. I'm not looking to rehash what happened, and frankly I wish things had gone down differently. Unfortunately that situation escalated into several bans and a lot of toxicity on the Unofficial Fallen Earth Discord.

 

I can appreciate how upset some members of the community were, and that they were working on incomplete information. I work hard to generally be available to players, but that doesn't mean I need to subject myself to the level of harassment present on that server.

One final point before I move onto the update itself.

 

Several members of the FE community have been vocal about their negative opinions of Little Orbit. However, I would encourage you to question their statements based on the following facts:

- The game wasn't making enough money to pay for itself when we bought it, and it still doesn't on a regular monthly basis

- I had every reason to shutdown the servers in May after the horrible problems in moving them, and I didn't

- Instead, we spent many extra hours at enormous expense to fix things and doing our best to keep the game online

 

The only thing that will turn around this game is actual progress. Fixing the servers. Updating the client. Adding new content. If these vocal members of the community want to discuss things, I am always available here, but there is zero benefit to lying about the progress of the game. 

 

With that out of the way, here is where we are:

 

Client port
Up until May, our focus had been to work on the porting the client. As I have stated before, the client-side 3D engine for the game created back in 2009 is completely proprietary. We started the porting process by migrating all of the art assets into Unity. This was complete a couple months ago. The Unity project now supports all the textures, buildings, props, characters, armor, and animations. The terrain in the game is a completely different system, so that doesn't work yet, and for clarity, none of the actual logic for moving around and interacting in the game client has been migrated.

 

Server port

In May it became clear that the FE servers are not in great shape. As I have mentioned before, it takes over 1 hour simply to reboot them. They require special build servers to compile, and a long dead version of Linux to run. With that in mind, we switched the plan in May to focus on porting the backend. This is getting 100% of our focus right now.

 

Back in December I posted this update:

That post attempted to break down the code in a way that we could use to provide benchmarks.

 

Unfortunately there are no sexy screenshots that I can post showing off server work, but I can try to add more detail to help describe our progress.

 

That original post described the 1.65MM of lines of code in the common libraries and in the server backend.

The common libraries break into two categories: (1) server-side Game Engine code and (2) other libraries.

At this point we have ported ALL of the other libraries, which means we have churned through more than 200K lines of code in a relatively short amount of time.

 

To give further context, the game's back end is made up of 4 different database servers, 10 databases (some duplicated on each database server), and 19 unique services (many of which have multiple instances running). In total there are over 100 service instances that all coordinate to make the game work.

Our initial target in May was to re-write the LoginServer service - 1 of the 19 unique services of the game.

 

We chose it because it didn't touch any of the Game Engine code, and we felt we could port it in a way that would maintain 100% compatibility with the other legacy services. This will allow us to slowly replace each service as it is ready, so that players can start to see the benefits of the upgrade. The new code is 64-bit, can run on modern Operating Systems, and can take advantage of newer processor architectures.

 

I am excited to report that we finished work on the LoginServer last night. There are some dependencies on a couple other services, so we haven't been able to test it yet, but that should start next week. We have started work on the MasterLoginServer now, and work on the remaining services should go a bit faster now that all of the other libraries are finished. However we are leaving the main GameServer for last since that will require porting over all the server-side game code.

 

I know a lot of this sounds like mumbo jumbo. I wish I could fast forward time and get through this process a lot quicker, but it took years for Icarus to create their engine and more time to create Fallen Earth on top of that. 

 

Thanks,
Matt

[Ketog 1031]

People don't realize how lucky they are to still be able to play FallenEarth in 2019

 

This game checks every boxes on what defines a "dead game" and if you call me wrong take a look at this :

 

It doesn't matter who buys the game, as if anyone buy a game that has been forgotten for almost a decade they probably want to do something with it which is always better than letting it rot to death.

 

When you get to the point to when you know every player in a game, it's probably not in a good state.

 

I don't know about you guys, but to me, if the FE Servers are still up, it can't be a bad sign.

I truly believe in matt's good intentions about FE and i hope he succeeds at making this game what it always wanted to be.

[Akihiko 1]

Thank you for trying! Good luck! ^-^

 

[Riverwind 26]

Thanks for the update Matt

[Maximillian Singh 20]

Matt, thank you.   So good to hear from you.

You guys are busting butt on that and I appreciate it. 

[theemole 13]

thank you very much

[PraiseTheSun 48]

@MattScott I think you need to realize it's over a year with some actually feelable progress, the stories and screenshots are apperciated, tho. The only progress we notice is that the state of the game gets more unstable every day.

 

And it is as it is. We'll need to wait. Even though we know what you're doing, the longer we have to wait, the more people lose hope.

 

People will be more skeptical and critical, but to bash that away as negativity is a bit upsetting. I think that this shows some lack of communication and understanding.

 

And to be fair.. The longer it takes the more you'll have to deal with "negativity". 

 

Yet you need to realize everybody apperciate what you're doing. But in the end you provide us a product, which we'll invest money in (or not). So of course we do have some expectations as a playerbase.

 

Anyway glad to see you guys are making progress and again we, or at least I, do apperciate what you're doing.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 22, 2019 by PraiseTheSun

[Dracio 137]

I think most of the players left are glad the lights are still on and happy any company would take the sinking boat of FE and put any effort into it. But as to my previous concerns about GMs it was very disheartening to have you state once Matt certain people would never, ever be GMs only to find out they were. At least they are not now

Edited June 22, 2019 by Dracio

[DantesHell 1]

This is so good news!

Tnx Matt! I hope that all will ends good and that we will play this great game in new suit.

I cross my fingers and i hope for the best!

[StubbyClaps 74]

When you bought G! you knew the state and the amount of money Fallen Earth was bringing in. 

"

 The game wasn't making enough money to pay for itself when we bought it, and it still doesn't on a regular monthly basis

- I had every reason to shutdown the servers in May after the horrible problems in moving them, and I didn't

- Instead, we spent many extra hours at enormous expense to fix things and doing our best to keep the game online"

 

Fallen Earth will never be profitable. Maybe you should of just shut down the servers after that shite show. Your quote makes it sound like everyone should be grateful... You are literally wasting money trying to port FE over to a new engine. The only way that the Fallen Earth franchise will ever make money is if a proper sequel can be made. I have very little hopes your company can make an entirely new mmo on the scale Fallen Earth was. It may just be time to shut her down because the absolute lack of any substantial progress isnt getting new players to join or invest money.  Either fully commit or shut it down. We have been getting the same responses for the past year with literally nothing to show for it besides a few screenshots and a walking gif. 

 

P.S. I am sorry that you had to deal with some toxic pvp players as gms. 

Edited June 22, 2019 by StubbyClaps
fix

[cobraz 6]

nice job

[zootie 10]

Thank you for the update Matt! I've some IT background and you're doing probably the hardest thing in any IT industry. We take games for granted because they're "just games", but the truth is they're some of the most complicated applications in existence, running on some of the most....let's just say "formerly leading edge" system architectures out of respect for the original creators - and attempting to serving masses of the general public with real-time interactions. And you're tasked with disassembling someone else's game and rebuilding it to work better than new.

 

I don't have words for how difficult that must be. I can only offer words of encouragement and hope for your success. I've backed several indie games in early access, and FE is hands-down the one where the creators tried the hardest to put heart and soul into their game. So I would personally love to see it revitalized.

 

And I believe the best time for that is now. With Fallout 76, Bethesda has proven again that they are no longer the right company to be leading in this genre. And FE has every core feature it needs to take the #1 position. It just needs to be remade into the game that can deliver on its promise.

 

So the very best of luck to you and the rest in their efforts, and thanks for all of your commitment to this project!

 

Merged.

 

17 hours ago, StubbyClaps said:

When you bought G! you knew the state and the amount of money Fallen Earth was bringing in. 

"

 The game wasn't making enough money to pay for itself when we bought it, and it still doesn't on a regular monthly basis

- I had every reason to shutdown the servers in May after the horrible problems in moving them, and I didn't

- Instead, we spent many extra hours at enormous expense to fix things and doing our best to keep the game online"

 

Fallen Earth will never be profitable. Maybe you should of just shut down the servers after that shite show. Your quote makes it sound like everyone should be grateful... You are literally wasting money trying to port FE over to a new engine. The only way that the Fallen Earth franchise will ever make money is if a proper sequel can be made. I have very little hopes your company can make an entirely new mmo on the scale Fallen Earth was. It may just be time to shut her down because the absolute lack of any substantial progress isnt getting new players to join or invest money.  Either fully commit or shut it down. We have been getting the same responses for the past year with literally nothing to show for it besides a few screenshots and a walking gif. 

 

P.S. I am sorry that you had to deal with some toxic pvp players as gms. 

Not to start an argument, but anyone who personally believes it's doomed is free to walk away, no hard feelings, best of luck to them in whatever game they go to.

 

But the people who want to keep on keeping on should absolutely have the ability to do that, as it doesn't impact anyone who has left. Just saying.

[StubbyClaps 74]

2 hours ago, zootie said:

Not to start an argument, but anyone who personally believes it's doomed is free to walk away, no hard feelings, best of luck to them in whatever game they go to.

 

But the people who want to keep on keeping on should absolutely have the ability to do that, as it doesn't impact anyone who has left. Just saying.

Fallen Earth will never make money. It's literally a waste of dollars, time, and energy. LO's only hope of making a profit off of Fallen Earth is to actually create a whole new one. It's idiotic to think that a 10 year old dead mmo will somehow magically be revived.  I would love for Fallen Earth to be supported for another ten years, but Matt clearly stated Fallen Earth doesnt even make enough to support its self. We are supposed to be grateful for a server that cant support itself. Thats not a healthy relationship. How many people are actually working on Fallen Earth? We havent seen ANY progress in over year meanwhile APB has had a few updates, new content and new game modes.

Edited June 23, 2019 by StubbyClaps

[Wildcat Strike 10]

Thanks for the update.  I’m not expecting anything in the short term but look forward to the relaunch.  Keep it up!

[MystMan 5]

Fallen Earth under G1 has been like a classic muscle car that was left in the sun to rust away with no maintenance for years. They kept breaking the game and making changes nobody asked for, making everything less enjoyable and less rewarding, which drove away the core player base.

Trying to fix FE as it is now is like trying to fix such a car to look presentable. It realistically isn't financially feasible unless you're already filthy rich and like fixing wrecks as a hobby. Cannibalizing the game and getting all the non-proprietary source data out and using that to create a Fallen Earth 2 is a better option.

 

For the game to thrive again, soooo much would need to be done and this game is completely unknown by now and I haven't seen ads for it since.... ever (even APB has had banner ads). Word of mouth won't be enough and where would you get the money for ads besides the massive amount of money already needed to fix the game?

 

It doesn't help that the game has been passed around publishers more than once, creating this proprietary obstacle, people working on somebody else's code and whatnot.  NoMan's Sky had a disastrous launch but at least it was still their code and they managed to fix it to a proper game in 2 years before the game could become forgotten. FE is almost 10 years old, that's way past any salvageable due date. The game is too dated, too unknown, to problematic. The hardcore fans it has now are not enough to save it. The playerbase hasn't peaked in the triple digits for years (I check the social menu each 2 weeks, average player count is always 40-80). An MMORPG needs triple digits to remain relevant.

 

I'm not being pessimistic for the sake of negativity.  I always wanted FE to succeed and I was lucky to have started playing years ago when there player count was actually above 1000 and it felt like I was actually playing an MMO and not a literal abandoned wasteland; even single player Fallout games feel more alive than this. But any new player who started playing FE after the G.O.R.E. update (the beginning of the end) will never experience the better quality game that the older players enjoyed before that.

Edited June 24, 2019 by MystMan

[Eliessar 8]

Thanks for the update Matt!

[Rovol 7]

Thanks for the update Matt - appreciate the work you guys are doing to try to revive what was once one of my all time favourite MMOs.

 

 

[Aroa Croft 84]

- I agree with mystman in everything he says, although there are more factors that will prevent the game from gaining players.

- Nobody manufactures anything, plays or tries to recruit for his clan at low levels. Therefore, if you see the game from the perspective of a "new player" the game is difficult to understand and boring.

- When I started playing this, there was a total variety of weapons, armor, equipment at low levels in the auction and the game "blood sports" was very active, without waiting at low levels as high.

- About what happened with the gm that came from being an active player of the game and pvp, it was something that was clear that would happen. As we know why the game did not come back even if they put on many patches, updates, visual improvements.

- You already know my opinion Matt and about a reset leaving only two maps so that we all start from scratch.  I believe in the fate and the events that are happening and have happened, about the loss of data and the malfunction of the game. Apart from the game starts, they always make the game profitable.

[PraiseTheSun 48]

I think FE can get back up it's feet. It is an easy game to get into and it has a wider range of potentional players, because it feels like a "shooter".

 

Graphic wise it looks okish, I don't think that it will bother a lot of people. Just needs some attractive content and some good marketing. And of course some stable servers and a bit more optimized gameplay.

[llamatron66 4]

Still watching this thread as a player of the original game that I loved so much as a crafter and an explorer. Loved Citadel, but hated every patch after that. Hoping one day you succeed in getting this game back into shape... and the extra pay2win stuff bolted on after doesn't come with the fixed version.

[Eric Cloud 48]

1 hour ago, llamatron66 said:

Still watching this thread as a player of the original game that I loved so much as a crafter and an explorer. Loved Citadel, but hated every patch after that. Hoping one day you succeed in getting this game back into shape... and the extra pay2win stuff bolted on after doesn't come with the fixed version.

What pay 2 win stuff? No armor or weapons are sold on the market so that makes no sense

[llamatron66 4]

last time i played... everyone was buying lockbox keys to get everything they wanted including cars... and crafters had become pretty much useless... that's when I quit.

[Eric Cloud 48]

11 hours ago, llamatron66 said:

last time i played... everyone was buying lockbox keys to get everything they wanted including cars... and crafters had become pretty much useless... that's when I quit.

Everything they wanted??  Cosmetics and certain cars maybe, but armor, weapons and things you need in game have to be crafted not bought on market. That isn't pay2win that is pay2lookpretty.

[Kishoot 36]

I've read some people and i think FE can be revived with a new engine and a re-launch on Steam as F2P with a suffix.

But they really have to be ready for the re-launch. Previous staff failed when FE became F2P and they failed again when it came on Steam.

 

Like someone said, they made changes nodoby asked. Instead of balancing the combat system they changed everything (impossible to balance it).

Probably everybody complained about the GORE patch, when you do a wrong patch (even if it's hard to admit it) it's better to remove it (even if it costed money).

But Matt this game is gold in bar and is unique this is why you have PVE, PVP, RP players still around since so many years.

 

Some of you will hate me for saying that but maybe they should close the server because ofcourse with the actual state of the game they won't improve it and won't make enough money.

It could be accelerate the processus if they stop to waste energy on this old FE and focus on the future of the game.

I'm aware that i have abandonned the game and had a new hope when LO buyed it and announced the new engine, but some players are still enjoying it.

 

Boxing with pistols if not for tomorrow but good luck and thanks for these infos.

[KatArus 5]

Daym. I knew Icarus' backend was trash but I had no idea it was THAT bad. I can only wish you perseverance and luck.