Zezo forum:

Post by nsp | 2017-11-24 | 06:49:07

copy of the post I made in VR forum

"Hi VR team

Hi all,

I have a screenshot of the fireworks, credits for a huge amount of useless cards i didn't use, and your party on my modest arrival on 273th place. Thank you very much. You didn't have to bother... it wasn't that good.

One hour later I�got more fireworks and more credits, and more congratulations. You are so nice! thank you again!!! The only thing i didn't like it's you updating my arrival to 280th?! Seriouslly????????!!!!!

I would apreciate you guys to correct it as soon as possible aswell as the amount of points in in harmony with the 273th place of my arrival,�

Thank you very much.

I think it's not necessary to paste here the image. but i will do it if you think i need to prove anything?

Best regards

Nsp"

PS: I understand that server updates my boat as soon as I arrive...but....it also updates, other boats as soon as they arrive, and imediatly gave an order to show the arrival window, computers give like 50.000 million instructions per second. Please don't argument with the updating of the other boats....if you do, then we all agree that this platform is a piece of crap, that even can't compute who arrives in which place! That or....

26 Comments

Post by nsp | 2017-11-24 | 06:56:59

now i am already 279Th..AMAZING! 3 screnshots of different arrival places! But the point are still the same..hope we'll get there...

Post by nsp | 2017-11-24 | 19:48:41

EXTRAORDINARY. Today I am 277th!!!!!!!!!!

i AM AMAZED

It seems the only way they don't touch your rank is finish 1st 3hours ahead....well played RQ-Naos!

Post by Patrice | 2017-11-24 | 08:05:45

lol...

Post by Ursus Maritimus | 2017-11-24 | 09:24:34

isn't it a preliminary ranking first, after you pass the finish line?
Maybe VR does some interpolations afterswards to find exact finishing times (and positions).

Post by nsp | 2017-11-24 | 19:49:55

yes.. it is...i have 4 printscreens with 4 different numbers of arrival now...

nice

Post by JohnT | 2017-11-24 | 09:39:41

I'm not taken to defending VR, but back when they had some information on the website, they did have an explanation of why it took some time to finalize the ranking. The explanation was that because:
1) the finish is an arc of a circle,
2) boats can cross on different courses
3) at different points,
4) and different speeds
it isn't straightforward to determine exactly when each boat crosses the finish line.
Since the server is only updating every two minutes, I assume this gives an approximate ranking based on the running DTF, with the final timing/ranking running as a separate calculation.

So in this instance I think they may deserve a break, or at least the benefit of the doubt.

Post by marcusbelgicus | 2017-11-24 | 14:15:47

I agree, it has always been like that, this is why they say 'temporary ranking'. And the new calculation time every 2 minutes make the calculation even more complicated I think. To me this is not a bug. What is a bug is what happened again to my boat tonight, entering the circle, ejected immediately wait for (2 ?) min and then finally enter the circle again. On leg 1 I had the same as well, quite stressful!

Post by natto | 2017-11-24 | 16:32:09

Same thing happened to my boat (natsail) Agree very frustrating! I took a screen shot of it.

Post by natto | 2017-11-24 | 16:37:22

Post by nsp | 2017-11-24 | 19:46:17

one hour?

do you know how many intructions a simple PC gives per second?

really?

do you buy it?

And then 2 updates, another one 2 hours later?

always with the same amount of points?

really?

and today already 277th

you continue to buy it?

a little break?

seriouslly guys..

wake up

Post by WretchedExess | 2017-11-24 | 14:14:31

When I went to bed last night I was at 491. This morning i was a 489. I left all the tabs open and even VR dashboard shows 489. My explanation is, that it is not the finish line but the order that you get to the bar that counts.

Post by Penny G | 2017-11-24 | 16:54:35

Thats great VR but what do I do now with the credits I purchased? Will you let me use them to acquire the full pack on the next leg?

Post by WretchedExess | 2017-11-24 | 19:33:13

Unless something has changed no! You will more than likely have to go out and buy more credits.

Post by pmangino | 2017-11-24 | 19:39:19

+
What do I do now with the credits I purchased? Will you let me use them to acquire the full pack on the next leg?

Post by nsp | 2017-11-24 | 19:51:50

277th now! 4 different prinscreens and counting!

*"$&/

Post by JohnT | 2017-11-24 | 20:10:08

No logical explanation for that unless people were finishing in stealth mode, and not even the server could see where they had been until after the stealth card expired ;)

Post by marcusbelgicus | 2017-11-25 | 13:19:47

It might be just that there are 5-6 boats arriving in the same second. Then your place will be picked up randomly.

Post by nsp | 2017-11-24 | 20:34:21

John I don't use to complain for nothing.

I notice a bunch of weird things and I keep quiet.

It's ridiculous what's happening.

15 hours after the arrival my position is still updating. And I guess this is happening because I complained by email and on VR forum. I wander if I had said nothing.

But at least they could do it the right way...to each position there is a certain amount of points I think (maybe I'm wrong, I have to check).

On the other hand, as usual, they played deffensive. As I sent them a printscreen in wich we can see the browser bar of VRdasboard they asked me "we wander what's VR dashboard that seems to be disrupting your VR play".

Of course, I told them and also to ask Phillipe Guign� and the other members of VR team who read this forums, and also told them that in my point of view the only way anyone could disrupt this game would be invading their computers, so, as a lawyer, I only can understand the insinuation or accusation it seemed they were doing were for sure a mistake or a misuse of words.

Anyway..it's ridiculous all of this is happening.

Nuno

Post by JohnT | 2017-11-24 | 21:24:29

I totally agree :)
I do still say it is a bit complicated to calculate exact finishing time/order. But that absolutely does not explain multiple updates/changes.
I don't yet have my own finishing experience to compare since I made some bad choices earlier, and I am still sailing at 20 knots in the S. Atlantic with ~500 miles to go. But I will watch with interest when I do.

Post by nsp | 2017-11-24 | 21:57:38

I disagree John,

The time of arrival is accurate to fractions of second, i mean..each boat has a registered time of arrival in server..after that it just has to ordenate it..is it too difficult? It just takes the minutes equivalent to the update of all boats in the cycle plus one second to ordenate them.

Now...a first provisory position, i accept, will wait for another in minutes, nothing, what would you think, the computer after updating confirmed your position, but no, one hour later it updates to a second position in rank...one more to a third different one, 15 hours to a forth even different one, what the hell is this????

Post by Muikku | 2017-11-24 | 23:39:59

I don't know about the current game, but in the old game with 10 minute updates, the arrival was calculated by measuring how far you travel past the the circle in the last 10 minute cycle. I once lost a few rankings when i ran my boat aground just after the circle.

Maybe the current game has a similar logic. Anyway I think the game should be able to finalize your ranking within a few minutes. They could also calculate the game ranking a little faster.

PS 273 is not bad at all. Congrats.

Post by JohnT | 2017-11-25 | 01:22:20

To defend the programmers one more time: I would completely agree with you if the finish was just a single Lat/Long point.
The problem is to work out exactly when any boat crosses the circle. Remember that you do not have to be on a course to hit the finish 'mark', just to approach within 3.x nautical miles of it on any course that isn't over land.

It's actually a non-trivial problem to calculate the exact time that a boat crosses the circle.

Yes, for one boat it doesn't take a huge amount of compute time, but you certainly don't want to do it for 80,000 boats in 1 second increments all the time, so the first finish info you get will be approximate based on a quick calculation using the 2 minute data. The final position should be based on a much more detailed calculation of which second your boat (possibly on a curving course with variable speed) reached a point exactly on the finish circle.

But I still have no idea why the repeated changes, so I fully understand your frustration...

Post by nsp | 2017-11-25 | 05:48:11

I understand your point of view John and not wanting to continue to force the idea that a computer nowadays has to be able to do anything..for me I see as peanuts to ask a technician in my office to build a routine that produces a table of the ranking of all the boats arrived in one or 2 weeks or whatever..its the same programm and routine..and different from the others that the computer runs. It's more simple that you think..you have a warning in the programm once any boat touches one of the points of a given line, that time is registered ..and then it's ordered..simple as that.

If VR doesn't do that they are in the age of dinossaurs!

And to be completeletely realistic I guess in the same minute may have arrived like 30 boats..is that too much for a computer in 15 hours to compute??? 30 boats per minute? Or less, in average?

... tired of this...

Post by marcusbelgicus | 2017-11-25 | 13:35:06

You might have arrived in the same second than 6 other boats. I finished 23rd and there are 5 boats within 5 seconds.

Post by JohnT | 2017-11-25 | 21:56:43

We agree the table of ranking is trivial once you have the finishing time; however it really is much trickier than you are suggesting to determine when you have 'touched one of the points on the line'.
This does explain why the initial finish time/position may not be final, but in no way explains multiple adjustments over hours.
Anyway, well sailed - I am still a few hours away from Cape Town. Hopefully there will still be some beer at the bar when I arrive after midnight!

Post by nsp | 2017-11-25 | 05:56:23

Yes, Muikku if after 10 minutes they had updated my position to 280th I would have accepted, sadly, but would have and quietly...one hour later..it was suspicious, 2 hours afer that, a 3rd position even more, and 15 hours later a 4th one..its a lunatic thing!

That or someone is on cheat mode! And because I paid I deserve some explanations!

We all deserve, because I am not the only one being affected by this and other weird stuff in this game.

Ps ty