When will LIVEMAP ever return to normal??

Discussion in 'Empire Help & Support' started by chhodgkins, Feb 24, 2015.

  1. I know EMC is mostly a town-oriented server... seems to be that way to me at least.

    But me, I'm a frontier explorer. I like pushing into the black areas.

    It used to be that the map expanded more or less real-time. I could have the livemap open with my game browser simultaneously and watch as the map expanded within seconds or at the most a minute or 2 of me moving into an unexplored area. Now, it may take forever to show up, or never depending on how long I spend in that area?

    Also, I use the 3D view. It used to expand in 3D, that is I could see the bedrock cross section as I moved southwest. Now it just expands in patchy squares. smp5.EmpireMinecraft.com LIVE MAP.png
    or like this
    smp5.EmpireMinecraft.com LIVE MAP (1).png

    It's really frustrating to me, although I may be in the minority.
    Does anyone have any answers?

    Thanks
    607 likes this.
  2. Pretty sure this just means Dynmap needs to be rendered again (someone correct me on this).
  3. emc has it where you have to interact with like three blocks per chunk to render it on livemap. its dumb but stops some lag so whatever
    TigerstarMC, 607 and sambish20 like this.
  4. ok but can anyone recognize the difference between the way it used to be (expanding more or less in real-time and in 3D) and now (patchy 2D blocks and VERY slow or not at all)?
  5. Yes, it is much slower now.
  6. In town I claimed a new residence and it probably took about a week to transfer ownership, it took a while for the old owners name to go away.
  7. I would highly recommend using a personal mapping program like VoxelMap or JourneyMap Fairplay edition. They are invaluable when exploring the frontier.

    Yes, you have to place at least one block for a chunk to update on the live map now, and even then it may take a long time. If you really want the live map to update, you'll need to travel with many stacks of torches or stone/dirt.

    Apparently this change made a very big difference in performance, so I don't imagine them changing it back anytime soon. Especially with how much traffic we are getting now.
  8. It is especially hard to plan a route through the Nether without it. I asked Just_Five_Fun about this problem recently and he confirmed at least that it is a problem with the plug-in:

    The live map currently works badly. The plugin has bugs and has not been kept up to date. We have been waiting for the maintainer of that plugin to correct the problems, but the future is uncertain due to the many twists and turns that the modding community has endured this year.

    I was a big fan of the live map, and still use it in it's current crippled form. I hope that something can be done soon, but a replacement might need to be found. In some cases, it seems like placing/breaking blocks in a chunk will prompt it to update on the live map more quickly, but it is a pretty sorry work around compared to how it was when everything was working right.
    607 and hisbling like this.
  9. ok, so you're saying EMC made a fundamental change to the livemap or coding or whatever, so these changes are permanent?

    If so, I'll check out those mapping programs. Would they have the 3D views like the live map used to have?

    Thanks
    kevmeup likes this.
  10. Not exactly. EMC had to make changes in order to keep the livemap working at all. We don't want the poor functionality to be permanent, but livemap isn't part of our private code and we don't know when or if the code will be fixed. I believe that is where the slow and blocky behavior comes from.

    I am not familiar with the change that caused the 3d feature to break, that is more recent. I am guessing it is related to 1.8 orebification, but that is only speculation(we already use some 1.8 code). With the 1.8 update in EMC's near future, it's hard to say what changes will be made to livemap, but it will need some real attention soon.
    607 and kevmeup like this.
  11. I have spoken with Aikar about this issue and will be running tests tonight. It is supposed to update with block placements. Basically just walking somewhere won't update it.

    Although it is seen as a little of a hindrance for some, this serves two primary purposes.
    -reduces lag
    -prevents people from being followed to their bases from the paths left behind

    If, after testing, it is found that there are in fact issues outside what is intended to happen, then I will work with Aikar and the Dev Team to ensure the problems are diagnosed and fixed properly.
    607, just_five_fun, kevmeup and 2 others like this.
  12. I have had a few problems with Live Map since these changes.

    One is general. When I am exploring, I have no idea what is ahead of me. This is a problem especially in the Nether. Do I go left, right, up, or down to get around that huge lava lake? The best I can do to plan ahead is the approximately 128 square block area that shows on Voxelmap's radar.

    Being unable to see where people have explored is actually a disadvantage when you are trying to find terrain or structures that are newly generated. You can't always even tell by going there. The only sure fire way we have is to look at the map and see whether it is black.

    The current functionality of Live Map makes it untrustworthy. When we update to 1.8, how will we be able to differentiate on the map between areas that have, and have not been explored? This is going to be an ongoing problem every time we update.

    The other is that breaking blocks does not update the map consistently. When I last used it (tried to)sometime in January, I was tunneling in the Nether looking for Fortresses. My tunnels never showed on Live map even though I stopped often. Some of the places I explored did.

    I appreciate anything that can be done to improve this.
    607 likes this.
  13. I sure hope it will! I think it isn't that easy of a thing to solve, though.
  14. The annoying problem from breaking blocks is that you need todo is so many times in short distance to get a good map, and then you still missing some blocks and get black holes. It's also harder to plan for future ideas or deployments. Like with 1.8 i want to move again further into the dark. and its really dark. But the way you now need to make the livemap visible is hard, also the area you make visible is so terrible small, hard to plan that way outpost in the dark. And you still need to hope that you see something after a while.

    Since the change that you need to break a block to make the livemap visible. it made things much harder in frontier. The old livemap where just a string argument in EMC.
    Pab10S and 607 like this.
  15. Voxel map provides a layer view of the nether that updates as you move up and down in the nether.. I am not sure if this feature is allow in EMC as it is considered caveview.. I can tag Kryssy to see what she says about it.. As for overworld, I know that caveview is not allowed, as it provides an unfair advantage in being able to see the cave systems at your current layer..
  16. Your anyway lucky if it updates in 2-3 minutes. most times for me it only update when i logout.
  17. Are there any news to this topic?
    bitemenow15 likes this.
  18. My picture on the live map is of a skin I haven't used in almost a year.
    PenguinDJ likes this.
  19. I prefer the new map behavior. The new map could be made better but it's still an improvement. Updates are delayed but they do eventually come through. The area revealed also feels much smaller as a result which is desired.

    I must strongly disagree with this as a feature. You are asking for a map of an area you have not yet explored and do not have line of site on. (Otherwise the path around the lake would be obvious.) To me this is exploiting the LiveMap feature. With the old LiveMap a player could simple walk through a desert or jungle and LiveMap would reveal the hidden temples.

    You don't think it's a bad thing to see bedrock cross sections while safely walking above? This was an easy exploit to find cave systems and I'm glad the map update delays hinder this.