Publishing time and maps...

zbkolde · August 2013

I'm wondering if there is a connection with longer-than-average publishing times and certain maps. Everyone is always saying their quests publish in 5-10 minutes, while mine has always taken 45-60 minutes.

My first quest uses one map only, there are no transitions. The one map, is the "Forest Looping Path 01," categorized as Detailed and XLarge. There is no sparkly trail on that map either. Every time i've published that quest, it's taken 45-60 minutes to publish.

My second quest starts on the same map, but also has transitions to two other maps, as well as transitions to duplicates of that map. Last night i tried 4 times to publish my second quest. Each time took about 90 minutes, just to fail publishing.

This morning i did an experiment. I created a quest called "Map Theory Test," using the "Coast Medium" map, categorized as Empty and Medium. I dropped a bunch of clusters and details on it, put in two objectives, and blocked the chest with an invisible tube. It took 4 minutes to publish it (withdrew immediately afterward).

So, in theory, it looks like maybe using the "Forest Looping Path 01" map causes it to take longer to publish? Just wanted to see if anyone else noticed anything similar.

Update: My second quest finally successfully published this morning, after around two hours of "Currently Publishing" status. Also wanted to point out that it didn't matter what time of day (for those thinking "server load") i attempted to publish the first quest, as mornings are my usual game time anyway, it still always takes 45-60 minutes to publish.

redneckronin · August 2013

Well the way to accurately test this would be to select a list of assets, apply that exact list of assets and objectives to all the different maps and then test publish them, see if it does make a difference.

All The Best

zbkolde · August 2013

One of our SE members pointed me to this post on another site:
http://www.menzoberranzan2.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=33425&start=20

To quote from that post:

PATH NODES:
This is a hugely important consideration for Foundry Authors.
Part of the publishing process is for the server to analyze your map and look for *any* *possible* *place* an NPC or Player can walk on. ANY SURFACE. Including rooftops of ten-story tall building. The server will then build "Path Nodes" throughout your map which tell the Client App where you as a player can possibly be, where you can walk around. Exterior maps are the worst on this because hundreds (if not thousands) of path nodes are created and every possible link to each from each. Path nodes are what create the pixie-dust sparkly quest trail, by the way.

This reinforces my thoughts that the "Forest Looping Path 01" map is causing the excessive publishing time. As mentioned, there is no sparkly trail on this map, it is broken. Which means it's possible that whatever is broken with the trail is also what's causing it to take so long to publish, as it's having some problem with building these path nodes.

This is something i've been watching for months, seeing other authors with multiple and complex maps in their quest say it only takes them 15-20 minutes at most to publish, while my simple one-map quest takes an hour, sometimes more.

Publishing time and maps...

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