Connecting to servers; servers misrepresenting player number

[sgtmattbaker]

I have been trying to play tremulous but more often than not when I connect to a server I either get a message that my client isn't compatible with the server (I have the latest 1.1.0), I don't have their map (obvious source of the issue there), some weird problems such as server and client don't match /game/trex or something like that and some of the ones I join that say they have 20+ players in them, when I join the server I end up being the only person in there.  This happens even if I refresh the list or get an entirely new one right before I join a server.

Thank you.

[Divmax]

When we define latest, we mean the backported version of Tremulous which would allow a lot more features. And the client would also fix your client mismatch and map downloading as you can download off the server with the new client.

Uh, you sure you are not reading the maximum players??? 7(23), 7 = number of players in the server, (23) = the maximum number of players.

[Bissig]

The masterlist is only updated every 5 minutes if I am not mistaken.

So, sometimes servers get deserted rather fast and are empty/near empty, though you might have read 20 players in the serverlist.

[David]

The masterlist is only updated every 5 minutes if I am not mistaken.

So, sometimes servers get deserted rather fast and are empty/near empty, though you might have read 20 players in the serverlist.

Nope.
The info your client gets is fresh from the server in question.  Every time you refresh the list it asks every server returned for the list.
And from my experience running my own master for testing, it updates with new servers instantly.  The delay is only in de-listing servers that are now off-line.  Its entirely possible that the official master is different, but I doubt it.

[Bissig]

The masterlist is only updated every 5 minutes if I am not mistaken.

So, sometimes servers get deserted rather fast and are empty/near empty, though you might have read 20 players in the serverlist.

Nope.
The info your client gets is fresh from the server in question.  Every time you refresh the list it asks every server returned for the list.
And from my experience running my own master for testing, it updates with new servers instantly.  The delay is only in de-listing servers that are now off-line.  Its entirely possible that the official master is different, but I doubt it.

It does not update instantly.

I have hopped off servers which went from 10 players to 5 and for some time the master list still showed 10 players. Vice-versa too. Instant update maybe if you fetch a new list but not when refreshing. Also, I was under the impression that the servers send a heartbeat from time to time. Is this different from the time to update?

[David]

The servers send a heartbeat, but it just says "I am here".
The master then sends a getinfo request to the server and when it gets a response the server is added to the list / kept on the list.
If nothing is head from a server for a while it is dropped.  The master server stores nothing but IP and port.

[UniqPhoeniX]

I'm pretty sure I had that once... list showed that there were many players even after getting new list and when I went to server, it was empty and a different map had been running for over 40 minutes.

[Divmax]

It does not update instantly.

I have hopped off servers which went from 10 players to 5 and for some time the master list still showed 10 players. Vice-versa too. Instant update maybe if you fetch a new list but not when refreshing. Also, I was under the impression that the servers send a heartbeat from time to time. Is this different from the time to update?

It does.
Here is how it works(I think)
Master server keeps a list of servers and their IP+port.
The master server updates the list every time a heartbeat is sent.
You only retrieve the server's IP and port, after that YOUR client will ping the servers itself.

So I do not know why would the client be displaying wrong info.

[Le Compilateur]

I've seen this too. It's possible that the server itself, or its QVM, is buggy.

[benmachine]

I've seen this too. It's possible that the server itself, or its QVM, is buggy.

Or malicious. They could be trying to artificially inflate player counts to attract people.
If you can find a specific example of a server that is doing so maybe we can bitch about them to the owner of the master server and get them delisted.

[Le Compilateur]

Malicious is definitely possible. So who does own the master server?

[kevlarman]

tjw currently runs it.