Bam-zine

Day of Darkness II – a new EVE fan video by Dire Lauthris

Based on the Chronicle “The Breakout“, Dire Lauthris newest fan video tells the story of Admiral Yakiya Tovil-Toba. With nothing more than a Chimera and a few dozen attack craft, Tovil-Toba attempted to save millions of lives on Caldari Prime while it was under attack by Gallente forces some 200 years ago. The actions of the Admiral gave the Caldari enough time to finish the evacuation of citizens trapped by the Gallente assault.

Featuring stunning in-game footage and a fabulous narration by StevieSG, this video is one that will not disappoint. Full details can be found here.

Halldor and Gabe on Apocrypha

Battleclinic caught up with CCP CTO Halldor Fannar and VP of Engineering Gabe Mahoney at GDC this past week. They chat about Apocrypha, the gargantuan effort of constructing it and dip into the finer points of tentacles.  Enjoy the interview here.

Apocrypha API Additions

As a part of the Apocrypha expansion we thought we’d add a little something to the API, namely our beloved Skill Queue. The Skill Queue is available at /char/skillqueue.xml.aspx and is a list of skills in a certain order accompanied by start- and end training times. It’s on the same cache timer as SkillInTraining and, in fact, SkillInTraining now uses information from the Skill Queue and will be removed soon_(tm) so we suggest 3^rd party developers start getting this information from the Skill Queue. The typeID attribute is the ID of the skill which you can locate in the SkillTree.

We also managed to fix a few defects in this round:

• Previously missing implants now shows up on the Character Sheet.
• The cachedUntil timestamp is now correctly placed in the Certificate Tree.
• The Corporation Sheet now displays information for companies that are not in alliances.

The API has seen considerable increase in traffic over the months, the number of requests received every hour has passed 2.2 million which translates to 5-600 requests per second. Lately it got to the point where we had to take a look at a couple of database queries that were rapidly moving up the not-so-popular-with-admins charts. The solution included both updating the API code and making a couple of adjustments in the operational environment. Queries for character augmentations and skills were optimized and the cache code was changed so that it would move the effects of memory starvation from TQ to the API servers. What that means is that the API servers will crash rather than hammering the DB too much so, to counter that problem, memory allocation on the API servers was also improved. These changes greatly diminished the impact the growth of the API has had on the DB lately and soothed the Gods of Performance and their appetite for disconnecting the API. At least for a while_(tm).

Apocrypha API Additions

As a part of the Apocrypha expansion we thought we’d add a little something to the API, namely our beloved Skill Queue. The Skill Queue is available at /char/skillqueue.xml.aspx and is a list of skills in a certain order accompanied by start- and end training times. It’s on the same cache timer as SkillInTraining and, in fact, SkillInTraining now uses information from the Skill Queue and will be removed soon_(tm) so we suggest 3^rd party developers start getting this information from the Skill Queue. The typeID attribute is the ID of the skill which you can locate in the SkillTree.

We also managed to fix a few defects in this round:

• Previously missing implants now shows up on the Character Sheet.
• The cachedUntil timestamp is now correctly placed in the Certificate Tree.
• The Corporation Sheet now displays information for companies that are not in alliances.

The API has seen considerable increase in traffic over the months, the number of requests received every hour has passed 2.2 million which translates to 5-600 requests per second. Lately it got to the point where we had to take a look at a couple of database queries that were rapidly moving up the not-so-popular-with-admins charts. The solution included both updating the API code and making a couple of adjustments in the operational environment. Queries for character augmentations and skills were optimized and the cache code was changed so that it would move the effects of memory starvation from TQ to the API servers. What that means is that the API servers will crash rather than hammering the DB too much so, to counter that problem, memory allocation on the API servers was also improved. These changes greatly diminished the impact the growth of the API has had on the DB lately and soothed the Gods of Performance and their appetite for disconnecting the API. At least for a while_(tm).

EVE Online: Apocrypha1.0.2 has been deployed – 26 March, 2009

EVE Online: Apocrypha 1.0.2 has been deployed on Tranquility today, Thursday 26 March, in order to fix issues with the skill queue, epic mision arcs, user interface and more.

Our team will continue to monitor Tranquility until we’re fully satisfied that the issues have been resolved. Patch Notes are available for review and we would encourage anyone who is  experiencing any game play issues to submit a bug report and we will investigate the matter as soon as possible.

A feedback thread and an issues thread are available to make us aware of any problems or feedback in general.

EVE Online: Apocrypha1.0.2 has been deployed – 26 March, 2009

EVE Online: Apocrypha 1.0.2 has been deployed on Tranquility today, Thursday 26 March, in order to fix issues with the skill queue, epic mision arcs, user interface and more.

Our team will continue to monitor Tranquility until we’re fully satisfied that the issues have been resolved. Patch Notes are available for review and we would encourage anyone who is  experiencing any game play issues to submit a bug report and we will investigate the matter as soon as possible.

A feedback thread and an issues thread are available to make us aware of any problems or feedback in general.

EVE Online Fanfest 2009

EVE Online Fanfest 2009

The Sixth Annual Party at the Top of the World October 1 – 3

Iceland Beckons… Are You Brave Enough to Heed the Call?

It is time once again to start marking your calendars and making your reservations for the 2009 Fanfest in Reykjavik, Iceland! Get ready for another weekend of PVP tournaments, hanging out with the developers, and partying in a sea of fellow EVE Online fans. As always, Fanfest attendees will be treated to videos and announcements on the future of EVE and what players can expect in the upcoming expansions.

Fanfest returns to the epic Laugardalshöll Convention Center, October 1 – 3. A list of Icelandair world departure points and Fanfest packages can be found below. Last year flights to Iceland sold out so book your flight as soon as possible!

Further details, including Fanfest 2009 Access Pass availability and pricing, will be announced later, as the event draws closer. Stay tuned for further updates.

Fanfest brings together players in a massive celebration of the virtual world of EVE Online. Travelers from all around the world gather in one of the most beautiful and unique locations the planet has to offer. Allies and rivals alike set aside their ingame differences to share drinks with one another and forge new friendships. CCP developers mingle with the community, always up for  „talking shop” and getting to know the fans.

Iceland is a once-in-a-lifetime destination vacation. Perlan, the Saga Museum, the Blue Lagoon, the Northern Lights and many other wonders await your arrival. The Sisters of EVE Program will give your friend or partner a chance to visit Iceland along with you: Details regarding the program coming soon.

NOTE: Limit one spouse ticket per Fanfest ticket. Spouse tickets are not available individually-they must be purchased with an accompanying Fanfest ticket.

* Please note that you have to be 18 years or older to enter the Fanfest area.

Icelandair is offering special rates on a variety of packages for airfare and accommodations. Visit their website for more information and to book your reservations.

Fanfest tickets are sold separately and at a later date. Stay tuned for further updates.

Icelandair Fanfest prices

Click the links below for information about rates from your departing country. All travel packages include airfare and hotel. Also check out Icelandair’s main page to view additional special offers.

US: from 719 USD

UK: From 229 GBP

Germany: From 429 EUR

Netherlands: From 429 EUR

Canada: From 825 USD

Norway: From 3.260 NOK

Sweden: From 4.550 SEK

Denmark: From 2.860 DKK

France main page

Spain main page

Poland main page

Czech main page

Belgium main page

Italy main page

Finland main page

Best regards,

CCP Tyr

And don’t forget to check out our great EVE Online Fanfest 2009 teaser video!

EVE Online Fanfest 2009, October 1 – 3

It is time once again to start marking your calendars and making your reservations for the 2009 Fanfest in Reykjavik, Iceland! Get ready for another weekend of PVP tournaments, hanging out with the developers, and partying in a sea of fellow EVE Online fans. As always, Fanfest attendees will be treated to videos and announcements on the future of EVE and what players can expect in the upcoming expansions.

Fanfest returns to the epic Laugardalshöll Convention Center, October 1 – 3. A list of Icelandair world departure points and Fanfest packages can be found in this dev blog. Last year flights to Iceland sold out so book your flight as soon as possible!

Further details, including Fanfest Access Pass availability and pricing, will be announced later, as the event draws closer.

Eve Online Apocrypha 1.0.2 Patch delayed until Thursday, 26th March 2009

EVE Online: Apocrypha 1.0.2 deployment has been delayed until Thursday, 26th March, 2009. Downtime is scheduled to start at 11.00 GMT and is expected to be completed by 12.30 GMT, which is an additional 15 minutes longer than the original announcement. Downtime for today, Wednesday 25th March, will not be extended.

Apocrypha 1.0.2 follows the Apocrypha 1.0.1 patch that was released on March 17th 2009.

This patch will fix issues that have been reported following the release of Apocrypha. Issues that have been fixed include the Epic Mission Arcs, Skill Queue, User Interface, Localized Clients and much more. Patch Notes are available; updates to the notes may be added should any further items be cleared through the Quality Assurance process. These updates will be highlighted with green text.

A discussion thread is available here.

Eve Online Apocrypha 1.0.2 Patch delayed until Thursday, 26th March 2009

EVE Online: Apocrypha 1.0.2 deployment has been delayed until Thursday, 26th March, 2009. Downtime is scheduled to start at 11.00 GMT and is expected to be completed by 12.30 GMT, which is an additional 15 minutes longer than the original announcement. Downtime for today, Wednesday 25th March, will not be extended.

Apocrypha 1.0.2 follows the Apocrypha 1.0.1 patch that was released on March 17th 2009.

This patch will fix issues that have been reported following the release of Apocrypha. Issues that have been fixed include the Epic Mission Arcs, Skill Queue, User Interface, Localized Clients and much more. Patch Notes are available; updates to the notes may be added should any further items be cleared through the Quality Assurance process. These updates will be highlighted with green text.

A discussion thread is available here.