Force Sensitive Archive
Thread: Question about the old man (no im not wondering why he hasn't come yet)
Page 1 of 1
YA-011
Mon Aug 22, 2005 6:58 am
#1
Just got glow last night, anyone elsewaiting miserably with me?
Also I wanted to pose an opinion question. Is the old man just another program in galaxies or does anyone think that it is a DEV or some other player. On one hand, its a pretty common thing, suggesting that its a program, but if that's true then why is it that he comes at different times for everyone. If it's a computer program do they just have some fancy time generator that randomly selects a time for your visit, or is it based off something like how many hours/minutes you have been logged in since you achieved glow and no one has noticed...
Thoughts?
Norewgian-Scout
Mon Aug 22, 2005 7:03 am
#2
my bad 
+1
+1
Message Edited by Norewgian-Scout on 08-22-2005 04:04 PM
thebunny0904
Mon Aug 22, 2005 7:13 am
#3
YA-011 wrote:
Just got glow last night, anyone elsewaiting miserably with me?
Also I wanted to pose an opinion question. Is the old man just another program in galaxies or does anyone think that it is a DEV or some other player. On one hand, its a pretty common thing, suggesting that its a program, but if that's true then why is it that he comes at different times for everyone. If it's a computer program do they just have some fancy time generator that randomly selects a time for your visit, or is it based off something like how many hours/minutes you have been logged in since you achieved glow and no one has noticed...
Thoughts?
I'm pretty sure it's code and not controlled by a human. I would think that the devs would have better ways to spend their time. Not to mention the fact that he will show up in the middle of the night if you're on - I doubt there are devs working that late every night.
As is true with all code, there is some driving force behind when he appears. From my experience, it is just a random time between 24 and 72 hours when he shows up, but others have said that shuttling in and out of various player cities helps as well. I personally didn't see it help, but it's certainly possible.
Nightenstaff
Mon Aug 22, 2005 7:24 am
#4
I'm quite sure it's not a Dev. I had an Old Man wait outside a store for almost a half an hour on me. Someone finally came in the store and stated, "Hey, someone's Old Man is waiting on them".
Also, my Old Man showed up really soon after I got all the steps done. I heard the rumors about bouncing from player city to player city, so that is what I did. After about five shuttle rides, I decided to check on some armor prices. That's when the above happened.
My guess? It's all about how much distance you cover. If SWG does one thing really well, it lets you know how much distance you need to go or have gone from point to point. I'm guessing they have code in place that says once you go X amount of meters, spawn the Old Man. This would also make sense for those that have driven to the four corners and then the Old Man has shown up. The only "make the old man show up fast" rumor that doesn't fit this is the logging in and out one... *shrug*
Also, my Old Man showed up really soon after I got all the steps done. I heard the rumors about bouncing from player city to player city, so that is what I did. After about five shuttle rides, I decided to check on some armor prices. That's when the above happened.
My guess? It's all about how much distance you cover. If SWG does one thing really well, it lets you know how much distance you need to go or have gone from point to point. I'm guessing they have code in place that says once you go X amount of meters, spawn the Old Man. This would also make sense for those that have driven to the four corners and then the Old Man has shown up. The only "make the old man show up fast" rumor that doesn't fit this is the logging in and out one... *shrug*
Waiz
Mon Aug 22, 2005 7:35 am
#5
one question about the theory of distance covered = old man spawn...
how does that work when someone gets glowy then logs out for x number of days, when he/she logs back in the old man is waiting
pretty sure its just a random number from say 24-72 or smth. I spent 3 days shuttling back and forth and logging in and out non stop and he never turned up till like 4 hours b4 the 72 hour mark. I've had ppl shuttle for the same amount of time and have the same results and i've had ppl just go afk for a day and have him show up when they check thier char every now and then.
Not sure if anything really speeds him up as the results to every method are so varied it could only be a random spawn.
thebunny0904
Mon Aug 22, 2005 7:35 am
#6
Nightenstaff wrote:
My guess? It's all about how much distance you cover. If SWG does one thing really well, it lets you know how much distance you need to go or have gone from point to point. I'm guessing they have code in place that says once you go X amount of meters, spawn the Old Man. This would also make sense for those that have driven to the four corners and then the Old Man has shown up. The only "make the old man show up fast" rumor that doesn't fit this is the logging in and out one... *shrug*
I'm not sure. I spent about 4 hours my first night drivingto different cities, driving to corners, driving to 0,0, driving to POIs, etc.as well as shuttling in and out of player cities and logging in/out repeatedly. It still took the old man close to 48 hours for me, even though I had to have driven at least 25k meters total. 
But I'm sure those tricks have worked for others as well, so you might as well try it.
But I'm sure those tricks have worked for others as well, so you might as well try it.
quitch
Mon Aug 22, 2005 2:49 pm
#8
i had a screenie of when i got glowy but it went poof when my computer did.
ive seen 2 old mans at once and other ppl have also. they, also move in a wierd way. im pretty sure it aint a dev
elchamochris
Mon Aug 22, 2005 3:40 pm
#9
quitch wrote:
i had a screenie of when i got glowy but it went poof when my computer did.
ive seen 2 old mans at once and other ppl have also. they, also move in a wierd way. im pretty sure it aint a dev
yeah I took screen shots of the "old man" when he visited me, I was so happy..... about the theory of thevisiting old manwell avoid NPC cities and traveling and all that stuff I don't think it works because I tried all that all you have wait your 24 to 72 hrs, just play as regular would do, go hunting and do whatever you like as long isn't at space or at NPC city, I was hunting one day when the siths attack one of my group member, so I guess you don't have be doing all this crazy traviling thru the shuttles, just be patience and wait
Jedi_Xan
Tue Aug 23, 2005 12:43 am
#10
I went to this little town outside Mos Eisley one time (Corbantis) and there where a whole bunch of Old men running around. They were all about 20m apart.
Dazzydoodle
Tue Aug 23, 2005 1:17 am
#11
YA-011 wrote:... If it's a computer program do they just have some fancy time generator that randomly selects a time for your visit...Thoughts?
Fancy, my ass.
The logic (and coding!) would be rather simple
timestamp when you get glowy.
set a timer to a random number (that is usually x=random(y), where y is the maximum wanted number.
when the timer goes off, if you're not in an NPC city, the old man appears.
if you respond to the old man, stop the timer.
If you ignore the old man, reset the timer.
if you're in an NPC city, reset the timer.
Less work than making these forums run...
thebunny0904
Tue Aug 23, 2005 7:34 am
#12
Quick note... I haven't completely tested this, but I do believe that if you miss the old man the first time, the timer on the second (and subsequent) visits is shorter, maybe somewhere around 12-24 hours. I missed him the first time around, but he showed up less than 24 hours later.
Mektos
Tue Aug 23, 2005 7:37 am
#13
I did observe that if you get incapped by the sith. The old man has a habit of showing up withing 20 minutes of you going down. And the sith have a habit if your soloing to show up about 30 minutes after that. One saturday morning I was incapped 7 times.
Page 1 of 1