Politician Archive

Ive noticed the last couple days that my city limits have actually been moving... The first time I noticed it it was only a couple meters. But last night when I went to check on the city I noticed that several buildings that had been outside the city limit were now inside, and a couple that were in are now out of the city. I ran the limits finding exactly where they are and it appears the circle has shifted about 35m to the north. Now if this keeps moving it makes it impossible to figure out where to place homes since I cant be sure my city will be in the same place the next day lol. Lost a couple citizens because of this too whos homes should be within the city limits.

If anyone else is experiencing this would love to know.

ohhh seems like you have an interesting problem..

I mean the city limits are supposed to be a static distance from your city hall..

I would get a ticket opened as soon as possible

When checking your city borders, be sure to walk slowly , and not run. Often, the system message telling you if you're entering or exiting the city will not show until you come to a stop, or are walking. This may explain why you seem to get different city limits messages when you're moving around.

Don't assume the "you have entered"/"you have left" messages indicate your city limits. If you went by these, you'd notice the same thing with the NPC cities, too. However, more than likely it has to do with when your client grabs information from the server and/or the disparity between where your client thinks you are and where the server thinks you are.

Now if you're getting emails saying Lost Citizen - then I'd worry.

- Sydira

wonder if this is related to you "sliding" out of a chair.

You're right Syd...I just happen to notice that I get the system message at pretty much the same spot every time if I walk (on a dewback - that should be slow enough ) . Running around like a madman causes sporadic system messages.

Lag may also be an issue as the client tries to sync up with the server (and you know how those servers are hehe)

actually I believe my city limits actually moved north by atleast 5m... I plotted a lot for a PA hall on the edge of my city and though the center of the building was 197m from my city hall waypoint it was out of range.

also on my north side I can nowstand atleast 205m from city hall without leaving town... didn't really test this but oh well... I'll check when I get home.

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I have this same problem. A house that was on the city border is now outside the city limits by 5. I have tested this change several timesby: taking one step at a time, relogging in to reset video / system messages, rebooting to clear any lag I might have, etc. The house is staying outside the city limits. The city limits where the messagesays you have entered / left the city has definitely shifted. Maybe today's extended downtime is addressing this issue.

I understand that moving quickly does not provide proper information for the limits, I have also walked it tiny step at a time to find it. But the most noticable difference is the fact that, a PA whos steps were 1m out from the city limits is now fully enveloped in the city limits, I can walk all the way around it and behind it a little ways before I get the system message for leaving the city. This isnt user error as best as I can tell. Im going to wait till my city ranks (should be ranked now but cant get into the server) to see if it resets the city boundaries to the correct distances from the city hall. If it doesnt or it occurs again i will be submiting a ticket. Only reason im delaying is submiting tickets is like pulling teeth, so if it fixes its self no reason to bother the obviously already over loaded CSRs lol.

Ugh, it's hard to explain this without knowing exactly what's going on, but I'll try.

Your client software needs to get (I think) three things from the server in order to function:

1. PCs/NPCs/critters (move often, even constantly)

2. Objects (moves rarely)

3. Terrain (does not move appreciably)

I know two and three are separate, if for no other reason than when you load there is a Generating Terrain step and a Loading Objects step.

#1 is presumably something close to real-time (though the melee boards and creature warping suggest that this may actually be a 1 or 2 second delay from real time)

#2 is not real-time and is loaded for only a small area around the PC at a time. This is particularly obvious when you enter a building in the several second lag before objects appear.

#3 is even more static than #2. Therefore, it is not only possible, but likely that terrain loads in chunks. A city radiuswould presumably be a terrain feature.

Since the terrain loads in segments, it is also likely that the "You have entered"/"You have left" messages are only displayed after your client calls for a new segment OUTSIDE the city radius. If this is true, it is completely possible to be outside the radiusand never get the "You have left" message - even if you stand there for some time. Furthermore, it is equally possible to be just inside the radius and still have not received the "You have entered" message.

Experimentation tends to support this. The first day after founding I wanted to check to see how far 150m really was. I ran out until I got the "You have left" message - oops, ran past it a bit! Heading back in, however, I found the "You have entered" message displayed a good 20-25m inside where the "left" message had displayed. Upon a little more careful experimentation, I noticed the "entered" message was displaying about 140m out and the "left" about 163m out.

It is therefore my suggestion that you completely ignore the system messages when determining your exact radius, though they can be useful for a general guide.

- Sydira

I lose around 10m-20m due to HILLS!

Uneven terrain might effect max size.. (they might count overall distant.. as in slope)

so.. if I have a 10m incline.. but if mesuring horizontally it would be 5m) that means you lose 5m from central...

I wonder.

also don't forget that some houses use a 4x3 lot but the physical house is only maybe 2x2

the small naboo house kinda works this way... and I've found that if the foundation or footprint of a house falls inside city limits the house will be incorporated, but unless the resident can remain in city limits while in the house somewhere he will not become a citizen

The enter/leave messages are just very laggy.
Here's a way to verify, and also the easiest way to figure out where the borders are:
- look at the city status display and /waypoint the coordinates given as the location... not sure if it's the same as the waypoint for city hall or not.
- If you have a lvl 2 city (200m radius) run out until you're 199m from your new waypoint. STOP and wait for 20 seconds or so for the server to catch up.
- Move 2m further to 201m. Stop and wait for the You have left... message.
- Turn around and walk back to 199m... you should get the message again.