Community report of May 2023

Hello everyone. (Version française sur mon site: https://www.lyaaaaagames.com/fr/blog/report_05_2023/)

I have good news for this report!

Server’s update

Last month I updated the server’s dependencies. This upgrade allowed me to improve the server using the latest features available. The server is now able to run an AI on both the GPU and CPU. Until now, it was only able to use the GPU or CPU but not both. This is a great improvement. Moreover, I simplified the interaction with the server’s options. If you want to run the server by itself, the config file now features more options.

All these options will of course be available in the client too.

The client’s update

I didn’t update the client yet. But it will have new options available for you to tinker.

Firstly, you will be able to specify how much memory you allow the AI to use. For example, you will be able to say “5 GB” or “3400 MB” for the GPU. Same for the CPU. Moreover, the server will support a new feature called “Disk offloading”. It will be a simple true or false option. Enabling it will allow the server to write data in a temporary folder (deleted when the server closes) if you don’t have enough memory for the AI. That way, you will be able to run much bigger AI than you could before. As long as you have a SSD (I fear an HDD would be too slow for this option).

I hope to update very soon and publish it in the experimental branch as the 1.5.2-BETA.1.

How does it work?

To make this possible I also had to split the AI into small parts. Until now, the AIs were saved into a single huge file. Therefore, it was impossible to load them without having memory peak (which could lead to freeze or crash to those with little memory). The AIs will now be split into parts of 200 MB. This allows the server to use much less memory and to optimize its use.

Summary

Here is a little summary of the improvements

• No more memory peak when the AI is loading.
• The possibility to specify how much memory you allow (on both CPU and GPU).
• The option to use a folder to write data instead of storing it in the memory.
• Many new options for those who like to experiment.
• AI split into parts of 200 MB to allow a better memory management.

The bad point is, you will have to download once again the AIs.

What next?

1. The release of the 1.5.2-BETA.1
2. Nothing else for May and June :(. I will be very busy during these two months.

Thank you for reading :).