[server] scenario save refresh

[cogito123]

I didn't really found an option to do this in factorio binary, but I would like to request feature that would allow refreshing existing save. Right now, if server runs for few hours, people that connect need to catch up and as I understand they simulate everything that there was done in single session in order to do so.

To mitigate this issue on servers that run for couple hundreds of hours and don't force user to redo everything, it would be good if there was an option to convert scenario save in a such way that all actions done in game apply to the world and all that "catch up" is discarded, while retaining current internal state, like forces, inventory, player positions.

If this feature was present, admins could pause server, save, convert and reset with refreshed save, when there are no people online.

[boskid]

That is not how joining multiplayer works. Server saves current state and sends it to client. Catching up is a phase when server is still running the game for others while client is loading a save file. Since it was already made "couple seconds ago" and is not up to date, client has to catch up - perform some extra updates with new inputs to be on the same tick as rest of clients. When client is slower than server it will be unable to catch up. Your suggestion would change nothing.

[DaveMcW]

The reason you see problems on servers several hours old, is because there is so much stuff in the save. This means clients can't run it as fast during the catch up period. Eventually clients with weak computers can't run the game at all because the server is too fast.

[eradicator]

Your suggestion would change nothing.

Shouldn't this be moved to "already implemented"?