[0.15.5] [Oxyd] Losing multiplayer favorites after every update

[Jon8RFC]

This has existed for me since 0.15.2, but I'm not sure if it existed prior to that. With each update, my favorite is being removed or disappearing. It's just one favorite that I have, and it's a server someone else runs, but I tested on my own to confirm.

I tested with a clean installation of 0.15.4 for both server and client, added the favorite, quit the client and restarted a couple of times to confirm that the favorite remained, then updated both (the client via in-game update; the server via the full .zip download and pointing to the newly unzipped folder). I can confirm that the server I am setting in my favorites is not doing something, such as a name change, that would cause this behavior. When I did my test, all that I changed on the server was the bin location of c:\factorio_0.15.4 to c:\factorio_0.15.5, and started the server using the same batch file, config, and map save.

I don't know where to look and see if it's a list that is being cleared out, or if it bookmarks based on version. If it is based on version, maybe that could be changed because the game only displays same-version servers anyway, so I can't think of a reason to distinguish favorite server versions. I would think disabling the version identifier, or going name-only, would be an approach to prevent losing favorites. Still loving every update you all are pushing out!

My machine:
Windows 7
Non-steam client
vanilla
One favorite in the list

My test server:
Server 2008 R2
.zip download
vanilla

favourite favourites

[Jon8RFC]

Just to clarify, the server still exists in the list, but it's no longer marked as a favorite and I have to set it as a favorite again. Issue persists in 0.15.6

[Jon8RFC]

Add TNT-S8 PUBLIC to your favorites in 0.15.9, wait for the server to update its version in the next day or so, then update your non-steam client from within the client update interface and observe that it is no longer listed as a favorite, and you'll have to add it again.

I did confirm that this issue happens on my own, with my own server, while changing nothing other than the game versions, and it lost its favorite status in my client. Please let me know how I can help. I've added other servers to my favorites and they stuck around, so if you're trying to reproduce, you now have that particular server, but I can also run mine for you to observe as well.

[TruePikachu]

Is the server still a favorite after it updates, but before you do?

[Jon8RFC]

It is a favorite before the update, but not after. Once both I and the server have updated (the browser only shows servers of the same version), it becomes a regular server in the list, and I have to mark it as a favorite again.

[TruePikachu]

It is entirely possible that something "important" is changing on the server, then, such that it does not maintain its identity, such as loss of the "server-id.json" file. If that is the case, this is Not A Bug.

[Oxyd]

server-id.json is what identifies the server, so if you lose that, the matching server will consider the server to be a new one. How is the server upgrade performed?

[Jon8RFC]

Ah-ha! Thank you for explaining how that works. Now the issue makes sense after I located that file and did another "update" on my server.

I assume the other server (and I spotted a second one but forgot the name) does it similarly to me on Windows: downloading the new zip file, unzipping, pointing the batch file at the new directory (while retaining the name and settings in server-settings.json), and running the batch file.

The way I had things setup to not lose settings is that my batch file, saves, map-gen-settings.json, server-settings.json are all in one folder, and the batch file pointed to those and wherever the factorio exe is. Because my previous settings (including the server name) and saves were the same and everything worked as expected, I was very confused. I noticed that --server-id is not supported, and that server-id.json is randomly generated if there isn't one already, so that explains why every update for the two servers I've seen, and my own, never stayed as a favorite.

Is it a huge ordeal to move the server-id into server-settings.json (server name, factorio.com account name, factorio.com private token are already there), or add --server-id support? I could just copy and paste the file every time, but with server-settings.json being a static file that is pointed to, I would think having server-id.json act similarly (since it's necessary with regard to the new favorites feature) would be a good move. Or, is there an --apply-available-update "yes" setting I'm unaware of?

Thanks again for explaining the situation, because it's been confusing for me.

[TruePikachu]

Theoretically, a single account holder might be able to host multiple nearly-identical servers by using the same "server-settings.json" across multiple different instances; I don't believe there is anything in there which would cause a conflict with server identity. However, the "server-id.json" can not be shared across different instances, unless only one is running at a time, since doing so would cause identity conflicts between the two servers.

The way I had things setup to not lose settings is that my batch file, saves, map-gen-settings.json, server-settings.json are all in one folder, and the batch file pointed to those and wherever the factorio exe is.

Were you providing the paths for all of those to the Factorio server executable? What is the contents of the batch file?

[Oxyd]

Okay, I added --server-id to allow you to specify your own path to the file. It doesn't really belong in server-settings.json because Factorio isn't meant to write to server-settings.json.

And no, we still don't have an easy way to update the headless server. One of these days, hopefully…

I'll move this to Not a bug, since it's behaving as it should.

[Jon8RFC]

Wow, awesome! Thank you so much for the feature addition!

Don't forget to add it to the features section in the next release--it'll be helpful for others, I'm sure.