Problem 1 -
Our original room was changed to a smaller one because FR was under the impression that anime was goimg to blow up.
Solution: We requested an alternative to staff and once Larry was involved we were switched to the capcom room.
Problem 2 -
Internet. The easiest way to explain this as usual there was a chance to have house internet, which WAS available in the tiny room. I have a verizon 4G jetpack now but did not attempt to add data to it until I was positive I needed it. One might ask why I hadn't added data to it before the tournament. If we had wired interent I would likely throw away $90 since I have little use for the jetpack outside of streaming in locations that don't have wired intent. At the time I realized this was necessary, I discovered that I cannot activate the device as advertised and Pig of the Hut assisted me.
Solution: After that he used his own jetpack again to help us out, however the connection was extremely slow and unstable on my stream rig. Pig was about to use his lap top to assist with the stream in combination with my equipment but after some ip conflict resolution (I believe), I managed to get a minimum connection quality which is what resulted in the steam everyone saw for MK.
Problem 3 - the xbox hot fix debacle. This was an issue that continued throughout the night and needed to be addressed multiple times. Because of this, we only had 2 or 3 systems at the start of a 126 player tournament. At one point the stream station was turned off and the issue was caused here, in addition my capture card freaked out and wouldn't accept HDMI.
Solution: Ask for the quickest way to verify all system hotfixes, isolate the real reason it was happening because players were giving multiple reasons as to why and whether or not you could fix it without signing on. We patched the wireless systems by cell phone access point, and waited for a temporary wired connection to patch all non wireless systems. This takes time. The problem was fixed over time and matches were run. The wired connection was shared from the capcom stream so we could not use it for anything but patching.
As for downtime due to stream issues, I imperatively insisted that pools continued to be run while I fixed the stream. I appreciate Devil May Spy taking command of the stream because had he not, many of the problems would have been left unresolved a players would be playing non hot fixed systems all night for example. There also comes a point where the stream must become secondary and the tournament needs to go on. DMS also wanted to run pools because he was official staff, not a random volunteer (ie FlipKev who also supplied more 4G for Injustice) but you can't stack the stream and run pools properly at the same time, I think he learned that. Whether he runs pools or the stream, he is helping out. At one point I insisted that later pools begin when I knew a previous pool was nearly done and setups were not being used properly. People don't look at the fact we were nearly 3 hours behind at one point and still got done just before midnight.
Problem 4 - the merging of the brackets. We were told this was done for one of two reasons. Either we didn't hit the 128 player cap for a 16 pool tournament, or due to the issue with the non hotfixed systems, they were condensed to speed up the tournament. I don't see how that would help.
Solution: I talked to Larry about the merging but that didn't happen until after many matches were run. Brackets were reseeded because the method of merging caused immediate conflicts, and this again, takes time. Brackets were run as seeding was completed. We eventually discovered that the merging was unauthorized by the room lead or Larry. Again, we had the official printed pools given to us by a trusted TO with merging instructions so we had no way to know this.
Understand that I do everything I can to help you guys, even when I'm just there to stream the event or supply equipment. ANYONE ragging on Frantastic or Darth Arma needs to get a grip. Those guys are there for you and work with what they are given while trying to improvise as much as possible. They get pulled away from duties for other staff related things and are allotted breaks. Usually it's during the pools they play in.
The PL incident is something I wish hadn't happened. That matter has been resolved privately.
I might have missed some stuff but the end result was a
FUCKING.HYPE.TOURNAMENT
and more people THANKED me then shit on me at the end of it so go shit in your hats. I'd love to see anyone deal with the avalanche this weekend presented and have the majority of people go home happy.
So for anyone who thinks they know what's going on, think again.
