Instances

Maps in the game can be instanced. If this happens, the server creates an exact copy of the map for the player, complete with monsters and NPCs.

If the server is referring to a certain instance, it puts the instance ID in square brackets (for example: saliko_fields01[3] is referring to instance 3 of the map saliko_fields01).

Instance Modes

Several modes are supported:

• If necessary (Default): The map is only instanced if too many players (currently 15) are on one instance of the map. If 15 players are on the map, the 16th player enters another instance that is not full yet. If no instances that are not full exist, a new instance is created. There are two exceptions that can cause the number of players to exceed the threshold:
  • Parties stay together - if a party member is on an instanced version of that map already, newly joining party members join the instance they are on, no matter how many players are on it.
  • Players moving from one "overloaded" map to another will remain on the same instance. They are only exiting the instance if the non-instanced version of the map has space available.
• Never instanced: The map is never instanced, no matter how many players are on it.
• Always instanced: An instance is always created. On this setting, no monsters are spawned on the non-instanced version of the map, since no players will enter it anyway.
• If more than X players: Similar to the "If necessary" settings, except that the threshold can be changed as needed.

A player who is not in a party enters their own instance. A player who is in a party enters the instance of whoever created the party.

Gameplay Changes

Gameplay inside instances is identical to the gameplay outside instances, except for the following:

• Players changing their instance-id inside an instance (which they basically can only do if they are leaving and joining a new party) will be respawned if they then attempt to advance inside the instance. This is to prevent players from farming only specific parts of an instance by progressing far into it, and then splitting up into several instances.
• Quests that are marked as "Unique" are considered unique-per-instance. Therefore, a quest that is not available in one instance may be available in another. Maps containing quests which need to be truly "unique" on the server need to be set to "Never instanced".

Instance ID

The ID of an instance is determined by the player that created the instance by first entering it. If that player is in a party, it is determined by the player that originally created that party (which does not necessarily have to be the current party leader).

Lifetime

The lifetime of an instance can be one of the following:

• Default (30 minutes)
• Spawn-Dependant: uses the maximum possible time it takes a monster to respawn in the map.
• at least X minutes

If a player is in the instance at the time it should expire, its lifetime is automatically reset. Entering and leaving the map also resets the timer. Last but not least, the server only checks for expired instances every seven minutes, thus it may take up to this much time for an expired instance to actually get removed.

Once the instance expires, all monsters get despawned and all items are removed. Any players still on the instance are warped to their respawn point.