Author: Nighthawk

The programmer will attempt to start work this week (if all goes to plan with his schedule). He expects it will only take a day. But it will take me a few hours to properly test everything. At this stage, I expect the mod to be available within 1-2 weeks from now.

A few days ago the programmer said he cant work on the update yet as he’s working on other urgent tasks. He expects to be busy on them for the next 2 or so weeks. Once he starts work, it should only take a few days to complete (including my testing). I’ll follow up on him every now and then and post any updates. Don’t let this delay you in learning the software. Using the new update will be much the same as the polynomial algorithm, without needing to set the polynomial order. So the process is mostly identical.

The way things are looking, casinos will still be closed for the next month or so. The whole world is on hold, so use this time to be ready for when casinos re-open. Or, just enjoy the time off and focus on spending time with family, or your own personal growth. Maybe even work on ways for you to become more self-sufficient – without so much reliance on what governments do.

Sometimes I respond to emails within an hour. Sometimes it might take a week or so. I understand it can be frustrating, and I try to keep everyone updated so they know what’s happening.

I’m very aware of my inbox filling with emails and needing to respond. I prioritise my work the best I can. Providing support is a priority. And keep in mind I develop the computers for my own use too. But players don’t see what’s happening on my end.

For example, developing and testing a new algorithm, as I’ve been doing for weeks now, is very time consuming. Some tests are for about 200 spins. Each test I run is about half a day, because I need to record and review many specific spins to determine what happened, and what can be done to improve results. Testing a concept may take a few days, after which other work has piled up. And I have other business commitments although my roulette computers for my own use is still a priority – and hybrid and remote uber purchasers automatically get the benefits of further developments. The recent algorithm took hundreds of hours to develop. It’s extremely tedious and time-consuming work.

The Coronavirus and various other personal issues have made delays worse, but the main cause of my delayed responses is research and development. Now that I’ve finished the algorithm, which is very close to perfection, everything will be back to normal – I’ll respond to remaining emails and support tickets within 24hrs.

One thing I find particularly frustrating is I may receive numerous emails from a player becoming frustrated because they’re stuck on an issue. I may not have time to promptly respond sometimes, so they send multiple emails. But the answer is clearly in the instructions, which they haven’t properly read. I understand they can become irritated when they havent received a response from me for days. But such players can also help themselves by properly reading instructions, which I’ve made thorough to save everyone time. Often I may be brief in emails and respond "please read the instructions", and the player responds as if I’m dismissive and uncaring. Really I do care and your success is very important to me. The reality is I’m just trying to manage my time effectively, and don’t have time to write lengthy emails. If players ask questions repeatedly about the same issues, I update the instructions so I don’t need to spend time addressing the same issue again.

If you get stuck on something, please carefully check the instructions before contacting me. Really I do care about your success and you’ll get all the support you need. But I apreciate your patience and carefully reading the instructions.

Originally players contacted me on my private mobile phone in case of energencies. I made clear it was for emergencies only. Most players respected this. But some called at all hours of the day (including while I was sleeping), and some called to ask questions that were not urgent, and could easily have been asked via email. Because the availability of my mobile phone was abused, I stopped taking calls and now use a second phone.

Now for urgent matters, I use the encrypted chat app. It alerts me instantly if there’s an urgent problem, like a remote uber or hybrid server down. Originally the app make a very loud sound that would wake me. But some players started sending messages at all hours again, and even to ask non-urgent questions.

So now I’ve changed the alert sound and lowered the volume, so I would only be woken if there were repeated messages (in case of a real emergency). The problem is then occasionally I wont hear the messages.

A genuine emergency may happen around once every 3 weeks (between all teams combined). This is something like a server is genuinely down, but it takes me about 1 minute to fix.

Most of the time when a player sends me an urgent message, it’s not a server issue. It’s usually because they didn’t connect the VPN on the server.

To make this clear, only use the messaging app if:

* The server is down (ie you cannot connect to the server to control it with the remote control software).

* One of the two programs on the server has crashed, and is displaying an error.

* If you are in a real-play situation, AND something is not working, AND you have fully checked everything explained in instructions but can’t resolve the issue.

Most of the time, "urgent messages" are things like the server is offline (when actually it is, and the player just didnt connect the VPN).

I will continue to give dedicated support. But players that continue to abuse the messaging app will need to be restricted.

It’s ok if you genuinely made a mistake and didn’t know that what you perceived to be a critical issue was easily fixed by you, if it wasn’t explained in instructions. Because then that would be my fault for not including it in instructions. But if it was explained in instructions, and the player repeatedly fails to read the instructions and then contacts me via the messaging app , I have no choice but to block your messages so the level of support is not reduced for other players.

Normally we use OpenVPN with servers in a specific location, because it’s central to popular casino areas. Still depending on your location, ping times may not be optimal. While we can and previously have used other VPNs, I cant allow this anymore on some servers because it may be a security risk. If I don’t control the VPN servers, then I have no way of knowing they carry malicious code (which would make both the server and your pc vulnerable). The ping difference may only be 500ms maximum which is rarely significant anyway. If you want to try a different internet route, you’ll need to use a VPN on your own side. If you have a VPN account, I can install it on your server. But shared VPNs are usually much slower, and you have no assurance the VPN provider doesn’t remotely access your connected devices (with a trojan embedded in the client). While a VPN may encrypt data, the downside is it can create vulnerabilities. Also if you use a custom VPN, unless you require only direct server access, it needs the capability to communicate with other devices on the network. This means you can’t use most ordinary VPNs. The alternative is use a normal VPN on your server, leave a port open, and you connect directly to the server. The problem with this is then data isn’t encrypted, and the server is much more vulnerable. The overall best solution is use the OpenVPN servers I provide. This way there’s a Linux server providing an extra layer of protection.

It appears the JAA phone version server was hacked. I expected it would happen at some stage, because it has open ports and other vulnerabilities to function correctly – like any server connected to the internet (especially a windows server). It is not a big problem though because the software itself is encrypted, and can’t be decrypted without physical access to the hardware. Also it is isolated from other servers on the network.

At this stage I’m not sure what the purpose of the hack was. It was probably a random attack. I changed the server in case I missed anything. The migration only took about 15 mins, so the server was only briefly down.

I compared user data to backups, and it doesn’t appear user data and wheel profiles were touched. I’ll see what can be done to prevent it happening again, but even if it does, it wont be a big problem because of its isolated environment and easy restoration.

Even if you’re paying for 24/7 server access (without needing to book server time), please LOG OFF OPENVPN WHEN YOU’RE NOT USING IT (on the mobile phones). Otherwise you’re wasting server resources. The OpenVPN license only allows a specific amount of users at one time, which I manage for booked servers. But anyway I’ve upgraded the OpenVPN license to double maximum simultaneous users. I shouldn’t need to upgrade it further provided everyone remembers to log off OpenVPN when they’re not using it.

I updated two of the servers today so they should never automatically reboot anymore after updates. 3 additional servers are on the way because I recently came close to maximum capacity. It wouldn’t have been a problem though as I have backup hardware (it would only have been annoying to reconfigure them).

I sent out a broadcast calling for more players. You will receive it if you are subscribed to my mailing list. Basically it directs potential new players to https://www.roulettephysics.com/computer-service/

It will result in many new applications, but it will take serious players at least 2 weeks to complete the application process (including getting equipment).