Cap on the amount of remaining aps

A little introduction here. Skip the first spoiler if you don't have time to read it fully.

 Spoiler

Since Nexon implemented a level 10 minimum limit to join a family, rep mules have been almost impossible to make. However, with the new life cash item, I wanted to try a new idea for rep mules. The idea was to start with a lvl 30 char, to leech it using my mains and to collect reps on my other mules.

That's basically what I tried yesterday. I had a lvl 30 char and leeched as much as I could in a day to see how much rep I could gather. I managed to get to lvl 83 and I did not do 3rd job advancement. This is where I noticed something was wrong.

So I was lvl 83. At that lvl, one should have 5*82+25 = 435 total aps. Here is an ss of my char:


There are a few things wrong with this ss.

1. It is missing 10 aps. I did not bother adding aps since lvl 30 because I was leeching. I remember that at lvl 81 I also had 255 aps remaining. This would mean that on my last 2 lvl ups, aps have not been registered. An alternative would be that the 10 aps went in mp, which seems very unlikely to me. Is it possible that aps gained once I had 255 aps remaining are lost?

2. I am able to take out from hp/mp. Obviously, as a rep mule, I did not add any point into this pool. How is it possible that I can reset now?

I am conscious that my ss is not an absolute proof, as I could have added 10 aps in mp. I did not know about this cap so was not prepared to have good ss. Anyone is welcome to test this on another char. If you don't believe me, I can't convince you more unless someone else makes another char like this.

Also, I tried adding aps to str. It went down to 254 on the first click, so it's not hidden aps.

My question: is there any way to confirm there is indeed a limit of 255 ap remaining? More specifically, should I try buying 9 more ap resets if I continue this char?

edit: I know 255 is 2^8-1.

Sorry that I can't help; instead I'm playing fanboy for 5 seconds..

O.O.

You got REALLY lucky with BFs, Anegos, Pianus, etc. yesterday...danggg. I was out looking for hours with my hs mule in progress and only got 2 levels.

Yeah the number limit is 255, I can't remember where I saw that before, I think it was in a private server.

Saw this like, REALLY REALLY REALLY long ago on SW when all the smart people were still there because southperry wasnt created yet. Its because of the 0xFF thingy, they only allocated one byte for this (along with SP and stats on equips), which is kind of smart speed and space wise.

It would make sense that there is a limit of 255. If I remember correctly then the AP amount is probably 8-bit. So it would be a minimum of 0 or a max of 255.

In binary:
0 = 0000 0000
255 = 1111 1111

They coded it most likely to be within that range. I am no coder, but I don't think you can just randomly add in more bits.

yeah its right. It's happened to me in ps and especially in some where the lvl cap is 255.

Really now, if you hit the AP cap anyways, something is really going wrong from the normal MS trip.

It would make sense that there is a limit of 255. If I remember correctly then the AP amount is probably 8-bit. So it would be a minimum of 0 or a max of 255.

In binary:
0 = 0000 0000
255 = 1111 1111

They coded it most likely to be within that range. I am no coder, but I don't think you can just randomly add in more bits.

Its because of the 0xFF thingy, they only allocated one byte for this.

Isnt it exactly what I said?

Really now, if you hit the AP cap anyways, something is really going wrong from the normal MS trip.

This is not a "normal" char anyways.

And indeed some private server tests would find confirmation easily.

Yea happend to someone who posted on SW a while ago. You might be able to 'AP wash' since you'll be below the normal ap for your lvl? I don't know that much about hp washing so I'm not sure.

The max limit for AP is 255. I remember from GMS Tespia (it was a pain to manually enter all those AP's in >_<"). Afterwards, I get an error when I try to level via Cody. I'm pretty sure they did not just go into MP, but rather just disappear.

Can you take a screenshot of your SP window? I want to see if that hit the cap yet.

The max limit for AP is 255. I remember from GMS Tespia (it was a pain to manually enter all those AP's in >_<"). Afterwards, I get an error when I try to level via Cody. I'm pretty sure they did not just go into MP, but rather just disappear.

Can you take a screenshot of your SP window? I want to see if that hit the cap yet.

he would have 159 sps? pretty sure it didnt hit the cap

I thought that SP's have a lower cap.

This makes sense. They probably capped it here because they figured nobody would get up to that many unused APs unless they were hacking.

Or leeching. Look at that similarity.

This makes sense. They probably capped it here because they figured nobody would get up to that many unused APs unless they were hacking.

Or leeching. Look at that similarity.

Nah, they capped it, as has already been said, for data storage efficiency. 255 = max number the byte type can store, which is only 8 bits. No need to use even, say, a 16 bit integer and double your storage overhead for the AP, SP, level, etc. of every character on MS...

It's not active discrimination against hackers or leechers.

This happened to one of my buddies... he leeched himself to 120 & once he got there he noticed he was missing AP's, so he remade the character >.>

Isnt it exactly what I said?

You didn't post that when I was writing my reply. I was too lazy to edit in that you ninja'd me. And ya, pretty much the same thing.

Nah, they capped it, as has already been said, for data storage efficiency. 255 = max number the byte type can store, which is only 8 bits. No need to use even, say, a 16 bit integer and double your storage overhead for the AP, SP, level, etc. of every character on MS...

It's not active discrimination against hackers or leechers.

No, I mean they figured they could keep it 8 bit and not go to 16 because the only reason for 51 levels of unused SP is if you're hacking or leeching.

No, I mean they figured they could keep it 8 bit and not go to 16 because the only reason for 51 levels of unused SP is if you're hacking or leeching.

They figured they could keep it 1 byte because when you code servers, you need to do some extra thinking. It's not like a regular program where you can use int types for things that can be 0 or 1 (yes i have seen people doing it). When programmers make servers they take some time thinking how to make the server act fast and need less space. One of the ways to do this is using the smallest variables possible for a specific target, which in this case was a single byte.

They figured they could keep it 1 byte because when you code servers, you need to do some extra thinking. It's not like a regular program where you can use int types for things that can be 0 or 1 (yes i have seen people doing it). When programmers make servers they take some time thinking how to make the server act fast and need less space. One of the ways to do this is using the smallest variables possible for a specific target, which in this case was a single byte.

Why does nobody see I agree with this? I think the REASON why they decided they could go with one byte is because if somebody was to save up 255 AP they were probably just hacking, so none of the legit players they were coding for needed over 1 byte of it. If one byte could store only a few APs, they would use more bytes.

I don't think they only used one byte because it was a sort of hack gaurd. I think they used 1 byte because it was the most efficient. I was just stating WHY they thought it would be the most efficient.