MP Lag

[norb]

Just want to explain the appearance of MP lag. By that I mean when you issue a command or double click on the ground and it doesn't happen right away.

The reason is based on the design of MP. When you double click, that command is sent to all the computers playing, then you all execute the double click at the same exact time. That keeps you all in sync. It's really an implementation decision that I made a while back. So it's not really lag, but the design of the game.

So you click, that click is broadcast, every machine runs that click at the same time. I give a little more time than most games, thus you have the lag appearance. Other games do it quicker, but I found that slower machines have a better chance of keeping up when I did it this way. The design will also make cheating harder, since every machine is really running the game, so if I cheat on my machine, you won't get it and the game will go out of sync. Not that every out of sync is caused by this, but it's also something that went into the design decision.

Sorry for getting techy on you, but I felt that people needed an explanation.

[UglyElmo]

That's the way I like Norb. This way it is a completely level playing field, with someone having a faster computer not being a big advantage over everyone else. As long as everyone is playing under the same conditions, I am good with that. That is the way the original Shogun: Total War game was and I would still play it today if the servers were up.

Hope you much success. It's explanations like this, which are very uncommon with other developers, that kept me interested in your game . . . well along with the fact I get to shoot some Yanks for fun! :laugh:

[pakfront]

Norb, I think this works fine overall but I wonder if the facing commands could react a little faster? They are the only ones I really get annoyed with because you have to press them a bunch of times in a row, quickly, to change the facing of a regiment at its destination. The 'lag' is noticeable there. Maybe have those sent out as little packages of commands rather than one command at a time? Or final facing rather than each click? or something...

[Little Powell]

pakfront wrote:

Norb, I think this works fine overall but I wonder if the facing commands could react a little faster? They are the only ones I really get annoyed with because you have to press them a bunch of times in a row, quickly, to change the facing of a regiment at its destination. The 'lag' is noticeable there. Maybe have those sent out as little packages of commands rather than one command at a time? Or final facing rather than each click? or something...

One thing I use to get around this is the keyboard commands for wheeling. Press the < or > arrows to wheel a regiment. They count as two mouse clicks and regiments will wheel much faster in MP, without all of the clicking.

[Rob Son of Paul]

The delay to sync the players is working great.

I would ask if we can get the updates per second increased. Maybe double or even triple them to smooth out the movement in game. As I monitor my down/up stream with my G15 keyboard, SOWGB with 9 players in multi and me as the host, I only see a few kb/sec usage. Plenty of bandwidth to use so we don't have such jerky movement on the screen.

A way in the past (flight sim development) that can be done with UDP is have a command line switch or something in the ini to list the available upload of the host and have the client then determine how many updates it can do per second for the available bandwidth setting.

[Rob Son of Paul]

Little Powell wrote:

pakfront wrote:

Norb, I think this works fine overall but I wonder if the facing commands could react a little faster? They are the only ones I really get annoyed with because you have to press them a bunch of times in a row, quickly, to change the facing of a regiment at its destination. The 'lag' is noticeable there. Maybe have those sent out as little packages of commands rather than one command at a time? Or final facing rather than each click? or something...

One thing I use to get around this is the keyboard commands for wheeling. Press the < or > arrows to wheel a regiment. They count as two mouse clicks and regiments will wheel much faster in MP, without all of the clicking.

That is great to know but also comes across as an unfair advantage over people that don't know this tidbit.

[ADukes]

But only if they don't read the manual or the in-game help.

[Vincent83]

Personally speaking this makes me reluctant to play MP...I find the delay very frusturating. Just my 2 cents.

[norb]

Vincent83 wrote:

Personally speaking this makes me reluctant to play MP...I find the delay very frusturating. Just my 2 cents.

That's the design, so it's not going to change, but MP isn't for everyone. We try to support many ways to play the game. Hopefully something for everyone.

[Bull]

I personally don't mind the command lag at all, but the attendant micro-stuttering i'm seeing in mp really has me concerned. I have a high end rig, and so far i've connected with three different people and the stutter is there whether i host or join a game. In sp i can do an Army v Army battle without much of a problem, but in mp, even brigade v brigade runs like molasses. I understand that the lowest performing computer in an mp game will tend to drag the others down a bit, but the person i play with has a decent rig, and also sees no jerkiness when he plays sp. Is this something that can be addressed in future patches, or should i just resign myself to the fact that it is what it is? Btw, I've tried lowering all the settings, closing unnecessary programs, and defragging, all to no avail. The interesting thing is that my fps can be >50 but I will see that same hesitation.

My Rig: Intel i7980x @ 4ghz, Nvidia gtx 580, 12gb ram, Win7 64bit. All drivers are up to date.

I must add that I've been a longtime fan of TC series, and absolutely love this latest rendition. Thank you so much Norb and team for bringing me so many hours of enjoyment.