MindDragon
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Posted - 2006.01.24 02:54:00 -
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Fixing the lag...A review by Mind Dragon
BACKGROUND
I reviewed the video file and I've been examining the "lag" problem on my own for quite some time. The lag problem that exists here is the same lag problem that happens on almost any other MMPOG or even MPG system, such as Quake or Battlefield 2.
Modern-day bandwidth just isn't sufficient for all connected players to be notified of all other players positions and actions at the same time. Now, the way many games have approached the problem was to cut anything over X -- for example, no more than 16 or 32 players visible in the same visible space (say 1,000 meters or something). Ironically, this is why you can see ghosting in games like Planetside (64 to 128 visible player limit) or even WW 2 Online (32 to 64 visible player limit). Which is great for when 500 players all try to rush the same location at the same time. WW 2 Online when Allied or Axis had only one or two spawns left, it was insane. You walk two feet in any direction and there's just blobs of players all around you. Forget flying over the area (I took some video a long time ago of a thousand ghosts every second, hilarious). It boils down to very simple Comp. Sci. engineering:
ASSUMPTION OF FACTORS INVOLVED
Number of Players
Available bandwidth for each player (assume megabit download best case, 33.6kbps worse case)
Latency between all player locations
In general, these days, the computer isn't the limiting factor. A Pentium III 1.xx gigahertz processor can push a full 10 gigabit per second; that's ~1.25 gigabytes per second. They were used to test network switches in 2000, so the processor it self can push some serious bandwidth. It ain't the computer folks.
Let's break down what we see on the screen by doing some basic math here: Number of players: 68 G/IRON players (best guess), 35 BoB players (again, best guess).
Soooo...103 players in the same space. Since this is a real time MMPOG, you can assume that each client session is going to need between 64k and 128k of bandwidth to transmit position, player action, text messaging and other software messaging requirements (damage ack, keep alives and more). Remember, this is per player to be shared by all players in order to update the display.
BANDWIDTH FACTOR:
103 * 64 = 6.5 megabits. 103 * 128 = 13.184 megabits.
COMPARISION TO DOCUMENTED INCIDENT
Now, the way most games handle it is just go as far as they can with the data that is still being received and hope that "network congestion" improves over time. So what data that it is able to process, it updates on the screen. That's why in the video you can see a few ships moving and a whole lot of stationary stuff. If you were able to see the other 103 screens, you would probably see varying levels of that.
THE SOLUTION
So, for your next engagement, try to plan on how much bandwidth is required in order to have an optimal experience. Based on the general rule of thumb of 1 megabit per player, I would say that no more than 15 people fighting in the same space at the same time to be safe and this generally holds true for what can be seen in Eve today.
The bottom line is, if you want this game to improve, complain to the overbearing (and archaic, dinosauric and, in general stupid) telco monopolies, lobbies and the governments that supports them. Don't blame the innocent CCP game makers that have done everything possible to make a great game that we see today.
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MD
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