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norb
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Questions

Post by norb »

There's a few theories going around:

1. when there is an MP crash, it usually has something to do with the sound
2. the wimpy encryption protecting the maps and data files is ok to keep
3. performance is the biggest issue, need to run giant battles much smoother
4. modders need much more freedom to affect everything

Curious if folks could comment on these items
voltigeur
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Re: Questions

Post by voltigeur »

1. MP crash - I haven't seen a correlation between sound and crash myself. But on a related note, sometimes I can be playing and fail to realise a player has dropped out :) A popup notification would be nice!
2. Encryption - It's just nice to have some kind of security so everyone is playing the same game.
3. performance - I have usually found once well into a MP game it will render well below real time speeds, so a 1.5hr game might end up taking over 2 hrs, for instance. I assume that's a function of a lot of things including varying cpu's, bandwidth, dropped packets and latency but it would be nice to see any improvements there.
4. For me, modding that affects the game engine routines (rather than just graphics/maps) should come last.
Martin James
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Re: Questions

Post by Martin James »

As previously mentioned, our MP group mainly plays GB, although we have occasionally played Waterloo, and our experience is similar with that game.

1. Like Voltigeur, our group hasn't noticed a correlation with sound.

In our experience crashes to desktop happen infrequently and, when they do, are normally due to an error in the mod or scenario. NB there is also a problem with the game sandbox function which does not produce the correct courier lines in scenario.csv in MP.

A *much* more common problem for our group is that a player will drop due to connection issues, whilst everyone else continues in MP without difficulty. The player who drops usually does not crash to desktop, and can keep playing, but is now effectively in SP.

I should mention that all players in our group have superfast broadband, and all use cable rather than relying on wifi. This isn't a question of speed, but of stability. It repeatedly affects some players and not others due, we believe, to geographical and geological features. The game seems to be extremely sensitive to any minor temporary hiccup in the connection. More modern games seem to both handle this better, and also automatically reconnect.

2. Were weren't entirely sure what you were getting at here, Norb. One thought was that you are referring to a system check to ensure we are using a genuine version of the game, and everyone is using valid versions in MP. Is that it? If so, we don't have a problem with it.

3. Whilst we see 1. as a more important issue, we do agree with you and Voltigeur that it would be good to have larger maps and larger armies. RebBugler has previously commented on the forum that in big battles the game can go into a loop where it still runs but some functionality is lost. We have seen this too - eg units appear to be firing but no casualties are being caused.

4. We (very respectfully) disagree with Voltigeur here. If we are to mod for different periods (or potentially convert existing mods), we think it's essential to have bespoke tools to assist in amending the game engine routines.

Hope that helps.

Martin J
voltigeur
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Re: Questions

Post by voltigeur »

Martin, my take on 2. is that the game checks that everyone is using the same csv's etc, eg detecting if someone has managed to 'trick up' a file to get a play advantage.
Martin James
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Re: Questions

Post by Martin James »

Thanks voltigeur. If that is it, then we wouldn't have a problem with that either :)

m
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norb
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Re: Questions

Post by norb »

Thank you for your responses.

First, we already have the game running at x64 which will open up the number of uniforms. We were not able to include them all previously due to memory limitations. I don't know how many were in the hopper, but the modders should now have no limits.

For #2 the question was if the checks we do are causing any issues for modders. We verify that the main sow file cannot be messed with. I'm sure someone has hacked it, but we do check. We do this because any change in the files can cause MP to mess up. We are looking to upgrade the MP code to take advantage of tech today.

We are doing serious research into the game performance. MTG has pointed out for years that we are not taking advantage of all the cores nor the gpu in an effective manner. He's been hounding me really. So we will fix that and should have a very serious performance boost.
Martin James
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Re: Questions

Post by Martin James »

Hahaha. If it's any consolation, MTG has been hounding me for years over why I haven't switched from GB to Waterloo.

That said, the potential performance boost sounds excellent.

Hopefully your new version will get him off both our backs ;)
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cliometrician
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Re: Questions

Post by cliometrician »

For #3: My friend and I play cooperatively. We have 57,000 men to the enemy's 67,000. Only recently, in the last few months, have we seen 2hr battles taking close to 3 hrs. to play. We have played with this order of battle for several years. I think the problem may be on my friend's end, with his connection, but not sure.
"I may have fought on the side that was wrong, but I fought on the right side." John S. Mosby
Martin James
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Re: Questions

Post by Martin James »

Hi cliometrician. Based on our group's experience that does sound like a connection issue, rather than army size, oob etc.

Is your friend using wifi? We connect to the router using either cable or powerline adaptors, which does seem to help.
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cliometrician
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Re: Questions

Post by cliometrician »

My friend and I both use wifi, and I'm looking for something to stabilize the game, perhaps connecting the router with cable, as you suggested.
"I may have fought on the side that was wrong, but I fought on the right side." John S. Mosby
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