21 replies to this topic

[Sidewinder619]

Just curious - as a former Sony online game tester, I had the advantage of having the online servers across the street from the testing facilities. On many occasions, my ping times were 4 to 7 times faster than players in game with me and my co-workers ( especially Socom2/3) As testers, we would be able to fire and move even before other players knew what hit them due to packet lag, etc. Is this going to be an issue here?

[Tatius Pryde]

after reading the other threads, next month is all the things that go ping month. lol

in all seriousness, yes it will.

[Kaemon]

i'd say you weren't really an 'online' game tester if you're across the street (and possibly connect to the DC by dark fiber or some such connection).

If they really wanted you to test, you'd be 400 miles away with a 56K modem

Of course, latency is always an issue with any online game, the problem is how much is still acceptable and what type of 'lag' (network, gfx card, packet drop due to poor wireless signal) people are experiencing.

Far too often people cry about 'lag' when they're using an under powered gfx card on a laptop hooked to a G modem with a barely above ISDN speed broadband connection **fixed***.

It's the intertubes son, it demands respect (or at least decent ping times to your own router).

Edited by Kaemon, 01 February 2012 - 07:13 PM.

[Rayge]

lag shooting is a fundamental part of any good online MW experience.

[FACEman Peck]

Brother, it's a given that there will be lag pockets where people will accuse you of hacking because you prefire them and such. I speak from personal experience with that in Call of Duty, Black Ops.

[The Cheese]

I don't think it will be quite as bad as, say, CoD, where you can die before you see the guy that shot you, but lag will always play a part in online gaming.

I say that I don't think it will be as bad because, unlike your typical fast-paced FPS, this is intended to be more tactical, less Rambo style play. Twitch reflexes won't play a huge part here, even in the smallest and fastest mechs. You simply won't be able to accelerate, turn or aim like you can in an FPS.

I am hoping that the devs will have the old "accommodate the lag difference when you shoot" problem under control. Most modern online games do, to some extent at least.

[Thorazan McKenna]

From my experience, lag is more an excuse than a problem so long as your under 300ms. *waits for the inevitable knee **** comments without reading on*

Those who have played competitively online for the last decade from australasia are well and truely accustommed to pings in the 200-300 range and still not only be competitive but also quite often board topping. If your decent at predicting player behaviour, you can easily aim at where someone will be, no matter the twitch factor of the game in question.

Add to that the MW typically is a somewhat slower paced style of game and many of the supposed advantages vanish fast.

[SaintGrey]

Thorazan McKenna, on 01 February 2012 - 07:50 PM, said:

From my experience, lag is more an excuse than a problem so long as your under 300ms. *waits for the inevitable knee **** comments without reading on*

Those who have played competitively online for the last decade from australasia are well and truely accustommed to pings in the 200-300 range and still not only be competitive but also quite often board topping. If your decent at predicting player behaviour, you can easily aim at where someone will be, no matter the twitch factor of the game in question.

Add to that the MW typically is a somewhat slower paced style of game and many of the supposed advantages vanish fast.

Being an Australasian player myself, I hope your right about the slower paced comment because I don't play an FPS if the ping is over 150ms. Makes it to hard to run up and knife someone otherwise ^^

[Kenyon Burguess]

lag shouldnt be so bad. ive always gotten decent ping to the west coast and i live in the backwoods of NE Pennsylvania.

[Helmer]

Client side and server side hit detection also have an impact on the feel of the game.

But , yes , like any online game ping does make a difference

[CobraFive]

Ping will definitely make a difference but, since they are using CryEngine 3, it probably won't be too much of an issue.

Its an established engine (including multiplayer) that's been around for quite some time and has gotten many man-hours from a large dev team.

[Elizander]

Sidewinder619, on 01 February 2012 - 06:55 PM, said:

Just curious - as a former Sony online game tester, I had the advantage of having the online servers across the street from the testing facilities. On many occasions, my ping times were 4 to 7 times faster than players in game with me and my co-workers ( especially Socom2/3) As testers, we would be able to fire and move even before other players knew what hit them due to packet lag, etc. Is this going to be an issue here?

It will always be an issue for any game, but if the combat system is more like WoT it will be less of a factor than if it were like Counter-Strike.

[Wulfbane]

ping will be a problem if the system you are using are old. as long as you are using broadband you should be alright

[Fors]

In any online game ping has its roll, its less of a problem in slow paced games. It's not always a disadvantage either, high ping makes you hard to hit and you get to shoot what I call ghost bullets.

[EDMW CSN]

I have played US server games with pings averaging 200+ m/s. I just had to get used to it and hefty amounts of Combat Arms on nexon's equally horrid servers will help compensate somewhat.

Under lagging connections, you either bullet hose or you lag shoot or drag shoot.
In MWO there are far more options. For example I can use homing weapons, LB or rapid fire fire ACs or even splash damage weapons if available.

Edited by [EDMW]CSN, 02 February 2012 - 06:33 AM.

[DaZur]

Coming from the world of online air-combat simulations, I know a number of these types of on-line arenas are using prediction coding to help reduce lag. Basically everything on the client side of the game is milliseconds behind what it happening server side where the server is number crunching behind the scenes and then presenting the outcome to the clients in real-time (I hope that makes sense?)

While not perfect, it does smooth out the on-line game. The thorn being the more real-time physics used, the less beneficial this sort of coding becomes as it's hard to predict that sort of stuff...

[Odin]

Well, it'll all be fine, unless Mechwarrior becomes Lagwarrior.
I don't think we have much to worry here in this regard.

[DaZur]

Aegis Kleais™, on 02 February 2012 - 07:04 AM, said:

I can't see packet loss not causing a problem. Until mankind is able to slow actual time to sync with packet delivery or provide a more reliable network to delivery information in a timely manner across millions of clients, we're gonna have to deal with lag.

Questions is, will it, as it has always in the past, benefit the HPB and handicap those with good connections?

....Honestly people, ditch the freaking 28.8's....

Ditch my 28.8!!!! NEVER...

I enjoy downloading my adult full female nudity in compromising positions at 20 kbps... It's like a slow painful striptease.

Edit: Censor police got me!

Edited by DaZur, 02 February 2012 - 07:48 AM.

[TheRulesLawyer]

I plan on moving to the same city PGI uses to host the servers.

[Tannhauser Gate]

Connection issues always play a part. Its up to the player to fix or just live with their crappy connection.

The devs can only mitigate the affects of connection issues to a degree. But they also have to prevent the affects of people who abuse packet loss and lag intentionally. An intentional cable pull or packet manipulation looks just like lag or an accidental disconnect so they have to decide how to prevent abuse that ruins everyone's game experience while also letting people with crappy connections play as well.