Diversification is the Name of the Game, Part 2 (Editorial)

[Simo Glock]

Re: Diversification is the Name of the Game, Part 2 (Editorial)

Sorry Whiskey for talking about both games, however since theres not much detail on them and im assuming they both run on Frostbite 2.0

Or just the core netcode in Frostbite which may or maynot change much.

define peer 2 peer gaming. i'm a little lost regarding your justification for 24 players maximum
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Im not trying to justify DICE's decisions for 24 players.. I just accept thats what they chose to do for BC1 and possibly 1943.

Peer 2 peer gaming is when the computers that run the game software also share the load of network processing. All of the data must stream to one place (one of the PC's in the session) get processed and then be distributed back to the other computers.

In the older days not that long ago :|: You could get rid of some lag ( not frame rate) but network lag. By letting the game run from a "Host" computer that ran the game "not actual Server software, which has a different design than a p2p netcode" and gain network performance because that PC was sitting idle (no one playing the game)
So there were not extra calculations happening and that machine could just process the network.

Just like any cpu load, you need to give some to get some.
If the cpu is running full tilt.. you cant just add more load.
Graffix / whatever it may be

I hear that microsoft doesnt like dedicated servers on xbox live and charges the devs more money to design the games that way.. however i dont know for sure. Xbox live must be one heck of a network to keep up with so theres no telling what gos on behind the scenes.

Who knows what kind of networking will happen in the future.. Recently they tried to mask p2p with matchmaking.. just to make it easier and hassle free to find games.

[Simo Glock]

Re: Diversification is the Name of the Game, Part 2 (Editorial)

so id like to add if all of that makes any sense.

If you dont game p2p, the computer your gaming on
Hand built, HP, Dell, AlienWare, Microsoft whatever.
Has little to do with the multiplayer capacity.

Its all about the network and how much processing power the game dev has left for network code..

64 players means guns and bullets and maybe planes for everyone, which does mean more cpu load.

The xbox 360 could run 1942 with 64 players no problem.
But have you seen BC1 ? It takes alot of processing power to look so good.

Would dedicated servers be enough to cap BC1 at 64p?
Good Question.
Would the adverage PC have the power to run frostbite at 30 fps and process 64p.
Good Question.

Networking used to be an afterthought.
Im sure it's one of the building blocks for companies like DICE.
Im assuming theres room leftover to have more player models or they made their new engine look to good.

I assume that dedicated servers / relieving the network load would be enough new power to up the player count allowing the cpu to process the added graffix and physics.
But only DICE know the answer to that.

[Simo Glock]

Re: Diversification is the Name of the Game, Part 2 (Editorial)

Im going to add one more thing and then STFU!

PC's used to be way way way out front of consoles.. Before the HDTV it was in resolutions alone. Plus many more.

That gap has been bridged quite abit.

Its a fact that PC's get faster and faster because of multimedia / games
But for a dev to keep up they must make a game with 3 sets of options low ,medium ,high. Textures this textures that.. answer all the tech questions .. make it compatible with all kinds of hardware and software.
A dedicated gaming machine where everyone has the same options, the same frame rate, the same shadows, the same grass and the same game.
Makes alot more sense..
Most game devs are now doing consoles when they never did before.
Theres a good reason for it.. later down the line they wont be as different as they are now... who knows you might even get to play with a mouse.

Heck (on Live) threatens to use networking to relieve your cpu
Who knows what machines will bring us games in the future.. but I for one im tired of buying new computer parts every year.
I might not be your average gamer, But I no longer have the time or will to mod & tweak.
I just want to press the button and get to the game.

[McSteviee]

Re: Diversification is the Name of the Game, Part 2 (Editorial)

Regarding player count, has Battlefield Heroes not got quite a piddling amount? I don't here anyone complaining about that, possibly people don't care about Heroes because it's so far away from what the Battlefield games are. I see 1943 as somewhere in the middle between 'the quick gaming fix' of Heroes and the 'epic carnage' of a true Battlefield game, so why shouldn't the player count reflect that? I personally only play 64p servers in BF2, but I don't think 1943 was ever meant to be that 'big' a game and I think it may suit it having 24 players - I may be wrong.

[Greasy_Mullet]

Re: Diversification is the Name of the Game, Part 2 (Editorial)

Im going to add one more thing and then STFU!

PC's used to be way way way out front of consoles.. Before the HDTV it was in resolutions alone. Plus many more.

That gap has been bridged quite abit.

Its a fact that PC's get faster and faster because of multimedia / games
But for a dev to keep up they must make a game with 3 sets of options low ,medium ,high. Textures this textures that.. answer all the tech questions .. make it compatible with all kinds of hardware and software.
A dedicated gaming machine where everyone has the same options, the same frame rate, the same shadows, the same grass and the same game.
Makes alot more sense..
Most game devs are now doing consoles when they never did before.
Theres a good reason for it.. later down the line they wont be as different as they are now... who knows you might even get to play with a mouse.

Heck (on Live) threatens to use networking to relieve your cpu
Who knows what machines will bring us games in the future.. but I for one im tired of buying new computer parts every year.
I might not be your average gamer, But I no longer have the time or will to mod & tweak.
I just want to press the button and get to the game.

In response to the high, med, low comment. The game already has those things and Dice does not do anything different to accomodate those players. What happens is you get bummed down a level of detail. Normally you would see the lower grade detail at a certain distance, but instead that is your highest version to see.

So each object, vehicle, etc has multiple versions all in the game and depending on the distance you are from it, depends which version you are seeing. If you pay real close attention you can see the level of detail change when moving to/from an object. That is just one trick used to help ease performance on the end users.

So when you start to drop settings to med or low, all you are doing is getting rid of the higher levels of detail.

[Simo Glock]

Re: Diversification is the Name of the Game, Part 2 (Editorial)

Agreed, Tho I would assume that the textures are attached to the LOD models. Im not an expert by any means on all of the current "tricks" but I dont see near the pop in that I used to see in games with all the filtering that goes on.

If you run the lowest texture setting.. then it has to apply that to the highest or mid range LOD model at very least. That would mean you must wrap all the textures to every model. It all depends on how they want to dev the game I guess. Could be more work, could be less.

My point was more the fact that they can fine tune the game to be a certain look, and that everyone would have the same look and same frame rate.. so you have an even product for the end user.

Not to steer this thread any further off topic, im continuing this here moddability