Problems with multi-player on lan

[hrbeing 0]

Hi,

I got LAN play to be stable, but now there are a few problems I have with it:

(a) Movement seems jerky on one or both computers. This is odd considering I have a 100mbit LAN. Is there something I have to do to tell OFPR that I have a fast connection and it can use as much of it as it wants? Its performance really seems sub-par for a LAN.

(b) I get some really weird graphical anomalies sometimes. Sometimes I see a horizontal line across the middle of the screen. Sometimes, the circular bases of trees extrude upwards and look like columns. (this happens mostly when I'm in a helicopter). All kinds of weird graphical glitches that never happen in single player.

These are my main problems. Can someone recommend to me how to fix one or both?

Thanks

Nicholas

[hrbeing 0]

Oh, I forgot to mention, one machine is client and one is server, rather than having a dedicated server. Would this help?

Thanls.

[RED 0]

Does this happen over the internet also?

OFP sets the level of detail down etc when playing MP so you maybe having some problems from that, also what are your system specs?

RED

[hrbeing 0]

I've never tried Internet play so I don't know.

One computer is a 1.8GHz Athlon, nForce chipset, Geforce 4 ti4600, 512MB interleaved CAS2 PC2100 RAM. The other is a 1.4GHz Athlon, VIA KT266 chipset, Geforce 3, 512MB CAS3 PC2100 RAM, SBLive.

Is there some way I can set the LOD up in multiplayer? The view distance is terrible (800m or something? I usually play with 2500 or more). I'd believe the artefacts I'm seeing are LOD based. I'd rather play with the same LOD as I do in single player if possible.

Thanks,

Nicholas

[RED 0]

I don't think there is a way to do this, but maybe someone will prove me wrong

RED

[Skunk Monkey 0]

in MP the view distance is set to 900M, this is so that everyone can use the same view distance and therefore no1 has an advantage.

Also any AI within the view distance are controlled by the server and therefore the more view distance the more server load, so limiting it improves lag.

[hrbeing 0]

Well, my new multiplayer server is a dual 1.4GHz Athlon w/512MB of RAM. I'd love to set the view distance up to say 3000m. How can I do it? At 900m visibility it's like you're fighting in a fog bank.

Thanks,

Nicholas

[Mister Frag 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (hrbeing @ Nov. 16 2002,20:11)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Well, my new multiplayer server is a dual 1.4GHz Athlon w/512MB of RAM. I'd love to set the view distance up to say 3000m. How can I do it? At 900m visibility it's like you're fighting in a fog bank.

  Thanks,

     Nicholas<span id='postcolor'>

It can only be done by editing the PBO that the mission is packaged in.

Regarding the lag, since you are playing on a LAN, I would try using the DirectPlay implementation instead of Sockets. It is a bit more mature and stable than Sockets, and will probably work better for your needs.

I host private games using DirectPlay and a non-dedicated server over the Internet, and many of the missions we play use non-standard view distances -- no problem.

[hrbeing 0]

Ah, well, since the missions I'm most worried about the view distance in are those that I made, I can manage that, thanks for reminding me that it's possible.

Also I will try DirectPlay, sockets seems to have problems, thanks for the info.

Nicholas

[The_Captain 0]

To set the viewdistance, I'm pretty sure the command is

setviewdistance 3000

or whatever distance you want. Check the OFP Scripting guide for more info.

[hrbeing 0]

Yes, it works, thanks!

It's now much easier to engage helicopters and tanks with the M6 linebacker/M2/M3 Bradley visually. Before, it was just a race on who could press 'fire' faster when they came into the view range. (the computer usually wins)

Nicholas