Netcode

[iGnitor 0]

I just wanted to ask why the netcode in OFP and even the optimised Resistance game is so poor. I played this game when it first came out in 2001 and saw that it had huge potential. There are other games like Soldner (www.secretwars.net) in development trying to do what OFP did but with better netcode etc. Everything else about this game is really excellent, if only the multiplayer was better. I'd rather not wait to see the improvement of this in OFP2 as by that time there will be way too much competition. Soldner is a sleeper title and is relatively unknown, but when it does get released I'm certain it will surpass even the great BF1942. BF1942 was based on multiplayer as is Soldner. OFP has and still could potentially have the ability to have both a superb single player and multiplayer experience. This is a game in my opinion that is highly underestimated by some people. BF1942 got the netcode smooth even with heavy action and far more players so I'm wondering why this can't be implemented in OFP even with a patch.

[drewb99 0]

First of all, comparing OFP to BF1942 is baaad

And second of all, I agree that OFP's netcode is a little lacking. The game's still playable though, even with a few warping issues. OFP's design is much slower pace and a little lag doesn't make as much difference as it does in more action-oriented games.

[iGnitor 0]

So do BIS plan to fix the netcode with a future patch or not?

[blackdog~ 0]

So do BIS plan to fix the netcode with a future patch or not?

The netcode for this game is far more complicated than BF1942... I notice a LOT of lag in BF1942 actually... so OFP's is better in my opinion. The reason you never notice how good the netcode is in OFP, is that you dont have jeeps that can get on planes or soldiers who can ride on the wing of a P-51... and most of all there aren't very many players to even see how good it is

[iGnitor 0]

That doesn't actually make sense. All I know is that Dice.se spent around 3 years optimising the netcode. BF1942 is the smoothest game I've ever played online as I never get lag or very rarely and that is the reason you regularly see 10000+ people online at any given time.

Another point to note is that there is a game in development by a german company called Soldner: Secret Wars and manages to have the biggest map seen in any game so far, have the most vehicles and also destructable landscapes yet maintains netcode, as like BF1942 it is being created solely for online play with up to 128 players online. Click <span style='color:blue'>here</span> to see what I'm on about.

[blackdog~ 0]

it basically said how BF1942's netcode sucks with a lot of players and OFP's is good.

[KeyCat 131]

I wouldn't say that the netcode in OFP is poor, maybe not perfect but it's very far from poor IMO. The switch from DirectPlay to Socket in Resistance (1.75+) was a huge step forward.

You don't mention what connection you have but we play co-op's regulary with people on ISDN/ADSL and had very few issues the past year or so. And I also see lots of dedicated servers with room for 50+ players in ASE.

I'm confident that BIS will continue to improve the netcode in OFP 2 and recent roumors indicates that they working on JIP which will be a good thing for the MP community and attract more people to it (for good or worse ;-).

Anyway, to answer your question. The next official patch is said to be the last one for OFP and I believe the netcode is roughly the same as in current version 1.91.

/Christer (a.k.a KeyCat)

[Placebo 28]

manages to have the biggest map seen in any game so far, have the most vehicles and also destructable landscapes yet maintains netcode

You sure about that? Mainly the first bit but I'd be wary about such a hard thing to promise, Opf never made any promises but still delivered, Soldner looks to be a good game, just hope they don't go for the cheap buck and make it too "arcadey" to appeal to the CS/BF1942 crowd.

[Dwarden 1124]

Soldner is in fact copy of OFPR ...

that also including box cover

nothing against copyiing, but now, when i heard OFP2 is delayed till 2005, i feel that BIS is going to see community vanish ... except some hardcore players...

Multiplayer issues are what killing OFPR now ... great game but ...

i like OFPR, but when u set server big fast server, u hardly get players (until u get clan match or such) ...

OFPR player population is from 200 to 600 online players (weekends)

thats small fragment of other MP games ... i wish it can be changed, but w/o real netcode fixes and JIT it's just dream

and till OFP2, who knows, there are coming many BIG area games with like OFP features ...

[Certa 0]

I just repeat myself but I say client/server model instead of sync model and OFP will be on the right path..

It's probably too late to fix this in a patch. A good c/s engine must be in place before the world rendering/object engine. I hope this will be a core part of OFP2.

[bn880 5]

just hope they don't go for the cheap buck and make it too "arcadey" to appeal to the CS/BF1942 crowd.

Damn, if it's too arcadey for the CS guys I can't imagine what it would mean to us realism freaks.

Hehhe

[benu 1]

I just repeat myself but I say client/server model instead of sync model and OFP will be on the right path..

It's probably too late to fix this in a patch. A good c/s engine must be in place before the world rendering/object engine. I hope this will be a core part of OFP2.

I second that. That was one the thing i liked least about the netcode. A few more serverside settings would be cool too.

[Batstat 10]

Tim Sweeney www.epicgames.com wrote this article http://unreal.epicgames.com/Network.htm about Unreal Networking Archtecture 07/21/99. Its very informative and good reading for all that are reshearcing topics about netcode desync lag and etc.

In spite of the effort Epic has put in the netcode, the following link http://www.planetunreal.com/features/ut2004trip/ shows a world with some limitations and problems. Search the article for netcode

How does the speed of light impact your ping, you may wonder. Read http://www.kaillera.com/faq.php#6 its funny and intresting.

If you want some heavy techincal stuff read http://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/~sid/cescg/#343

It's about PARSEC. Parsec is a non-commercial network space-shooter that started out in 1996 as a lab project at the Vienna University of Technology

Quake’s 3-D Engine:  The Big Picture by Michael Abrash is located at http://www.bluesnews.com/abrash/chap70.shtml Don't bee fooled by the articles headline, most of it is about netcode.

Conlusions: The future is not easy to predict, but there may take som time before we can conclude upon; Yes reached "The holy gral" or multiplayers Nirvana. The industri works hard to meet the customers requeriment for high level of detail, realism, without lag and with lots og people playing mulitplayer games. May the force be with them.

[Gollum1 0]

All I know is, I usually have 50 ping (512/512 DSL) and OFP lags like a bitch on every server. Well, compared to any other game, anyway.

[Placebo 28]

just hope they don't go for the cheap buck and make it too "arcadey" to appeal to the CS/BF1942 crowd.

Damn, if it's too arcadey for the CS guys I can't imagine what it would mean to us realism freaks.  

Hehhe

LOL ok so I missed a comma out, you knew what I meant

[Certa 0]

All I know is, I usually have 50 ping (512/512 DSL) and OFP lags like a bitch on every server. Well, compared to any other game, anyway.

OFP takes quite a bit of CPU to play. I'd say CPU is more important than the graphics card. You can get away with an old TNT2 card as long as the CPU is top (I tried it).

If you have a CPU under 1 GHz it's is going to lag. With a lot of players and vehicles, it will lag even with a 2+ GHz CPU.

Could this be the issue?

[Gollum1 0]

All I know is, I usually have 50 ping (512/512 DSL) and OFP lags like a bitch on every server. Well, compared to any other game, anyway.

OFP takes quite a bit of CPU to play. I'd say CPU is more important than the graphics card. You can get away with an old TNT2 card as long as the CPU is top (I tried it).

If you have a CPU under 1 GHz it's is going to lag. With a lot of players and vehicles, it will lag even with a 2+ GHz CPU.

Could this be the issue?

Nope.

Of course it´s playable, in fact it works fine, and you get used to all the warping and lagging as a fact of life after a while. But when I go back to playing any other game, the lack of lag is wonderful compared to OFP. (even if I have worse FPS in those games than in ofp.) It´s just how OFP has always been, the netcode isn´t the best ever and the game is very demanding since the maps are so big.

[EiZei 0]

Just as long I stick inside EU OFP works fine on my 512/512 ADSL.

[Gollum1 0]

Just as long I stick inside EU OFP works fine on my 512/512 ADSL.

Don´t you mean Europe? Spain works better than Estonia?