1.1 "Stuttering" in Multiplayer

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Lawndart
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1.1 "Stuttering" in Multiplayer

Post by Lawndart » Tue Apr 19, 2005 2:05 am

Ok, we've exhausted all our options (for now) as to what causes this stuttering problem we have in 1.1?

The ground stutters regardless of which aircraft we fly, Russian and American and it doesn't matter whether the game is unmodded or not. Once you get really close to another plane even the aircraft stutters too, although this seems more pronounced with our mod, but also flying the F-15 in general.

We've tried to figure out what is causing this and here's a list of things we have tried:

1> Changing graphics settings to every possible setting (both server and client).
2> Testing every different connection speed avail for multiplayer.
3> Flown every different airplane.
4> Different airports/locations.
5> Smoke gens and without smoke gens.
6> Router or direct connect to the internet.
7> Absolutely no firewalls or security enabled.
8> Different load configs in LOMAC.
9> Different weather, terrain and scenery.

The list goes on and on...

NOTHING has made the stutter go away. This is something that was not in 1.02 and quite frankly makes our formation flying almost impossible. It's a step in the wrong direction and who knows what's causing this. The stutter is something you wouldn't see until your right up against another plane in formation for the most part, but it is extremely annoying at the close quarters we fly! Can't help but wonder if StarForce has anything to do with this, since the network code in 1.02 was rock solid, but in 1.1 the client side gets unbearable stuttering most of the time.

So far after all the testing we've done I have to say we think it's 1.1 and not something our mod nor our connections would cause, since everyone has it (some more than others) and we've flown plenty of flights with completely mod-free installations too.

Anyone have any further ideas?

LawnDart
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Cinch
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Posted Stutter Problem to Lockon.ru.

Post by Cinch » Tue Apr 19, 2005 9:36 am

Boss,

Posted to Lockon.ru and about 0830 EST recieved a PM from the from someone there (cant remember the name) but he merged my thread with Silent's thread so watch this thread, because it's only going to get better.


http://forum.lockon.ru/showthread.php?t=7864&page=2
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Cinch
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Test Of sig

Post by Cinch » Tue Apr 19, 2005 9:40 am

Testing sig
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Post by Convertible » Tue Apr 19, 2005 12:05 pm

LawnDart,

I know that when BonJobie and I started in 1.02 we had a issue with that as well. We increased the Virtual memory settings through control panel and that cleared it up. Have you tried that yet?

Boozig
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Lawndart
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Post by Lawndart » Tue Apr 19, 2005 1:43 pm

Boozig,

I don't know about the other guys, but I have my virtual memory maxed out at 4GB and I also run 2GB of physical memory in the system, so this shouldn't be an issue for me at least. Thanks for the suggestion though!

Cinch,

You forgot the "/" in the last [img]to%20make%20your%20sig%20file%20work!%20It%20needs%20to%20be[/img]. Nice Blackhawk BTW! :wink:

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Post by Convertible » Tue Apr 19, 2005 3:47 pm

LawnDart,

The problem for us was not me either. It was BonJobie. Once we changed his to match mine we were fine. You might want to make sure that everyone else has their maxed out as well. Later.

Boozig.
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Lawndart
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Post by Lawndart » Tue Apr 19, 2005 4:42 pm

Thanks bro! We'll definitely try everything we can do on our end. My hunch is still that this issue is either with 1.1 (StarForce) or the server/client settings in the config files (and/or whatever the mod doesn't/does send between the host and clients) during a multiplayer session. BTW, we never had any stuttering at all in 1.02, it was always silky smooth...

LawnDart
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Post by TBT_Piper » Wed Apr 20, 2005 7:35 pm

Lets be safe and say it was Starforce.

Btw Cinch your sig doesn't work.

Also, to test your sig don't go to post reply, go to preview.
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Post by lieutfunaki » Wed Apr 20, 2005 8:52 pm

If 1.1 isn't useable will the team stay with 1.02?
With a name like Smucker's, it has to be good.®

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Lawndart
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Post by Lawndart » Wed Apr 20, 2005 9:49 pm

No! There will be a patch sooner or later, but recently we just made some progress in editing the .lua files. Stuttering is not gone by any means, but greatly reduced. We're not going back to 1.02...

We'll post our findings once we're done testing for tonight. Still working on it! :roll:

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Post by Lawndart » Thu Apr 21, 2005 5:23 am

In the \config\network\ folder, there's a file called config.lua. This is the file that needs to be edited to reduce the stutter (not eliminate, but greatly improve things).

Before you edit make a backup of the original!

We ran tests using a "pingPeriod" of 1 ,2 and 3 (it won't take anything else and reverts back to a 1 (default) if you enter a different number). 2 seems to be the best setting we've found. It didn't by any means get rid of the stutter, but it greatly reduced it to a level almost flyable! We also increased the "gameTimeout" to 60 for a more reliable connection.

We weren't able to get rid of the stutter completely, but it's so much reduced we were able to do some of our maneuvers at least. If I hadn't known to look for the stutter now, I probably wouldn't have thought too much about it. The problem is not eliminated and we'll keep experimenting, but at least we'll be able to do some flying now seems like.

We've also experimented with downstream/upstream, maxPacketSize, stats logging etc without any impact on the stuttering so far. The pinPeriod does accept decimals too, so we'll probably continue trying numbers such as 1.8, 2.2, 2.5 etc in further tests.

LawnDart

Here are the things we changed (red) from default in the config.lua to this point(\config\network\ folder):

gameTimeout = 60;
pingPeriod = 2;
maxPacketSize = 500;
playerName = "Yourname";
idleTimeout = 120;
stats {
enable = true;
file = "Temp/mp_log.txt";
};
chat {
height = 95;
log = true;
delay = 10000;
};
serverFiles = {
[1] = "./Bazar/Names.lua";
[2] = "./Bazar/Racks.lua";
[3] = "./Bazar/Types.lua";
[4] = "./Config/Weapons/Guns.lua";
[5] = "./Config/Weapons/DrawInfo.lua";
[6] = "./Config/Weapons/Bombs.lua";
[7] = "./Config/Planes/Pylons.lua";
[8] = "./Config/Planes/Damage.lua";
[9] = "./Config/Planes/AIControl.lua";
[10] = "./Config/Export/Export.lua";
[11] = "./Config/View/Server.lua";
[12] = "./Config/View/Labels.lua";
[13] = "./Config/World/World.lua";
};
configList = {
["xDSL 128/128 Kbit/s"] = {
downstream = 16000;
upstream = 16000;
};
["xDSL 1024/128 Kbit/s"] = {
downstream = 128000;
upstream = 16000;
};
["Modem 56.6K"] = {
downstream = 5000;
upstream = 3000;
};
["LAN 10 Mbit/s"] = {
downstream = 500000;
upstream = 500000;
};
["LAN 100 Mbit/s"] = {
downstream = 5000000;
upstream = 5000000;
};
["xDSL 256/128 Kbit/s"] = {
downstream = 32000;
upstream = 16000;
};
};
client {
port = 10308;
type = "JaBoG32";
server = "217.84.20.194";
serverList = {
[1] = "217.84.20.194";
[2] = "217.162.225.132";
[3] = "66.165.113.50";
[4] = "70.25.211.213";
[5] = "217.162.224.125";
};
};
server {
port = 10308;
name = "LockOn Server";
maxPlayers = 32;
type = "xDSL 256/128 Kbit/s";
interface = "All interfaces";
};

...and finally some screenshots from tonights final "stutter testing flight" (using the default F-15 skins). Tail CR = LawnDart, FF = Striker and EG = Cinch.

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Post by Convertible » Thu Apr 21, 2005 4:20 pm

LawnDart,

So by looking at this, the only changes that are needed are just the ones in Red, correct? Nothing else was changed... It is too bad that it took so long to figure that out. Seems so simple... :? Are there any other files that need to be changed for it to function better or is this the only one you have tweeked? Nice screenshots by the way... Thanks.

Boozig
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Post by Lawndart » Thu Apr 21, 2005 10:43 pm

Problem not yet fixed, but small improvements made...

Our latest findings include: MaxPacketsize of anything lower or higher than 500 seems to either do nothing or make the game run worse. For a while it seemed smoother running at 384, but that was only temporarily. Also, in our missions we don't have any A/I what-so-ever, only 8 client aircraft at the most and that's it, so the stutter isn't based on the amount of information needed to be xfered I think.

Also, the network code or game seems to run really smooth and very precise while at the same time stuttering, so it's not the case of poor code or hardware IMO, but something is hogging the xfer from the host to each client.

PingPeriod has a huge impact and the only thing we've found that we can say changes the stuttering noticeably. We've also found that the host can leave his set at 1, while each client adjusts theirs to a 2, 2.2xxx, 2.5 or 3 and it will reduce their stuttering (regardless of what the server has). Seems each client can adjust theirs individually so to speak without any influence from the server...

LawnDart
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Post by Lawndart » Fri Apr 22, 2005 1:31 am

Anyone interested in following the stuttering issue should check the development in the following thread over at Lock-On.ru Forums.

Here's a direct link to the thread over there:
http://forum.lockon.ru/showthread.php?t=7864

LawnDart
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Post by JaBog32_Dirty » Tue May 17, 2005 4:22 pm

Hey Thunderbirds,

have you guys had a chance to test the stuttering-Fix? We at JaBoG32 just did a practice session and found the stuttering to be just as bad as before. PingPeriod doesn't seem to make much difference. Maybe I did something wrong, but executing the .exe file should be a no-brainer...

Did it help you?

Dirty
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