[kage]

Originally Posted by swimsalot

the host has a Firewall running? Seems like this would prevent the initial connection, not later in a game.

If a stateful firewall "forgets" a connection, which should only happen when the connection has been inactive for minimum a few minutes (dw will send several packets a second, I think, and time out itself before the firewall does) or if the router/firewall gets reset while playing, then that will kill a connection.

I'm with you here, this is not particularly a problem. That's why I outright lie about my firewall being down, as long as it's not initial connecting that's the problem.

b.too much data/too little bandwidth? This seems most likely to me, because people often lag or get dropped when missiles start flying.

There's a reason few realtime games use directplay. And those, who are serious and do that, often switch later when they find out how bad it is.

I suspect that instead of letting the missiles fly, letting their position be a result of lastpos+course*speed*time until course or speed changes, DP insists on transmitting it every frame it has moved more than a certain distance since last time it was sent. (= every frame for fast missiles)

So this is indeed a factor.

Couple this with the fact that DP is strictly client-server, and you have a host tasked with retransmitting the information to everyone. The host then has to send x players' worth of data to x-1 players. And that does not include same-platform data of a multistation game.

Add the fact that most people are on asymmetric lines with relatively small upload capacities, and you'll perhaps see a problem.

I hear they played DW on a lan, and got a lot of players (16?) in a stable game, sometime before the 1.0 (battlefront) release. LAN reads "unlimited bandwidth" in game development terms.

c. another cause?

THe last times I played MP, people dropped (nearly always) because DW crashed on their computer.

(snip vague mission specs) Does the host need to be a server, or on a T-1 line?

"...be a server" - mind trying to say it again, only what you really meant this time?
The host of a game doesn't need a particularly powerful pc. DW only needs PCPOWER(tm?) for time compression. The data routing implied by MP should have a minimal impact.

I don't remember the capacity of a t1 at the moment, and I don't know how much bandwidth any particular scenario in any particular player configuration in any particular game situation actually demands.

b. Would turning off any "eye candy" affect the lag?

If these things are a problem, you're already having a playability problem, probably even in singleplayer.

- Does Ventrillo cause/affect the lag at all?

Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: Negligible if you're not on 56k modem or similar. (1ch ISDN)

The whole point of DW is that it has different platforms, allowing a total sea/air battle. If we can only play with 2 or 3 subs without incurring lag, we're getting shortchanged.

Early MP was plagued by mission makers sticking every conceivable platform in a mission and the host then trying to fill every platform. The question was always who drops, not if. Only on a very rare occasion was the answer 'nobody'.

What we can do? Only play missions MP made by sensible authors, who avoids "The great missile exchange", "ambient" ships every 1sqnm in a mission area of 100sqnm (haven't actually seen that) and ... (taking suggestions here)