BUG REPORT: In-game timer is inaccurate

[gurudennis]

How found: Rigorous play-testing with 3 separate real-life stopwatches that were independently verified to be accurate

Game version: 0.18, though also anecdotally present in 0.17

Setup: Any skirmish settings with more than one player present in the game

Repro rate: Close to 100%

Steps to reproduce: Start a game and have more than one player in it. Both the host and the guests will be affected.

Effects:

The in-game timer (the one that is activated with T and R keys) diverges from the real-world wall clock, i.e. from real time, by up to 20% (up to 12 seconds per minute) in a random direction (either faster or slower). The exact divergence varies over time within the same game, such that the in-game timer can be both slower and faster in the same game at different points in time. More "lag" that typically results from a greater number of players in the lobby typically correlates with greater timer divergence.

Near as I can tell, the in-game timer remains consistent with the in-game absolute clock. However, it is not consistent with the movement of in-game objects such as merchant vessels. This results in gross mis-estimation of target ship speed using the traditional vertical post method if the in-game timer is used to time the movement of the target ship. Conversely, if a real-world stopwatch is used, the estimation of ship speed nearly always comes out accurate and consistent.

Known mitigations:

a) Use a real-world stopwatch, or
b) Have only one player (yourself, the host) in the lobby

Special thanks: Rasputing and Obistonedkenobi who suffered through my obsessive time measurements in multiple games.


TLDR version: DO NOT use the in-game timer. Use a real-life stopwatch (e.g. the one in your phone) until the bug is fixed.

[Vantskruv]

Nice report!


Though, if only one player (as I am playing solo), the time seems to be okay (I have never played multiplayer), but:



* when in the map, the time slows considerably (every second is about 3-4 real seconds if grasping the my memory right).

* Though the physics stills seems to be intact.



I am not sure if the time is slowing down, when in the map, and when there are more than one player.

[gurudennis]

The timer does not diverge when there's only one player in the lobby, as I pointed out in the report. This fact prevented me from pinpointing the issue for a while as well.

[Onkel Neal]

Thanks for this, we will have a look.

[Usurpator]

Thanks for the detailed report. Fixed in 0.18b

[gurudennis]

Originally Posted by Usurpator

Thanks for the detailed report. Fixed in 0.18b

Thank you so much! Can confirm the fix is very helpful