Hard Light Productions Forums
Hosted Projects - Non-FreeSpace => FringeSpace => Topic started by: z64555 on October 19, 2010, 05:31:31 pm
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First off:
hello all! :p
Second off:
Since FringeSpace is going to be geared towards multiplayer, I thought it would be a good idea to start up a thread about it. Even though that the FingeSpace mod itself is still in pre-alpha, it would be a good to start up a discussion on support for multiplayer for more than 16 players (perhaps even up to 64, 128, or beyond?)
I've heard rumors here and there about the netcode for FS2 being rather ghastly, so if there's anybody out there willing to help or at least point us in the right direction (i.e. linking us to existing multiplayer support discussion), it would be much appreciated!
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Checking out the Multi board would probably be the logical first step.
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Doh, thanks.
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From a netcode POV, the current code supports only up to twelve players in any given game. More than that would require a complete rewrite, which none of the current coders has much of an interest in (It's not that we'd be opposed to the concept, it's just that demand is so low that it's not very high on our collective list of priorities).
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I still think it might be possible to push TvT to 24 (the biggest issue is the loadout screen, it would have to be completely rewritten to go above 12 players on a team).
The code is in no way ready for such a massive change though and without us hiring a more dedicated network coder it probably never will be.
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@ E - I think part of the problem with "demand" is that FS2, HLP, and related entities are heavy
on the single player focus. Multi for all the time I've been around HLP, has never, ever, been viewed with
consistent joy or real positive feelings. If you need proof, take a look through the last 2 years of multi threads here.
Part of it is the community mindset shifted against multi in a subtle way, maybe folks are predisposed towards a campaign
narrative? I get the sense though, it's more of "we're limited in doing anything with it, and it's not going anywhere, it's cumbersome to
get working for players, so why bother?"
A big part of that IMO is the lag / inability to kill anything like you should. In '99 you could get away with it, in today's
world of Steam, broadband, etc - it doesn't measure up at all. When you pull the trigger you expect a result, not 40,000 rounds later you finally score. Which granted, I'm being illustrative, but it's just plain really really bad as a comparative experience. There's mixed feelings on the matter I'm sure, but if we want to get some of the space sim fanbase back from consoles and a dead market, we need to present ourselves (FSO) as attractive. Sure SCP, the upgrade project, mods, etc are doing all they can there, but most games nowadays live & die by their multiplayer component.
As to demand, I believe there's more mods needing it that you'd expect. We certainly need it, Stellar Assault needs it, FotG I imagine
will need it, Diaspora "should" want it after the great lag battles of BtRL, SoL could probably do some nice things with multiplayer.
Need I go on? There's 3 top showcase mods of FSO right there.
I can see from a "existing stuff that needs coding" perspective, with limited coders, that it wouldn't rank high on the list considering the state
of current released mods and community view of multi. That's fine. What I "am" concerned about is getting dialogue started so we can figure out what we need to get it going, particularly if it means we need to go hunt down new coder(s).
@kara - If you're talking about rewriting the loadout screen from a code perspective, I'm not able to comment there. If you mean it needs
a graphical overhaul, then I already gave E a basic replacement that'd work for proof of concept. It's just me, but I'd chop the whole menu interface up for the selection screens and remake them. There's a lot of inefficient space usage there. But I realize you don't want to break
with the existing FS2 layout.
Realistically I'd like to shoot for 32 players possible in the long run. But baby steps and planning first...
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What E means is that upping the number of players isn't anything coders are interested in simply because it means that instead of a laggy game with 12 players we'd have a very laggy game with 24.
Solving these issues has to be first priority.
I'm going to merge this thread with the one in the multiplayer forum in a bit, so don't be surprised if it suddenly vanishes. :D
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In addition, none of the mods that want or might want better multiplayer are released yet. There simply aren't enough players to test out new netcode with; as a result, changing it to to allow even more players is really, really low on the priorities list.
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How many do you want? Given enough notice... I can probably summon up to 10 people for a short time.
More if we don't include people that have some association to FringeSpace.
Let's fix the laggy game with 12 players first, while being aware of the desire to increase the limits.