This last test session I had coded up a new client side interpolation algorithm for the actors / vehicles. I'm happy with the way things are working out...things looked really good on my end. My publisher [Strategy First] is based out of Montreal, so we have about a 130ms ping difference. I have servers running out of my office in Raleigh NC, and they set up a server as well. We jump back and forth between each server typically during a session.
I can't notice too bad of a difference in-game between a 30ms and 150ms ping that's good news...but the only real problem that's left is to get the vehicle physics working perfectly over the network which is a real bear. I'm trying to avoid the client side prediction route which could get real hairy.
One thing that I thought was cool about the latest test session, I recently added the ability for multiple clients to be inside the same vehicle. It was neat to be in the passenger seat while my producer was driving the car around the city, things were synced up perfectly for me.
Also, I recorded close to 13GB of [uncompressed AVI] footage during the session. I like to analyize things after the fact so I can get things cleaned up for the next weeks test session.
I typically run 2 game clients in each test session so I can spectate the game world and just to check things out. With the recent implementation of teamplay [last build/test session] I think things are going to start to interesting.
Earlier today I was working on implementing grenades / C4 / time bombs into the game. Also I fixed some bugs with the 'graffiti spraypaint' functions, as well as further optimized the ray casting funcitons as well as fixing a bug with the bullet code.
Ok...Here are some screenshots from the latest test session on the 1st of March.
//I like this one :-D
//I really don't know why I'm getting 45FPs in this screen. I'm playing @ 1024x768 & 8x FSAA & 12X motion blur and bloom...I usually get ~60-70FPS on my 8800...but yea. I guess it had to do with the extra network traffic. You can see the netgraph on the right side of the screen.
//"" just a hour gmae-time later.
//Here you can see what spectators / bosses look like to other people. Again, WTF with the low FPS...I chalk it up to net traffic. I wouldn't have thought it could cut the FPS to 1/3 their offline values. Especially considering the physics / AI is now offloaded to the server. Something is fishy.
//Up high.
In-case you missed it here is one of my favorite videos I've made lately....Also I'm playing around with a new logo for the game you can see it overlayed on these screens.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE VIDEO [18MB MPEG].
Ok. Another update soon :-D
- Dan
I'm pretty stunned that one person could create something like this on their own.