6 replies to this topic

[SillyCow]

I've finished my naive multiplayer implementation for my RTS game, and I've measured how many bytes I'm sending through.

The figure I got was ~70 Kilobytes-per-second for a small map (~30 units).
This is raw game data, without the added overhead of network protocols.
Since I want to use a remote game-server, this rate is unacceptable.

The technique I am using is lock-stepping. I send a message each time a unit moves from one square to another on the grid.
I've read the 1,500 archers article http://www.gamasutra...8_network_.php/ .
I'm targeting androids, so I'm not sure it is an option. I'd probably have to clear the code of every floating point calculation I have.
And besides, it seems harder, and I'm lazy .

I can probably optimize the 70 kB/s figure by a factor of 10.
But 7 kB/s is still bad for a small map on an RTS which has to link to a remote server.
I've read somewhere that Star-Craft 2 uses ~15kb/s for large maps.

So what I want to ask is:
Is lock-stepping even an option for an RTS?
Would you try to implement the same-state-simulation as described in "1,500 archers" on Android phones?
Should I try to compress (Huffman) my communications on an ARM chip allready running an RTS game?

Edited by SillyCow, 03 August 2012 - 07:43 PM.

[AdrianC]

Is lock-stepping even an option for an RTS?

Lock step is the only option for RTS games.

I send a message each time a unit moves from one square to another on the grid.

As I understand it you just send each player's input, not each unit's action.

[Hodgman]

What is you 'tick' rate? How often do you run your 'step' logic on each client?

As I understand it you just send each player's input, not each unit's action.

That's generally the point of lock-step systems, yep.

[SillyCow]

A unit get's a logic step ~every 1-2 seconds. There are many other logic steps, but those are generally related to path-finding, and U don't send those.

I think I might have misunderstood what lock-step is, I'm new to multi-player.

I send each unit's action: 1 message each for each moving unit ~every second. Aside from that, game state is replicated on both machines. But only one machine does path-finding. I only send the complete state once at the beginning of the game. I thought that was lock-step.

"you just send each player's input" is what's described in the "1,500 archers" article and is what I didn't do. Is that method what is necessary?

[hplus0603]

"you just send each player's input" is what's described in the "1,500 archers" article and is what I didn't do. Is that method what is necessary?

Yes; that's the whole point of "lock step."

A unit get's a logic step ~every 1-2 seconds.

I don't think that's often enough, but it might be, depending on the game. Typically, your logic step rate will be between 10 and 30 steps per second in a typical RTS (if such a thing exists :-)

[SillyCow]

The logic step for thr game occurs 50 times a second. A meaningful step happens only once per second per unit. A meaningful step being one that results in a message. Most other steps concern path finding and ai, which are not sent.

[hplus0603]

The logic step for thr game occurs 50 times a second. A meaningful step happens only once per second per unit. A meaningful step being one that results in a message. Most other steps concern path finding and ai, which are not sent.

If you do lock stepping, then no step will result in a message. The only thing that results in messages is user commands.