Ensuring smooth games by looking at cpu , ping and fps rating of players

[P5yNerGy|TFL]

1.3 is out .

We need to know what values for them warrants the removal of a player.

imo FPS is most important. Low fps = slow mo game that only gets worse. <10fps in lobby. Ask player to leave or turn his graphic settings down.

High ping of 600+ might mean the discconect screen pops up once inawhile..but is less important then low fps. Ask player if he regularly disconnects if its 600. Stability is important.

CPU should be 1.6ghz+ for pentiums and 1.4+ ghz for athlons. Anything lower and you probably get more slowdowns latter on when there are more AI calculations and waypointing.

[Spiralarchitech]

I think the fps is based on processor as it never changes for me (im using an atix800xl) if i have my setting set at lowest i get 20fps and at highest i get 20fps?

[gswift]

Originally Posted by Spiralarchitech

I think the fps is based on processor as it never changes for me (im using an atix800xl) if i have my setting set at lowest i get 20fps and at highest i get 20fps?

As with everything you do on a computer, the frame rate is limited by the weakest part of your machine.

I didn't know you could do this until last night, so I'm going to share some info with everyone. When you're in a MP game, you can hit the 'p' key to display/hide the ping and frame rate of all the players in the match, and it updates as you play, so you can see who's slowing things down when the number of ships in the game gets larger. Very uselfull for finding people who have graphics set too high for MP on their machine, or finding out if it's you who's to blame... When you start looking at these numbers, you'll see that the numbers shown before you start a game are not always the same as the numbers you see once the game begins.

[P5yNerGy|TFL]

What ive found is that you get those games where everything starts but Its all in slow motion. It takes a minute for a fighter just to turn around and reach the first asteroid. Its not the High pingers fault but actually the low fps guy. There was one guy on 6 fps. There is a misconception out there that slow down is caused by high ping when infact its caused by the low fps of a player making it play low for everyone.

[gswift]

Exactly. For example, I have the cheapest cable connection speed available here, so my ping is kinda high for cable. However, my machine is good and I turn the graphics all the way down for MP, so my games always run nice and fast. You're definitely right about the ping vrs frame rate. There's not really any reason people should have graphics turned up for MP, unless they really like a slowed-down version of the game...

[Spiralarchitech]

Okay i think space is fine but land is a problem my friend and myself have tryed this on a land battle the specs were

His Mine
amd 3.2 p4 2.0
2ghz ram 1ghz ram
Geforce7800gt atix800xl


Both of us were using broadband 2 meg now connections were fine with the game set at max settings the fps went from 20 fps for me down to 10-12 when things got hectic his went from 30 to 17-19.

With the graphics set to the lowest the results were pretty much the same although the fps would rise quicker when you scrolled away from a lot of units.

Have to say land is not optimized for hardware at all, this is why i and as other people have mentioned that theres is next to nothing in noticable performance when you adjust the settings.

This is annoying for me as i can run bfme2 max graphics 1200-960 faster than i can run EAW on lowest settings on the land maps.