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Vendetta over GPRS
Last night I had the pleasure to test Vendetta over GPRS connection. Being linked up to my new Siemens SX1 via bluetooth, I was able to connect and get into the game without too many problems.
Ping times were from 200 to 1000. Not too bad when compared to ordinary dial up. Sectors took a long time to load, bots jumped around a fair bit. Fortunately nobody was hostile to me (except for toshiro's threat due to Radeon 9800 Pro that I have ;).
Anyhow, verdict is such that Vendetta is just playable over GPRS. It's possible to trade and engage in simple fights or evade combat. Traffic usage was very acceptable. In 10 minutes I've played for I only transmitted around 500k all up I think.
Cost of this exercise: 2USD in GPRS charges ;)
Ping times were from 200 to 1000. Not too bad when compared to ordinary dial up. Sectors took a long time to load, bots jumped around a fair bit. Fortunately nobody was hostile to me (except for toshiro's threat due to Radeon 9800 Pro that I have ;).
Anyhow, verdict is such that Vendetta is just playable over GPRS. It's possible to trade and engage in simple fights or evade combat. Traffic usage was very acceptable. In 10 minutes I've played for I only transmitted around 500k all up I think.
Cost of this exercise: 2USD in GPRS charges ;)
Cool , sounds like you actually had better performance than I do on my bad days. Impressive.
tell though, GPRS is the packet data service for GSM networks, aye?
tell though, GPRS is the packet data service for GSM networks, aye?
Yep. Gee, maybe we can port the game to the NGage or something.
Anyway that's cool. I tested the latest server code under a virtual 14.4k modem link, and it mostly worked fine. Fighting bots kind of sucks. GPRS would be like that but worse, since I imagine the round-trip-time of each packet would vary tremendously.
That's where Vendetta's network code performs the worst: if you have a connection that's 100% consistently lagged at 300ms it isn't nearly as bad as a connection that varies between 0 and 300ms every packet. It's hard to synchronize in those conditions.
Anyway that's cool. I tested the latest server code under a virtual 14.4k modem link, and it mostly worked fine. Fighting bots kind of sucks. GPRS would be like that but worse, since I imagine the round-trip-time of each packet would vary tremendously.
That's where Vendetta's network code performs the worst: if you have a connection that's 100% consistently lagged at 300ms it isn't nearly as bad as a connection that varies between 0 and 300ms every packet. It's hard to synchronize in those conditions.
"Yep. Gee, maybe we can port the game to the NGage or something."
a1k0n, grab a book, a nice heavy book. Good, now hit yourself over your head with it.
a1k0n, grab a book, a nice heavy book. Good, now hit yourself over your head with it.
Then take that book and put it next to your ear like you are calling someone. Now you know the feel of an NGage lol...man I find them so stupid.
/me takes the old time gameboy and places it next to his ear. "Hello?"
/me takes the old time gameboy and places it next to his ear. "Hello?"
<Suicidal Lemming> "a1k0n, grab a book, a nice heavy book. Good, now hit yourself over your head with it."
...twice...no, thrice!
Seriously though, the technology is moving forward and I'm certain that the latency problems will be overcome....eventually. Keep the idea of a port in the back of your head. Vendetta being played in a jet, with such proximity to the controls, has a strange appeal to me : )
...twice...no, thrice!
Seriously though, the technology is moving forward and I'm certain that the latency problems will be overcome....eventually. Keep the idea of a port in the back of your head. Vendetta being played in a jet, with such proximity to the controls, has a strange appeal to me : )
hey, we finally have 3g networks over here in the uk....
its a shame "3" are too busy trying to flog "Video Mobile" to the sheep, if only they stopped and considered the *real* market...
mmmm 2mbs over mobile.... drool
asphy
its a shame "3" are too busy trying to flog "Video Mobile" to the sheep, if only they stopped and considered the *real* market...
mmmm 2mbs over mobile.... drool
asphy
This is the best N-Gage fan site ever: http://sidetalkin.com/
The data connection from my PCS Palm Treo 600 runs at about twice the speed of my dial up connection. And a flat fee for data service.
/That/ is something to consider.
/That/ is something to consider.
Talk all the trash about the NGage you want, I personally enjoy playing the PS1 version of Tony Hawk on a handheld over the internet with 4 people while shopping in the mall. Maybe i'm the only one who thinks that's cool... eh whatever.
Yeah, how is it talking into a taco? Oh, and how's the cartridge switching? :P
OFFTOPIC:
SX1 doesn't look like a taco and plays Tony Hawk just fine.
SEMIONTOPIC:
Actually, I think it would be neat to have a vendetta client for mobile phone ;)
ONTOPIC:
I wish I had a normal phoneline. *sobs*.
SX1 doesn't look like a taco and plays Tony Hawk just fine.
SEMIONTOPIC:
Actually, I think it would be neat to have a vendetta client for mobile phone ;)
ONTOPIC:
I wish I had a normal phoneline. *sobs*.
a1k0n:
That seems to fit perfectly on my connection, average "okay" times, but a lot of random packetloss/delay due to the nature of linked wireless networks. This causes lagspikes of up to 8 seconds, at which time things go very much "plonkers"
Could there be a graph implementation for this perhaps? (lag over time) and I'd like to request a way to measure the packetloss achieved. (not if I have packetloss or not, but the amount of it)
That seems to fit perfectly on my connection, average "okay" times, but a lot of random packetloss/delay due to the nature of linked wireless networks. This causes lagspikes of up to 8 seconds, at which time things go very much "plonkers"
Could there be a graph implementation for this perhaps? (lag over time) and I'd like to request a way to measure the packetloss achieved. (not if I have packetloss or not, but the amount of it)
I've played over SprintPCS using my Samsung N400, a 400 Mhz PowerBook G3 Firewire, and the USB cable. I was really happy, although it was probably about a year ago. Best part about it--Sprint's Vision fee is a flat rate ($10/month then, $15 now) for unlimited access.
Bad news, they charge by the download if you have a modem card or the bluetooth-equiped Sony Ericsson T608 (available only over the phone by special request), and if you dial in through your handset/USB cable, they try to kick you off after just a few minutes of inactivity. Solution: ping yahoo.com or some other website an unlimited number of times, and you'll never be inactive. <insert evil grin here>
I was downloading INDIVIDUAL files up to 100 kbps while surfing the web, too. That's usually what my cable modem tops out at, but cable has enough bandwidth to support that for multiple downloads. Not bad since even a 56K modem pretty much tops out at about 33k thanks to copper wire limitations.
Sprint runs a bit faster then standard GPRS, although there was atleast one company that was going to double the number of "channels" used for data phones on their network.
Bad news, they charge by the download if you have a modem card or the bluetooth-equiped Sony Ericsson T608 (available only over the phone by special request), and if you dial in through your handset/USB cable, they try to kick you off after just a few minutes of inactivity. Solution: ping yahoo.com or some other website an unlimited number of times, and you'll never be inactive. <insert evil grin here>
I was downloading INDIVIDUAL files up to 100 kbps while surfing the web, too. That's usually what my cable modem tops out at, but cable has enough bandwidth to support that for multiple downloads. Not bad since even a 56K modem pretty much tops out at about 33k thanks to copper wire limitations.
Sprint runs a bit faster then standard GPRS, although there was atleast one company that was going to double the number of "channels" used for data phones on their network.