ArmA MP since 1.05 Excelent

[walker]

Hi all

I just played an excelent couple of games of "River Battle" style ultra large scale Capture and Hold (C&H) ArmA called "Berzerk!".

60 Players no lag vehicles were a dream to drive.

I had TS with some Zeus guys going.

BIS have done the job as far as Net Code goes. Yeah we could do with some extras but they will come.

The fact is: it played brilliant it is in fact better than OFP no if buts or may-be's.

I noticed the servers are getting larger and are filling up really quick.

Thanks BIS http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/smile_o.gif

Kind Regards walker

[Jack-UK]

Hmm ive yet to experience a good game of 1.05 online.

I get more lag than i did in 1.04 personally :\

Netcode definately needs improvement, especially as BIS claimed to have 100+ players in a game...

[iGnitor]

Just what I was waiting for but I will have to confirm since I got the game this morning and it's still sealed.

[walker]

Hi Jack-UK

Join in on the UMPC public server.

It is the one with 60 players on it.

It may change your mind

Kind Regards walker

[MisterXY]

I got more lags in 1.05 than before. (1.02) Also I noticed that the vehicels rather "swim" more than they drive. They slide over the surface like snowboards at lower speed.

[Mr Burns]

Just had a great game on our 1.05 server too.
Never had so much fun doing the Air Cavalry Coop, really a kickass session, thanks to all who participated http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/thumbs-up.gif

some screens:
http://hx3.de/files/team/mrburns/arma_de_coop030407-1.jpg
http://hx3.de/files/team/mrburns/arma_de_coop030407-2.jpg
http://hx3.de/files/team/mrburns/arma_de_coop030407-3.jpg
http://hx3.de/files/team/mrburns/arma_de_coop030407-4.jpg
http://hx3.de/files/team/mrburns/arma_de_coop030407-5.jpg
http://hx3.de/files/team/mrburns/arma_de_coop030407-6.jpg
http://hx3.de/files/team/mrburns/arma_de_coop030407-7.jpg
http://hx3.de/files/team/mrburns/arma_de_coop030407-8.jpg
http://hx3.de/files/team/mrburns/arma_de_coop030407-9.jpg
http://hx3.de/files/team/mrburns/arma_de_coop030407-10.jpg
http://hx3.de/files/team/mrburns/arma_de_coop030407-11.jpg
http://hx3.de/files/team/mrburns/arma_de_coop030407-12.jpg
http://hx3.de/files/team/mrburns/arma_de_coop030407-13.jpg
http://hx3.de/files/team/mrburns/arma_de_coop030407-14.jpg
http://hx3.de/files/team/mrburns/arma_de_coop030407-15.jpg
http://hx3.de/files/team/mrburns/arma_de_coop030407-16.jpg
http://hx3.de/files/team/mrburns/arma_de_coop030407-17.jpg
http://hx3.de/files/team/mrburns/arma_de_coop030407-18.jpg

I would´ve made some captions describing what went on but it´s 0520 here and i need my bed http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/biggrin_o.gif

[pedro870]

It is almost excellent, but does internal voice com work already? Because at our server (disablevon=0), it doesn't seem to be working. And for 60 players a team/group/vehicle based voicecom system would be also better, I guess.

[sirex]

it's definatly getting alot better. - i've had great games upto 35-40 players. Last night we found a really nice server with a 180 second respawn (just how we like it, respawns, but slow ones).

[walker]

Hi all

I think the high numbers on the servers speak for themselves: servers with 60 on lots of 40s and 30s with low pings; all full most of the time last night and the JIP is working well.

I could not get internal coms working on those servers but I do not know if it was turned on. I was using Teamspeak anyway so if it is a bug there is work around till it gets fixed.

The most important thing is I like all the others was having fun. I also played a couple of coops some Hexekessle and some other short range CTFs.

Kind Regards walker

[neswrossi]

I wouldnt say it was excellent, but its improved a lot.

The whole process of joining a game server is still hit and miss.

We need servers to have the ability to have a proper mission rotation.

[walker]

Hi neswrossi

That is down to server admins. There are various options available to them. Over the next few months, of shake out, I think the various scripted options will start to appear.

At the moment I have noticed that server admins are playing on line and putting up the games they want to play.

Where there are no admins, mission voting seems to be working well on the servers I visited.

Note, I do not say MP is everything we want; I am saying:
1) It is an excellent start.
2) It is better than OFP by a large margin, (and ArmA is the only MP game I have been able to say that about.)
3) I had fun! http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/yay.gif

Kind Regards walker

[Sniper Pilot]

Hi all

I just played an excelent couple of games of "River Battle" style ultra large scale Capture and Hold (C&H) ArmA called "Bezerk!".

60 Players no lag vehicles were a dream to drive.

I had TS with some Zeus guys going.

BIS have done the job as far as Net Code goes. Yeah we could do with some extras but they will come.

The fact is: it played brilliant it is in fact better than OFP no if buts or may-be's.

I noticed the servers are getting larger and are filling up really quick.

Thanks BIS http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/smile_o.gif

Kind Regards walker
yeah same experience here! way to go bis!

[whisper]

Exactly the same, Berzerk mission with 50+ people, a bit of CTF too, and large scale coop (there are others than this "Air Cavalry coop" that every server seems to run, and these are excellent... admins, variety, plz! not all playing the same thing).
Only going grumpy over using parachutes for respawn in Berzerk maps, makes you sitting duck + half the time on my PC, it went buggy and released me from the chute way too early so I died 50% of the respawn. It gets on the nerves, so I made ungratefull comments I shouldn't have.
Anyway, cheers to Zaphod for making these maps. they are great.

And, from what I've seen, the lag seen in games are most due to servers not really having enough power. Generally speaking, when the mission download is slow, you know you'll have desynch and various connection issues. When it's smooth, it'll go fine.

[Rambo-16AAB]

so what spec is your server exactly, as our server is no slouch but MP experience on it is very unstable.

[JKAND]

I must say that i had my BEST gaming experience EVER in this Berzerk map!!! Absolutely brilliant  http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/yay.gif

Rockets flying, explosions everywhere, guns blazing  http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/pistols.gif


AAAAAHHHH  
http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/inlove.gif

[Monkwarrior]

there are others than this "Air Cavalry coop" that every server seems to run, and these are excellent... admins, variety, plz! not all playing the same thing
Agree, diversity is what we need gentlemen.

[Rekrul]

What about Coop? Is performance better there?

[IceBreakr]

Rekrul: today we're testing out 1.05 in Coop, ~16 players from 2000 - 0100 CET.

[Rambo-16AAB]

we hit the problems with multiplayer maps, not CoOps, even if its the same numbers of players on the server. Its all a bit weird to be honest.

[Sickboy]

we hit the problems with multiplayer maps, not CoOps, even if its the same numbers of players on the server. Its all a bit weird to be honest.
Simply not too much scripting, wrong scripts, too hard/many loops, etc. etc in the Missions?

[whisper]

If it is performance issues related to scripts/etc... then perhaps it's usefull to look into Zaphod's work (the one behind the Berzerk maps) because his maps run nicely with 60+ people on them, even when he has few things running (capture checker, vehicles respawns, corpse despawners, etc, etc...).

[Blake]

We've had several coops on 1.05 now with 20+ people on Kyllikki's server with maps consisting of hundreds of AIs and dozens of vehicles without any lag whatsoever. CPU load on the server is clearly much lighter than on OFP http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/smile_o.gif

On the "bad" side the AI in 1.05 is so much better than in OFP or ArmA 1.02 that we're getting beaten and outsmarted by it on several maps which are made 'OFP' style with 1:10 or 1:5 force rations...Many times human player casualties are bigger than AI's...so ArmA forces us to rethink tactics. The AI seems very eager to outflank you and they are very aggressive whenever they hear gunshots. Just AI's dropped on the map without any waypoints show significant maneuvers when they are threatened.

To make it short, ArmA 1.05 offers the best coop experience ever  http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/xmas_o.gif

[Rambo-16AAB]

I dont think its the map scripting causing the problems as its all multiplay maps that roll over and die, where most of the CoOp's can have equally or more often, more complicated scripting.

[whisper]

I dont think its the map scripting causing the problems as its all multiplay maps that roll over and die, where most of the CoOp's can have equally or more often, more complicated scripting.
I've also seen stable non-coop maps, the Berzerk maps with 60+ people I'm talking about are C&H.
Well, there's odd yellow network issue marker now and then, but nothing serious.
I don't remember on which server and I honestly don't know their server's specs

[Rambo-16AAB]

I'll get hold of one of those maps and test it.

[KaRRiLLioN]

Shortly after updating to 1.05 some missions had really bad strange lag. Then I remembered that BIS updated all marker commands to be global. That meant each player running a marker script that used to be local under 1.02 was now global in 1.05 and so every client was broadcasting marker information to every other client and it was not good for latency.

I went through and updated all the scripts in my CTF's C&H sector controls, and a few missions that aren't mine but needed updating, and presto! 40+ players, no lag at all.

We were in the middle of a sector control with 5 tanks per side, several other vehicles like BRDM's and Strykers, and 2 choppers per side with about 40 players and I couldn't believe there were that many playing with stable pings. It was intense.

Even at its best, OFP would get some lag with 20+ players.

There's still stuff that needs fixing, but this is MP as it was meant to be played.

[benreeper]

I agree karrillion as I was playing on your server over the weekend. It was fun. The fact that it felt like COD but with more players, huge maps and vehicles was astounding! It must also be noted that I only played MP on the internet in OFP one time.

The gametype possibilities are endless with this game.
--Ben

[satexas69]

What do you mean by Markers? or marker Scripts?

I have a huge popular mission, and I'd like to make sure it too is optomized...

Russ

[whisper]

What do you mean by Markers? or marker Scripts?

I have a huge popular mission, and I'd like to make sure it too is optomized...

Russ
There are several scripting commands that update markers for players on their map : circles around towns and bases turning red or green, new objectives appearing, etc...

You change these attributes with commands setMarkerXXX, XX being "pos" or "color", or "type", or "shape", etc...
Before, setMarkerXXX command would only change the marker on the PC where the command was launched. So mission scripts usually launch this command on every PC connected to update the map markers.

BUT, now, setMarkerXXX commands have global effect and update the marker even on remote PCs. That means that when you launch a setMarkerXXX command on a PC, this PC will send update packets to everyone. If you want to update only local PC marker, you need to use setMarkerXXXLocal command (which are newly introduced).

So, if you take the old missions without changing, every marker update will force every PC to send update packets to every other PC in game, resulting in a big network load that is not necessary. So you usually need simply to replace all setMarkerXXX commands in your missions by corresponding setMarkerXXXLocal commands. This will revert to previous behavior and no network load

[JDShots]

Zaphod has updated the map pack to v1.2 with a ton of changes, including a script that marks mines (red) and satchels (yellow) on the map as you place them. Also, bases are closer to Arcadia for CQB.

http://www.get42.com/

[ggxjimmy]

i was on UMPC with 60 ppl on it, and it was nice and laggy http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/whistle.gif

maybe there using the new SQF scripts with there missions which helps the server?

[d3dsh33p]

Sorry my servers been down, but did anyone who played allday wednsday, and thursday have any lag issues when we got up to 60 people?

I noticed that people kinda skipped forward a bit from time to time, especially when i was trying to hit moving targets with the sniper rifle.

but thats in almost all other 60 man games when sniping

[[APS]Gnat]

To me, seems to depend on the missions used, which is no surprise for these early days as mish makers come to grips with the differences from OFP.
And I'm not talking the number of scripts, I'm talking good code.

We have had 60+ ppl on the OGN server with ppls pings ranging from 10 to 400 and on some/most missions it runs beautiful (its high spec server) but in other cases the first 10 minutes (or even the whole mission) turn to laggy shyt.
Its more common to see 20-40 ppl on but I think I'm seeing some particular missions which always give trouble.

[=JpS=SgtRock]

Sounds like a great opportunity for profiling tools. Do any exist for OpFlash scripts? I would think that they'd be pretty easy to adapt for ArmA.

[Zaphod]

Rules for a non-lag 60+ player server:

- disable ingame voice
- disable ALL! custom files like faces and sounds!
- for sure: have a fast machine to run the server *jokingly*
- admins: have an eye to high pingers above 300ms
- players: download map pack and put it into MPMissions

* coop maps cannot reach the same player count as maps without AI .. (server calculates AI players ..)
* forget maps created under ArmA 1.02 (as described by Karillion above)
* You figured out problems with player max on your server? Close it BEFORE you reach your individual maximum

thats all folks ...
64 players with these rules are no problem ...
up to 80 players are possible in some cases.

hopefully netcode will be able to serve 100+ players soon!

have fun... http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/yay.gif

[Dwarden]

well anyone with these ~65 servers got numbers of memory used ? it's 1GB or it can spike up higher (like 2GB) ?

btw. related to no lag and problems ... made sure You use some qualite NIC (ideal INTEL, 3COM server or PRO+ models) ...

[mrj-fin]

I am very impressed the performance of 1.05 MP Arma its rly runs smooth with huge stuff. I am just waiting to +100 players CTI´s.
Absolutely the best MP games expiriences I have ever played.

[d3dsh33p]

I dunno if we ever reached 65 but we don't have near some crazy high end machine but everything was fine to me and friends.

specs go something like:

p4 3.0 mhz
1.5 gig of ram
i dont even know which gfx card

and a solid connection

seems the server client is strong. next time we get it full I'll check the usages

[Maddmatt]

- admins: have an eye to high pingers above 300ms
I have played on international servers a bit, and when I do my ping can be about 400ms. It is perfectly playable, and the ping of an individual player has nothing to do with lag on a server.

More than 500 could be a problem, but if you kick someone for a ping less than that then you're just being an asshole. http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/confused_o.gif

[hugo2020]

I am watching ARMA MP via ARMA Spy. I can t believe that I am finding many Coop Matches and so far no Battlefield or Capture and Hold Session, what is going on?

No more Sense for competition in Arma?

That makes me sad, because in OFP that was a very vital think.

I know, that the german ESL (with international option also) is now starting, but it seems difficult.

[Zaphod]

hi there,

yee ... pings are not that important as it was in OFP, i agree, but ... high pingers above really affect the servers performance.... so pings above 500 are a real problem keeping the server lag
-free.

Coop Missions are easy to create! .. if the real players at one side, AI the other side, it's easy to recycle OFP scripts to ArmA and everything works ...

a real MP missions with both sides real players playing an JoinInProgress possible makes it more difficult to realize a bugless WORKING! MP mission with all known features. The Marker System change inside Arma from version .02 to .05 was a good step to solve Marker probs but degrades some developments like UMPC's first C&H missions (they were really cool, but e.g. GPS scripts not workin' anymore...)

I always try to improve the MP-play within berzerk maps to fit all, that a really good Multiplayer experience needs ...

thanx to all who love the berzerk gaming style... development is never been done ...

regards,
zap (general berzerk)