And it's driving me nuts!

I recently got Multiwinia as part of an app exchange on Macheist (Multiwinia for Timepost and Process) and just tried a game of assault in multiplayer. There were three human players and one CPU. I was the sole human defender. When multiwinians started popping in by the hundreds, the game became uncontrollable.

The camera started lagging and freezing when reinforcements came in, and it was impossible to control to machine guns because the camera shook and made me look at the sky, behind me, and to the sides all at once, but never at my target. This is annoying because I'm much better at shooting a machine gun than the computer, and it's the only way that I can survive against wave after wave of Multiwinians, by controlling a machine gun directly. And it's a lot funner. Soon there was lag when I tried to send messages to the other players telling them what was happening to me, at which point I set all the quality options to low.

But that didn't help, and soon enough the shaking problem spread to the main camera, and I had to leave because I simply couldn't play.

So, now I'm ticked not only because I was forced to leave a game, but because I don't have a slow machine in the sense that it plays Multiwinia fine in single player mode. True, it's not included in the system requirements; it's a single core G4 1.25 GHz MDD with 1 GB of RAM. I don't have a high-latency cable connection to the internet, nor 56k dialup, but decent DSL with latency times that I have found to be excellent in other games.

So is it just my machine, the DSL connection, Multiwinia or something else? I'd really like to play 3/4 player games in Multiplayer mode, and this is a deal breaker here.

Your machine does not meet the minimum spec---what did you expect? I would also suggest that you try playing the same map in single player mode. I will guess that it is equally difficult to play. Several of the assault maps (i.e. the ones with the most laser fences) are brutal on low-end systems, which your is at this point. If you want the game to attain a playable frame rate, I would suggest that you stick to the basic game modes, and probably also stick to two player games. Either that, or get a new computer.

xander

A nicer way of putting it is, that Multiwinia does lag quite a bit when you have a lot going on in the screen. It is the reason why we choose to place the minimum specs so high in comparison to some of our other games.

I would suggest that you go into the game option/preferences and turn all the options you can to the lowest settings. (graphics, music, etc...) That should allow you a bit more leeway in game play when there are a vast number of characters on the screen.

I'm not convinced.

Just recently, I was playing a game with three players. It wasn't too bad, I was getting pummeled in terms of crates, e.g. I was getting dark forests, plague outbreaks and futurewinians back to back, but near the end of the game the screen started doing something funny. It zoomed in, then out, then in, then out, oscillating back and forth at greater intervals each time, so after about 20 seconds I was looking at the map from the edge of the universe, then drug back in to the microscopic level:

When the futurewinians came out, that was when everything went down the tubes. I can play this particular blitz map in single player mode fine.

Sorry if I'm a nuisance, but I really think there's something wrong here. I wasn't touching the mouse, or the scroll wheel, or the keyboard while it was doing this, it just did this until Multiwinia ungracefully croaked. It pulled me out of the game and dumped me on the desktop with narry an error message. Before that happened, the guy I was playing with said he had some lag as well.

Other games stutter with lag, sure, but the camera doesn't shake, which is the most annoying part here. I'm willing to put up with camera stutter, but not shaking. If I'm asking too much, that's fine, I'll just drop it and never mention it again.

This post has been edited by JacaByte : 17 April 2009 - 10:46 PM

The problem that you describe can, and often is, caused by low framerates. IF your computer cannot push the frames fast enough, the camera can get very erratic. Your machine does not meet the minimum specs---you should not be surprised that the game does not perform well. You need to upgrade, or stick to the smaller two player maps (which, even then, may have problems). In order to play Multiwinia well, you will need a new video card, and/or a new computer.

xander

Or maybe IV could get their s### together and learn how to actually use OpenGL. Just a thought.

Immediate mode is OK sometimes, but on OS X in particular it can cause real performance problems.

This post has been edited by prophile : 18 April 2009 - 11:52 AM

QUOTE (prophile @ Apr 18 2009, 04:52 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Or maybe IV could get their s### together and learn how to actually use OpenGL. Just a thought.

Yeah, that would help, too.

xander

I've had this problem, too, and I'm using a MacBook with OS 10.5.8 and a 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor. I'm assuming it's the modem or internet connection. However, Jacabyte, I've found pushing the spacebar just once will stop the camera. If you then move slowly, it should happen less often. If it happens again, just hit spacebar. You may not be able to play to your fullest extent, but at least you'll be able to play.

This post has been edited by darthkev : 06 October 2009 - 10:12 AM