Firstly, many thanks to the team for getting the 1.4.2 update out. It mean't I could have my first game proper last night and it worked great. The only problem I had, which is one I had previously, is of latency issues. Now I know that it is probably more related to my connection than anything but I wonder how many other players experience high latency during a game?

The end result was having to re-sync twice during which my fleets were destroyed as well as the initial lag meaning I could not place all my units before Defcon 3. I was trying to place them but obviously couldn't place them until the game had caught up with the rest. On the plus side, it managed to pull the latency back a couple of times, something it hasn't done before and by the end of the game it was running fine.

What are your experiences?

For information: Powerbook G4 12inch 867MHZ with 1.12GB RAM and a 32MB nVidia graphics card. Connecting to the internet via Airport and a Netgear DM602 modem onto an ADSL line running at up to 8Mbits.

I sometimes have issues with high latency, but that's mostly related to the machines and the connections of the others, especially the host.

Are you hosting or joining? And what is your upload speed (that 8Mb/sec is likely the max download speed)? Do you know the upload speeds of the host, if you are not hosting? Do you know where the other players are?

xander

Yes, the 8Mb is the download speed. Upload speed is synced at 448kb/s which is obvious a lot less. Still, what is the kind of throughput expected during a Defcon game?

@darwinian, on May 4 2007, 04:28 PM, said in General latency issues:

Are you hosting or joining? And what is your upload speed (that 8Mb/sec is likely the max download speed)? Do you know the upload speeds of the host, if you are not hosting? Do you know where the other players are?

xander

What framerate are you getting (press F1)? When DEFCON complains about network latency, it just means that it's not getting network updates fast enough to keep up with the game speed. This can be due to actual network problems, or to lack of CPU power for any of the players, including yourself.

A G4 867MHz is pushing it as far as system requirements go. Try adjusting the graphics and/or screen options to get a better framerate.

@scoops, on May 4 2007, 06:51 PM, said in General latency issues:

Yes, the 8Mb is the download speed. Upload speed is synced at 448kb/s which is obvious a lot less. Still, what is the kind of throughput expected during a Defcon game?

Something on the order of 5 or 6 kB/sec (40kb/sec) for clients, or 5 or 6 kB/sec per player for the host, plus a little overhead. If you are hosting 6 player games and have any specs, it is possible that you are approaching your upload limit. Which is why I ask about what kind of configuration is causing you problems.

xander

I do have "connection problems" with High latency....

Every time I try to play (by joining a game, not hosting it), the game begins quite well, I place every units, but when fights begins, the red message "Connection problem" appears, the green little square at the upper left corner turns red with High latency message, and...... I can't play anymore

I run DefCon on an old iMac G4/800 in 1440x900 resolution.

My upload bandwith is 512 kb/s and the download is about 4 Mb/s

Is there a way to improve?

What kind of graphics card?

I will give running the game at reduced detail a shot. I hadn't really noticed any performance issues with the graphics though obviously the network problems might be an indicator of that.