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Multiplayer Sessions And "waiting For Player" Screen.


CedarDpg
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Ok, so I know that people can asynchronously join multiplayer sessions... I know because quite often I'll join an active session and the next thing I immediately see/hear is "Good work Tenno. Now get to extraction." for example. ;)

 

I also know that the active host can be moved from person to person, as it's quite often I'll see "Host migration in progress." messages quite often.

 

Since it's established that people can join a session in progress, and the game can dynamically interrupt a game to move the host from person to person....it brings into question why...when we're starting a multiplayer session we'll load and sometimes it'll sit there for minutes on a Waiting for Player loading screen. (Not the one where you're waiting to find players to join with, the one where it's black and loading the level.)

 

If someone takes more than 10-20 seconds to send the level data out, there should be a host migration and the user with the lagging or interrupted connection should then join as their net connection allows.

 

Also, getting stuck in that screen seems to disallow access via the escape key to the menu, which should be fixed. Especially if the session isn't getting anywhere and we want to disconnect from it. Right now, the only option is to tab out, kill the Warframe application, reload and relog.

 

If nothing else, a popup, "Session loading taking longer than expected. <Wait> <Disconnect> <Host>" with no input equal waiting, might be an option.

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The whole host/client mechanism and netcode is a disaster.

 

....it brings into question why...when we're starting a multiplayer session we'll load and sometimes it'll sit there for minutes on a Waiting for Player loading screen. (Not the one where you're waiting to find players to join with, the one where it's black and loading the level.)

I'm not sure what scenario you refering to. The system takes incredibly long to "find" a suitable session for you.

The more sessions available the longer it takes. Good example are events, where you can go and make a coffee

the time it takes the system to find a session for you, while hundrets are available. This has nothing to do with the host.

If you mean the loading screen itself, that depends on the host (his upload bandwidth) and the clients. The typical

dial-up connection from the gobi desert can make this a real pain. Ctrl-Alt-Del as the only possible solution.

 

Also, getting stuck in that screen seems to disallow access via the escape key to the menu, which should be fixed. Especially if the session isn't getting anywhere and we want to disconnect from it. Right now, the only option is to tab out, kill the Warframe application, reload and relog.

This is so fckin annoying. I don't have even words for this.

 

We strongly need tools for handle the host/client thing. There must be a possibility for the players to decide

if they wanna host or not. We also need a clear indicator for the host, we have to see who is host and who is

client at any time. We need a real way to start a "online" mission as host, without joining a session mid-run with

a bad host. We need ingame descriptions that explain the whole system to the newbies. (Looking at you blank

pre loading screen) And finally we need a better net code that doesn't require Gigabit of traffic for each dozen players.

It's not a "latency problem". It's a bandwidth problem. Hosting Defense/Mobile Defense/Survival missions requires at least

1 Mbps upload bandwidth. That's way to much, and very few (speaking about all players, not just the "gamers" with hardcore

rigs and 100 Mbit connections) owns such a connection. And that's probably the reason we will never get dedicated servers,

I doubt DE can afford that much bandwidth. Imagine 3000 people playing a Defense missions, that's roughly a Gigabit traffic!

You could "host" every single human beeing in Europe playing WoW or such, with that traffic - it's ridiculous.

 

And that's the main reason the whole system doesn't work. I highly doubt there is a 3:1 ratio for <1Mbps and >1Mbps

people playing this game. That means that even in theory there aren't enough people with connections capable of hosting

bandwidth intensive missions. That means that most of the "public"/"pug" teams get a lagging host.

 

And De doesn't even give us the tools to handle that mess. The latency setting is just a joke. There is no point for

measuring the latency in the lobby, because every (ok, maybe not every single) connection is able to contact a client with a

decent ping under that condition. But let the game start, let the required bandwidth raise to the point where it reaches

the limit ---> and now look at the latency... It's only useful if someone wanted to join mid-fight, because under that

condition the latency setting is actually significant.

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The whole host/client mechanism and netcode is a disaster.

 

I'm not sure what scenario you refering to. The system takes incredibly long to "find" a suitable session for you.

The more sessions available the longer it takes. Good example are events, where you can go and make a coffee

the time it takes the system to find a session for you, while hundrets are available. This has nothing to do with the host.

If you mean the loading screen itself, that depends on the host (his upload bandwidth) and the clients. The typical

dial-up connection from the gobi desert can make this a real pain. Ctrl-Alt-Del as the only possible solution.

 

This is so fckin annoying. I don't have even words for this.

 

We strongly need tools for handle the host/client thing. There must be a possibility for the players to decide

if they wanna host or not. We also need a clear indicator for the host, we have to see who is host and who is

client at any time. We need a real way to start a "online" mission as host, without joining a session mid-run with

a bad host. We need ingame descriptions that explain the whole system to the newbies. (Looking at you blank

pre loading screen) And finally we need a better net code that doesn't require Gigabit of traffic for each dozen players.

 

The scenario is basically what I said. You connect to someone with either a slow connection or a bad connection and get stuck in that black loading screen. I once let it sit there for 10+ minutes as an experiment (because I had to do something afk), and checking periodically during this time, the progress bar never went above ~0% and eventually the game just froze.

 

Other than ping, a connection test either between the clients and DE or between the clients themselves might be cool. Send a couple megabytes back and forth prior to committing to a fully established connection which would then allow for the option to limit the hosts you're willing to connect with by net connection performance. (Ping times aren't the best indicator of overall latency/bandwidth.)

 

As to connecting to squads, the experience for me has been hit or miss. Sometimes it'll wait there for a long time, sometimes it'll find something immediately. I've found that when it takes a long time, often hitting back and then clicking the mission again helps.

Edited by CedarDpg
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