Tried to apply the principles of "1500 Archers" and failed. Any tips?
Hello. I'm in the process of making an RTS game. Until recently, it used plain ol' photontransformviews to synchronize unit positions. But about a month ago, I had to track down a network crash problem, and took it as an opportunity to try and optimize the data usage of my game. RTS games can have relatively high data consumption if they aren't thrifty. I searched for advice and found a link to the "1500 Archers" piece in Gamasutra explaining how the original Age of Empires team made a game that allowed for massive concurrency with primitive network technology.
The idea was simple enough: just create identical simulations and run them at the same time. So, I stripped the photontransformviews away and went to work synchronizing. I spent about A MONTH trying to get rid of every possible source of random variation and inconsistent treatment. Now, I'm just about ready to give up. My best guess is that it's frame timings that are messing things up. Does the simultanious simulation method just not work with physics-based stuff? I feel like I could make units stay in line if I was just translating them around; it's when they bump into one another that they get into serious trouble.
Advice is appreciated. In the meantime, I think I'm going to turn the photontransformviews back on.
The idea was simple enough: just create identical simulations and run them at the same time. So, I stripped the photontransformviews away and went to work synchronizing. I spent about A MONTH trying to get rid of every possible source of random variation and inconsistent treatment. Now, I'm just about ready to give up. My best guess is that it's frame timings that are messing things up. Does the simultanious simulation method just not work with physics-based stuff? I feel like I could make units stay in line if I was just translating them around; it's when they bump into one another that they get into serious trouble.
Advice is appreciated. In the meantime, I think I'm going to turn the photontransformviews back on.
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