Ping Difference
Morgan
Join Date: 2003-02-18 Member: 13721Members
Join Date: 2003-02-18 Member: 13721Members
<div class="IPBDescription">How it affects Bullet Registration</div> I live in an area where a faster connection than ISDN is not available, so I have to make do with my 33k modem (Because ISDN is a rip off and my 56k modem is bust) and Broadband or anything similar is not coming here for at least a good 6 months. When I play at home, lvl3 HMG taking on a fade, it usually takes me about 250-300 direct bullets to take down a fade on average, which as you can imagine is extremely difficult. The other day I managed to persuade my local LAN centre, which is 15 miles from where I live and in the middle of a major city, so they have 512k ADSL, I play online there with lvl3 HMG and it takes on average 20 bullets, this is a MAJOR difference and I was just wondering if its the same for other people, and can't this be fixed in any way for us less fortunate players? (Although I doubt it <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo--> )
Comments
EDIT: I heard this is how hitscan weapons work: You shoot at where the alien seems to be by your time, sends message to server "Hey I shot at that alien, kill it". Server checks if there is an alien where your shots hit, finds none, and therefor deals no damage to the alien that is in reality a few paces away from the location you are shooting at.
Lag can sometimes be advantageous of course, as LPBs can sometimes find it harder, but its much better to play as aliens if your lagging, although another thing that confuses me is that sometimes my Acid shots as fade don't actually appear, I don't know whether they fired but just missed the animation, or if it just doesn't fire at all even though my energy goes down.
Those were not direct bullet hits then. You were missing a LOT.
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->lvl3 HMG and it takes on average 20 bullets<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Thats impossible unless the fade was already quite wounded.
Lag is not the issue, not directly atleast. HL has lag-countering code put in the hit detection. When your computer says "i shot a bullet aiming over there", and it takes a bit for that message to get to the server for processing, the server does NOT go "oh well, the fade isn't there anymore" (having been updated to a new fade position before your packet arrived) and give you a miss. What it DOES do is check your ping, and then looks BACK IN TIME by your ping (the server keeps the last second or so of gameplay in memory), sees that the fade WAS there, and gives you a hit.
So lag will not cause you to miss because of timing to the server.
Aliens is another matter alltogether, trying to play skulk on a laggy connection is a nightmare. It is at least twice as difficult to take down any marine because most of your bites will not register at all. If im lagging at the time, I will not play aliens as its just a joke to try and play effectively.
Btw you cant really complain about being on a 33k modem as 56k modems cost about a tenner nowadays :/
Do I have a tenner to spare? No, I have too many other priorities and am a poor student <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
Anyway I have a 56k modem its just not working atm, it will work when I reformat, which I shall do soon.
But yeah, HL does deal with lag well, thats why its such a popular game as its not just a game where its pointless playing unless your an LPB, players have a chance of doing well with 56k
Why?
Because when you fire your hitscan HMG/LMG, your client reports that you were on target, and registers health lost to the alien, regardless of whether in the aliens' opinion, you weren't hitting. So, this is why I often (I'm a classic LPB, I get a ping of 30 to most servers, and I'm on 128kb ADSL, so I shouldn't really) will attempt to eat a marine, find he has friends, be shot at, run around a corner, get 10 feet down the corridor & THEN die. 'Tis very annoying, but it's because to the marines screen, I was still there, and he shot me. Hence, why I'm allowed to hate HPB's. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
Stop jumping at the possibility that your aim was off. I'm not saying that, but it can't be the lag completely, unless you've (or NS has) changed your HL code... <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif'><!--endemo-->
( playing aliens _is_ much easier with higher ping )
Try having the fade stand still, and you fire right into his chest from close range. See how many bullets it takes to kill. It should be the same at any ping because ping doesn't affect damage.
Now, whip out your pistol and aim it somewhere. Have the fade run past where you are aiming, and you shoot once when he's right under your crosshair. See if he gets hit or not on both pings. Because of HL's wonderful anti-ping code, both of your shots will do damage. So ping doesn't affect whether a bullet actually hits or not.
Now have the fade run across your screen at some distance (even vary the distance, up close, far away, etc) Track him with the crosshair and fire off a few shots. Every one will hit if you aimed right because the server doesn't care where he IS (as the server knows) but where he WAS when you fired at him from YOUR point of view. So again, ping doesn't affect whether or not hits register.
Using a wildly inaccurate weapon like the HMG to test things is bound to give you bizzare results. Test stuff with the pistol as its always dead on target.
<a href='http://www.geekboys.org/articles.php' target='_blank'>http://www.geekboys.org/articles.php</a>
It's just that when I play with my (normal) 250 ping on a US server it takes about 3 times as much to kill someone then when I play with my optimal (5-20) ping on a Swedish one.
Same thing in all HL mods (and HL of ocurse).
If you think there's no difference between a 30, 60, 100, 150, and 200 ping, you're crazy. There's a noticeable difference between every single one of those values.
ViPr, you're also correct. Fluctuation matters. This can be addressed to some point with careful tweaking of your network settings.
S
If your choke isnt bad you shouldnt be missing. If your choke is like 30 that means 1/3 of your shots arent registering. Not sure if this is true in all mods but it is in firearms.
yeah lag sucks <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
You could look into geting on a <a href='http://consume.net/twiki/bin/view/Main/ConsumeInTheArea' target='_blank'> wireless network</a> and sharing someone else's connection. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->