Trouble in the Lands of Darkness, also, some news! in Off Topic

ID:113613
 
May 23 2011, 8:48 am
I'm having trouble with the game and it seems to stem from the way HDKMouseKeys interacts with the network. It's a fantastic library but I'm not sure how well it handles network messages, after doing some tests.

It seems that everything works fine when playing locally, however starting up a server causes severe lag issues and I may have to set up some kind of contingency for network play.

In order to do this, I'm gonna need some help testing out the multiplayer. If you'd like to help please go here:
http://www.byond.com/developer/forum/?id=781793

This link will lead you to the classified ad I've posted up on the forum. Just leave your info and I'll set you up with testing when I can.

As for progress on the game though, I've made a few tweaks and changes that I think you'll enjoy:


Pistols are slightly weaker but have infinite ammo, so no worry on running out of ammo completely.

Ammo spawn rates have been dropped.

The SMG, Shotgun and Rifle have been powered up to coincide with their dependency on ammo.

Enemies have been given pathfinding and they can now break walls.

Walls have been replaced with barricades and the map is encased by fencing.

Menus have been added to the game, allowing you to pause with ESC. In single player this will pause the game entirely, allowing you to take a break or change settings. In multiplayer the menu will come up but the game will continue to run in the background, as to not interfere with other players.

The menu includes: Options, Exit Game, Close

Close -closes the menu, same as pressing ESC a second time.

Exit Game -brings up the exit window, in single player, this will close the game, in multiplayer you will leave the server.

Options: Currently only sound is included, In here you can modify the master volume, SFX volume and Music volume. Want to listen to death metal while still hearing bullet sounds, go ahead! Easy adjustable sliders are included. Sound settings are not saved however, but if you'd like tat to be included then just let me know =)

That's it for the current updates, I'm till working on network testing but I'll keep everyone posted. Thanks!

#1 May 23 2011, 8:55 am
I'm on board for helping you test; mutual gain and whatnot. I was just doing some network tests myself but nothing as intensive as this.
#2 May 23 2011, 9:00 am
Thanks, I'm thinking it may have to do with how it gets the coordinates for the mouse but it's just a guess. I'm wondering if it'd be possible to have a version that just gives simple mouse coordinates, maybe that'd be better for network use. Anyways currently I've got to go out and get some financial stuff taken care of, however I['ll be back in a few hours so Ill let you know when I'm back and we can get to work =).

Oh, also, I looked into your profile and such, we're about 3hours drive away from each other (Miami, FL here). Just figured I'd mention that, lol.
#3 May 23 2011, 9:08 am
The thing is, it seriously only sends a Topic() that is decoded with href_list(). The communication between the client and the server should be rather minimal. I can show you my network tests. Though to be fair, my game doesn't do nearly as much as yours.

If you haven't downloaded 482, that network profiler is rather awesome.

It'd be a little further now, as I'm in Ocala. I only own a house in Floral City.
#4 May 23 2011, 10:29 am
Holy shit, I just tried hosting that. It doesn't make any sense why there would be that much latency when the only thing that's changed is where on the computer it's being hosted.

I also noticed that the grid doesn't update when hosted. Maybe that's a clue.
#5 May 23 2011, 1:49 pm
Back now and I'm about to run some more tests.
It might just be the combination with Pixel_movement that's causing issue, perhaps there's a mis-timing between the two libraries. Anyways, I'll check it out and see what's up.
#6 May 23 2011, 1:53 pm
Yep, it seems like the movement loop is acting terrible. I use UpdateMouse() to change the angle of the lighting for the player, then again it could just be that screen and interface objects don't cause any network lag at all. I'll have to check it out some more.