Broadband Gaming Question

apoc3000 · Feb 23, 2004, 09:44 PM

Is 384Kbps downstream and 128kbps good enough for online gaming?

GutterPunk · Feb 23, 2004, 09:57 PM

Ive done online gaming with dial up

be fortunate u have a good speed

zerodamage · Feb 23, 2004, 10:09 PM

That isn't the best broadband speeds available but you should get really decent pings with that. I have dial up and would sacrifice my left.... ......

Pinky finger nail for that speed.

Judas · Feb 23, 2004, 10:16 PM

..... 384 and 128 will give you rather excellent results... if they do in fact transfer at 384kbps down and 128kbps up....

germanjulian · Feb 24, 2004, 12:05 PM

[SIZE=x-large]to everyone[/size]
transfer speeds make as good as no difference in online games. Get that in your head!!!!!!

it doesnt matter what connection speed you have for your broadband connection, if you have 10000KB down or 200Kb down the speed between you and the server does not change. only the transfer amount.

and even the latest games send about 4 to 10Kb per second, oh no a good modem can do that and upload is even less.

all games net code is supposed to be efficent and work with very low network traffic, so that a lot of people can play at the same time

Learn about networking, internet structure, routing and game net code and you will see I make sense

germanjulian · Feb 24, 2004, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Judas
..... 384 and 128 will give you rather excellent results... if they do in fact transfer at 384kbps down and 128kbps up....

which the dont

Judas knows that since he is not a noob (everyone is a noob at one point). but judas you should have said it doesnt make a difference.

Remeber helps the noobs

tastyweat · Feb 24, 2004, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by apoc3000
Is 384Kbps downstream and 128kbps good enough for online gaming?

If you get those speeds... you'll be fine... so long as you have at least 128down and 64 up you should be O...K... for most games

Judas · Feb 24, 2004, 05:32 PM

Throughput does matter.... your statement only accounts for a small fraction of what matters....

Simply put... he asked if his download and upload were good enough for "typical" gaming.... Which is rather sufficient... I know of games that can choke on 100mb/s ethernet.... which requires Gbit lan ...to really game on...

There's alot to be known of your connection's abilities and quality before you can start getting deep into it

First off... i've seen alot of connections that have unreal download/upload rates that just do pretty terrible... why? well when you get packet loss and data instabilities... along the way.... it really hinders you in all ways....
Another is distance that your electrical/digital current has to travel.... That's why people with even dual satalites.. get extreme download/upload speeds... but nearly 5x + times worse pings then dial-up. Satalite has to send a signal a long ways up out of the earths atmosphere and back down again.. 2 times for the download and upload... that's a fairly long distance to travel... Another thing... durring upload/download.. depending on the atmophere and cloud cover/storms.... some of the data "stream" can be nocked a bit and the download will become unuseable... meaning packetloss and the need to resend and receive for the missing data....

Server side though... alot there to...

Server ops/second
Server client limits
Server Maxium download/upload bandwidth
Server Proccessing capabilities/Hardware

Server operations/second..... depending on the game.. which even Quake 1 uses... which is referred to as being Server MAX FPS or Unreal's Tickrate.... is how often the server updates player/monster/object/overall map movements.. characterastics.. weapons... you name it.... it updates it.... now most of the current games have trimmed it all down that only things that have actually changed... are updated.... and sent out.... This is why people that played quake 1 back in the day... were getting lets say 200ms pings... and nowadays with all the new features... and extremes of pushing the limits.. that these same people with the same connections.. are hitting nearly the same...

Server client limits are what the server says the client can or can't do... meaning clients aren't aloud to send specific kind of data... or be in contact with specific objects.... or simply settings a specific standard so that it's fair as fair can be ... and the bandwidth given and received remains constant... and could be predicted.... Also... Most server willl limit the maxium bandwidth a client can receive or send... for example... when select cable modem/DSL for my connection speed.. and jumping on a server..... even though my rated speed is set... the server will drop me down to lets say... ISDN speeds... in the end... this will improve preformance and gameplay all round... even Pings.... why? because when setup correctly.... the server isn't trying to decide who gets first dibs on what available bandwidth it has left... and also keeps predictions.... and limits set that it can cope.... also makes it more fair play....

Is a server is running on a t3 connection... well download/upload bandwidth shouldn't be an issue.. (if it's dedicated)
however running on lets say the mentioned connection above... for the orginal thread.... then the limits are set.... and it doesn't have to much to work with due to each player taking up ...perhaps 15-30kb/s bandwidth (considering the play data and server data and the ammount over).... how many players could play... the download is fine... it's the upload that's low...128kb/s connection pretty well sets you up for about 4 player-6 player... maybe 8 at best....IF the tickrate/max fps of the server is setup correctly... as well Max Client bandwidth

Server processing..... and hardware... major factor.. if the server is used as a standalone dedicated... or a simple workstation that may be hosting a dedicated but used.... or even a server but not dedicated.... alot of factors there..... standalone dedicated server are the best... there is no chance of possible problems... bandwidth on that machine is unchanged... precesses unchanged.... cpu/hardware usage remains constant..... best solutions...

Judas · Feb 24, 2004, 05:38 PM

One of the mentioned games that i say really takes up the bandwidth real quick... is Age of Mythology..... why? it's played over the net and no problems.. er... no there is problems... .the things dropped due to the way MS setup internet play.... is amazing...

When i setup a lan game... it detects my lan and sets up to use it's maxium capabilities.. but i have encounter that it uses way to much... and can't push... the game doesn't end up lagging... it just starts dropping frames.... you get a chopshow/slideshow effect... there is no catchup.. it just drops ever other frame of world things going on... so that is can push it through the provided pipe....

12 players on a huge map... plus everything that going on..... er.... yeah.. guess.... 200-300 persons per player.... countless buildings doing there own thing.... god powers activated.... fog of war ....sight.... all that stuff... multiplied by 12... is giagantic.... no wonder it requires so much.... hell... even with 4 plays.... after filling up 300 person per player and all that other stuff.. it is huge...

Electroe · Feb 27, 2004, 02:39 AM

384Kb/128Kb should be enough to satisfy your gaming needs.
ADSL and cable are both suppled in my area. I tried out both 512Kb/64Kb(ADSL) and 512Kb/128Kb(cable). IMHO the upload speed is what really matters.
Any thing past 256Kb is good, but 64Kb upload is horrible. You're lucky to get 128Kb upload.

Judas · Feb 27, 2004, 08:18 PM

.....well.... the upload doesn't really matter if it's higher then the download.... the ideal way is to have both the same upload/download rate.... as long... (currently)... they are both above 128kb... you'll have very very good gaming.... 256kb is solid... anything higher you won't see much different..... still depends on the servers...... only time it really helps out is if you and all your buddies come over and all game on an internet server through your connection.... i've had 4 people on Ut2003 gaming on a server..... our pings never changed.....