My impression

[thrila]

sorry about hijack.

Skuzzy this has been happening to me and quite a few people, when it happens i'll ask my squaddies and they say its happening to them too.  When the arena hits 500+ i'll get lag every so often, it ranges from maybe 10 seconds to over a couple of mins sometimes.  During this time hits don't register (hits on me or on the con) and if you land you can't exit,  you just stay in limbo.  When the lag has cleared you'll get all the hits at once from outta nowhere and die.    I've done pingplots in the middle of a massive lag session and the trace is like normal.


Skuzzy you really have to be online when this happens to believe it.

[maxtor]

Next time arena gets real full, those who can remeber to do so - turn on film and run ping plotter in background.

I know very little about HTC hardware set-up, but maybe starting to sound like a hardware bottleneck of some sort.  (Perhaps vox requires no processing?  I don't know why text would be different - except vox is broadcasted to far fewer people)

Just guessing - guys on site are only ones who can debug this.

Anyway, back to the topic - whatever this is -  it certainly is somethign they would want to sort out before tryiogn to bring on a lot more people or the advertising the the thread starter suggested

[Skuzzy]

Let me try to shed some light here.  We know what the hardware (i.e. servers) are cabable of.  Even when there is 500+ online, the servers are far from being pushed hard.
There are other things that could cause potential problems though.  I am researching that as we speak.

It does take a bit of time.  Anyone that has been here since we put the new servers up knows we have made improvements.  They take time to do, as we are very cautious about these things.

We are looking into the possibilites.  Films might help.  It all depends on the where the potential problem may lie.  Ping Plots might help as well.  All these things will help eliminate or point to where any potential problem is.

[Jospe2]

I have seen ads for AH on "Discovery Wings" Channel also in aircraft magazines.   In fact the ad I saw on the back page of "Wings" was for a 3 week free trial period.  


Jospe

[jaystang87]

has anyone suggested that maybe we should have more than one main arena, and each main arena could have a limit of about 400 to reduce lag?  sure one arena would have a lot of people, and the other, not so many, but when one arena filled up people could just go to the next one.  Might cause a problem for squads though, but that's what I think.  The 2 main arenas could each have a different map, and each their own war.  There's no clear solution to this though, unless Hitech can get a server that can handle 1000 users with ease, but it'll be harder as AH gets more attention from the flight sim community.

[akak]

Originally posted by wetrat
If e3 has flight sim presentations, as I'm sure they do, I think HTC should take AH2 there in May (or is it in April this year?), assuming they have a workable/presentable beta. It would be great advertising.

I'm sure HiTech would also appreciate you paying for his E3 booth, especially when the smallest booth not on the main floor costs over $250,000 dollars.

A less expensive alternative would be to enter in an agreement with one or a few of the joystick companies that are going to E3 to "share" floor space.  HiTech could setup a small demo system with AH/AH2 at one of the joystick companies booth to show off AH/AH2 and the joystick company can also use the AH/AH2 demo system to show off their products.  Also, a live multi-player game will also attract quite a bit of a crowd, further increasing the exposure for both AH/AH2 and the joystick company.  It's a win-win situation for all.  I had setup something like this up when I was at CH Products with Warbirds at the '98 E3 in Atlanta.  At of all our demo stations, the Warbirds one always had a line from the start of the day until the end of the night when we shut down.


Ack-Ack

[akak]

Originally posted by maxtor
Next time arena gets real full, those who can remeber to do so - turn on film and run ping plotter in background.

Running ping plotter in the backround while you fly in AH will cause you to warp and lag as your computer pings the AH servers.  Just a thought...



ack-ack

[Truthstar]

How do I trace my ping? Even if, what can I actually do to decrease my ping?

Truthy

[Lizard3]

Originally posted by Jospe2
I have seen ads for AH on "Discovery Wings" Channel also in aircraft magazines.   In fact the ad I saw on the back page of "Wings" was for a 3 week free trial period.  


Jospe

Ditto.

I've got disc wings on in the background almost all day long till hockey comes on and I've seen the AH add 3 times in 2 days. Also seen it in the Wings magazine.

They might wanna think about putting an add in a couple computer geek mags like MaximumPC, maybe send a complimentary subscription to T.Liam McDonald as he's the MMOG guru at MaxPC, or in a dreamer mag like KitPlanes. Those are the two I've bought recently.

I've also noticed they've got a couple "sponsored" hits in search engines recently.

They are advertising.

[Truthstar]

PCGamer and internet hotsites like gamespot and fileplanet is enough....

Truthy

[maxtor]

Originally posted by akak
Running ping plotter in the backround while you fly in AH will cause you to warp and lag as your computer pings the AH servers.  Just a thought...



ack-ack

It shouldn't be even the least bit noticeable

[GrimCO]

Don't forget that advertising in Magazines with decent circulation isn't exactly cheap either...  A small 1/4 page ad will average about $2,000 per month to run.  Place ads in several magazines and you can see your monthly cost skyrocket like a missile. Remeber, this isn't a one time cost either fellas... It's monthly.

Also, try to think of HiTech's perspective on this. For us, it's all fun and games (after all it's a game believe it or not...LOL). For HiTech, it's a business and his livelyhood.

Multiply the number of AH members by the monthly subcription dues, take out salaries for HiTech employees, and you'll see there's not exactly millions of dollars involved here. Hell, I think we're the best advertising there is. I'm always showing friends the game and trying to get them to play.

[mia389]

Originally posted by maxtor
Will do skuzzy, oddly though - vox always works perfectly and no delay for everyone (without exception) when nothing else is.   Something is different about vox, if you can sort out what it is I'd say you would then have a clue

Well when game starts to lock up or hickup are whole squads vox gets screwy. Ill lose mine 3 or 4 times when 400 people on the server

[NoBaddy]

I would think one thing to look at would be targeting a specific area with currently low to moderate volume and very high potential. That market would be Europe.


I have a feeling that one reason you see text lag when there are 500+ in the arena is the number of captures in progress at any given time. Hell, I have seen average capture attempts with 2 or 3 goons worth of troops in the air ( and often a couple of M3's) at the same time. Imagine that spread out over the arena. Locally, no big deal. But, for the host...possibly 15 or 20 loads of troops in the air at one time.