Where is everyone?

MaGicBush

I used to play NS1 back in it's hayday, and remember when NS2 was first entering development. I have been lingering around every since waiting for beta to join I just pre-ordered, downloaded, and logged in. Upon doing so, I see a lot of servers but only 2 full(one of which is passworded) making a grand total of 28 online. The next server down has 4 people and is laggy, is the game unplayable still or am I missing something?

DJPenguin

<!--quoteo(post=1862080:date=Jul 20 2011, 10:06 PM:name=MaGicBush)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MaGicBush @ Jul 20 2011, 10:06 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1862080"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->is laggy<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

that's why

Syknik

Sorry if you were trying the Anagram server, we're scrimming. =o

Sewlek

regarding if the game is playable, i have some tip for you for checking yourself and get
your own perspective:
choose some server, open your console and type in "net_stats" (that was the command wasn't it?)

then you see some info like "client tick rate" and "server tick rate" on the top left of your screen. client is your fps (as its single threaded still as far as i know, though fmod and raknet might spawn all these threads you see if im not wrong).
if the server tick rate goes under 20, you experience some laggyness, if it goes under 15, then its very frustrating and under 10 almost unplayable. the only thing you can do about that is to switch server,
remember their tick rates. alot of servers online dont have the hardware to run ns2 smoothly, so you
should remember your favourites.

but to answer your question in general: the game is playable, you just need the right server and
client hardware. (dont over rate the ping in the scoreboard, 30 tick-rate but 250 ping is way better than
15 tick rate and 30 ping)

those minimum hardware specs (which are not clearly defined as its still beta) will get lowered more and more
(occlusion culling, server optimizations...)

ScardyBob

Its the middle of the week and a while (~1.5 weeks) since the last patch. NS2 Beta playercount spikes after a release and then dwindles to 1-2 full servers at most times. Also, weekends bring more players.

MaGicBush

Alright, thanks for all the information can't wait till they fix the lag issues then :). Was able to play the last few hours on the 10 player server, and had fun.. even commanded a game and won :).

Asraniel

Its not actually lag issues. The netcode works just fine. Its server load issues. Part of it is not yet optimized server code that was further stressed with the addition of cysts in the last patch, and the other part are some slow servers, that have a player limit much higher that what they could actually handle.