Wait for me!
nsguy
Join Date: 2010-01-03 Member: 69869Members
Join Date: 2010-01-03 Member: 69869Members
This is becoming more and more of a nuisance: game rounds begin long before I even join the lobby. I'm certain I'm not the only one who experiences this, but I may be in the minority as I assume that those with powerful computers can join a server more quickly than I can; and there are more of them considering the type of computer required to play this game smoothly. The lengthiest process is the "pracaching" one which is painful to watch. I can't provide a solution to speeding up the precaching process because I don't know what it's actually doing behind the scenes, but I may request that there be a delay (which can be set by server admins) before the round starts to accomodate for us. This delay could be set by default to 1 minute after there is one person on each team.
Comments
I'm not sure what piece of code they butchered so bad to cause this, but it worked for me and some others since that's how I found out about it in the first place
Also, you can't expect people to wait 10 minutes on that one guy with a 5400rpm drive.
I agree that there perhaps needs to be a buffer time more than the player join requirement amount already in place, but it needs to be carefully balanced so that people are just always waiting for games to start.
Yes, there needs to be +1min in time before the game starts, like on HBZ servers. (They've added 45sec I think, works fantastically.)
Also, the time between games should be +1min too. Sucks so hard to have a 40min game, then going thru all the epic stuff that happened for a whopping TEN SECONDS before the next round starts lol. (Or map changes.)
Even when loading a new maps it shouldn't take more than 20 seconds. If you've already been on the map it shouldn't take more than 5-10 seconds.
Here's what it's like for me:
First load of any map after starting NS2 - 1min
Load of next map - 20-25s
Subsequent loads of same map - 5-10s
3 minutes Snowball fight after mapchange?
I also have 40 seconds to 1 minute loading times between maps, and I have a 2 year old PC. I'm not gonna bother with posting the specs, because it simply has a modern HD so loading shouldn't be a problem really.
a timer like on the HBZ servers is indeed the way to go, never had problems there, matches always start balanced and without much people in the RR.
plz Charlie think of adding this to vannila servers!
I'm not sure what piece of code they butchered so bad to cause this, but it worked for me and some others since that's how I found out about it in the first place<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It's already disabled. Unfortunately this isn't the solution.
<!--quoteo(post=2051056:date=Dec 25 2012, 06:12 PM:name=Stardog)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Stardog @ Dec 25 2012, 06:12 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2051056"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Precaching only takes a long time the first time... Are you really having problems after the first time?
Even when loading a new maps it shouldn't take more than 20 seconds. If you've already been on the map it shouldn't take more than 5-10 seconds.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Indeed, the first time it took very long, but it still takes a long time. I thought it would get better over time, but the problem has been ever present. It has only started bugging me a lot recently due to my newly found interest in commanding. It's impossible to play as commander in my case because by the time I join there isn't just a commander for each team, but there are at least 8 players on each team already in battle. There are rare occassions when the pre-caching phase is quick, which I think is when I have played the same map before on that server in the same session (by session I mean not changing to a different server or restarting the game), but I am unsure of this. Regardless, it is hardly a solution to have to cycle through all maps before I can be in the same position as almost everyone else.
You can try doing a defrag or moving the NS2 files into the middle circle of the disk, or just get an SSD.
On the server I frequent on we simply reset the game once people have joined so it is an even start.
Also, some more warm up time would give me a chance to use the bathroom or get a drink in between rounds. I don't want to get AFK kicked between rounds for needing a small break.
....
There needs to be like 15 seconds more befor the round starts at least (this is the little ingame 'game hasn't started yet' phase), we don't need 5 minute pregames, as most of the issue is not LOADING, it's not wanting to join half full teams.
Watch: the first few people trickle into teams, the rest make Marine pillars or play snowballs. Then suddenly the teams are to full for them to keep track of who was good last game, and they pretty much join random.
Another 'prevention of full early games' that comes from previous gameplay history is: Who won last round? If the Aliens stomped, and the propensity is for those people to play marine next round, smart aliens will know this and suddenly: 6 Marines, 5 Aliens, 11 people in ready room for 6 minutes as those 11 people all spam 'j1' in console.
There should really be a higher minimum player count on each team with balance tolerances proportional to player number.
0-7 players in the server
+Game starts only when each team has 3 players. (1 idle/loading)
8-11 players in the server
+No fewer than (#players-2)/2 on each team before game starts (3 or 4 per team) (2-3 idle/loading)
12-24
+No fewer than (#players)/3 players on each team before game starts (between 4 and 8 per team) (4-8 idle/loading)
edit: The reason these games are starting "too fast" is because those of us with recent hardware are loading in, and starting to play, while you load. I purchased this hardware to avoid waiting long times to play, so, unfortunately, it's upgrade to be patient.
as far as rounds starting when both teams have commanders... standby
Well that doesn't resolve the problem at hand. The problem is that some of us don't get the opportunity to command because we have to join late. A simple warmup countdown at the beginning of the round of about 1 minute by default would alleviate this problem. Alternatively, the warmup countdown may be in the lobby, such that no one may join a team until one minute has passed since the first person joined the lobby. These are simple solutions that should be configurable by server admins and don't require us to go and buy extra hardware.
The game definitely starts too soon, but I think the first person to call dibs on commanding during the pre-game should get it. It's better than a free-for-all race to the CC as soon as the game begins. Not that I typically see people crawling over eachother to command to begin with...
It isn't extra hardware, it's basic hardware anyone with common sense should already own. I don't want to hear the excuse "I'm too poor for an SSD", because if you have an internet connection, food in your mouth, and a home to play and eat in, you can afford <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171667" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820171667</a> which is $47. You will go from having 45 second+ boot times to under 15 in most cases, and load NS2 in about 5 seconds. Or you can gripe on the forums about how you load midround with your 5400 RPM seagate.
Clearly you've never been a student nor owned a laptop :D
Yes I got a SSD and no I dont have steam on it. you know how huge steam can become? It shant fit.
Of course it is technicly possible to split every steamgame, but its nice to just have them all together. ^^
I'm both, I just bought a 15.6'' Samsung with an i5 for school, and immediately replaced the primary drive with a 120gb intel SSD. I can provide picture proof if you doubt either of these facts.
Do you even SSD bro?
Not sure what you mean, but I don't own the one shown there. I have two 120GB Intel SSDs, one for my desktop, and one for my laptop