Several people indulged themselves in an experiment to test the feasibility
of using voice software whilst running GPL last night.
The test was conducted on Mike Barlow's server using Roger Wilco.
I think that there were five of us connected at one time. For those of you
who have not heard of this yet, RW is a program that enables you to talk to
others in real time whilst in a game using a mic plugged into your
soundcard.
After spending about an hour between us, downloading, installing and setting
up, we got a link up that whilst not quite telephone quality, was certainly
acceptably clear insofar as understanding each other. We had quite a variety
of hardware and the general consensus is that you need decent quality
hardware to get this to work. In particular, a high spec mic is essential.
Setting up was time consuming. When you first go into the set-up, you are
prompted to configure your system. You have to specify either direct sound
or wav recording, device used (soundcard), modem connection speed etc. There
is also an option for CPU usage (lower= lower quality). Following this, you
need to set up your Mike. A test applet does the business here. Once through
with this, you simply have to connect to a channel by typing in an IP
address to a host channel.
Upon first use, we had a lot of problems getting everyone balanced. Some
were coming across loud and distorted whilst others were barely audible.
After a lot of messing with mic input levels and speaker volume from within
the program, things improved to an acceptable status. A lot of
experimentation was necessary for people with cheap microphones with
distancing the mic from face in order to get rid of distortion and then re
doing input levels. Setup gurus will love this one. One other minor drawback
noticed by myself was that when in use, RW seems to hog all sound resources
when in windows. I had incoming ICQ messages minus the "uh oh" sound prompts
( Maybe a good thing <G>).
So how did the thing work. We went to Monaco via GSB to find out. Although
the sounds in the windows environment were blocked out, normal GPL sounds
worked fine. I got out onto the track and immediately crashed into the wall
at Ste Devote. not unusual for me you may say <G> but this time the problem
was with frame rate. My P266 was struggling to make 24 fps where normally it
runs at about 30 - 32. I also noticed considerable break-up on voice. I
disconnected and changed settings in RW to lower CPU usage. Things got much
better with frame rates running between 26 -28 albeit with less eye candy as
well. Other drivers started complaining about having problems. Ron Ayton
reported clock smashes (he was not using RW). This may well be due to the
fact that five of us were connected to the same IP as the race server and
hence using a lot of bandwidth.
There is much potential here for a very useful facility but IMO we are not
quite there yet in terms of bandwidth usage. Whether the effort is worth the
rewards, you will have to decide for yourself. One thing I am pretty sure of
is that Sim developers will have to start thinking in terms of integrating
this sort of facility into future builds rather than forcing us to rely on
third party programs.......Randy....Comments?
There are few issues that have to be resolved yet and a few more tests to be
done before I am fully convinced that this is a goer.
How much of a performance hit was the server getting? Remember that 5 of
us were connected directly to the host. It might be that RW would be a great
facility for team mates running in races where their link is not drawing on
the host bandwidth. this will only then be dependant on the individual peer
to peer connection (in theory).
How many people can practicably use a single channel in one go? I suspect 5
was far too many. It was fun but voices were breaking up during on - track
running. I believe that as a 2 person link, things would be much better.
How does it affect framerate? You decide for yourself. My thoughts are that
lower spec machines - say below 350Mhz would be struggling.
One thing is for sure though. Roger wilco has put a new dimension to the sim
experience. Much hilarity was had by all (especially the synchronised
screams when hitting walls in multiple accidents). Oh and one more thing, If
you are unfortunate enough to get a disco, you are no longer alone. You can
still hear what is going on in the race..... "Sorry for the loss of vision
we will restore this as soon as possible after the race hehe" Sounding like
cable tv in my neighbourhood now!!!!!!!!
Mark
>This may well be due to the
>fact that five of us were connected to the same IP as the race server and
>hence using a lot of bandwidth.
Maybe another high bandwidth driver can host the RW session....
Lol
I can see it now, during Championship races one client could give live
commentary using RW, just like the old radio broadcasts....
Remco
Both Battle Com and Roger Wilco came out of
the Flight sim community. Believe me...I hardly
play mutli player games without them now.
Quality is a hit or miss type thing...I've been
hooked up with 6 other guys in Longbow2 and
had clear speech throughout...But I've also had
problems with just one other user online. I blieve
a-lot has to do with sharing the load...
If somebody is the game server...don't have that
person be the voice server as well. Believe me, the
sooner we all get cable or adsl the better for this
type application.
We use RW or BC or games like Age of Empires,
we can call for help much quicker than trying to type
"I'm in the 3 oclock corner and a bunch of chariots
just got through my walls"
I know gpl is very cpu intensive so I'd suggest a
mother cpu for trying to run both..but...it really can
enhance your game play. ESPECIALLY the training
aspect...If you see something your friend is doing
wrong, you can alert him to it easily...In a race
situation you may just want to shut if off but for
practice it could be a huge advantage.
dave henrie
I've just tried out BattleComm and you're right, it works a damn sight
better.
Good old laugh in GPL as well. Best to separate the GPL server & the
BattleComm server otherwise it all gets a bit tricky for the CPU.
The same thing happens if you run WinAmp and ICQ at once...only 1 program
can get to the WAV device, I guess.
--
Kirk Lane
ICQ: 28171652
RMRL #119
>doing input levels. Setup gurus will love this one. One other minor
drawback
>noticed by myself was that when in use, RW seems to hog all sound resources
>when in windows. I had incoming ICQ messages minus the "uh oh" sound
prompts
>( Maybe a good thing <G>).
>>This may well be due to the
>>fact that five of us were connected to the same IP as the race server and
>>hence using a lot of bandwidth.
>Maybe another high bandwidth driver can host the RW session....
They have dedicated server software. I believe they call it their "base
station." You guys might want to see if you can come up with a seperate
machine (somebody's office pc?) to run it on. That way, everyone
that's involved in the race is just a client as far as RW is concerned.
--
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