Latency Issue - Update

FYI there’s an issue with the beta branch @james mentions, I’ll post when it’s fixed (20 mins or so)

Ok the beta branch should now be working.

Is it still Windows only?

This testing build is Windows only.

Are you having latency issues on OSX? Can you share a screenshot with the debug information displayed?

Added Update 2 to the OP.

Seeing that there are lacking in feedbacks, I’ve decided to give this networktest a try.

Background: I’ve been lagging ever since I bought this game with only a few fortunate times where it is playable (I guess right around Testing 28. Sorry not been playing enough to notice when it started to lag again.)

Result: Unfortunately, I’m still lagging again right after I enter the portal with around 2k-4k ms. I’ll provide an answer on the below thread to give more details on my connection if that would make things more orderly.

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Bump: Updated OP for Release of 151.

Hi,
I have also lag.
The thing is, this game’s netcode is bandwidth hungry and is doing a steady 400kbit download stream (which should not be a problem as packet drops are only if a line saturates). For people like myself who are not fortunate enough the line speed is low. I have roughly 3Mbit/s downlink and about the same uplink. Boundless is the only game I really have lag issues due to the way they sync the chunks. Go try other voxel games and they work without a problem. As long they do not change the way they handle chunk update/loading/syncing with the server, this game will be a no go for us low bandwidth people.
I really do hope they get the netcode/chunk_handler right.

They should ask people what bandwidth they have and they will quickly see that it is the low bandwidth people that have those issues.
Maybe they could integrate a bandwidth setting for the chunk syncs so that the line does not get saturated.

Maybe this explains a bit.

Best regards,

Glenn

I think there’s another problem with lags/rubberbanding. I’m currently unable to play even if i got a 40Mbit/s connection. It’s been like that since release 149 and i’m patiently waiting for something to come out. By the way when i play in the test server, all is working great, maybe you could give it a try and confirm if it’s the same for you.
I haven’t been able to play since the 23rd of december.

@DoomsdayKnight
I tried it on the test server and for me it is behaving exactly the same.
The test server has worse latency for my location than the Prod one (approx 3 times worse 100 ms vs 23 ms on prod)
To me it seems there are load spikes that saturate the line and therefore produce latency and the so called rubber-banding occurs. I even have non-registered hits so that i have to hit 1 more time on the same block as usual to break it.
I cannot tell why it is doing it for you with 40Mbit/s, btw. I monitor roughly downlink, not uplink and cannot see spikes. So it may still be that the uplink gets saturated which in turn would have the same outcome -> latency.
Just a guess. You could install an ethernet monitor or sniffer to see if there is a problem with the uplink or downlink bandwidth resp. if there is packet loss and retransmission of packets(if its not udp).
So far, the problem for my low bandwidth stays the same as I have to wait over 1 minute as soon the new chunks start downloading if i go in 1 direction. I could decrease this wait time by decreasing the viewrange of the chunks, true.
But as said before, many other games work without a problem with my connection.
Cheers,

Glenn

@Kueder Thanks for the details. I’ve covered in the original post an overview of our ongoing investigation into making the game work on suitable connections, which yours clearly is.

Have confidence we’re working on it, and it’s helpful to hear reports of how each little update + test works for you. We appreciate your patience and support whilst we get this resolved.

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stumbled upon this late and about to sleepy
but will try

:slight_smile:

@James I have faith in Boundless and the Devs behind the scene :slight_smile: I know you are doing a tremendous job , so keep it up .
It’s so easy to criticize and I try to be as constructive as I can :wink:

4 Likes

Did a retesting with the latest update. Thanks to the update#4 on the OP and Keuder’s input, things seems to get more clear for me now.

Networktest:

  • Upon entering the portal, I had the expected ~3kms and monitored that my download bandwidth is getting saturated (~450kbps).
  • After around a minute of idling I believe, high latency notif is now gone and is now playable. (consumes at a stable 40kbps)
  • Running around indeed triggered the mentioned “chunk downloads” where I have to stay put again to stabilize the connection (~1 min).

Live version:

  • Similar behavior with networktest with the exception I guess of how/when high latency occurs.
  • Chunk download seems to get trigger earlier compared to networktest (i.e. fewer blocks to run before high latency occurs)
  • In line with first point, to be fair, connection seems to have stabilize faster compared to networktest.

I actually forgot to monitor my upload speed while doing this test.I’ll try to check if needed.

PS: Died to a spitter while doing this. Who would have thought running around like a maniac to start lagging is a good idea right? :sweat_smile:

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Ping - Pong - Updated OP for Update 5 and Update 6.

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Knowing that I’m below the minimum network specs requirement (:frowning:) , I hope this response still holds value.

SPOILER ALERT

  • Still getting saturated on all chunk download speed settings

I guess I’ll hold off for future latency testings for now. They might be inconclusive.

Ping - Updated OP for Update 7.

Hi,

Just went on the test server to try the rate limiting.

First of all I have noticed that even having set a low chunk download rate, my line is saturated. => ~340kB/s = ~3Mbit/s

Is there a way to configure the chunk download rate rate in kByte/s or kbit/s somewhere ?
I think the low, medium, high, maximum does not tell a great deal when dealing with different line speeds.

I think that it does not make sense to put too much effort into a workaround to get people to be able to play at low chunk download rates. It would be better to invest some time into rethinking the chunk handlers, f.ex. A-sync methods, CRC comparison and the like (there are many possible techniques)…, as the chunks are anyhow pseudo-random generated and to only download blocks that need to. This would not only benefit those with low speed lines but the whole chunk handling would improve.

I don’t know how the chunk handlers are implemented, but my advise would be to solve it from ground up and not try to cover/repair cracks.

Hope I don’t extend too far here :slight_smile:, please don’t take it as an aggression, just me thinking out loud.
I do love this game and I really think it will be something great. Great things take a great foundation and a lot of time and you are on the right track.

2 Likes

Hi @Kueder

We’re always happy to get ideas to improve Boundless!!

I agree that the current information isn’t too helpful.

It’s currently limiting the number of chunks requested in parallel per second and as the chunks can vary in size this means that it’s not strictly a pure bandwidth limit (in the Mbit/s sense.)

However, I agree that it would be better to say Low 15/s, Medium 30/s, High 60/s, and Max unlimited. We can also add lower rates. You can currently customise this directly in the boundless config file.

On Windows edit:

c:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Boundless\user_settings\NAME\gameoptions.json

to include:

"chunkSendRate": 8

or lower.

Be careful editing this file, if you corrupt the JSON syntax the game will likely fail to load.

(Whilst I’m not an expert in this particular part of the engine) we do already load the chunk asynchronously. Whilst the chunks are originally generated the process requires lots of information about the surrounding chunks and biomes as is quite expensive. Additionally we need to serialise changes other players make to the world and the state of world and resource regen - so sadly we can’t generate them on demand. (Which the engine originally did.) The chunks are also stored and dispatched in a compressed form.

We do still plan to add local chunk caching so that if the chunk hasn’t changed it doesn’t need to be re-downloaded from the server. This will help reduce bandwidth when reentering the game, but will not help when going somewhere new.

Also happy to share ideas.

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