This update is accessible via the Steam Beta “testing” release of Boundless.
Please report all issues discovered with the update to this support thread.
Please restart Steam to make sure you get the latest version of Boundless. If the update happens whilst Steam is open it’s unlikely you’ll get the latest version.
Overview:
This Testing release aims to dramatically improve the lag issues experienced by some users.
We’ve identified that often the cause of lagging and rubber banding is due to the download of chunk data starving the connection that deals with all other player interaction (movement, world interactions and GUI interactions). We added metrics to calculate the average chunk bandwidth so that people can identify if that looks to be close to their connections max bandwidth.
In addition we’ve then added code to enable the game client to better control the rate at which those chunks are requested from the server. By default we’ve reduced this from the level it used to be however it’s still at a level higher than the chunk meshing rate which means users should see a reduction in burst bandwidth but no visual change in the world loading.
We’ve also added a config in the menu to allow users to adjust this to some lower levels so if the default still maximises their bandwidth causing lag they can try some lower bandwidth settings, these lower bandwidth settings could make the world load in a bit slower but still perfectly playable.
Release Notes:
- Creatures + Combat:
- Fix creatures spawning inside player beacons.
- The Tier 3 Spitter has an updated mesh and textures in line with other new creatures, supporting tinting and decals.
- GUI + HUD:
- Added new gain hud log.
- Added animations in the combat and chat log.
- Engine:
- Added monitoring of chunk download bandwidth on the debug screen and implemented rate limiting (setting in the options menu) of the chunk downloads to try and help with lag issues.
- Unload chunks over multiple frames to make portal transitions smoother.
