Bandwidth requirements for online-matches

Discussion in 'Support!' started by arkoftruth, October 1, 2013.

  1. arkoftruth

    arkoftruth New Member

    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Simple thing, I live in an area with poor bandwith where i cant get more than 1Mbps(128KBps) downstream and at some point in the game (i'm guessing after building a lot of units) that bandwith is at its limit and the game starts to lag.
    (I checked with a network monitoring tool to be sure it's the bandwith)

    I'm just curious if there will be some optimization of the networktraffic (compression or sth like that).
    I'm not asking anything like tomorrow but it would be nice to be able to play online with the finished game ;).

    Otherwise someone should probably add a note to the system requirements for the final game "Onlineplay requires an internet connection with at least x mbps bandwidth (just sayin :p ).

    Excuse my english (in case i made some mistakes) I'm not a native speaker ;D
  2. cola_colin

    cola_colin Moderator Alumni

    Messages:
    12,074
    Likes Received:
    16,221
    I can remember a post from neutrino stating that the bandwidth requirements will be optimized down in the future. However I also think I can remember that he stated 2Mbit/s as a target for average games.
  3. arkoftruth

    arkoftruth New Member

    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Thanks for the quick reply, guess I'll have to shout at my provider some more ;) .
  4. asgo

    asgo Member

    Messages:
    457
    Likes Received:
    21
    unfortunately, that's practically the only hardware requirement the gamer has no real influence on.
    The only way I could flee the measuring of my bandwidth in low KB was by moving to another area, which wasn't the official reason for it...of course ;)
  5. k3n58

    k3n58 Member

    Messages:
    42
    Likes Received:
    4
    Is there anything in CTRL+P or another way in the dev console to show network statistics? Dropped packets or and indication that someone is lagging or has a terrible ping? I know this game might not be as sensitive as like an FPS, but would be nice if you playing against someone w/ a 300 ms ping to the server vs < 50 ms.

    At least in the game lobby...
  6. Bhaal

    Bhaal Active Member

    Messages:
    137
    Likes Received:
    52
    I hope 2mbit for average games is a joke. Thats Zuge amounts of traffic and traffic is expensive.
  7. cola_colin

    cola_colin Moderator Alumni

    Messages:
    12,074
    Likes Received:
    16,221
    2mbit isnt really that much? Actually SupCom:FA needs more in many cases.
    Also where exactly is bandwidth expensive?
  8. asgo

    asgo Member

    Messages:
    457
    Likes Received:
    21
    e.g., depending on your internet provider and your package deal, you might have a traffic limit to your monthly flatrate.
  9. smallcpu

    smallcpu Active Member

    Messages:
    744
    Likes Received:
    72
    In many places that aren't north-america and europe.
  10. perecil

    perecil Active Member

    Messages:
    108
    Likes Received:
    53
    2 mbps is a lot, especially if the game requires symetric bandwidth... Forged Alliance for sure doesn't requires symetric 2mbps bandwidth, as I have a 6 mbps download / 1 mbps upload line and am able to play without lag with a friend.
  11. maxpowerz

    maxpowerz Post Master General

    Messages:
    2,208
    Likes Received:
    885
    I have no issues with the game or its current internet usage!

    But i will state that :-
    Prepaid 3g internet in Australia is $40 for 3gb of data both ways.
    For large long battle or even a few AI matches 3gb of data useage can go very quickly (under 3 days)
    so for lots of constant game play over a week it would be $80 minimum, $360 per month, and over $1000 just to play it daily till games current release date.

    *cough nice n cheap internet* lol

    edited

    i would also like to add it could be much cheaper if someone only played PA on prepaid internet, And limited themselves to web browsing and forum surfing it would reduce internet usage and cost!

    Another way to reduce costs, is to not sit on the pre-game selection lobby (server lobby) it doesn't seem to have a bandwidth limit and refresh's ultra quickly, on my internet it maxes out a 14.4mb downlink with 600kb/s and higher worth of data usage !!
    Last edited: October 2, 2013
  12. cola_colin

    cola_colin Moderator Alumni

    Messages:
    12,074
    Likes Received:
    16,221
    FA needs a lot of upload. PA doesnt. In fact PA needs nearly none of it. So I'd say if PA reaches the 2 mbit/s down it will need considerably less bandwidth than FA, since FA uses a lot of upload whereas PA doesnt. From what I understand they aim at 2mbit/s down. up is so small already that it can be ignored anyway.

    @maxpowerz: who in their right mind would try to use 3g (a mobile standard?!) for his normal internet connection?! My parents live in the countryside and where offered super fast 3g internet instead of their current ~2mbit/s line. The downside was that the contract was a mobile-internet contract with a limit of like 20gigabyte. Better use the slow 2mbit/s without limit than the "fast" 3g that is beyond the limit after 2hours of full usage.
  13. smallcpu

    smallcpu Active Member

    Messages:
    744
    Likes Received:
    72
    You do know Australia? Big island? Lots of areas with nothing in them besides poisonous everything? One of the worst internet connections of any developed country and thats in cities?
  14. cola_colin

    cola_colin Moderator Alumni

    Messages:
    12,074
    Likes Received:
    16,221
    I have heard of it. As evil and egoistic as it sounds: Sucks to live there.
    There is not much Uber can do about it and practically all modern internet applications need 2mbit+
    So it makes sense for Uber to use as much.
    But seriously if PA achieves 2mbit/s down and as much up as it has now it will use less than FA. All bandwidth trouble people had with FA was related to FA using too much upload. PA doesnt have that problem anymore.
  15. logon

    logon Member

    Messages:
    43
    Likes Received:
    3
    Remember, you can lower the bandwidth requirement by only playing on a scale 2-3 planet and just a small moon.
  16. rick104547

    rick104547 Member

    Messages:
    305
    Likes Received:
    17
    Here in the netherlands 2mbit is nothing. The cheapest all in one (thats TV, phone and internet) from ziggo costs you 44 euro's per month here and you get 20mbit download with 2mbit upload.

    So while it sucks that in australia it costs you a fortune to have the same speed as we have you cant really expect uber to make a modern multiplayer game that can be run on internet thats based on stone age tech or mobile ****. Sure they can optimise some stuff but i doubt you are going to play a epic game on a 3g connection (which is intended for mobile!!).
  17. ragarnoy

    ragarnoy Member

    Messages:
    47
    Likes Received:
    27
    Huh, well in France it's pretty much 20€/m for 1Gps Down and 200Mbps up.
  18. doud

    doud Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    922
    Likes Received:
    568
    Are your sure FA used that much of bandwidth ? As far as i remember i used to be able to upload only max 640kbits/s and never had any network issue on a big 8 players game ..... To me, most of limitation was related to slow hardware a few people used to play with, thus slowing down the entire game for all other players.
    In addition, FA replays where very small, so there's a bit of contradiction with saying that it used more bandwidth than PA. however i'm without any doubt in favor of Client-server.
  19. maxpowerz

    maxpowerz Post Master General

    Messages:
    2,208
    Likes Received:
    885
    @cola_colin
    My 3g mobile internet has a 14.4mb/s downlink on average and 22.2mb/s when in HSDPA+ mode, its damn fast, also where i live there isn't a landline broadband alternative unless i pay in excess of $1000 to have the service provider lay fresh/new lines to my house :(
    I then need to pay around $300 for the modem and initial setup fee's, then a monthly plan is usually $80-100 for 200gb+ caps with no extra download fee's after cap is reached,only bandwidth limiting is imposed after cap is exceeded an i have to be on a contract for 12-24months (12 month contracts usually cost slightly more).


    Not everyone in the world has the luxury of Landline internet access.
    My landline is only capable of supporting 128k connections and their unstable (i hate the amazing 10-11.3kbps i get using the old 56k modem), my ADSL modem doesn't get any kind of decent signal down the line and constantly drops out.
    Also 100's of devices now use "Mobile Internet standards" for communication and Even GAMING!! My PSVITA is 3g, My iPad is 3g, My Sony Xperia PLAY is 3g, and 100's of Tablet and Slate PC's have Embedded 3g modems.

    So why not use 3g/HSDPA+ or even 4G as a full time internet connection? apart from it large data usage cost's
    Last edited: October 2, 2013
  20. maxpowerz

    maxpowerz Post Master General

    Messages:
    2,208
    Likes Received:
    885
    Would also like to Re-state , i personally have no issue with the games current bandwidth usage, i said that in my first post!.

    i'm just pointing out that in some places internet is expensive , and not everyone has access to high speed internet unless they use expensive 3g/4g alternatives. im not asking the dev's to change anything but i am supporting the fact that not everyone is rich, or has as easy access to better quality internet than others do.

    To me $300+ a month for internet is just a bit of my spare change :p lol *sarcasm*
    Last edited: October 2, 2013

Share This Page