Max players
by bignickel · in Technical Issues · 09/09/2002 (1:22 pm) · 19 replies
Just curious as to the maximum number of players that could be on the same map at the same time?
How large can a map be, especially if it's mostly all outdoors, and the interiors of the buildings were very simple?
I'm wondering if I can increase the number of players by degrading the graphics enough. In fact, graphics are a very low concern for me: just players, vehicles, maybe a town with buildings (VERY simple interiors), and a large outdoor play map (trees, hills, grass, maybe a river, bridge, snow, etc.)
Also: what specs (machine & connection) would the players have to use in order to get, say, over 200 uers on at the same time?
How large can a map be, especially if it's mostly all outdoors, and the interiors of the buildings were very simple?
I'm wondering if I can increase the number of players by degrading the graphics enough. In fact, graphics are a very low concern for me: just players, vehicles, maybe a town with buildings (VERY simple interiors), and a large outdoor play map (trees, hills, grass, maybe a river, bridge, snow, etc.)
Also: what specs (machine & connection) would the players have to use in order to get, say, over 200 uers on at the same time?
#2
I'll get more specific: can Torque handle 256 players? 128?
01/07/2003 (11:09 am)
I just realized (yes, I know, many months later) that I wasn't specific enough with my # of players question. I didn't go back and re-read my question, and have been assuming something for awhile that I shouldn't have.I'll get more specific: can Torque handle 256 players? 128?
#3
01/07/2003 (11:18 am)
You can have as many as you like. I don't know of any hard-coded player/connection limits.
#4
04/08/2003 (11:33 pm)
I am very confused... I've been reading older posts on the forum and people say there is a definate cap at 128 players. I wasn't clear on what I think it was a 8 bit player ID number was one thing. Is the 128 the max number of players that the engine is optimized for or what? Or has the code changed since the forum post that I have read. Can someone please clear this up for me? Thank you
#5
04/08/2003 (11:39 pm)
TGE as stands has a 128 player limit, which imposed by the width of an ID field in the networking code. It's easily increased to whatever your server can handle.
#6
04/09/2003 (9:54 am)
Where do you see the limit Jeremy? Mark says he pulled out those limits a while ago, but maybe he missed something... 
#7
I too am interested in checking the facts on the maximum player limit.
Tim: Rick Overman just posted in today's Development Snapshot of the Day that Torque supports up to 128 players. Is that indeed a hard cap, or just a marketing thing?
Thanks.
- LightWave Dave
04/09/2003 (10:52 am)
Greetings!I too am interested in checking the facts on the maximum player limit.
Tim: Rick Overman just posted in today's Development Snapshot of the Day that Torque supports up to 128 players. Is that indeed a hard cap, or just a marketing thing?
Thanks.
- LightWave Dave
#8
04/09/2003 (11:59 am)
Tim: I'm going off older information ... and Rick mentioned the limit the other day (imposed by the field width of 7 bits for one of the ID fields) when I talked to him on the phone.
#10
He just posted about the limit in the screen shot of the day ;)
04/09/2003 (1:44 pm)
You should correct him when he's coherent from the baby again ;)He just posted about the limit in the screen shot of the day ;)
#11
04/09/2003 (4:38 pm)
Ok So as I understand the problum was adressed and there is no longer a cap to the number of players. So what type of hardware requirements would it take to host a game of 128 to 256 players with a game of the quality and type of tribes 2?
#12
04/09/2003 (5:47 pm)
its a combination of client hardware and bandwith along with server hardware and bandwidth, not just tge. im definitely no expert, but i know torque isnt the only limiting factor. if all your customers are hardcore gamers on broadband, my guess is you could as much as double the player limits to 256 comfortably. just a guess though. 
#13
I'd make sure your players have some impressive LoD on them as well! Since the with that kind of population on a 'normal' sized map things could get mighty poly heavy close up.
Be awesome to see it all in action though. Just make sure you don't have metered bandwidth!
04/10/2003 (3:19 am)
I think the server requirements might be somewhat steap for a 256 player game. 256 x 2k a player (fairly optimistic) is still 8 - 10 Mbit in a good situation. The server CPU / Memory load would probably be fairly impressive too.I'd make sure your players have some impressive LoD on them as well! Since the with that kind of population on a 'normal' sized map things could get mighty poly heavy close up.
Be awesome to see it all in action though. Just make sure you don't have metered bandwidth!
#14
Torque is definately able to handle that many for certain.
I've also seen a lot of MMORPGs in the works using Torque... those could be anywhere from 100 to 2000 players at a time. Can it handle that?
EDIT: D'oh, didn't read in detail. Apparently it can only support 128.
04/10/2003 (5:35 am)
We were going for 20 players maximum per campaign in Bloodstar (10 max each team).Torque is definately able to handle that many for certain.
I've also seen a lot of MMORPGs in the works using Torque... those could be anywhere from 100 to 2000 players at a time. Can it handle that?
EDIT: D'oh, didn't read in detail. Apparently it can only support 128.
#15
04/10/2003 (6:02 am)
Alexander you misread again. Torque has no cap for players.
#16
04/23/2003 (8:04 pm)
Now here is my thought, what if you distributed the information to several or more servers, would that prevent a limit? Such as a cap of 128 per server?
#17
By distributing people betweeen server. Lets say worlds, continents, zones or what ever you would help bring down the consumption of hardware and bandwidth on one server.
If you were going to have massive amounts of people in the thousands I would imagine it would be better to do seperate servers because I would imagine having that many people would require alot of processing power and most likely will cause lag on the server. Im not 100% sure on this but am taking an educational guess.
04/23/2003 (9:31 pm)
OMG THERES NO LIMIT.By distributing people betweeen server. Lets say worlds, continents, zones or what ever you would help bring down the consumption of hardware and bandwidth on one server.
If you were going to have massive amounts of people in the thousands I would imagine it would be better to do seperate servers because I would imagine having that many people would require alot of processing power and most likely will cause lag on the server. Im not 100% sure on this but am taking an educational guess.
#18
05/03/2003 (5:00 pm)
The fact of the matter is. Unless you are making an MMORPG there is no need for anymore than even 64 players per game... i play Counter-Strike alot and even the "Hacked" servers that allow 128 players dont usually get more than 20. The only other game that me have more than 64 players would be unreal tournament. 
Torque Owner Tim Gift
The main issue will be rendering performance: how many polys in the player and other shapes, how well do they detail, etc. There is no degredation of shape detail based on frame rate, this would be a nice addition for extreme circumstances.