Demo records?

[Gamer-=Of-God=- (Tim)]

Hey all, Tim here. I've been testing the demorec feature in AA for fun, and I was wondering if it would be helpful to the newish AA players in our clan if I uploaded a couple of them so they could see different strategies, etc. I've been around the game for a while now, (Except for that 2 year hiatus ) and I would like to be able to help players with less experience learn the game a bit better.

If you haven't heard of demorec before, it's a video capturing program built into AA. So, in order to play one back, you do it inside the game using a console command.

Let me know if anyone is interested!

[Reaper-=Of-God=-(Sam)†]

Nov 29, 2008 20:54:57 GMT -5 Gamer-=Of-God=- (Tim) said:

Hey all, Tim here. I've been testing the demorec feature in AA for fun, and I was wondering if it would be helpful to the newish AA players in our clan if I uploaded a couple of them so they could see different strategies, etc. I've been around the game for a while now, (Except for that 2 year hiatus ) and I would like to be able to help players with less experience learn the game a bit better.

If you haven't heard of demorec before, it's a video capturing program built into AA. So, in order to play one back, you do it inside the game using a console command.

Let me know if anyone is interested!

I've been around the game quite a while however I still stink so I for one could use some additional coaching! Do you have any demos that show me how to deal with excessive lag and high ping numbers?

Sam

[plcbratboy]

I would LOVE to second that motion for the lag and high ping demo !

[Gamer-=Of-God=- (Tim)]

Hmm, I don't think there's a video that could help with that, but let me say a couple of things.

First, try playing around with your netspeed setting. The difference isn't going to be night and day, but it could improve things a bit. I've heard that a good way to find a nice netspeed setting is to multiply your monitor's refresh rate by 64, and use that for netspeed. For example, my monitor's refresh rate is 75. So I do 75x64 and get 4800. If that doesn't change much, try doing what I do -- putting it as high as it can go, woot! Seriously, I usually leave mine at 15000. Everyone says that since 2.8, or some version around then, you're not supposed to put it over 10000. But, it works for me, and that's all I care.

To change your netspeed settings, you can type into your console (without quotes) "netspeed xxxxx". Replace the Xes with the number. Or, you can go into your user.ini file and and search for ConfiguredInternetSpeed and set it there.

Last, I don't know if this fixes lag much or not, but try also putting "pb_sleep 500" into your console when you join a server.

Bottom line is, AA is pretty laggy on the whole, but there are a couple of things you can try to combat it. I'm writing up a guide to AA, and I'll be sure to include a lag section with it.

(BTW, rushing on a laggy server = very bad. )

[Endurance-=Of-God=- (Ben)]

I would really enjoy learning the ins and outs of some of the major AA maps from a demo video!

[Peace-=Of-God=-]

Nov 30, 2008 12:37:22 GMT -5 Gamer-=Of-God=- (Tim) said:

First, try playing around with your netspeed setting. The difference isn't going to be night and day, but it could improve things a bit. I've heard that a good way to find a nice netspeed setting is to multiply your monitor's refresh rate by 64, and use that for netspeed. For example, my monitor's refresh rate is 75. So I do 75x64 and get 4800. If that doesn't change much, try doing what I do -- putting it as high as it can go, woot! Seriously, I usually leave mine at 15000. Everyone says that since 2.8, or some version around then, you're not supposed to put it over 10000. But, it works for me, and that's all I care.

To change your netspeed settings, you can type into your console (without quotes) "netspeed xxxxx". Replace the Xes with the number. Or, you can go into your user.ini file and and search for ConfiguredInternetSpeed and set it there.

  Just a note on that -- make sure that your ConfiguredInternetSpeed variable is set between 1000 and 50000, or you will fail one of our CVAR checks and be removed from our servers . You can also let the AA system choose an appropriate ConfiguredInternetSpeed variable setting for you by going to the "Settings" area, "Games" tab, "Connection" setting, and selecting the menu choice (modem, IDSN, cable/DSL, or LAN/T1) that most closely matches your Internet connection.

[Gamer-=Of-God=- (Tim)]

Also, to learn more about netspeed and lag, here's a quote from Koroush Ghazi's excellent AA tweak guide:

[Engine.Player]

ConfiguredInternetSpeed=10000

This is a vital setting because it determines your network rate in bits per second (bps), also known as Netspeed. Adjusting it can improve your Ping and thus reduce online lag problems (See also the Troubleshooting Tips section). The trick is to set a Netspeed which is not too low, but also not too high. For 56K modems, depending on your actual connection speed try values around 3000 for an optimal ping. For DSL/Cable and faster connections try values around 8000, once again depending on your actual connection speed. The default value of 10000 (which is also the maximum value for most servers) should be fine for fast connections (i.e. 1.5mbps or higher), however slightly lower values can still help better maintain a steady ping. Note that you can adjust Netspeed 'on the fly' during the game by using the Netspeed command - See the Console Commands section for more details. Further note that if you have the Dynamic Netspeed setting enabled, your netspeed will vary here depending on the DynamicPingThreshold setting above and the servers on which you have been playing recently. If you want to manually adjust your netspeed I recommend you disable the Dynamic Netspeed setting first.

Note: Some servers may require you to have a netspeed higher than a particular value, such as 9000 or above. If you find you're being kicked from servers for this reason, return your Netspeed value to the default of 10000.

Importantly you should note that your maximum FPS online is limited by your Netspeed value. The Unreal Engine has an FPS cap of 90 when playing online, however Netspeed values below 5000 will further reduce this FPS cap. For example, I get 60FPS maximum with a Netspeed of 5000, but I reach the 90FPS maximum with a Netspeed of 8000 or higher. However Lag isn't just caused by your Netspeed or Internet connection. I cover this in more details here, but a summary is below:

Ping Lag: Online lag due to your connection is measured by your Ping. Look at your Ping by using the 'Stat Net' command (See the Console Commands section) or observe the Ping shown in the F1 scoreboard - the Stat Net version should be more accurate, however there is a bug currently where your actual ping may be shown as four times higher than your real ping on the F1 scoreboard - ask other players for verification of your Ping. If the Ping is 150 or higher then you will experience noticeable Ping Lag. This is represented by a delay between when you initiate an action, and when the effects are seen on screen - e.g. firing a gun with a 500 ping will result in a 500ms (half a second) delay between you pressing your fire button, and the bullet impact actually being seen on the screen. While having a high ping can be annoying, players with high pings do not affect other players' pings in America's Army as confirmed by the game's Developers.

Note: Your Ping may be displayed to you as being up to 4x your actual Ping in the F1 scoreboard and even Stat Net. To confirm your real ping, ask other teammates what they see your ping as - usually it is 1/4 of what you see.

Packet Loss: If your character starts 'warping' around while playing then this is usually due to game information being lost on the way to/from the server. The only solution to this is to make sure your connection is sound (i.e. if it doesn't happen in other online games then it's probably not your connection), and going to another America's Army server.

Stuttering: If your Ping is showing a low value when viewing the Stat Net statistics, but you are getting choppy or stuttery gameplay, with small pauses here and there, this is called Stuttering and has nothing to do with your Internet connection. It's due to your hardware - particularly your hard drive - struggling to supply information to your system smoothly. To solve this check the guides under the Essential Optimization section on page 2 and make sure to optimize your system.

Graphical Slowdown: If your Ping is showing a low value when viewing the Stat Net statistics but you are still experiencing laggy graphics and movement at certain times, particularly during heavy combat scenes, this is called a Graphical Slowdown and has nothing to do with your Internet connection. It is caused by your graphics hardware struggling to render the game. To solve this, aside from following the guides on page 2 of this guide, tweak your game to increase average FPS as per the In-Game settings and Advanced Tweaking sections of this guide, and if nothing else helps consider a graphics card upgrade.

www.tweakguides.com/AASF_9.html