Multiplayer Physics

[buzzbomb]

So I find a plane I like and modify it in a single player map to fly pretty nuts for my multiplayer Unlimited Combat sessions with my friend. After a lot of work, the plane is right where I want it.

So play night comes up, and we load up the server and both join, and my aircraft handles nothing like it does in a single player map. Generally speaking my newly modified and hot-to-trot airplane is basically unflyable when I push it to the extents.

I know there are a lot of variables here. I can say it happens with most any aircraft I modify to push to it's limits. High speed, high throws, doesn't matter. They just don't fly the same in multiplayer as they do in single player.

Is this a known issue with a known fix, or am I chasing my tail around a big tree with no way to actually catch it?

 

[Ryan Douglas]

I don't recall hearing anybody describe anything like that before. I can't think of a reason aircraft would fly any differently in a multiplayer session than outside of one. It's the same physics calculations running on the same computer. Everybody is still flying their own model; it's not like the host is calculating that for all the participants or anything.

This might seem far fetched, but I'm grasping at straws here and want to entertain a thought. By default, RealFlight's audio is modified a bit in a multiplayer session, notably making aircraft sounds significantly quieter. (Partly that is done to make it easier to hear people talking via voice chat, and partly that is to diminish the cacophony of multiple models flying together in the same space to prevent headaches .) Audio adds much more to the overall experience than most people realize. I remember reading years ago about how players typically didn't pick up on it consciously when the sounds were improved in a video game; instead, it led to them reporting better quality graphics, when in reality those hadn't changed.

Along those lines, I wonder if without the usual audio cues to let you know what the model is doing, you are not responding to it in the same ways you normally would, causing it to feel different to you. When we were playtesting all the new challenges in RealFlight, some of us found we performed significantly better with sounds muted; some of us found we performed significantly worse. Both are interesting results when you aren't expecting it to make any difference at all.

 

[legoman]

is your single player physics set to realistic? if it is on custom, you may be on a faster physics speed in single player. Is, high rates on in both?

 

[buzzbomb]

I don't recall hearing anybody describe anything like that before. I can't think of a reason aircraft would fly any differently in a multiplayer session than outside of one. It's the same physics calculations running on the same computer. Everybody is still flying their own model; it's not like the host is calculating that for all the participants or anything.

This might seem far fetched, but I'm grasping at straws here and want to entertain a thought. By default, RealFlight's audio is modified a bit in a multiplayer session, notably making aircraft sounds significantly quieter. (Partly that is done to make it easier to hear people talking via voice chat, and partly that is to diminish the cacophony of multiple models flying together in the same space to prevent headaches .) Audio adds much more to the overall experience than most people realize. I remember reading years ago about how players typically didn't pick up on it consciously when the sounds were improved in a video game; instead, it led to them reporting better quality graphics, when in reality those hadn't changed.

Along those lines, I wonder if without the usual audio cues to let you know what the model is doing, you are not responding to it in the same ways you normally would, causing it to feel different to you. When we were playtesting all the new challenges in RealFlight, some of us found we performed significantly better with sounds muted; some of us found we performed significantly worse. Both are interesting results when you aren't expecting it to make any difference at all.

That is an interesting thought. I'll try to get something more quantifiable, next time I work up a plane. Thank you.

 

[buzzbomb]

is your single player physics set to realistic? if it is on custom, you may be on a faster physics speed in single player. Is, high rates on in both?

View attachment 129630View attachment 129629

My single player is custom, but the only change is unlimited fuel. I'll double-check it, though. Thanks. I fly with a FrSky Taranis X9D. I use three different sets of rates and a different profile for most all my planes. I'll try to get some more specific data and report back.

 

[legoman]

My single player is custom, but the only change is unlimited fuel. I'll double-check it, though. Thanks. I fly with a FrSky Taranis X9D. I use three different sets of rates and a different profile for most all my planes. I'll try to get some more specific data and report back.

rf can do dual rates internally usually input channel 5. with a transmitter that also does dual rates that sounds like a headache to me. with potentially six different rates. also, different profiles in the transmitter. rf handles those to on a per plane basis.

it sounds like we have sort of narrowed it to a crossed profile or a dual/triple/six rate issues.

 

[buzzbomb]

rf can do dual rates internally usually input channel 5. with a transmitter that also does dual rates that sounds like a headache to me. with potentially six different rates. also, different profiles in the transmitter. rf handles those to on a per plane basis.

it sounds like we have sort of narrowed it to a crossed profile or a dual/triple/six rate issues.

Not quite. You have to disable "enable software radio mixes" and "enable software radio duel rates and expo" in the controller edit, in order to use a custom controller. My rates and expo are handled by my controller. Besides, that shouldn't change just because we go into a multiplayer session.

What we're experiencing is that we'll pick a plane and modify some parameters such as number of batteries, physical throw of the control surfaces, servo speed, center of gravity and such. We'll have it going as fast as that model is capable in a straight line, still able to turn in it's own length (more or less) but not so jittery that it's either uncontrollable or too twitchy to make a long distance shot. It's quite the balancing game.

We'll spend hours tweaking a model until we think it flies just the way we want. We've both naturally tried hosting and setting up the plane while in multiplayer. Then when we connect through the server and actually bring it into combat, the plane handles completely different. It's almost always super twitchy and the rates we've set up are way off and the plane is so unsteady that you can't line up a shot.

We definitely bend the laws of physics a bit (a lot), the way we set them up, but that's OK. It's just for the game we play.