Are there any games that WP3 is specifically designed to improove online play.

[Behemoth_100]

Is there going to be a games list that we should test, as i understand WP3 is set to improove peer-to-peer play.

And as I sometimes play RTS games I know how unstable they can be online.

[Behemoth_100]

I really should have read the other topics first. Ignore the peer-to-peer bit. The rest of my question still applys tho!! :P

[phlash]

All the games that you have (that we are supporting of course).

Phlash.

There IS a difference in how peer-peer games are implemented in Wireplay 3.

We split them into 3 catagories:

FastR/GAPI games
DirectPlay games
TCP/IP native games

The first are older games that used the Wireplay api's before things like DirectPlay came along. We use a technology called FastR (Fast Router) to managed the network traffic of these games.

DirectPlay games in the past have used Wireplays DirectPlay service provider which sits on top of GAPI (Wireplay game api).

We no longer maintain this api and DirectPlay TCP/IP has come a long way since then so we are dropping our DirectPlay service provider completely and using the Microsoft TCP/IP provider.

There is one problem with doing this - a game needs to support the DirectPlay 'Lobby Launch' mechanism for us to provide it with the IP address and ports to automatically connect. If it doesn't then when you select the MS TCP/IP provider in game it asks you for ip addresses and stuff.

What we have done is write a new service provider that simply wraps the MS TCP/IP one and use a bit of shared memory between the Wireplay client and service provider so it doesn't have to ask you for ip addresses.

This is basically known as 'cunning' http://www.gameplayerz.com/ubb/smile.gif

Maybe someone less techy than me can explain all that in english.

Slarti

[Darkstorm]

They are only going to use TCP/IP now for connectivity. And then have set things up so all you need to do is join a game. Wireplay does the rest http://www.gameplayerz.com/ubb/smile.gif

[markph]

Do peer to peer games still go through the wireplay router or does the client now set up the game directly between the two players and let them get on with it?

[phlash]

Those peer-peer games that are not using DirectPlay, or their own TCP/IP code will still use a 'router' on the Wireplay server to simulate a LAN environment (we could have shoe-horned these games into DirectPlay but that made me feel ill!).

Phil.

[markph]

Excuse me if I'm sounding thick here - but.

If I use TOCA2 as an example. As far as I can currently make out the way it currently works over wireplay is when you select the wireplay option in the game you are connected to the Wireplay router, and all traffic then goes through wireplay and is redistributed accordingly.

However if you choose Internet there are no routers (except normal network routers of course) between the host and joining player(s).

Hence Wireplay is very slow and laggy, but direct over the internet is very smooth and little lag - as there is no router getting in the way.

So - will WP3 enable games like TOCA2 to miss out the router and hence allow good games the likes of which you would get over direct ip play?

Slash or Phlash should really reply to this but they are not about at the moment.

In WP2 we have a 'software router' that was designed to take advantage of the Wireplay Game API (GAPI).

All games that are written to use GAPI use this software router to direct traffic about.

This was all written years ago before DirectX game along and TCP/IP became the protocol that everyone used.

In WP2 we implemented a DirectX service provider that allowed DirectX games to use GAPI through a thin layer.

Since those days, the TCP/IP provider that MS ship has become a lot better and more importantly it is the only provider that games companies tweak their games to run with.

Therefore in WP3, we will be using the MS TCP/IP provider for all DirectX games.

Games that use TCP/IP directly will continue to do so (like Quake).

Only the older titles that rely on GAPI will continue to use it.

This will affect any game that currently uses the Wireplay DirectPlay service provider, as it will now use the MS TCP/IP provider.

Whether this improves performance or stability of peer-peer games remains to be seen (or at least tested). I'm hoping it will other wise we wouldn't be doing this.

Hope that clears it up a little, but it is terribly complicated.

[arian]

We have the same situation in Ta so id be interested in seeing the answer. It all is sounding really promising for peer to peer gaming with WP3

------------------
TA CLUB CAPTAIN <A HREF="http://www.btinternet.com/~ta_club/" TARGET=_blank>
http://www.btinternet.com/~ta_club/</A>

KAOS LAN PARTY
http://www.btinternet.com/~ta_club/arians_lan.htm

[markph]

Okay, I'll ask a simpler question in the hope of a simpler answer http://www.gameplayerz.com/ubb/smile.gif

At the moment using Wireplay2 you can play TOCA2 though the client but it is extremely laggy, sometimes so much so that it is unplayable.

However the same two players on the same connections can bypass wireplay and one give the other their ip address and play directly and there is very little lag and the game is very playable.

Will the peer-to-peer improvements in Wireplay3 allow us to play games of TOCA2 with the same amount of lag as if they were over direct ip, or will the current situation of unplayable races still remain.

As they say in exams - discuss.

Simple answer is YES - playing a DirectPlay based game with WP3 will give you the same performance as directly using the MS TCP/IP provider and passing around IP addresses.

Sorry if I go into deep tech - but it really is seriously complicated and I know some of you like to understand what's going on at the lower level.