[ODE] Re: ODE on multiplayer games

[James Arthur]

On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 12:20:43 +1100, Geoff Carlton <gcarlton at iinet.net.au> wrote:
> These games had prediction by interpolation/extrapolation, and it works
> well.  However replacing this simple prediction with a whole local
> physics simulation seems a bit more radical.  Perhaps HL2 does this though?

I think it does, but it doesn't send the entire simulation state to
each client each step - that would be madness :)  It just seems to
send enough information to keep the clients' simulations in check.

If you get lag in HL2 multiplayer modes (or if you unplug the network
cable etc.) you see a strange effect where the simulation steps
forward smoothly for about half a second then repeats over and over
until you get ping again or it disconnects from the server. This
includes your player's movement and that of enemies (but you can still
rotate freely). You can't shoot or move or do anything else to change
the simulation state. Explosions and other particle effects are not
effected. It seems like it caches the simulation states in a circular
buffer of some sort.