[ODE] Record and Playback

[Martin C. Martin]

Steve Baker wrote:

> Martin C. Martin wrote:
> 
>>  > If every computer had to wait for every other so they could all stay
>>  > in lock-step, the game would run at 1Hz frame rate.
>>
>> You're exaggerating.  The game dynamics would go at the speed of the 
>> slowest machine.  Most games are unplayable at 1Hz, so presumably even 
>> the slowest machine wouldn't be going at that speed.
> 
> No - I'm not at all exaggerating.  In order to stay in lockstep, every
> computer would have to somehow tell all of the others that it's finished
> it's step.  Whilst the slowest machine may be running at 30Hz, the latency
> over the net could be as much as a second in a bad case.

True, and if you look carefully, when you play an RTS online, there's a 
delay between when you issue commands to your units, and when they start 
executing them.  So, the game can update at 30 Hz, even if the ping is 
up to 1 second in each direction.  This is related to the difference 
between latency and bandwidth.

- Martin