ED is for many CMDRs an excellent game. Playing Solo they have no issues, they go about their thing as they like. Playing Open & Group, they're able to wing/meet up with fellow pilots and PvE/PvP to their heart's content.
For other players however, ED is a nightmare, especially in Open. Not seeing other players, invisible NPCs firing on their wingmates, empty instances, a small number of cheaters/hackers etc. This is all due to FDev's initial development choice of P2P networking between players, managed by transaction and matchmaking servers, and the discrepancies of UPNP router/LAN implementations.
Then apparently instead of fixing these networking issues with ED, FDev announce a new gamemode called CQC (cue grumbles) that's coming to Xbox first (more grumbles) and sits outside of the galaxy sim (grumble city). Wait, what?!
And breathe. Don't worry, this post isn't to discuss which of the networking models are the better option - P2P, Client/Server, or Hybrid P2P with Supernodes - as there are plenty of threads on that elsewhere. For those needing some background info on the topic, here's my post on a P2P & C/S Reddit thread earlier today:
Instead I'll be discussing the current development of fixes/improvements to ED as a whole, on all platforms; triggered by a few thoughts I had earlier today.
To fix any issue, the devs need to identify the actual problem from the symptoms caused (invisible NPCs for example), and then isolate one-by-one the probable factors causing the identified problem - test one variable at a time. The nightmare of PC gaming, and Mac to a lesser extent, is hardware/software/drivers/router configurations change wildly from player to player; a huge number of variables for the devs.
Then Microsoft came along and offered their long-time game partners FDev a lump of cash to port ED to the Xbox One, and give exclusivity over PS4. Oh, and make the game more action-oriented to satisfy the Xbox core demographic. While us PC/Mac players have been frustrated by this, it's actually an extremely good thing for everyone.
ED on Xbox is in the Game Preview Program allowing FDev enormous flexibility regarding updates, bug fixes and tweaks. It's not a released game, therefore the Xbox community understand it can be buggy & have major issues as per alpha/beta testing. The hardware/software/drivers are all constant - only the routers will change between players. A good testing ground for the P2P structure. It gets better though.
CQC is an arena game and won't have players transitioning from instance to instance like with the ED galaxy. The matchmaking server will join all match-players in one instance for the whole match-round. Better yet, this match-making occurs within the match-lobby prior to match start, during which targeted logs can record any problems with P2P connectivity between players, ready for the underlying issues to be identified - without hardware/software/driver discrepancies interfering. And any changes FDev make here can't affect the wider Galaxy whatsoever. Heck FDev could even trial Supernodes (if they are even needed) to reinforce the P2P network during the Xbox CPC beta and we'd be none-the-wiser. Not bad considering Microsoft are effectively footing the bill
Eventually, we the players should get:
Thoughts?
For other players however, ED is a nightmare, especially in Open. Not seeing other players, invisible NPCs firing on their wingmates, empty instances, a small number of cheaters/hackers etc. This is all due to FDev's initial development choice of P2P networking between players, managed by transaction and matchmaking servers, and the discrepancies of UPNP router/LAN implementations.
Then apparently instead of fixing these networking issues with ED, FDev announce a new gamemode called CQC (cue grumbles) that's coming to Xbox first (more grumbles) and sits outside of the galaxy sim (grumble city). Wait, what?!
And breathe. Don't worry, this post isn't to discuss which of the networking models are the better option - P2P, Client/Server, or Hybrid P2P with Supernodes - as there are plenty of threads on that elsewhere. For those needing some background info on the topic, here's my post on a P2P & C/S Reddit thread earlier today:
Instead I'll be discussing the current development of fixes/improvements to ED as a whole, on all platforms; triggered by a few thoughts I had earlier today.
To fix any issue, the devs need to identify the actual problem from the symptoms caused (invisible NPCs for example), and then isolate one-by-one the probable factors causing the identified problem - test one variable at a time. The nightmare of PC gaming, and Mac to a lesser extent, is hardware/software/drivers/router configurations change wildly from player to player; a huge number of variables for the devs.
Then Microsoft came along and offered their long-time game partners FDev a lump of cash to port ED to the Xbox One, and give exclusivity over PS4. Oh, and make the game more action-oriented to satisfy the Xbox core demographic. While us PC/Mac players have been frustrated by this, it's actually an extremely good thing for everyone.
ED on Xbox is in the Game Preview Program allowing FDev enormous flexibility regarding updates, bug fixes and tweaks. It's not a released game, therefore the Xbox community understand it can be buggy & have major issues as per alpha/beta testing. The hardware/software/drivers are all constant - only the routers will change between players. A good testing ground for the P2P structure. It gets better though.
CQC is an arena game and won't have players transitioning from instance to instance like with the ED galaxy. The matchmaking server will join all match-players in one instance for the whole match-round. Better yet, this match-making occurs within the match-lobby prior to match start, during which targeted logs can record any problems with P2P connectivity between players, ready for the underlying issues to be identified - without hardware/software/driver discrepancies interfering. And any changes FDev make here can't affect the wider Galaxy whatsoever. Heck FDev could even trial Supernodes (if they are even needed) to reinforce the P2P network during the Xbox CPC beta and we'd be none-the-wiser. Not bad considering Microsoft are effectively footing the bill
Eventually, we the players should get:
- Better, more reliable networking & multiplayer gameplay
- A few optional jump-in-and-out PvP gamemodes
- More players on more formats
- An all round better game
Thoughts?