Experiments on nkpro multiplayer

We have a new server online called KS EXPERIM RSR. This server is running a newer, not released, version of the nKServer with some improvements on the multiplayer.
This version should improve the way packages are sent to clients, improving the multiplayer.

It's obviously still an experiment, and Kunos is still working on it.
It's important in this phaase to have a feedback on this version.

We don't know yet, for example how it will handle with full grid. It's all a matter of tweaking, in this phase, so don't take strange conclusions in case will not work perfectly. It's still a work in progress, and a deep analysis needs to be done before taking some good conclusions.
There might be other concurrent reason for having problems also.
Bare in mind that, we are running multiple nkservers on the the same physical server, therefore other servers might interfere also.
On the client side also there are other factors that might interfere also. For example if users are too far away from the server or if they have bad connections (wifi, for example) or if they have programs like emule or torrent switched on while playing.


We will perform some tests tonight on this also.

Please let us know if you think this is improving or not.


From your experience, when do you experience problems in multiplayer? Have you ever noticed a huge drop of performance in the multiplayer? what was the root cause in you point of view? Users can help a lot identifying problems! Any input is welcome

For me the cars in the starting grid are too close. [color:a704=#000]A good think to avoid crash may be more distance between the cars. </FONT>
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We're running our servers on our linux dedi. Its a bit of a bodge to get it working, but performance is excellent. Pings dropped somewhat over the windows server, and cpu usage was racking up to a massive 0.2% with a full grid

Will have a play on this server tomorrow. interested in seeing if its actually any better. An improvement on the dodgy collisions situation would be excellent.

le gare in multy per me sono andate bene ho avuto un lag in gara 3 gruppo B perchè sono stato toccato ma all'altro pilota pare non sia successo nulla ma a parte questo l'esperienza è stata ottima

Alessio Cravotto wrote:For me the cars in the starting grid are too close. [color=#000]A good think to avoid crash may be more distance between the cars.

I agree, if it is possible then we should leave more space between the cars on starting grid -this would be a good idea having better starts !,
because in the first races at Interlagos it happened two times to me that the driver in front of me didn't react properly when the lights went green.. and stood unmoved at his starting place for some moments so that I had to
brake immediately after accelerating to avoid crashing into him.., ...the problem then was / is ->that the guy behind me didn't know what happened in front of me and couldn't react such fast, so that he crashed even into my rear.

So more space could aviod such bad situations, especially with such a fast accelerating car as the KS2.

did you guys experienced many difference in the TEST SESSION 2?(CAPACITY TEST nkServers running on the same server, so race 3-4)
I mean more lag, worst ping?
in this case, with all the drivers or just with someone?
in this case, was it always like that?

M Waechter wrote:

Alessio Cravotto wrote:For me the cars in the starting grid are too close. [color=#000]A good think to avoid crash may be more distance between the cars.

I agree, if it is possible then we should leave more space between the cars on starting grid -this would be a good idea having better starts !,
because in the first races at Interlagos it happened two times to me that the driver in front of me didn't react properly when the lights went green.. and stood unmoved at his starting place for some moments so that I had to
brake immediately after accelerating to avoid crashing into him.., ...the problem then was / is ->that the guy behind me didn't know what happened in front of me and couldn't react such fast, so that he crashed even into my rear.

So more space could aviod such bad situations, especially with such a fast accelerating car as the KS2.

spreading the grid isnt the solution to that. its part of racing. Your race doesnt start when the lights go green. it starts when the person in front moves off.

100% agree with you. People should be much more careful, if all we want to have fun.

I hope everyone will use some use wisely this first experience.

Andrea Lojelo wrote:did you guys experienced many difference in the TEST SESSION 2?(CAPACITY TEST nkServers running on the same server, so race 3-4)
I mean more lag, worst ping?
in this case, with all the drivers or just with someone?
in this case, was it always like that?

Could be.. : Might be I experienced a bit more lag in second session, but some cars had more lag than others.
But I have to say that I didn't had in mind while racing in second session that it was the capacity test. -I have to watch my replays to find out if second session was really the one with more lag.. .

new experimental version uploaded in our servers.

- contacts between drivers being logged
- improved multiplayer

There are new tests planned for a new version?

what do you mean?

A small note: can you please change your username using your real Name Surname? It's a rule of the forum. you can change it from the profile. Thanks a lot

I wonder if beyond the last update (1.2C) for other improvements to the multiplayer test? The cars are smoother in multiplayer, but when he decides to lag, it is absurd, much more violent than its predecessor.
I've already changed my profile.

Sorry for English. Google translator.

Thanks Darcy.
I'm not sure if Kunos will do something more on it or not, and in any case I wouldn't be allow to say so

Unfortunately you guys are quite far away from European servers, so it's easier for you to lag, or to see other people lagging, just because of the physical distance.

I understand that causes high ping lag. It is so in other games too. But in netKar Pro is the much larger problem. After this version I saw a car several times with changing position lag by several meters. He was about 400 yards away and appear out of nowhere and knock on my front. When in fact he was far away from me. This does not happen in other simulator. The lag exists but the change in position is small.

I've to say, nk netcode has never been the best part of this sim. Other sim has much better solutions.
I think nk netcode improved a lot lately. I hope there will be some more improvements.

its getting better but there is still a lot of gliding. I think its the prediction code that needs improving

Improved, but not much

This has happened to me several times after 1.2C

Darcy you can't expect too much playing in an European server from Brazil.
there is a huge delay due to the distance between you and the other driver.

In this case is quite clear that, since your position update packages doesn't arrive very often, the prediction algorithm still think you are accelerating while you have instead braked already. For this reason the car in front is killed, while you are, instead some meters away.

This is even worst if you or the other driver is using wifi, or is downloading, since a the percentage of lost packages is much more.
Check this video. As you can see you can be very close without troubles if your connection meets some basic requirements.

you will have much more problems with KS2, since, due to its huge speed and acceleration, your car can be almost everywhere if your update message is lost.

I understand that the distance (Ping) influences. However, I posted this as a warning to work and further improve the code for multiplayer. In iRacing and rFactor you can play in these conditions.

Thus, if invested in developing the multiplayer code you can leave it much better than it is today.

no doubt on that. netcode hasn't ever been the best part of nkpro.
What I'm saying is that with good connections, works really good. with not so good connections it still creates troubles (although much less than before)

I play the netKar Pro since its launch. Furthermore, since the netKar namie. So I know well the problems that it has multiplayer. So I want to see what I consider the best simulator with a great multiplayer. After the name is netKar online simulator.

Bravo Darcy ,superbe ton site!!!!

Andrea Lojelo wrote:What I'm saying is that with good connections, works really good. with not so good connections it still creates troubles (although much less than before)

Define good Last night in the 2nd league race there were lag accidents (Foresta hit me with a space alongside (then Franky took out Foresta with a gap from behind)), not to mention the faulty collision detection (did you see how I sent Gilles Jnr. spinning)? The netcode seems to be the same as v1.1, but whatever Kunos has done to collision detection I hope he changes it back, as it's bad for the sim' to see cars flying all over the place :s

agree, how much does the server rquire form a single user to be stable in the server? most seems 5 to 15kb so unless you are in a 56kb modem... it should be right as it it in other sims, i have 6mb conection and 512kb upload and it should be more than enough