of using voice software whilst running GPL last night.
The test was conducted on Mike Barlow's server using Roger Wilco.
I think that there were five of us connected at one time. For those of you
who have not heard of this yet, RW is a program that enables you to talk to
others in real time whilst in a game using a mic plugged into your
soundcard.
After spending about an hour between us, downloading, installing and setting
up, we got a link up that whilst not quite telephone quality, was certainly
acceptably clear insofar as understanding each other. We had quite a variety
of hardware and the general consensus is that you need decent quality
hardware to get this to work. In particular, a high spec mic is essential.
Setting up was time consuming. When you first go into the set-up, you are
prompted to configure your system. You have to specify either direct sound
or wav recording, device used (soundcard), modem connection speed etc. There
is also an option for CPU usage (lower= lower quality). Following this, you
need to set up your Mike. A test applet does the business here. Once through
with this, you simply have to connect to a channel by typing in an IP
address to a host channel.
Upon first use, we had a lot of problems getting everyone balanced. Some
were coming across loud and distorted whilst others were barely audible.
After a lot of messing with mic input levels and speaker volume from within
the program, things improved to an acceptable status. A lot of
experimentation was necessary for people with cheap microphones with
distancing the mic from face in order to get rid of distortion and then re
doing input levels. Setup gurus will love this one. One other minor drawback
noticed by myself was that when in use, RW seems to hog all sound resources
when in windows. I had incoming ICQ messages minus the "uh oh" sound prompts
( Maybe a good thing <G>).
So how did the thing work. We went to Monaco via GSB to find out. Although
the sounds in the windows environment were blocked out, normal GPL sounds
worked fine. I got out onto the track and immediately crashed into the wall
at Ste Devote. not unusual for me you may say <G> but this time the problem
was with frame rate. My P266 was struggling to make 24 fps where normally it
runs at about 30 - 32. I also noticed considerable break-up on voice. I
disconnected and changed settings in RW to lower CPU usage. Things got much
better with frame rates running between 26 -28 albeit with less eye candy as
well. Other drivers started complaining about having problems. Ron Ayton
reported clock smashes (he was not using RW). This may well be due to the
fact that five of us were connected to the same IP as the race server and
hence using a lot of bandwidth.
There is much potential here for a very useful facility but IMO we are not
quite there yet in terms of bandwidth usage. Whether the effort is worth the
rewards, you will have to decide for yourself. One thing I am pretty sure of
is that Sim developers will have to start thinking in terms of integrating
this sort of facility into future builds rather than forcing us to rely on
third party programs.......Randy....Comments?
There are few issues that have to be resolved yet and a few more tests to be
done before I am fully convinced that this is a goer.
How much of a performance hit was the server getting? Remember that 5 of
us were connected directly to the host. It might be that RW would be a great
facility for team mates running in races where their link is not drawing on
the host bandwidth. this will only then be dependant on the individual peer
to peer connection (in theory).
How many people can practicably use a single channel in one go? I suspect 5
was far too many. It was fun but voices were breaking up during on - track
running. I believe that as a 2 person link, things would be much better.
How does it affect framerate? You decide for yourself. My thoughts are that
lower spec machines - say below 350Mhz would be struggling.
One thing is for sure though. Roger wilco has put a new dimension to the sim
experience. Much hilarity was had by all (especially the synchronised
screams when hitting walls in multiple accidents). Oh and one more thing, If
you are unfortunate enough to get a disco, you are no longer alone. You can
still hear what is going on in the race..... "Sorry for the loss of vision
we will restore this as soon as possible after the race hehe" Sounding like
cable tv in my neighbourhood now!!!!!!!!
Mark