The Story of UT and how it gets to UT3

[EntropicLqd]

...I understand that the number of players is directly related to how much lag is done through out online play. Unfortunately, i am not sure way this has a direct relation between the two. For instance, I have a Cable modem connection, high speed something. I really don't have a number quantity for you. But if 64 people had the same connection that i had and the game was designed to run at optimal performance if you had the same connection speed that i hypothetically had, would everyones play be considerably slower because of the net code.

Lag mostly occurs because of the amount of time it takes take to travel from your PS3 to the server, and from the server to your PS3. The longer the time taken for the data to travel the more "lag" you will experience.

In addition you will occasionally find that data is lost during transfer between your client and the server (in either direction). This is called packet-loss, and is a very bad thing.

Every player on the server causes more data to be sent to your PS3. If you do not have enough download bandwidth, or, the server does not have enough upload bandwidth to support the number of players, you will then start to experience more lag (due to packet loss and increased data transfer times).

...It had to be built off of three year old hardware which i would assume would be about as hold as some of the ps3 hardware.game.

Just because they started writing the game on three year old hardware doesn't mean that hardware could run the engine at more than 5fps.

...My point with this is that if the pc can do 64 people then i guess i can't understand why the ps3 would limited to only 24, that is a significant downgrade between the two systems especially when the title is a multiplayer one

24 players are what the maps are designed for. Although there is no hard limit on player counts on the PC, that doesn't mean you'll see any 64 player servers. 64 players in a single map would probably be too much for even the highest spec. PC at the time of launch. That's a huge amount of detail and data to move around. In 2-3 years time it may well be feasable, however PS3's can't be upgraded in the same way PCs can.

Most PC servers will be 12 or 16 players as the number of players on a server ultimately determines how much the server costs to rent.

...Question: If it starts out at release at 24 people, do you know if it is possible to improve the number of online players by doing an update or anything like that.

It may be possible. However since the PS3's hardware is fixed it might not cope with the additional player loads. I'm sure Epic will have experimented with it extensively before launch though.

...You indicated that it would be fine for Unreal tournament 3 to have an online population of only 8 at a time because it is up close and personal. How will 24 warfare play when it is 12 v 12 and they have the same potential for 64 players on one map. I don't know if this is going to be the same up close and personal game that it might be for the ps3. This is just a speculation from what you have just recently indicated.

Ultimately the "best" number of players for a match depends on the map size. Smaller maps play better with smaller numbers of players. 8 players on a map designed for 24 might be a little dull. Maps should be picked based upon the number of players available.

We know that the PS3 version is a little slower than the PC version, but without playing it I couldn't say how that effects the game. I'm sure Epic have got it as fast as they can without making it too hard.

It'll be interesting to see whether a 150% game speed, low-grav, instagib CTF community appears amongst the PS3 crowd or whether that will remain a uniquely PC perversion.

...Like i have said in many of my other posts/threads, i have never played this series.

Welcome to the series. I hope you enjoy it as much as I (and many others have) over the years.

...Warfare questions....

Do a google search for Onslaught. You should be able to find a ton of walkthroughs and hints and tips. Apologies for not having the time to dog out some good references for you right now.

[MatrixJCE]

Thank you agina for the indepth response. Another question, How do i use the impact to jump and things like that. I have seen this in previous forums/threads and i was confused, i assumed that their were spots in the map that would allow you to be shot up to another level but you are suppose to use your impact hammer. Please explain this to me.

Does this game take into consideration the weight of the guns so you can't carry a million guns or not. I hope it doesn't take that in to consideration. But even if it doesn't, if you pick up too many weapons it is sometimes nice to beable to drop your gun. I think this would be very important feature to add. The reason why i say this is because you are supposedly suppose to be able to lie down and act dead. If an enemy walks over your dead body and doesn't pick anything up, well then he might figure out that you are not dead. At least this is what i might try to do if someone dies before me and i barely started shooting him. well anyways. If you get a message indicating that you killed someone and someone just lies down, will it give you a false message saying that you killed player x or will it say nothing. If it says nothing then it is an automatic give away. It might be funny for it to give you a you destroyed player x when he falls down, but when he stands up after you have clearly thought he was dead, it gives you another message saying you tricked player x by playing dead, it was a close one, or something like that. This would increase your ego for actually getting it to work, and the make player x mad or feel foolish for allowing you to get away with it. lol. Thanks

[Cuddles]

Thank you agina for the indepth response. Another question, How do i use the impact to jump and things like that. I have seen this in previous forums/threads and i was confused, i assumed that their were spots in the map that would allow you to be shot up to another level but you are suppose to use your impact hammer. Please explain this to me.

Does this game take into consideration the weight of the guns so you can't carry a million guns or not. I hope it doesn't take that in to consideration. But even if it doesn't, if you pick up too many weapons it is sometimes nice to beable to drop your gun. I think this would be very important feature to add. The reason why i say this is because you are supposedly suppose to be able to lie down and act dead. If an enemy walks over your dead body and doesn't pick anything up, well then he might figure out that you are not dead. At least this is what i might try to do if someone dies before me and i barely started shooting him. well anyways. If you get a message indicating that you killed someone and someone just lies down, will it give you a false message saying that you killed player x or will it say nothing. If it says nothing then it is an automatic give away. It might be funny for it to give you a you destroyed player x when he falls down, but when he stands up after you have clearly thought he was dead, it gives you another message saying you tricked player x by playing dead, it was a close one, or something like that. This would increase your ego for actually getting it to work, and the make player x mad or feel foolish for allowing you to get away with it. lol. Thanks

Well you can use the impact hamer to jump, but you have to have good timing to jump and use the impact hammer at the same time by shooting the hammer right under you. It takes your health to, so its not very good to use it when low on health.

There are things like jump pads to allow you to jump from place to place, they can shoot you verticaly and horizontaly. You can also jump from a lift going up to get a boost.

In previous UT games you could have all the guns of the map and still run at the same speed as always, but I have heard that when using the Redeemer from UT3 it will slow you down.

Yes you can drop your gun.

I dont think there is a false message when someone feigns death, but im not sure. In UT99 you could plow the dead body to peaces if you werent sure it was dead.

[EntropicLqd]

....How do i use the impact to jump and things like that. I have seen this in previous forums/threads and i was confused.......i assumed that their were spots in the map that would allow you to be shot up to another level but you are suppose to use your impact hammer.

There are a few jump types in UT3.

You have the standard jump ... press the jump button and off you go.

There's the double-jump ... press jump for the first jump, and then at the apex of the first jump press the jump key again for some additional height; effectively jumping twice hence the name.

There's the hammer jump ... charge up the hammer, point it at the floor and then jump and release the hammer (almost) at the same time. This will cost you health, and the more you charge up the hammer the more it will hurt (but the higher you go). The timing on the jump and hammer release is pretty tricky so it takes a bit of practice.

There's a lift jump ... while travelling on a lift press jump when the lift is moving upwards for extra height. The faster the lift the more height you'll get. It can take a bit of practice to work out the optimal point from which to jump when on a lift. Although about 1/2 to 3/4's way up is normally best.

There's the dodge ... which is a short leap in a given direction. On the PC you have to double-tap a direction key quickly to do it. The timing is configurable in-menu though so you can tweak the sensitivity.

There's a wall dodge ... Jump next to a wall and then dodge away from it. This will push you away from the wall. Occasionally useful for moving unpredictably and also taking shortcuts across a map.

And finally there's a boost-jump. I've not mastered this myself but you dodge and jump at the same time for a jump that lasts a bit longer. It's actually considered a bug in some circles so it might not exist in UT3.

In previous UT's you could dodge onto slopes and ramps that you wouldn't normally be able to climb up to slide up them. It takes a bit of practice to get right but can be useful. Whether this will still be the case in UT3 remains to be seen.

[MatrixJCE]

I was reviewing this thread and thought that it was very informative so i thought i would post here and bump it to the top since it is getting closer to the release for the ps3