Console Test Force (CTF)

Battlefield 1 General Discussion
1

Alright soldiers, the time is nigh, the floodgates are about to open. With this iteration in the Battlefield series, we finally have some clientside tools to help analyze the game network behavior, AT LAUNCH! And we are going to use those tools!!

In the past titles there have been some pretty stark network issues that are still alive and well in bf4 and hardline. I want to squash these issues into the dust. :slight_smile:

Things we are Testing forNetworking Issues

Server/client desync, ohks, damage around corners, damage dusting, incorrect damage, and mistimed incoming rounds just to name a few.

Let’s be clear about one thing, our goal as the Console Test Force is not to point our fingers at high ping and start a witch hunt, the point of this is to create a low ping environment that could be mistaken for lan, all players deserve a place to play, this is about quality for everyone.

How we’re going to test

Please become familiar with the testing that Chris at Battlenonsense uses, we have a gold standard to follow, let’s not drop the torch.

I hope we can get a group of varying ping to join into different region servers, and run tests (damage around corners, denying high ping bullets), we will need to record our time in these servers, with the netgraph enabled the ENTIRE TIME!

I would really like everyone to upload to YouTube and label the videos as “Console Test Force, (username) date/time” (make sure you specify which timezone you are in), along with any specific issues that are in the footage.

With these specific references, we should be able to compare our footage and look at the network situation from all sides.

Graphical Errors, and Framerate Issues

Reporting instances of bad graphics and incorrect effects gives these issues a much better chance of being addressed. Try to use the netgraph, and record the game play before and after the issue.

Certain situations will more than likely effect these issues, let’s do our best to identify the specific areas that performance is struggling with.

We can make a Difference

Don’t let the past get you down, the console situation currently is unique compared to past situations, we basically have midrange pcs, and DICE have been very willing to take positive actions on issues brought to their attention. Let’s make sure they have good info to reference when attempting to improve the current engine.

Please stay on topic, and stay focused. We’re all on the same team, and we all benefit from a game that runs well.

Thanks for your help, let’s get to work!

2

Double posting… we’re off to a good start :wink:

3

I’m down for helping but can only do it on the weekend.

4

“Put me in coach”- Rudy

I’m up for the task at hand.

5

Good to have you gents, I would encourage you to invite anyone who might be interested.

I’m sure a ps4 group will get setup soon, then we can organize on the fly and do testing when it’s convenient.

6

Sweet! The more the merrier. I don’t mind sub par gameplay at times, especially when it could go towards improvements. Knowledge is power gents.

@Ben8D8over and co. I’m sure you’ll join. It’s always a good time with you m8. :slight_smile:

7

Im off to Canada for work but will start capturing data on Friday when I return.

8

Well, unfortunately it looks like we’ve got some issues.

Surprisingly netcode does not seem to be a problem as far as function, but we are hitting a cpu bottleneck pretty regularly in large scale/high density action, it looks like this is a netcode optimization problem.

Simply, we are getting too much data for the ps4 to chew through, or the ps4 is chewing very inefficiently. We need some of this to dynamically scale back so we aren’t starting ps4 fires.

Dynamic resolution is interesting, but I’m baffled that we are still dropping to sub 30fps level with such an aggressive rendering technique. Seems this was taken instead of dynamic LOD/effect shifting?

When we run into these drops there is a large amount of input lag, that’s my problem with the frame drops above 45. When from rate goes lower, it not only feels like your soldiers reticle is swimming through mud it looks slow an “off” too, frame drops absolutely destroys muscle memory currently.

I have seen quite a few latency spikes where I jump 150ms, then immediately drop back down, I do not see this behavior in bf4. Also about a quarter of the rounds I’ve played have ended because of server disconnects.

These are the big issues I’ve noticed so far. Hitreg, and desync problems seem to be very minimal if present at all. Thank the lord, those were the things that were going to be difficult to test.

9

Will be watching this thread with interest.
It will serve to educate me on the issues this game has prior to even considering purchasing it.

I am sincerely disappointed with your findings so far… :frowning:

10

I’m actually kind of encouraged, on its face it’s disappointing, but these problems can be fixed, having a solid netcode is huge, now they just need to optimize data handling and things should start improving significantly.

We just have to be sure and continually report everything!

11

Hear you, bud.

I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on your thread and findings.
Sadly, I suspect I will be holding off from buying this game for a while.
I can’t go through it all again like I did wit BF4.

At the rate they release updates, I can’t see this game being in shape for at least a year.

I’ll be looking out for your findings and posts.

12

I need to follow this thread. I have game arriving today, but I won’t have any time to get on this week. So at least I can follow this thread.

13

So far it looks like the need for group testing is much lower than I had anticipated, doesn’t mean we can’t fill this thread up with individual issues!