This post is called speed and efficiency predictions because hopefully these will be defined in the reply. Thank you for accurate responses showing an awareness for the range of possibilities in user end hardware and location. Range of Possibilities curtailed by popularity 14.4Kmodem -> 56Kclaimants 386 graphics -> 3D card and 200Mhz machine Server functioning at peak rate -> server overloaded with replies to make and transformations to execute common fragmentation -> less likely breakages medium line quality clocked data sent at maximum throughput i.e. consistent rates of data buffering These are the questions. PLEASE answer them for all us wheel inventors;] 1 UDP PACKETS PER SECOND? per second 2 TCP PACKETS PER SECOND? per second 3 BEST CONSISTENT DATASTREAM PER PACKET FOR TCP? byte or char per second 4 BEST CONSISTENT SIZE OF PACKET IN UDP FOR RELIABILITY? in bits or bytes or char 5 SERVER SENDS HOW MANY PACKETS PER SECOND? 6 CAN I CHANGE THE AMOUNT OF DATA SENT AND RECEIVED BY MODEMS AS IT IS A RELATIVE CONDITION OF MAX THRUPUT AND SENT PACKET SIZES CHANGING AGAINST RECEIVED PACKET SIZES? - car analogy version of last question->Can I shift the ratios around for send and receive without losing any overall power through the main wire? 7 WHATS THE BPM (beats per minute) FOR YOUR AVERAGE QUAKE GAME AND FUTURE MULTIPLAYER TESTS? Your answers would be much appreciated and probably used to fire more questions at you!/Thanks for your time boundary pushers.. "I am the cookie monster" - The Cookie Monster "Isn''t that my tonic, don''t you think?" - Alanis comes off stage Can''t finish the game - I''ll just add a bit here and there!

1 UDP PACKETS PER SECOND? per second

We use a variable packet rate from 1 -> 15 ups, average 7 ups.

2 TCP PACKETS PER SECOND? per second

We use tcp packets for only reliable transmission (in game messages, object deletion events etc). It averages out to about 3 packet / sec

3 BEST CONSISTENT DATASTREAM PER PACKET FOR TCP? byte or char per second

For tcp, moinitering the network connection on a 56k modem. The highest consistent TCP datastream averaged around 6.5 k/sec. This is proably due to compression as the data sent was highly redundant. (level download at the beginging) At this rate i would estimate that the modem was fully saturated.

4 BEST CONSISTENT SIZE OF PACKET IN UDP FOR RELIABILITY? in bits or bytes or char

Loss is influnenced by several factors, not the least of which is the server side. If you dont consume udp packets fast enough they will overflow and you will lose packets. Our udp packet average around 50 bytes/packet, and we''ve not had any problems with loss.

5 SERVER SENDS HOW MANY PACKETS PER SECOND?

We average about 7 UDP sends per second per client connected and about 3 TCP sends per second.

6 CAN I CHANGE THE AMOUNT OF DATA SENT AND RECEIVED BY MODEMS AS IT IS A RELATIVE CONDITION OF MAX THRUPUT AND SENT PACKET SIZES CHANGING AGAINST RECEIVED PACKET SIZES? -
car analogy version of last question->Can I shift the ratios around for send and receive without losing any overall power through the main wire?

We''ve haven''t noticed any performance penalty for changing recv and send sizes dynamically as the condtions warrants. The more packets / sec you send the more bandwidth that is eatten up by overhead. Im sure there is an optimial level where you can maximimze your bandwidth, while consuming the least overhead, etc..But the test should be done to see if there is one. This one you might have to answer 8^)

7 WHATS THE BPM (beats per minute) FOR YOUR AVERAGE QUAKE GAME AND FUTURE MULTIPLAYER TESTS?
Your answers would be much appreciated and probably used to fire more questions at you!/Thanks for your time boundary pushers..

BPM are used for various things, timming sync, global clock, dead client check, etc.. I dont know the BPM for the average FPS, however i know that we use a 60 BPM for our timmer syncrhonization. It may be high, but it''s usually tagged on a general update packet so it''s hardly consumming any addiotnal overhead, and it gives us the capaicity to synchronzie very closely with the server.

Good Luck

-ddn