Surrogate Hosting Idea

[arc]

Just an idea...

I assume that if a host has a poor connection, their pc is acting server and with having to process & synchronize all data is probably the worst combination for lag. Therefore the opposite of this would be the best prevention of lag, i.e. the host having the fastest connection & processor etc.

With this in mind wouldn't it be possible for anyone with an interest in promoting VSK to provide something like a web server for the sole purpose of surrogate hosting of either more games, or larger fleet games, or tournaments, or an ongoing prestigious regatta?

I'm sure with a little thought VSK (or any other virtual software) could be written to allow for surrogate hosting.

All one would need to do is post their course to the surrogate host, and perhaps we could get a thirty or fifty strong fleet?

:p ???

Any support, expansion, or other thoughts along these lines? ???

Perhaps this cannot work for some technical reason. :beer:

[CAN uck]

YEAH, team match racing with 10 teams of 4 or 4 teams of 10, etc.

I might need a few more beers for that night!

[Witch_Doctor]

Have there been any answers to this question. If it'll work, I can probably run some races on my webserver space. It would be interesting to see how well the game plays when it is running on a big box.

[admiral 1]

Unless you find out how to have one instance of VSK running on multiple cores, you're best off with a fx57 i think at 400x600 resolution 16k color no AA no ASF would do fine. Then I think synchron 2000K will do for starters. Don't need big tin there. VSK is P2P so all a server would be doing is routing like in a VPN. Still would need a hosting game somewhere. If you can run that on your webspace, be sure it has one capable CPU dedicated to VSK as VSK can't run on more then one CPU. BTW IMO big fleet races are only for the ladder,
i hardly see any strategical or tactical difference between a 10 boat and 20 boat fleet, I only see that half of the 20 boat fleet can't handle the load.

If you want big fleet racing, go to a lan-party and bring a decent computer. What you loose in LAG through the higher load on the CPU's you gain in the much faster connection. From ping in high tens - hundreds of seconds to below one milisecond.



Edited By admiral 1 on 1146074593

[Witch_Doctor]

Hehehe. Way over my head. I was thinking I could just upload it to the server and let it run. Certainly not worth causing any headaches.

[Andy(NZ)]

The Virtual Yacht Squadron (www.vys.co.nz) already run a dedicated game server (we call him NIGEL). It is a brand new Intel Viiv Technology Pentium D Processor 930 with Dual Core, 4GB RAM, usual extras.

It runs on a commercial Internet network (8GB download and 2GB upload).

It hosts 25 boats without breaking a sweat but that is not where the problem lies.... most boats that connect to a race with that many boats in it struggle to display the game in a usable format as their own systems/networks are limited.

It is still useful for our members who cannot host themselves to use it for hosting games... by connecting to it via a remote desktop.

[admiral 1]

It hosts 25 boats without breaking a sweat but that is not where the problem lies.... most boats that connect to a race with that many boats in it struggle to display the game in a usable format as their own systems/networks are limited.

Think we are talking about a VPN here.
If the server would be doing the rendering for 25 clients you'l need something like a rendering farm (cluster of servers dedicated to grafics)

I doubt the latter is the case, so actually the server is a session server, it sets up the Peer 2 Peer network. It thus replaces the VSK servers, but won't change anything on the client and or host. Using the server as a terminal for the host would still need a decent grafic solution on the server to give the host playable grafics.

I can see one advantage of a "clan" server. By setting up your own private network you can exclude clients and hosts that are under par.

Practical value would be, that you don't have to have anybody in your network with bad pings, and you can still do 'public races'...

Theoretical value would be that in a peer 2 peer network over a LAN on a VPN where the minimum bandwith reaches 2m upload suggesting that download would be equal or higher AND expecting 1k for one boats update. I think you can get easily over 50 boat fleet races, expect however that grafics will have to be set as low as possible.

Imo a LAN party may in effect be easier and show better results.


Now the good news for somewhat computer savy, and or somewhat network technolgy interested skippers is that you don't need a server to have a VPN. A VPN with up to 16 clients can be made with some help from the guys that build Hamachi. It still is undergoing tests but it works, and for your 16 client network it (still) is free of charge.
You can find Hamachi here

:beer: :beer:

Anybody interested in sailing vsk 1 on some special occasion?



Edited By admiral 1 on 1155053611

[Aquabat]

and if there are not enough VSK1 skippers (not me) around ... how about VSK2 ... ??

Rob

[admiral 1]

Still got 2 copies of VSK2 sitting around here