Gameplay Networking

Jacob Steinfort
Importance of Multiplayer Games
If gamers had to choose either a single-player
game or a multiplayer game, most people will
choose multiplayer
Why?
Beating your friends is more fun than beating an
AI
Get a different experience every time you play the
game
USA 2011 Top Unit Sales
Multiplayer
Single-Player
Importance of Getting Multiplayer Right
If developers provide a bad experience,
people wont buy the game
How do we get multiplayer right?
Computer Networking Review
Part 1
CS 3830 - Data Communications and
Computer Networks
Latency = Delay, amount of time it
takes a packet to travel from source
to destination
RTT (Round Trip Time)= source ->
destination ->source
Usually measured in milliseconds (ms)
Bandwidth = amount of data that
can be transferred per unit of time
Usually measured in Megabits /
second (Mbps)

Bandwidth
RTT
Ideally:
Infinitely small latency (0 ms)
Unlimited bandwidth (999999999 Mbps)
Realistically:
What is a perfect connection?
Socket = bidirectional communication
endpoint for sending and receiving data with
another socket.
Two main types of sockets:
TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)
UDP (User Datagram Protocol)
Computer Networking Review
Part 2
TCP vs. UDP
TCP UDP
Connection based (handshake) No concept of connection, have to
code this yourself
Guaranteed reliable and ordered No guarantee of reliability or ordering
of packets. They may arrive out of
order, be duplicated, or not arrive at
all!
Automatically breaks up your data
into packets for you
You have to manually break up your
data into packets and send them
Makes sure it doesnt send data too
fast for the internet connection to
handle (flow control)
You have to make sure you dont send
data too fast for your internet
connection to handle
Easy to use, you just read and write
data like its a file
If a packet is lost, you need to devise
some way to detect this, and resend
that data if necessary
Slow Fast
Why UDP?
Real-time requirement
For most parts of a game, it doesnt matter what
happened a second ago, you only care about the
most recent data
Gameplay Networking
What is it?
Technology to help multiple players sustain the belief that
they are playing a game together
Is it possible to achieve this?

Challenges:
Latency
Bandwidth
Dropped Packets
Cheaters
Joining/Quitting Games in progress
What type of games will I be talking
about?
Action Games
Emphasizes physical challenges, including hand
eye coordination and reaction-time
Best Example:

SHOOTERS!
First technique of Gameplay Networking:
Peer-to-Peer Lockstep
Each computer exchanging information with
every other computer
Process: extract a game into series of turns and a
set of command messages
Example: turn = 50ms; set of commands = {move
unit, attack unit, construct building, }
What happens during a turn on one machine?
1. Receive other players commands
2. Evolve the game state
3. Start recording commands
4. Stop recording commands and send them to other
peers
Peer-to-Peer Lockstep
Was created for RTS (Real Time Strategy)
games
Game state was too large to transmit
Had to settle for transmitting changes only
Peer-to-Peer Lockstep
Deterministic
Will always produce same output when given
same input
Synchronized: each machine is at the exact same
state at any given time
Problems with Peer-to-Peer Lockstep
1. Game could become out of sync
One small change could destroy synchronization
2. Doesnt support late join
Everybody needs to start from the same state
3. Everybodys perceived latency is equal to the
slowest latency
Necessary for consistency

Peer-to-Peer Lockstep
Does it work for action games?
Maybe on LAN, definitely not over the Internet

Problem: input latency
Doom (1993):
First action game to
attempt to implement
peer-to-peer lockstep
Client/Server model
Computer Networking Review
Part 3
Solution:
Client/Server
Each client has only one connection: to the
server
Clients turned into dumb terminals
Input sent to server (real-time) to be evaluated
Server sends updated game state (their player and
all other players) to the client
2 Types of Client/Server:
Dedicated Server
Clients are the only players
Non-dedicated Server
Server is also a player
Server player is called Host
Client/Server Benefits
1. No more turns = Less latency
Other players latency will not slow you down

Process changes
2. No more consistency issues
Game is only being simulated on the server
(Peer-to-Peer Lockstep: game simulated on all
machines)
Client/Server Benefits
Client/Server:
Small Problem
Frame rate on client is limited to how
frequently the server sent the game state to
the client
Solution: Entity Interpolation!
Entity Interpolation
Game State 1
Game State 2
Interpolated
Game State /
Rendered
Frame
Entity Interpolation
with dropped packet safeguard
?
Client/Server with Entity Interpolation
Benefits:
Provides a very smooth experience (unlimited
framerate) that is much better than Peer-to-
Peer Lockstep
Clients still run minimal code (no
physics/collisions)
Client/Server:
Big Problem
Client1 has an unfair advantage
If not dedicated server, huge host advantage
+
= LAG!
(user-perceived latency)
New Solution:
Client-Side Prediction
As soon as user changes input, their machine
predicts where the server is going to put them
Push forward on keyboard, instantaneously move
forward on screen
Client needs to run more code
Client needs to be aware of physics and collisions
(dont want to run through a wall)
Client-Side Prediction
(This is where it gets complicated)
After RTT has passed, the client gets the updated
game state from the server and verifies that its game
state WAS equal to what it predicted
If not, client performs correction
Server
Correction
Client
Prediction
Clients
Modified
Prediction
User
perceives lag
Client-Side Prediction
How to implement?
Need a circular buffer on the client to store the
users last few commands
When correction comes in from server, client performs
new predictions based on the saved commands
Client
Prediction
Command Predicted
Location
Actual
Location
Forward - 3 seconds (0,3) -
Right - 4 seconds (3,4) -
Forward - 2 seconds (3,6) -
Command Predicted
Location
Actual
Location
Forward - 3 seconds (0,3) (0,2)
Right - 4 seconds (4,3) (4,2) -
Forward - 2 seconds (4,5) (4,4) -
Command Predicted
Location
Actual
Location
Forward - 3 seconds (0,3) (0,2)
Right - 4 seconds (4,3) (4,2) (4,2)
Forward - 2 seconds (4,5) (4,4) (4,4)
-
-
Gears of War 1 (2006) and 2 (2008):
Host Advantage
0:57
Host

1:05
Non-host

Another problem with Client/Server
1. I shoot another player and know it is a hit
2. Client sends shoot command to server
Contains point of origin, and direction
3. Server gets the command and evaluates the shot
Server: client did not get the hit
Why?
The position of other players on
the clients machine is always out
of date. You only see a ghost of
other players.
Possible Solution:
Give Client authority over shots
Client performs collision check right after shot
If hit, send a hit confirmed message to server

Problem?
CHEATERS!
Man-in-the-middle attack
Actual Solution:
Lag Compensation
1. Client sends shoot command to server
Contains point of origin, and direction
2. Server gets command
a) Estimates when the client executed the command using RTT
b) Rolls back the game to the time of shot
c) Simulates shot, checks for collision
d) Server updates current game state
Counter Stike:
View of Player1s point of view from
the server
Player2 is running to the left
Player2s actual
position on server
Player2s position
seen from
Player1s client
Review of Basic Techniques
Peer-To-Peer Lockstep
Simple, works well for RTS games
Client/Server
Much better for action games, frame rate limited
Client/Server + Interpolation
Unlimited frame rate, still has large input latency
+ Client-Side Prediction
No more input latency, interacting with other players is
lagged though
+ Lag Compensation
No lag with other players
Amazing!

Battlefield 3
Getting Gameplay Networking Right
Extra Tricks In Use Now
Game: Halo: Reach
Developer: Bungie Studios

A closer look at
Client-Side Prediction
This technique works great for the character
that the client is controlling
What about the other objects in the game
(e.g. a grenade)
Entity Extrapolation
Entity Extrapolation
This is how it looks on a Halo: Reach client
Entity Extrapolation
Only makes sense for objects that have
predictable paths
Grenades, rockets, anything not being controlled
by a user
Doesnt make sense to use on other players
Unpredictable direction changes
Have to stick with Interpolation for other players
Entity Extrapolation
Its so complicated, why use it?
To reduce lag
Another Trick:
Prioritization
A Halo game can have hundreds of objects
Some objects are less important to update on one
client and more important to update on another

Solution: Real-time prioritization
Each object for each client has an update priority
Prioritization

Prioritization example
0.50/1.00/0
Legend:
Final priority / relevance / desired update period (ms)
0.22/0.97/127
Bungies Networking Stack
Layer Purpose
Game Runs the game
Game Interface Extract and apply replicated data
Prioritization Rate the priority of all possible replication
options
Replication Protocols with various reliability guarantees
Channel
Manager
Flow and congestion control
Transport Send & receive on sockets
Internet
Protocol Stack
Application
Transport
Network
Link
Physical
Check out Bungies Presentation
I Shot You First: Networking the Gameplay of
HALO: REACH
Game Developers Conference, 2011
Sources
Aldridge, David. "I Shot You First: Networking the Gameplay of HALO:
REACH." GDC Vault. Game Developers Conference, 28 Mar. 2011. Web.
<http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014345/I-Shot-You-First-Networking>.
Fiedler, Glenn. "Networking for Game Programmers." Gaffer On Games.
N.p., 1 Oct. 2008. Web. 1 Sept. 2012.
<http://gafferongames.com/networking-for-game-programmers/>.
Kurose, James F., and Keith W. Ross. Computer Networking: A Top-down
Approach. Boston: Pearson/Addison Wesley, 2008. Print.
"Source Multiplayer Networking." Valve Developer Community. Valve, n.d.
Web. 1 Oct. 2012.
<https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Source_Multiplayer_Networki
ng>.
Steed, Anthony, and Manuel Fradinho. Oliveira. Networked Graphics:
Building Networked Games and Virtual Environments. Burlington, MA:
Morgan Kaufmann, 2010. Print.

Sources
Videos:
Gears of War 2 Host Comparison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eToxVxGO9k
Battlefield 3 Jet vs Sniper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1s0ED51Tic

Questions?