Capcom's Christian Svensson dug a little deeper with fans wanting to know more about the inner workings of Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition's net code on the PC and how GGPO will be implemented for Street Fighter 3 Third Strike Online Edition.Have you improved the net code for the PC release of SSF4 AE? — Jin
Svensson: I believe the netcode is largely the same. There's some extra care around the match making and a few tweaks to match people with appropriate benchmark machines but not wildly different from the console.
Also, more people have their PCs connected via wired connections via wireless than would be the case on consoles, which can often improve latencies 20 - 30ms by itself in addition to fewer dropped packets (which can really muck up your experience), all other things being equal.
I have a bunch of issues with GGPO, like:
Connecting - Sometimes its the hardest thing to connect to people and MANY people complain about this problem.
Svensson: Uses PSN and XBLA matching servers... not applicable.
Lag - the last build of PC GGPO wasn't that bad on the lag end of things - You could be 210 ping and still have near lagless gameplay. The latest build of PC GGPO does this very stupid thing to a fighting game of all games, it uses FRAME skipping on anyone over 80 ping which is gonna cause input lag or frame lagging/skipping to the point where its not even playable cause you can't air parry or smartly react to anything.
Svensson: The entire technology is built around game state rewind and intelligent frame skipping. That's what it's all about. That said, without access to source, there's only so much that can be done under emulation.
Lag Spikes - This happens every so often and it just spikes the game momentarily but is sometimes just held like its freezing. This happens a lot when spectators join.
Svensson: Spectators should have no ability to slow down the game for the participants. We use entirely different spectator code, not what's part of the GGPO client.
Black Lines - Sometimes after a match and it goes to the character select screen we have to deal with THICK black lines running through the screen.
Svensson: This shouldn't be an issue. It's likely an emulation issue.
After a game freezes you usually have problems re-connecting with the same person.
Svensson: Client issue - not applicable.
Does it still have the ignore function?
Svensson: Client issue - not applicable. Ignore exists on XB Live and PSN in different forms and is implemented as it is in all games using those services.
Does it still have the chat lobby?
Svensson: Welcome to the future... it's this thing called Voice over IP. No text chat. Same as every other game on XBL and nearly every game on PSN.
Capcom stated that we ... will be getting near lagless gameplay. Does that mean America can finally playa against Japan now? — Joseph
Svensson: We'll see for sure when its in production. I would bet you that this game gets closer than anything that has come before it, be it retail or digital. And that was the point of using GGPO.
Is it possible that SF3 OE could come to the PS Vita in the future? — Kyle
Svensson: We'll see. Nothing happening on that front but of the game does well, other platforms could be considered.
It would have been nicer if the watercolor and posterization global filters from Vanilla PC would have been made colors 13 & 14 for every character selectable at the character select screen like 11 & 12 for the PC release of SSF4 AE. — 2n2
Svensson: The "costume" solution on the PS3/X360 was always a solution brought about by more limited hardware. The full render modes on PC was carried over from Vanilla PC as the superior option.
I'm sorry some folks might not view it that way but that's how it was done.
Enjoy Picadilly Ono! Sorry I couldn't come and meet you! — Huzelos
Ono: Next time! I'll be back here in August, we'll be ready FightClub UK! ;D
online for now has no meaning to me.. has the patched been released yet? i want the game to actually recognize when i press 'spacebar' to start!
Sounds like some moron who heard that 3S OE is gonna use GGPO, so he looked it up, downloaded it, and freaked out about the issues he experienced with the emulator.....The ignorance of some people piss me off so bad, like seriously, GGPO is primarily a netcode that enables an emulator to play online, GGPO is goddamn NETCODE, why would the netcode create black lines, or allow text chatting, or "after the game freezes etc."
SERIOUSLY? UGH, people are so stupid.
so above where someone asks if we are going to be able to play against users in japan and sven responded with this "Svensson: We'll see for sure when its in production" THIS GAME ISNT IN PRODUCTION??? i just find it reaaaallllly hard to believe that this game is honestly taking this long to make. how was the e3 version not the finished version? its untouched 3rd strike lol come on. I support everything about the project and i'm not trying to troll but i thought this game was done and we just had to wait for the summer of arcade to get done before slots for xbla games opened up but it seems the games not near its final stages? what could they still possibly need to do?
@6 The questions are being asked by unity members and some of them are not the sharpest on the block. People have been saying that this is not on emulation for months and I guess some people can't get it through their heads that the netcode will run much better because ggpo will have the original source code to work from.
@ #8 your a worthless troll its a simple comment/question thats constructive... no one asked for your rudeness
^ You basically whined "why isn't it done yet?" and I can't see that it's very constructive to do so.
However, the closest thing to a real answer to your question is probably this: it is likely a very small team working on the game, because it's a low-priced downloadable and not expected to sell a great number of copies, and because it was announced well in advance. It's ready when it's ready.
As for the main topic: most people asking questions about "netcode" do not actually know what "netcode" means in any real sense, and are attempting t comment about technical issues using nothing but their own, extremely limited anecdotal evidence. In this respect it may be wise for Capcom to choose just those questions and try to head them off at the pass, but I sympathize with those of you who find them hard to see over and over, as they do make the fanbase seem dim.
Also, you don't just finish a game and then voila, it's available for everyone to download.
There's tons of certification and scheduling that goes into the final stages of a game's release. At this point, it's likely finished, gold even, just needs to be certified (which I believe it has been, actually), and released (believe it is set to be released in late August).
@11 it wasnt meant to come across as "whining" all i said was that i thought the e3 version was finished and i wanted to know why the game isnt in "production" yet, i also made a note to announce my support for the game to avoid being seen as a troll... i really just wanted to spark up a conversation about it but in all honesty this is probably the last time i'm going to post on eventhubs ever again, everytime i try to say anything i am met with nothing but rudeness and trolls. I absolutely love 3rd strike and everything capcom does and have no gripes with them, they can release 3soe next july and i would patiently wait.. my problem is with eventhubs and srk comment sections being full of people just waiting to snap and be rude to one another
JupiterJazz,
What from this interview gives you the impression that this game is not even close to completion?
You find it reallllly hard that this game is not complete. Why? Are currently working in game production? Do you really think that there is that huge a market for 10+ year old games, that will sell for a discounted price, to put a huge team on it?
You sound like a crybaby. Do you think that they are lying to you, and they are purposely slowing down the game design?
The solution to everyone's whining can be found here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq8VgT...
Does it still have the chat lobby?
Svensson: Welcome to the future... it's this thing called Voice over IP. No text chat. Same as every other game on XBL and nearly every game on PSN.
- Usually when I'm gaming I'm on a skype conference or other voice communications. Welcome to multitasking. My question however would be do you still have a button (select?) for coin insert. The universal GGPO communication for Nice Move. Either that or Trololololollolololololololol........lololololololololololololololololololollololololololololololololololololol.
Who asked these questions? it was pointless, well at least for me cuz i already knew them, but seriously though. Who would expect the issues like the black lines in ggpo from PC to carry over to the consoles?