[CC] Why do i lag? A lotro look in game and mmo design

Why do i lag?

Server hamster

A wizards is never late it arrives precisely when it means to. The same goes for everything that involves your game if everything goes well. Alas not everything goes well all the time. It might be the server hamsters, your pc or it might even be a solar flare. It can all be a valid answer to the question “Why do i lag?”

In the first article we’ll talk about what lag is and how a game like lotro is actually run. Along the way we’ll dive deeper into lotro specifics such as Bree layers and what a 64 bit client would do. But for now we’ll stick to our ultra-dry lembas bread basics

What is lag?
A delay between an action and reaction between two entities. You put your hand on a metal plate in the sun. The millisecond it happens you will be burning yourself, but you haven’t yet pulled your hand of it. Your nerves will notice “Ouch” and will notify your brain it should probably tell your muscles to contract and move your hand away. This will happen really quick cause everything is evolved to be really quick and close together in your body. Lotro and other multiplayer games however don’t .

A different nerve system
Like the human body is made of networks so is your gaming experience. It’s a network of little organs that each have to their own little task. For simplicty you might even think of each part as their own little person. Each one has a task to perform that will make sure your hobbit sword connects with the orcs neck exactly when you meant it to do. It works just like the internet does.

How does the internet work (in 5 mins)

But wait there is more
The internet is just a small part what makes lotro possible. For lotro there are two places that are needed to run the game. Your side and SSG’s side. Your PC and their PC’s. I’ll assume you will know how a keyboard works and windows, so we’ll only explain the extra bits beyond your keyboard. It might be more then you’d think. If you’d want to take a headstart below are two links that explain what it takes on their “PC” side.

How does an mmo work?
What does a mmo server do?

The 4 components to run lotro

From the data that is your character to the time it shows your hobbit on your monitor that data goes through 4 steps. Every step is a little person that should do exactly what it should. From the left to right there are your character in 1’s and 0’s. This is your character in its most basic form. No hands or feet, just data.

The paint journey of your hobbit

1. Layers – Your character will make its way into it’s own private little part of Middle-earth
   1. This could be an instance,the Party tree or your kinhouse
   2. This is done so that there is as little interaction between you and others
2. Gameworld -Your little world is tracked by lotro to give nearby players information
   1. MMO’s have people so there are needs to interaction between you and others. This is kept to as little as it can be.
   2. Your helmet (item number 1234567) has colour navy blue (colour number 5) instead of all the pixels and stats
3. Latency (outside internet) – Both game servers deal out this information to your pc all the time. This information goes to the nearest internet person that can give it to one that is a little closer to you. This goes on and on till it reaches your front door.
4. Latency (indoor internet) – The internet person arrives at your front door and hands it over to your own person. And makes sure its given to your pc.
   1. Although only a small part of the journey its yours. And out of the control of lotro (hard to check or fix)
5. Client – Your computer and lotro.
   1. Lotro will turn all the 1’s and 0’s that made its way from 1 and 2 into a hobbit in Chetwood that is wearing a navy blue pirates hat with 10 agility.
   2. Your press forward and move 1 step. And your pc will now turn 5A into 1’s and 0’s 1 yard north to the previous known location back to step number 1.

A constant stream of information
This will repeat itself over and over millisecond after millisecond. The game however knows what is needed and will only send as little information as is necessary. What hasn’t changed is not needed. And what isn’t near you is not important for you.

Example
In 5B you’re still wearing helmet 1234567, your morale hasn’t changed, the boar 10 meters away is still alive. Your entire hobbit will be send as 1 bundle with just a slightly different location.

Information not for your eyes
The price of 50 rusted scimitars on the Bree AH isn’t of interest to you or the morale of Thorog 37 as well. So you’re not getting that information. Leaving this information out is vital to any game (and lotro). This works for every bit of information that is send back and forth, but also for any graphics on your pc.

As with everything it’s not free. Saving a penny here means that you can spend that penny somewhere else. One of those penny savers (lots of pennies) is servers and bandwidth. What does data cost?

Quadrupling graphcis by cutting 3/4’s

Either by saving costs on bandwidth, letting an older pc run lotro or allow the same pc to turn the graphics up further then it could otherwise. Developers use a lot of tricks to provide you with the best experience they could offer.

Example
On a console the hardware and settings are fixed. You can’t upgrade your graphic card or pc for a game like lotro. Neither can you change your draw distance or resolution. Even in the newest console like a PS4. So the developers get creative with the game itself. Such as in Horizon zero dawn

Next time
That’s in short how lotro as a game, mmo and game services works. Next time we’ll dive deeper into a segment. Let us know in the comments what part you’d like to dive in or which viewpoint you’d be most interested in.