Difference between revisions of "Time dilation"

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(→‎Time Dilation Explained: wrote my own so not copy/pasted)
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Lag in EVE is generally caused by a high volume of players performing complex actions in space. The reason for this lag is that each player requires a certain amount of actions to be processed in a timely fashion, and that during a high load situation our hardware cannot keep up with player demand, this is most noticeable in fleet fight scenarios.  
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When large fleet fights happen, lag usually occurs. The reason is because so many players are sending so many actions to the server of a system that the system can't handle it in a timely manner.
  
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Imagine a bunch of houses with roads connecting to a building in downtown. Each house would be a person in eve and the building in downtown would be they server. Now let's imagine that a car from a house is an action, like turning on your missile launcher. Normally, if just a few people drive their cars on the road, traffic goes smoothly. But if you have a huge number, then you get a traffic jam.
  
The hardware in question is referred to as a node, and nodes are capable of hosting several regions of space if that region of space is relatively quiet. However when things get busy, these nodes tend to reach their maximum capacity and can reach a point where they can no longer perform their duties in real time.  
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Now the actions being received/sent are not on a rhythmic pattern. There could be lots of cars one minute and the next just a few. Thus there would be times of fast traffic and slow crawls (lag spikes).
  
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What CCP did to combat this is to implement '''Time Dilation'''. TiDi would slow almost all actions. This is kind of like setting a speed limit on the road so that all the cars go at a steady smooth pace.
  
Time dilation (TiDi) works by slowing down time in EVE when a node reaches a high load, this allows the hardware to process commands in its own time, slowing all solar systems on the node by the amount required to ensure stability. This means that from a player perspective, during 50% time dilation, the game would appear to be running at 50% speed, this is signified by an icon in the client.
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TiDi affects a node, the hardware hosting specific regions in EVE space. When lots of players start to overload a node, TiDi takes place. This not only keeps a smooth pace but helps prevent players from lagging out (where their client disconnects).
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When TiDi occurs, it's like everything is in bullet time from The Matrix film. It's actually quite awesome the first time you see it.
  
 
== How It Looks In The Client ==
 
== How It Looks In The Client ==

Revision as of 03:00, 9 September 2012

Time Dilation Explained

Tidi.jpgWhat time dilation icon looks like. Note the yellow circle


When large fleet fights happen, lag usually occurs. The reason is because so many players are sending so many actions to the server of a system that the system can't handle it in a timely manner.

Imagine a bunch of houses with roads connecting to a building in downtown. Each house would be a person in eve and the building in downtown would be they server. Now let's imagine that a car from a house is an action, like turning on your missile launcher. Normally, if just a few people drive their cars on the road, traffic goes smoothly. But if you have a huge number, then you get a traffic jam.

Now the actions being received/sent are not on a rhythmic pattern. There could be lots of cars one minute and the next just a few. Thus there would be times of fast traffic and slow crawls (lag spikes).

What CCP did to combat this is to implement Time Dilation. TiDi would slow almost all actions. This is kind of like setting a speed limit on the road so that all the cars go at a steady smooth pace.

TiDi affects a node, the hardware hosting specific regions in EVE space. When lots of players start to overload a node, TiDi takes place. This not only keeps a smooth pace but helps prevent players from lagging out (where their client disconnects).

When TiDi occurs, it's like everything is in bullet time from The Matrix film. It's actually quite awesome the first time you see it.

How It Looks In The Client

When a node has a certain amount of load (due to player activity) all systems on that node will show an icon representing the current Time Dilation. You can see the icon on the screenshot, which has a yellow colour.

The rule of the thumb is:

Icon Colour Speed Reduction
Green Slightly Reduced Speed
Yellow Half Speed
Red Low Speed

Resources

Time Dilation Dev Blog (with video)